The Diplomat's Wife

by Ridpath, Michael

  ‘I don’t think he ever was a spy,’ said Emma. ‘Although I can’t be certain. The NKVD made sure that their spies didn’t know of each other’s existence. We never met each other, at least not knowingly. Kay broke all the rules when she told me about Kurt.’

  ‘So he could have been a spy?’

  ‘I do know Freddie was a friend of Guy Burgess. And he knew Kim Philby a bit too, at Cambridge; they were both Apostles as well. When Burgess and Maclean fled to Russia, Freddie helped MI5. I think he helped them with Philby. Redeemed himself, as he put it.’

  ‘I get confused,’ Phil said. ‘What’s the difference between MI5 and MI6?’

  ‘MI6 is abroad – they do the spying. MI5 is domestic – they find enemies’ spies.’

  ‘And when the enemy’s spies turn out to be your spies?’

  ‘Turf war,’ said Emma. ‘It was because I knew that Freddie was so well plugged into the intelligence services that I spoke to him earlier this year.’

  ‘About Lothar?’

  ‘About my time in Paris and Berlin. He wasn’t particularly helpful.’

  ‘Who’s “C”?’ Phil asked. ‘The head of MI6? Or MI5?’ It sounded rather like a cross between Ian Fleming’s ‘M’ and John le Carré’s ‘Control’.

  ‘MI6. I got the definite impression that Freddie had been talking to C. Which surprises me, a little.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I don’t understand why MI6 would care so much what I was up to.’

  So it was Freddie who had tipped off Swann! That was why Swann had approached Phil. Freddie had known what Emma was up to all along.

  Phil knew why MI6 cared.

  ‘You’re definitely going to East Berlin tomorrow, Grams?’

  ‘Yes. I just got a message from Herr Pöpel; Kay Ortmann lives in Prenzlauer Berg. I’ve got her address.’

  ‘And you’re sure I can’t come with you? I’m worried about you.’

  ‘Quite sure, Philip.’

  Phil took a deep breath. No point in arguing.

  ‘There’s a chance I might not see you again, Grams. After tomorrow. What with one thing and another.’ Like you either might die of a brain tumour or the KGB might blow your brains out.

  Emma reached out for his hand. ‘Yes, I know, darling. It’s been wonderful travelling with you this last week. I don’t know how I can thank you. Actually, I did have a little idea. I’ve written a letter to my lawyer telling him that I want you to have the TR6 when I’m gone.’

  Phil grinned. The thought made him sad, but happy at the same time. He wanted Emma to see his happiness.

  ‘Dad won’t like that,’ he said.

  Emma laughed. ‘I know.’

  ‘Grams. I know you want to be careful about what you tell me, and I understand why. But you have to finish your story. There’s so much I don’t know, stuff that someone needs to know once you’re gone. Like did you continue spying for the Russians? What happened between you and Grandpa?’ And why we are looking for Kay, he wanted to add, but didn’t. He understood now she wasn’t going to tell him that.

  And besides. He had a little plan.

  Emma studied her grandson for a moment. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’ll finish the story. But promise me you won’t tell anyone else about it. And certainly not your friend Heike.’

  ‘I promise,’ said Phil.

  Forty-Four

  June 1939, Berlin

  * * *

  I got to the restaurant first. It was the Taverne, a perpetually crowded Italian restaurant in Kurfürstenstrasse, near the Memorial Church. Ostensibly Italian, but actually it was run by a large German man and his small Belgian wife. It was late, nearly ten o’clock, and I recognized a couple of the American journalists who used to gather there after they had filed their copy to gossip. Gossip in which I had occasionally joined.

  I had told Roland where I was going, and whom I was meeting. But I hadn’t told my husband what I was going to say.

  ‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ said Dick. ‘My train just got in half an hour ago. They are not always as punctual as they claim, these Germans, are they?’

  ‘The economy is at full war production, and troops are shuttling around everywhere,’ I said. ‘Even the famous Deutsche Reichsbahn is stretched.’

