A Razor Wrapped in Silk

29 The enemy within?

‘An ugly business,’ winced Verkhotsev when the policeman was gone.

Porfiry frowned at him. It was easy to forget that he was a senior officer in the Third Section, such was the impression of affability and sympathy that he was able to create. And, of course, he was Maria’s father, Porfiry reminded himself. ‘You asked to see the ring,’ he said, nodding to Virginsky, who handed over the box.

Verkhotsev turned the ring in his fingers. ‘I am pleased that you kept the details of the design out of the newspaper. This is highly incendiary, of course. You realise that.’

‘I too am relieved that the design was not published, but I can claim no credit for it.’ Porfiry could not prevent himself from glancing at Virginsky.

‘You are sure that this corresponds to the marks on the children’s necks? You have taken your measurements carefully? A lot may come to hinge on those measurements.’

Porfiry’s mood was not improved by Verkhotsev’s labouring of the point. ‘You may rest assured that in this department we are scrupulous in the gathering and recording of evidence.’

‘As I am sure you realise, this evidence is highly circumstantial. If it comes to constructing a case around it, there must be no discrepancy. Otherwise your case will fall apart.’

‘I am grateful to you for the benefit of your counsel. I had not realised that the officers of the Third Section placed such store in the integrity of forensic evidence. Is it not more usual for you to proceed on the basis of hearsay and informants’ testimony?’

‘Our methods are not the issue. You and I are both agreed that what is needed here — for the good of the state, I might add — is for the judicial process to be open and above board. All eyes will be on the conduct of this case, from the very highest to the lowest in the empire. There will be those who will seek to use the outcome for their own purposes. There must be no clumsy mistakes, and in saying that I am pointing the finger not at your department but at my own section. I will be frank with you, Porfiry Petrovich. There are some amongst my colleagues who would seek to control the outcome of your investigation from the very outset. It is simply too dangerous, they would argue, to allow you to discover whatever is there to be discovered. But I am of a contrary opinion. Such tactics are in the long run counterproductive. Besides, I have my daughter to think of. The truth, Porfiry Petrovich — we must set our sights on attaining the truth. Nothing less will do.’

Verkhotsev closed the lid on the evidence box. ‘Please ensure that this is returned to its proper place.’ He gave the box a deliberate shake, causing the ring to rattle inside, before relinquishing it to Virginsky. ‘I thank you for sharing it with me.’

‘Not at all,’ replied Porfiry. He watched Virginsky go. ‘Perhaps I may beg a favour in return, a reciprocal display of trust. Now that we are to be openly working together, I wonder if you would be so good as to call off your spy.’

‘My spy?’

‘Slava. The man the Third Section sent to be my personal servant. He is, in fact, a poor servant and a poorer spy. He serves neither of us very well.’

‘I know nothing of any spy.’

‘Come now, there is no need to maintain the pretence.’

‘It is not a pretence, I assure you. We have not sought to spy on you.’

‘Then who is he? He is some kind of infiltrator, I feel sure, if only for the way he has sought to involve himself in our investigation. I admit that I was amused at first. I thought that his presence here might even prove useful to me. It was, after all, a way of communicating with the Third Section.’

‘Which no doubt you would exploit to pass on disinformation,’ chided Verkhotsev wryly.

Porfiry pursed his lips and blinked ambiguously. ‘But he no longer amuses me. Especially if, as you assert, he is nothing to do with you. I shall dismiss him immediately.’

‘No. Do not do that. He may yet prove useful. We must ask ourselves who would benefit most from knowing the progress of your investigation.’

‘Cui bono? Curiously, that is the principle he himself advised me to apply.’

‘Well? Where does it lead us in this instance?’

‘You are suggesting that he is something to do with one or other of the crimes I am investigating? That he may be a murderer?’

Verkhotsev shrugged. ‘It is a brilliant and bold masterstroke, is it not? Where better to go to ground than in the apartment of the man set to hunt you down? He can keep a watchful eye on how you are faring in your enquiries, thereby ensuring that he stays one step ahead of you at all times. If he gains your trust he may even be able to direct your investigation away from himself. And if he discovers that you are closing in on him … why, he is perfectly placed to take evasive action. Or — we must admit the possibility — to terminate your investigations in a manner appropriate to his criminal nature.’

Porfiry looked with alarm towards the door to his private apartment. ‘That is not a very comforting supposition.’

