Gunther nodded. He said neutrally, ‘I believe there has been some unease among British Fascists about joining the coalition with the old parties, Conservative and Labour.’
Syme shrugged. ‘It’s a way in. It’s how Herr Hitler began, isn’t it? And having Mosley in charge of the police is a big step to power.’
Gunther nodded seriously. ‘Yes. You are right.’
‘Though the commissioner is a bit puzzled over why you want this loony Muncaster so badly.’ Syme’s eyes narrowed. ‘According to our records he hasn’t any political past or Resistance links.’
Gunther leaned forward. This man was cocky, but clever too. He said, ‘No police or intelligence service is infallible.’ He smiled self-deprecatingly. ‘Not even ours. But we do think this Muncaster may have political associations in Germany. Concerns have been raised. At a high level.’
‘I thought the anti-Nazis had all been dealt with.’
Gunther raised a hand. ‘Mr Syme, I may not say. It is an internal matter. I would have thought you would have been told this,’ he added.
Syme smiled. ‘You can’t blame me for trying.’
Gunther frowned. The young man was going too far. ‘The terms of reference for co-operation were, as I said, set at a very senior level.’
Syme looked discomfited. His mobile face was expressive, too expressive perhaps for a detective. He said, a slight edge in his voice, ‘Well, the commissioner says I’m at your disposal.’
‘Thank you.’
‘What is it you want done?’
Gunther drew on his cigarette. ‘We wish to find out all we can about Frank Muncaster. What his mental state is, whether he is lucid and if so, what he says. Our problem is that we, the Gestapo, cannot just go into this hospital demanding to see him.’
‘No.’ Syme frowned. ‘The British police force can do more or less what it wants these days, especially Special Branch. But lunatic asylums remain under the authority of the Health Department.’
Gunther nodded agreement. ‘Quite so. And we do not want our interest in Muncaster known.’
‘I understand. I think.’
‘Has anyone outside the hospital shown any interest in him?’
‘Who? The Resistance?’
‘We’ve no evidence they know anything about him. But we need to be careful.’
Syme pulled out a packet of cigarettes, unfiltered Woodbines, and Gunther took one, though he preferred milder brands. Syme said, ‘No-one’s shown a peep of interest in Muncaster. I’ve seen the local police reports. Frank Muncaster has no record, but in October he suddenly went potty, pushed his brother out of a first-floor window in some family quarrel then started screaming about the end of the world. He was put in the bin and that’s all we know. He’s a geologist, an academic. All these types are loopy.’
Gunther smiled again. ‘I am sorry we can’t confide in you fully. But we will work together, find out what is at the bottom of this. If there is something, we will both get considerable credit.’
That struck a chord. Syme nodded slowly. He said, ‘And if you decide you want him, would you take him back to Germany? Extradite him?’
‘Perhaps. For now, what I would like is for both of us to go up there this weekend, take a look at his flat, and interview him. If that is convenient,’ he added politely.
‘It’s already arranged. We sent a letter to the hospital saying we want to talk to Muncaster about the police case over the assault. Sunday’s their visiting day. The doctor in charge, Wilson, phoned us wanting to know what it was all about, angling to be at the interview. Protective of his charges,’ Syme added contemptuously. ‘Said Muncaster was a Doctor of Science, a man of some status was how he put it. I know what I’d do with the loonies, the same as you Germans have. I spoke to Wilson, quoting the Defence of the Realm Act. That shut him up.’
‘Good.’
‘Might have to watch him, though, his cousin’s a senior civil servant, close to the junior Minister of Health. That could give him some clout if we piss him off.’
‘Yes.’ Gunther smiled. ‘I know. Kid gloves. Now, when we talk to Dr Muncaster, please say I am your sergeant. I will say nothing. I lived in England for five years but my German accent might be picked up.’
‘Yours is hardly noticeable.’
‘Thank you. I was at university here and for a few years after the Treaty I worked as an adviser with Special Branch. I knew the present commissioner.’ He paused. ‘He approved this operation.’
Syme nodded slowly, impressed; his hands twitched slightly in his lap. He lit another cigarette.
‘What do you want me to ask him?’
‘I have a list of questions we could go over now. Can you arrange a car, by the way?’
‘We can go in mine. Afterwards we can go to where Muncaster lives. It’s a flat. His keys will be held by the hospital. The local boys will provide a locksmith, I’ve already been onto them.’
Gunther nodded appreciatively. ‘Thank you. You have been very efficient.’
‘Yeah, well, we English aren’t completely useless, you know.’
They spent the rest of the evening going over the plans, the questions Gunther wanted asked of Muncaster. He stressed several times how the Gestapo appreciated Syme’s co-operation. They finished at about ten.
‘Time I got home.’ Syme stood up and stretched his long arms.
‘You have a wife waiting?’
Syme shook his head. ‘No, I live in my parents’ old house. Inherited it when my mother died last year.’
‘Where is that?’
Syme hesitated, then said, ‘Wapping. My dad owned it himself, though,’ he added proudly.
Gunther nodded. ‘What did he do?’
Syme paused. ‘He was a docker. Got squashed flat when a crate slipped off a crane and fell on him.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘It happens in the docks. I’m well out of that.’ As he spoke, the underlying Cockney twang was gone again. He looked Gunther challengingly in the eye.
‘My father was a policeman,’ Gunther said. ‘Dead too now, sadly.’
As they moved towards the door Syme said, ‘We thought we had a lead on Churchill last week, living as a guest of some distant Marlborough relative at a big house in Yorkshire. But if he was there, he was gone by the time we arrived. He moves around all over the place.’
‘He must be nearly eighty now.’
‘Yeah, the old bastard can’t last much longer. And we caught and shot his sidekick Ernie Bevin last year.’ At the door Syme turned to Gunther and said, ‘Lot of Jews down our way. At least they’re kept in their place now. Used to be a cocky lot.’
‘Yes. They are an alien element.’
A look of ferrety curiosity appeared on Syme’s face. ‘People here often ask, what have you done with them? There were millions in parts of Europe, weren’t there, milling around like beetles? I know you say they’ve all been resettled in the East, but we hear things sometimes, in the Branch. Big gassing plants.’
Gunther smiled and shook his head. ‘So far as I know, Inspector, they are all in camps in Poland and Russia. Safely secured, taken care of, made to work hard.’
Syme smiled and winked.
When he had gone Gunther sighed deeply. He hadn’t liked Syme. But he had been very efficient, prepared everything well. He remembered what he had said about the Jews. Like everyone in his section of the Gestapo, Gunther knew exactly what had happened to those Jews deported to the East; they were all dead, gassed and cremated in the huge extermination camps of Russia and Poland. Some of the smaller camps had closed now, though others remained open for any Jews and social misfits who had not yet been swept up, and for Russian prisoners of war. Some of the senior camp personnel had come back to staff jobs at Gestapo HQ; they tended to be reliable, efficient men, though a lot were prone to drink. But what else could Germany have done, with the war in Russia raging? They couldn’t be burdened by millions of hostile, dangerous Jews in the ghettos of the East. By express order of Himmler himself, though, the subject was never mentioned outside Gestapo offices.
He thought again about his hostile reaction to Syme. He knew himself well enough to wonder whether his dislike might be linked to his unease at what Gessler had told him at the end of their interview earlier: ‘If the