  We ordered veal, and a bottle of Italian wine.

  ‘How was your pastor?’ I asked.

  ‘Wary about any direct questions to do with present-day Germany. But fascinating about his book: The Cost of Discipleship. You should read it. I only just caught him – turns out he is on his way to America next week.’

  Dick talked animatedly about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the article he was going to write about him.

  ‘I didn’t get a chance to tell you, because you had already left,’ I said. ‘Roland warned me you should be careful. Bonhoeffer is on the Gestapo’s naughty list.’

  ‘I didn’t see any signs of trouble,’ said Dick. ‘As I say, he was very circumspect. Looks like I made it out safely. My train to the Hook of Holland is tomorrow morning.’

  I sipped my red wine. It was good. The journalists’ Stammtisch was filling up, and the noise levels were rising. I recognized Sigrid Schulz from the Chicago Tribune, Bill Shirer from CBS and Selkirk Panton from the Daily Express, as well as one of the editors of a German newspaper. Sigrid caught my eye and gave me a quick smile. I liked her; ordinarily I would have introduced Dick to the journalists, people were always coming and going at their table eager to share gossip, but I wanted him to myself that evening.

  I glanced over my shoulder, the classic deutsche Blick, checking for others overhearing us. The tables were crammed close together, but the noise level was high. I knew the Gestapo employed lip-readers, presumably even lip-readers who spoke English, but I doubted they would be bothered to go to that effort for Dick and me. There was something I had to tell him.

  ‘You know Kay told me Hugh was a Russian spy?’

  ‘In Paris? I remember. I found it hard to believe,’ Dick said.

  ‘It turns out you were right. Or half right.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Dick leaned forward, interested. I paused for the waiter to serve us our veal.

  ‘Hugh did agree to spy for the Russians, just like Kay said. Or the Comintern. That was why he applied for the Foreign Office. And that was why he told everyone he had changed his mind about communism. He didn’t want to arouse suspicions.’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘But the thing is, Hugh really did change his mind. Just before he died. And Kay thinks you and your Ukrainian tutor persuaded him.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Kay and Hugh had a big fight about it. Hugh wanted to stop working for the Comintern, and he wanted her to give up as well.’

  ‘But she wouldn’t?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘And then Hugh died?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Dick’s food lay untouched in front of him. He attacked it as he considered what I had been saying. He looked irritated. ‘I told you I never thought he could be a Russian spy.’

  ‘And I thought he was,’ I said. And became one myself, I wanted to add, but didn’t. ‘It’s awful. I thought I knew Hugh so well, but even now I’m struggling to discover who he really was. Especially around the time he died.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ said Dick. ‘It’s very frustrating. If what you say is true, we were both wrong. The poor chap must have been so confused. I wish he had confided in me. Or you.’

  ‘He confided in Kay,’ I said.

  ‘How do you know all this?’

  ‘I saw Kay recently. She’s moved to Berlin.’

  ‘I say,’ Dick said. ‘You never took her up on her offer, did you?’

  ‘To work for the Russians? Oh no, of course not. Although I did consider it back in Paris when I was so angry.’ I had no intention of telling Dick the truth: that I was working for the Russians and had been for three years. He didn’t need to know that; no one did.

  And I didn’t want to lose
him as a friend. If he hadn’t approved of Hugh becoming a spy, he certainly wouldn’t approve of me doing so too.

  ‘But you still see her?’

  ‘I like her,’ I said. ‘I was unsure of her at first, as you may remember. But in some ways she is a bit like me. And we both loved Hugh.’

  ‘Does she still think Hugh was killed by the British secret service?’

  ‘She does.’

  ‘Couldn’t it have been the Russians? I mean, if he changed his mind about spying for them . . .’

  ‘I know. I asked about that. But she insisted they didn’t.’

  ‘And you believe her?’

  ‘I think so. She was very frank with me about everything else. I think she would have told me.’

  The alternative was too horrible to contemplate. Not only that both Kay and Lothar had lied to me. Not only that I had spent three years spying for Russia on the assumption that my brother had too.

