The Human Factor by Graham Greene Page B

earned.’
    â€˜Well, let’s talk a little business, shall we? Now we are alone. I suppose you are afraid of being bugged at the Reform.’
    â€˜Why not? Surrounded by a lot of one man one vote fanatics. If they were capable of giving the vote to a bunch of cannibals . . .’
    â€˜You mustn’t run down cannibals,’ Hargreaves said, ‘some of my best friends have been cannibals, and now that Browne with an e is out of earshot . . .’
    â€˜I’ve been going over things very carefully, John, with Daintry, and personally I’m convinced that Davis is the man we are looking for.’
    â€˜Is Daintry convinced too?’
    â€˜No. It’s all circumstantial, it has to be, and Daintry’s got a very legalistic mind. I can’t pretend that I like Daintry. No humour but naturally very conscientious. I spent an evening with Davis, a few weeks ago. He’s not an advanced alcoholic like Burgess and Maclean, but he drinks a lot – and he’s been drinking more since our check started, I think. Like those two and Philby, he’s obviously under some sort of strain. A bit of a manic depressive – and a manic depressive usually has that touch of schizoid about him essential for a double agent. He’s anxious to get abroad. Probably because he knows he’s being watched and perhaps they’ve forbidden him to try and bolt. Of course he’d be out of our control in Lourengo Marques and in a very useful spot for them.’
    â€˜But what about the evidence?’
    â€˜It’s a bit patchy still, but can we afford to wait for perfect evidence, John? After all we don’t intend to put him on trial. The alternative is Castle (you agreed with me that we could rule out Watson), and we’ve gone into Castle just as thoroughly. Happy second marriage, first wife killed in the blitz, a good family background, the father was a doctor – one of those old-fashioned GPs, a member of the Liberal Party, but not, please note, of the Reform, who looked after his patients through a lifetime and forgot to send in bills, the mother’s still alive – she was a head warden in the blitz and won the George Medal. A bit of a patriot and attends Conservative rallies. Pretty good stock, you’ll admit. No sign of heavy drinking with Castle, careful about money too. Davis spends a good deal on port and whisky and his Jaguar, bets regularly on the tote – pretends to be a judge of form and to win quite a lot – that’s a classic excuse for spending more than you earn. Daintry told me he was caught once taking a report from 59800 out of the office. Said he meant to read it over lunch. Then you remember the day we had the conference with MI5 and you wanted him to be present. Left the office to see his dentist – he never went to his dentist (his teeth are in perfect condition – I know that myself) and then two weeks later we got evidence of another leak.’
    â€˜Do we know where he went?’
    â€˜Daintry was already having him shadowed by Special Branch. He went to the Zoo. Through the members’ entrance. The chap who was following him had to queue up at the ordinary entrance and lost him. A nice touch.’
    â€˜Any idea whom he met?’
    â€˜He’s a clever one. Must have known he was followed. It turned out that he’d confessed to Castle that he hadn’t gone to the dentist. Said he was meeting his secretary (it was her day off) at the pandas. But there was that report you wanted to talk to him about. It was never in the safe – Daintry checked that.’
    â€˜Not a very important report. Oh, it’s all a bit shady, I admit, but I wouldn’t call any of it hard evidence, Emmanuel. Did he meet the secretary?’
    â€˜Oh, he met her all right. He left the Zoo with her, but what happened in between?’
    â€˜Have you tried the marked note technique?’
    â€˜I told him in