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office now and again.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Well, better get back. Pop in if you’re visiting. Door’s always open.’
    They shook hands again and the ambassador walked briskly towards the embassy, adjusting his tie.
    William went back along the bushes. ‘Are you there?’
    ‘Who was it?’
    ‘The ambassador. I think he was relieving himself.’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘In the bushes.’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘Farther up. It’s all right.’
    There was a pause. ‘We must meet to discuss modalities.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Plans. Can I contact you at home?’
    ‘Yes, or at work.’
    ‘Who should I say I am?’
    ‘Well – you’re who you are, aren’t you?’
    ‘We use other names. I’ll have to explain all that. I’ll be Harry. We can say we met in a bar. Who will you be?’
    ‘Myself, I suppose. Since you’re ringing me.’
    ‘Fair enough.’
    On his way out William paused by the tree in which the parrot was sitting. He raised his hand and waited while the parrot, shifting its weight, slowly raised its claw.

Chapter 4
    ‘Who is Harry?’ Sally asked.
    William paused in the ironing. ‘Who?’
    ‘Harry. That’s twice he’s rung. He won’t leave a message.’
    ‘He’s rung again?’
    ‘The phone was ringing when I got in from work. Who is he?’
    ‘Chap I met in a bar.’
    The telephone rang once more. She answered it and fortunately it was for her. He tried to think of some less obviously evasive explanation. When she came back into the kitchen she stretched from
tip to toe, pointing as she used to do when she went to ballet classes.
    ‘He’s a chap who might be buying some books,’ William said. ‘South American studies, that sort of thing.’ He couldn’t remember having lied to her before.
Though this should hardly have counted as one, it was a deceit and he felt it.
    ‘What?’ Sally looked blank. ‘Oh, Harry, yes.’ She put on the kettle. They usually had tea before going to bed. She looked at his shirts. ‘You’re miles better
than Angelica or me, you really are.’
    Angelica, the maid, was on holiday. ‘She’s improving under tuition.’
    ‘She’s being courted, I think. She wants to learn.’
    He didn’t ask who had telephoned because any display of curiosity might bounce back. ‘Good news about the job, isn’t it?’
    ‘Mmm.’ She warmed the pot.
    ‘That chap – the American vice-president or whatever – wasn’t as bad as you thought, then?’
    ‘No, he was quite nice. He’s no fool, though.’
    ‘Clearly.’ He smiled but she didn’t notice. ‘What’s his name again – Heffner?’
    ‘Hueffer, Max Hueffer. But I’m going to have to work hard with these advanced specialist groups. I shall be directly under him. He could be a mean master.’
    ‘That’s good, isn’t it? You said you wanted to be stretched.’
    When he had finished the ironing he took his tea into the sitting room and joined her on the sofa. They sipped in silence. He wanted to read but didn’t in case this was one of the times
she wanted to talk. His eye wandered surreptitiously to the closed book on the arm of the sofa, less than a foot from his lap.
    ‘What did the embassy want?’ she asked.
    ‘They wanted me to talk about business here to some chap out from London.’
    ‘Why you?’
    ‘They seemed to think I know about it.’
    ‘Funny.’
    ‘That’s what I thought.’ He would talk to Box about this subterfuge. It was as awkward as it was unnecessary.
    She reached across him and picked up the book, Jeffrey Archer’s
First Among Equals.
‘Any good?’
    ‘Makes you want to turn the pages.’
    She tossed the book back on to the coffee table and got up. ‘I’m going to bed. Good-night.’
    Ricardo was unusually early the next morning. The seriousness of the situation at the factory had impressed him. ‘They’re all back today but not for long and they
are doing nothing. We have to get rid of the two union men. They intimidate the others and Miguel is too frightened to manage. He does nothing