  But that I had spied for the man who had killed him.

  A man who was now dead. Shot by the people he worked for.

  I wanted to believe Kay. But how could I be certain she was telling me the truth this time?

  ‘Do you think it was just an accident after all?’ Dick said.

  ‘Maybe it was. I suppose I’ll never know for sure.’

  Dick shook his head. ‘This is all very messy. Poor Hugh.’

  ‘It is. I wish he were here so we could talk to him about it.’

  Dick nodded. ‘So do I.’

  * * *

  ‘Where are you staying?’ I asked after Dick had paid the bill.

  ‘A little hotel in Augsburger Strasse. I think it’s quite close.’

  ‘It is,’ I said. ‘Walking distance. I could walk with you. I’ve got a favour to ask.’

  ‘Certainly.’

  Dick had come to the Taverne straight from the station, so he retrieved his small suitcase from the cloakroom and we headed out into the night. It was spitting lightly, but the cool air felt good after the crowded restaurant.

  He lit his pipe. ‘What’s your favour?’

  ‘I have a message I would like you to deliver. To a man named Heaton-Smith. This is his number.’

  I reeled off the Sloane telephone number Heaton-Smith had given me in Paris, which I still remembered three years on.

  ‘Can you memorize that?’ I said. ‘Don’t write it down.’

  He repeated it a couple of times. In those days phone numbers were just the exchange plus four digits.

  ‘Make sure you speak to him face to face,’ I said.

  ‘And what do I tell him?’

  ‘Give him this.’ I handed Dick a sealed envelope.

  Dick looked at it. It was unaddressed.

  ‘Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, I might be searched.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘At the Dutch border. They didn’t search me coming into the country, but you never know. They may well know I spoke to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Perhaps you should just tell me what’s in it, and I can tell this Heaton-Smith?’

  I felt such an idiot. It was basic tradecraft. Three years of meeting with Lothar and now Kay should have made me more careful.

  ‘Of course. You’re right. Give me that back.’ Dick handed the envelope back to me and I stuffed it in my handbag.

  We were on a side street not far from Augsburger Strasse. ‘Slow down,’ I said. ‘And I’ll tell you. It’s about Russia. And Germany.’

  I repeated what Kurt had told me. I didn’t give Dick Kurt’s name, but I did tell him to let Heaton-Smith know my information came from the same source as Paris. Heaton-Smith would realize that meant Kurt.

  Dick listened closely, taking it all in. At the end, I asked him to repeat the telephone number, which he did correctly.

  ‘Why don’t you tell your husband?’ he asked. ‘Surely this is something he would be very interested in.’

  ‘Because he would have to tell the ambassador,’ I replied. ‘And Henderson will want to either suppress the information or pooh-pooh it, and Roland will have to follow his ambassador’s instructions. Whereas Heaton-Smith will know whom to tell who will actually do something. He has proved himself before.’

  We arrived at Dick’s hotel.

  I didn’t want to let him go. I was leading a ridiculous life with a husband whom I didn’t love and who had betrayed me horribly. I was betraying my own country for a group of people whom I had trusted and shouldn’t have.

  I still didn’t know what had happened to Hugh and why.

  There was no one I could trust. Kay perhaps, but who was to say that Kay wasn’t lying to me now?

  Just the tall man with the kind blue eyes standing in front of me now.

  I threw myself into his arms. He pulled me close and squeezed. It was immensely comforting.

  I looked up into his face, which was full of concern for me.

  I wanted to kiss him. But what if he rejected me? I couldn’t bear that. My life was too complicated as it was.

  So I pushed myself away from him, turned and walked rapidly up the street.

  It had felt so good, those few seconds when I had been enveloped in his arms. It was years since anyone had held me like that, and that had been Roland.

  I shuddered.

  Why should I let my marriage to Roland stop me from having the comfort I craved? Even the love I craved?

  Dick might reject me. But I would take the risk. I had to take the risk.

  I took several deep breaths and turned back towards the hotel.

