Traitors Gate - Anne Perry [141]
And both of them were powerless.
“It is despicable,” she said, catching her breath and almost choking. “How could anyone be so … so beneath contempt?”
“To give away their country’s secrets, with which they had been entrusted, or to report that treason to the authorities, Miss Soames?” Pitt said quietly.
She was white to the lips. “It … it is not … treason.” She found it difficult to say the word. “He … he … was deceived…. That is not treason … and … and you will not excuse Matthew to me—not ever!”
Soames climbed to his feet with difficulty. “I shall resign, of course.”
Pitt did not demur, nor point out that he would be extremely unlikely to have any option.
“Yes sir,” he agreed. “In the meantime, I think it would be advisable if you were to come to the Bow Street station and make a statement in respect of what you have just told me.”
“I suppose that is inevitable,” Soames agreed reluctantly. “I’ll … I’ll come on Monday.”
“No, Mr. Soames, you will come now,” Pitt said firmly.
Soames looked startled.
Harriet moved closer to her father, putting her arm through his. “He has already told you, Superintendent, he will go on Monday! You have had your victory. What else do you need? He is ruined! Isn’t that enough for you?”
“It is not I who has to be satisfied, Miss Soames,” Pitt replied with as much patience as he could muster. He was not sure whether she was so naive. “Your father is not alone in this tragedy. There are other people to arrest….”
“Then go and arrest them! Do your duty! There’s nothing more to keep you here!”
“The telephone.” Pitt looked at the instrument where it sat on its cradle.
“What about it?” She regarded it with loathing. “If you want to use it, you may!”
“So may you,” he pointed out. “To warn others, and when I arrive there, they will be gone. Surely you can see the necessity for action now, and not Monday morning?”
“Oh …”
“Mr. Soames?” He waited with growing impatience.
“Yes … I er …” He looked confused, broken, and for that moment at least, Pitt was almost as sorry for him as Harriet, even though he also felt a contempt for his foolishness. He had been arrogant enough to think he knew better than his colleagues, and no doubt a little self-importance had played its part, the knowledge that he knew secrets others did not. But he was going to pay an uncommon price for a very common sin.
Pitt opened the door for him.
“I’m coming with him!” Harriet declared defiantly.
“No, you are not,” Pitt said.
“I …”
“Please!” Soames turned to look at her. “Please … leave me a little dignity, my dear. I should rather face this alone.”
She fell back, the tears spilling over her cheeks, and Pitt escorted Soames out, leaving her standing in the doorway, her face filled with anger and overwhelming grief.
Pitt took Soames to Bow Street and left him there with Tellman, to take all the details of precisely what information he had passed to Thorne and when. He had hesitated to take him directly to the police station; it was a sensitive matter and he had been directly commissioned from higher up. But he could not take him to Matthew, the person who had originally instigated the investigation, because of the relationship between them. Nor could he take him to Linus Chancellor, who would be at home at this hour on a Saturday, and in no frame of mind to deal with such a matter. And he did not entirely trust any of the other people concerned, nor was he certain to find them in the Colonial Office, even if he had.
He had not the power to go directly to Lord Salisbury, and certainly not to the Prime Minister. He would arrest Thorne, and then make a complete report of the matter for Farnsworth.
He took two constables with him, just in case Thorne should prove violent. It was not beyond possibility. Secondly