‘It is better to be prepared. In any case, you must not arouse his suspicions. If he imagines that you are on to him, he may feel himself backed into a corner. At the same time, if you simply dismiss him from your employ, we will lose him for good. No, you must keep him close to you.’

‘That is all very well for you to say.’

‘There is no need to be unduly afraid.’

‘Really? And what, I wonder, do you consider to be a due proportion of fear?’

Verkhotsev made no attempt to answer. ‘There is another possibility we must consider. He may not himself be guilty of any of the crimes under investigation. He may simply be acting on behalf of the person or persons who committed them. The communique you received suggests a revolutionary grouping. There have been cases of such groups seeking to infiltrate government departments in order to further their anti-state goals. This would simply be a variation of that tactic. We have had intelligence that one such grouping is seeking an exemplary assassination. A notable investigating magistrate would make an admirable target. Your man Slava may have been sent for that purpose. You say he is a poor servant. Our revolutionaries are invariably upper-class gentlemen. Servility does not come naturally to them.’

‘This hypothesis is no more comforting than the last. I am at a loss to know what to do with all this shocking information.’

‘Nothing, for the moment. As I have said, on no account must you arouse his suspicions.’

‘I am afraid it may already be too late for that. His meddling in the case became intolerable. I had to do something.’

‘What did you do?’

‘I went to the baths.’

Verkhotsev rolled his moustache thoughtfully. ‘I see.’

‘That is to say, I removed myself from my chambers to discuss the case with Pavel Pavlovich free from Slava’s intrusive presence.’

‘That in itself may not be fatal. Your work requires you to absent yourself from your chambers from time to time, I dare say. He may have thought nothing of it. Or it may have made him wary without forcing his hand. Certainly he has made no move as yet.’

‘As yet. No.’

‘And we can do nothing until he does.’

‘You almost sound as if you want him to strike.’

‘I would not have him strike until we are ready for him. However, we will reach a point at which it will become necessary to provoke an attack if one has not already occurred.’

‘I see. So I am to play the part of a sitting duck?’

‘In all probability, there is nothing to fear.’ Verkhotsev gave a less than reassuring smile. ‘We may be wrong in our suppositions. This fellow Slava may simply be what he appears to be … a bad servant. However, to proceed on the basis that he represents a threat to your person enables us to take certain precautions. It is unlikely that he will attack you in your chambers. To do so would be to expose himself to unnecessary risk. After all, he shares your apartment, does he not? Therefore, he has access to you when you are at your most vulnerable, and when it would be easiest for him to effect his escape. That is to say, at night, when you are asleep. If he is going to strike, that is when he will do it.’

‘And how am I to protect myself against nocturnal attack from this enemy within?’

‘Don’t worry, I shall think of something. However, it will be difficult without positioning a guard in your bedroom, which I fear would only discourage Slava from making an attempt.’

‘Heaven forbid that he should be discouraged.’

‘Of course, if he is associated with the group that sent you the communique, it is possible that you are intended to be their next victim. In which case, it is reasonable to suppose that an attempt would definitely be made on your life should another child be found murdered. There is a certain logic to this. You are a gentleman. A magistrate. You could be said to be — what was it? — “a member of the enslaver class”. Furthermore, you are known to be investigating Yelena Filippovna’s murder. Indeed, my daughter tells me that you were most zealous in pursuing that investigation whilst neglecting the investigation into the deaths of the missing children. That could count against you in their eyes.’

‘At the time we had no bodies. We had nothing to go on. No evidence of any crime!’

‘My dear friend, you do not need to explain yourself to me. And I fear that it will be useless to attempt to do so with them. To go back to Yelena Filippovna’s murder, it may be that a similar strategy was used there. One of their number — if not the very same individual, this Slava — may have infiltrated the Naryskin Palace as a servant in order to be in place on the night of the gala to commit the murder.’

‘A witness who saw Captain Mizinchikov flee the scene also mentioned seeing a number of servants about.’

‘Of course. It is the perfect cover, allowing access to every part of the palace without arousing suspicion. Furthermore, his incompetence as a servant would be less noticeable in a larger household.’

Porfiry Petrovich placed a hand to his neck and rubbed distractedly, as if to soothe a wound that had not yet been inflicted. ‘I pray to God that we do not find any more dead children.’

‘Of course,’ said Verkhotsev. ‘Although that would rather clear Yelena Filippovna’s name, would it not?’