  Three men in raincoats were walking purposefully into the building. I had been in Berlin long enough to know who they were.

  Gestapo.

  I stepped away from the yellow glow of the lamppost into the shadow of a doorway, and watched.

  A couple of minutes later, the three men appeared. One was carrying a suitcase, the other two leading someone between them. I couldn’t see clearly, but I could tell from his height and build and the shape of his hat who the man they were escorting was.

  Dick.

  Forty-Five

  I waved down a passing taxi and went straight home. Roland had gone to bed, but I woke him.

  ‘Emma! What’s the matter?’

  ‘It’s Dick. He’s been arrested.’

  ‘By the Gestapo?’

  ‘Looked like it. Men in raincoats.’

  ‘Did he see Bonhoeffer?’

  ‘Yes, he did.’

  Roland swung his legs out of bed and quickly flung on some clothes. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll sort it out.’

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse. Gestapo headquarters.’

  I changed into my pyjamas, but I couldn’t go to sleep. Usually it was the consul’s job to spring errant Englishmen from jail, not the first secretary’s, but I knew Roland was formidable with bureaucrats, even Nazi ones.

  But why had Dick been arrested? Presumably it had been because of his interview with the clergyman. Was there any way that the Gestapo could have suspected what I had told him about Kurt and the German talks with Russia? Were they on to Kurt too?

  If they had somehow got wind of that, then they would beat it out of Dick, or at least try to. I was confident Dick would keep quiet, at least for a while. Although the Gestapo’s interrogation methods were notorious in Germany, Dick was a British citizen, and Roland would be there to protect him.

  I was so glad that Dick had refused to accept the envelope I had thrust in his hands. Whatever reason the Gestapo had for arresting him, they would have been sure to read any correspondence on his person and to have been very interested in the contents. Not only that, but it would also have immediately condemned Dick as a spy. And me, for that matter.

  It had been about midnight when I returned home and woke Roland. It was four fifteen when the telephone rang.

  ‘It’s me,’ said Roland. He sounded exhausted.

  ‘How is he?’ I asked.

  ‘He’s all right. They haven’t to
uched him. I think they just wanted to put the wind up him for meeting Bonhoeffer. To discourage other English journalists from coming here and trying similar tricks. They didn’t expect anyone from the embassy to turn up so quickly.’

  ‘Have they released him?’

  ‘They will. I’m waiting for him now. Don’t worry – I won’t leave here without him. I’ve negotiated that we go straight to Zoo Station from here. I’ll put him on the train to the Hook of Holland.’

  ‘Thank God for that.’

  * * *

  Three days later, I received a telegram from Dick from London: FLOWERS DELIVERED SAFELY. PLS THK ROLAND. DICK.

  I thanked Roland.

  Two months after that, on 23 August, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed. Initially it seemed that the pact simply pledged that the Soviet Union and Germany would not attack each other. On 1 September, Germany invaded Poland. On 3 September, Britain and France declared war on Germany. On 4 September, Roland, Caroline, I and the rest of the embassy staff left Berlin by train to the Hague, and from there we were packed on to a boat to Gravesend and another train to Victoria.

  On 17 September, as anticipated in a secret protocol of the pact, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland and grabbed a large chunk of their territory. On 30 November Russia attacked Finland, and in June 1940 she invaded Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

  As Kurt had warned me, the Soviet Union had teamed up with the Nazis to carve up north-eastern Europe, and everything I had done for them over the last three years was betrayed.

  Forty-Six

  September 1939, London

  * * *

  Roland, Caroline and I took up residence in my family’s town house in Mayfair; Mama had scarpered to Devon. A heady mixture of fear, panic and excitement overcame London. The population was diligent in taping up windows, digging up parks, carrying around gas masks and preparing for the hail of bombs that never came. Children were carried off to the countryside and soldiers were transported in aimless circles around the country. Newspapers were read from cover to cover and every story was discussed at breakfast tables, St James’s clubs and pubs. The blackout was imposed and London’s first casualties of the war were sustained: cars pranged into lampposts and pedestrians flattened.