“Where does she work?”
“She’s got her own business. A show-biz agency.”
“What hospital is she in?”
“Claunton Road Hospital in Tooting.”
“The name of the doctor?”
“Salmon. Mr. Salmon.”
The SB man looked up from his notebook.
“Thank you for telling us, Mr. Randall.”
“Will you be looking into it? Checking on it?”
“I should think that’s possible.”
“Can you let me know what it’s all about?”
“I don’t think we could do that. You’re not her next of kin or guardian you see.”
“But surely … after I’ve told you this.”
The man got up from his small desk.
“Let’s wait and see, shall we. The number might have been given her as a hoax or something like that.”
“But in that case why …”
“… we’ll look into it carefully, Mr. Randall. Don’t worry.”
Randall wondered, as he waited for a bus, why people always said, “Don’t worry,” when you obviously were worried, and had good cause to be. He wondered if he had done right in telling them. Or could it make it even worse for Debbie?
19
Boyd sat reading the Joint Intelligence summary as he waited for the computer to print out the details he had asked for. There was always a section at the end with odds and ends of information from various sources that were not connected with any particular operation or related to a specific intelligence area. He read it half-heartedly until the bottom of the second page.
ITEM 43. PRAGUE. Apartment No. 17 at 27 Letenska has been positively identified as being occupied by Major KRETSKI KGB. OC communications Moscow-Prague. It is also occupied by his mistress Maria HASAK. See JICS 451/Item 19.
ITEM 44. Information requested by CIA regarding present whereabouts of James PARKINSON. a.k.a. Johnny PALMER. Ex-employee of AIR INDIA in their Paris office.
ITEM 45. Information requested from Hamburg office of BfV regarding signals traffic in code on 15,322 MHz. Tuesdays and Thursdays 21.04 hours from area English Channel believed Isle of Wight. Through liaison Bonn only.
ITEM 46. Information requested on British subject Deborah SHAW. Informant claims she was given special CIA telephone number whilst under hypnosis. Information to SB direct at NSY.
Boyd reached for the telephone and dialled SB liaison.
Boyd called in at Century House on the way home and phoned Ansell in Manchester. Ansell had left the hospital and was on his way home. Ten minutes later Boyd tried the Wilmslow number.
“Ansell here.”
“This is Boyd. Did you get any more information on the girl?”
“Yes. She’s held under the Mental Health Act 1959 Section 72. That means that she’s no longer a voluntary patient. They can keep her in there as long as they want. And nobody, parents, husband, can get her out. Only the Home Secretary himself could get her released.”
“How do they do that?”
“Two doctors certify that she is mentally ill and needs to be held in a mental institution for her own safety and the safety of the general public.”
“You mean two doctors can just put somebody in a mental hospital and nobody can appeal?”
“Nobody can appeal. But in the first place somebody would have to make the application for her to be detained.”
“And who could do that?”
“If she was an offender, a magistrates’ court or another court could issue an order. Or some other official or official body could apply.”
“Is there any indication of who applied in this case?”
“Yes. The application was made by the Home Secretary’s Office.”
“What’s it got to do with him?”
“That’s just the official channels. The Home Office could offer a dozen reasons that would be accepted. There’s something wrong with all this you know, Jimmy. It stinks.”
“Of what?”
“Of you and your people. The establishment. A cover-up. Something sinister.”
“It’s not me or my people, I assure you. I desperately want to talk to her and the hospital have point blank refused to let me talk to her or even see her.”
“That’s all very well, but this girl went in there as a voluntary patient. No Section 72. No nothing. She could walk out any time she wanted. I hear about her. They’re going to send me all the medical notes. And I tell you, my friend. And two days later I get the notes. And the next day—the very next day—she’s a Section 72 patient. It’s too much to swallow, Jimmy. Either you’re playing games or someone else is. But I ain’t going to join. Just count me out.”
“Can I see the notes?”
There was a long pause. “I suppose so. If I refuse you’ll get them some other way. But there’s very little in them for you, it’s mostly medical tests.”
“Can you send me a copy to my home address?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“How’s George Walker?”
“No, you don’t get me helping on that one. There’s not going to be any Section 72 dropped on him. Only over my dead body.”
“Ansell, I’m investigating what’s happened to your patient. Believe me, we’re both on the same side. And that means the establishment is on our side. If you can find out more about who ordered the detaining of the girl I’ll look into it.”
For a few moments there was silence at the other end and then Ansell said, “I can tell you who ordered it, Boyd. Salmon and the other doctor were leaned on. Heavily. Virtually threatened. The application was from the Foreign Office. A guy named Carter signed it. It was passed to the Home Office and they just rubber-stamped it through the system. Do you get the message now? Either the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand’s up to, or you’re playing games with me as well as with the girl.”
“I assure you it’s not me playing games, Ansell. I’ll start checking on it.”
“You didn’t sound surprised.”
“Nothing surprises me, Ansell. Not any more. But I still need your cooperation.”
“I’ll send you a copy of the medical notes. After that I’ll need a lot of persuading.”
For two days Boyd tried to check discreetly on what operation Carter’s units were working on. He was able to trace a section operating in Cairo and two in the
