Free The Midnight Swimmer by Edward Wilson Page A

DISCUSSED BY JIC AND APPROVED ON DATE.
    As soon as Catesby finished reading, he stared past Henry Bone at the new paintings hanging behind his desk. There were three watercolours of what seemed to be exotic wildflowers. The execution was precise and detailed.
    ‘What happened to the Poussin?’
    ‘It was only on loan.’
    ‘You’re distancing yourself, aren’t you?’ Catesby knew perfectly well that the loan of the Poussin had been obtained through the good offices of an eminent art historian, who had once been an SIS agent. The ex-agent’s name was no longer mentioned, even whispered , in Broadway Buildings.
    ‘I suppose I am. One would be a fool not to. Would you like a cup of tea?’
    ‘Yes, please.’
    Catesby watched Bone go to a Regency sideboard to pour the Earl Grey from an Echinus Demotter tea service. The cups and saucers were delicate creatures with gold rims and spider’s web patterns. Catesby was always terrified of chipping the china.
    ‘When,’ said Bone, handing Catesby his tea, ‘you first had Earl Grey I had to stop you from putting milk in it. Please sit down.’
    Catesby sank into an armchair and juggled the tea and his bowler hat on his knees. He had come such a long way, from the poverty of the backstreets of Lowestoft, and Bone always liked to remind him of it. The jibes were never malicious; they were more the praise of a schoolmaster reminding a favourite pupil of how well he was progressing . Catesby smiled at Bone, ‘Where’s my slice of lemon?’
    ‘I haven’t got any – very forgetful. What do you think?’
    Catesby looked at the JIC paper.
    ‘No, of the watercolours.’
    ‘The craftsmanship is superb, but I’m not sure there is anything else. In other words, refreshingly unpretentious.’
    ‘Well done. They’re by Vishnu Prasad. He painted them for British naturalists in the nineteenth century who were recording the flora and fauna of India.’
    ‘Government Art Collection?’
    Bone nodded.
    ‘Do you suppose,’ said Catesby, ‘that they will let you take them with you when you go to Wormwood Scrubs? Look awfully nice on your cell wall.’
    ‘No, William, I’m not going to be arrested.’
    ‘Are you sure? I can’t imagine anything more serious than intentionally deceiving – lying actually – to JIC.’
    ‘I wouldn’t be the first.’
    ‘But has anyone ever done it so bluntly?’
    Bone paused as if lost in thought, ‘Probably not – but the seriousness of the situation justifies the deceit.’
    ‘Who else knows?’
    Bone handed over a second document. ‘I don’t want you to think that I’m completely mad and reckless.’
    Private and Confidential
    TO BE OPENED AND READ ONLY BY THE ADDRESSEE
     
    From: Office of the Director for West Europe and
    Soviet Bloc
    Broadway Buildings
    London
     
    2 November 1960
     
    To: The Rt. Hon. Harold Macmillan MP
    10 Downing Street
    London
     
    Dear Prime Minister,
     
    I am sure you read my JIC assessment with a large pinch of salt. You understand the UK’s current predicament more than anyone. I discussed similar contingencies with you when you were Foreign Secretary in 1955. The current situation is even more dangerous. It would not be melodramatic to say that the existence of the United Kingdom is more at risk than ever before.
    Much depends on the outcome of the American election. Neither result augurs well for our country, but I feel that a Kennedy presidency would be more dangerous. Much of Kennedy’s election rhetoric has focused on the mythical ‘missile gap’. Such irresponsible scaremongering could lead to unpredictable and disastrous outcomes. As you know, contrary to Kennedy’s false claims, the United States has a strategic nuclear advantage over the Soviet Union of at least twenty to one. The Russians have no missiles that can reach the US mainland. As long as this American invulnerability exists, the position of the United Kingdom remains precarious because we, unlike our American allies, are not