Chapter 7 #3
Before this could be contested, I hastened to resume flogging O.
“You accuse me of deliberately withholding information, but when we’ve provided it, we’re dismissed.
Worse, your actions give us reason not to trust you.
After all, who was it that proposed the changes to crowd control procedures?
” I narrowed my eyes. “Who opened the door to the possibility of this incident occurring?”
O’s face flushed bright red.
“I imagine it was merely part of a system-wide policy evaluation,” Sturgis mediated, watching O closely.
“And how did you find out about it?” O charged, leaning forward. “This was privileged information. So who was your informant?”
“You’re deflecting,” I taunted. “But to answer, who said I knew anything beforehand?” I glanced at Sidney, hoping he would follow my lead and not give me away even though I was about to lie through my teeth.
“Truth be told, we thought some faction of the rebels might be in possession of the phosgene cylinders, and we had reason to believe a crowded event—like the vigil outside Mountjoy Jail before Mr. Barry’s execution—might be their target.
We nearly missed the implication of the gas cylinders loaded on those military lorries until it was too late.
It was after we noted the gas masks the soldiers were wearing that the horrible truth became clear. ”
“Just a moment,” Sturgis interrupted. “You suspected the rebels were in possession of the cylinders?” He gave Anderson a speaking look as I replied.
“Who else would we have suspected? We certainly didn’t expect it to be in the hands of our own military.
” I risked meeting Sidney’s gaze, finding him observing me in silent support, clearly deducing the aim of my misrepresentations.
“Frankly, I don’t understand how this could have happened.
Who supplied the cylinders that were supposed to be filled with lachrymatory gas?
Were they pulled from our own stock or was an outside company contracted for the job? ”
“Surely, if the military used an outside supplier, they were thoroughly vetted,” Sidney chimed in to say. “Especially since military intelligence knew about the missing phosgene cylinders and the very real possibility that they might have fallen into the hands of the IRA.”
O sat silently fuming. I hoped he’d grasped the implication that Ardmore’s magnanimous gesture, allowing him to take credit for the suggested implementation of tear gas, had not been magnanimous after all, but quite devious.
“We don’t know,” Anderson said, speaking for the first time in some minutes. “But the matter will be thoroughly investigated.” His gaze landed firmly on O. “Including how the rebels came to know about the change in crowd control procedures in the first place.”
“Obviously an informant within the Castle,” O snarled. “Collins, the bloody menace, has them everywhere.” He uncrossed and recrossed his legs in the opposite direction. “One of my clerks has been acting suspicious. We should start with him.”
My stomach dipped in alarm, for I knew the man he was likely speaking of.
Nancy had mentioned he was sweet on her and that she might be able to inveigle some information out of him.
Considering the fact that she was the person we’d learned about the change in procedures from, I couldn’t help but worry she’d been indiscreet and that the clerk might point O in her direction.
But Sidney came to the rescue once again with a bit of timely redirection. “You still think it was the rebels who were responsible?”
All three men turned to look at him, if not in surprise, then wariness, but it was Sturgis who voiced the question. “Who else could it possibly be?”
“Someone who wants to sow discord, either for their own purposes or another reason still undetermined,” Sidney said.
“I understand you’ve already identified a suspect, and he has no connection to the rebels. Rather he’s with Naval Intelligence.” Sidney had evidently not heard this bit of information I’d learned from Ardmore, so I confirmed. “Willoughby.”
His reaction was as satisfyingly caustic as I imagined mine had been.
“Formerly with Naval Intelligence,” O corrected.
“Right,” I agreed readily. “He resigned to work for Lord Ardmore, did he not?”
“Yes, the odd bit of intelligence work and assassination,” Sidney added conversationally, before turning to me.
“Threatened us a time or two. Especially when we discovered he had links to that weapons manufacturer up north near Collinstown Aerodrome. The one that, strangely, has no working factory.”
“The one owned by an alias linked to Lord Ardmore.” I gasped, my eyes mock widening.
“Oh, wait! That wouldn’t be the company the military contracted to supply tear gas, would it?
” The very fact that Wick had been able to ferret out the connection between the alias and Ardmore and yet our own intelligence service had not, irked me.
But perhaps they hadn’t known what they were looking for.
Maybe now that they did, they would find the connection just as easily.
All three of the other men were now eyeing each other as Sidney continued driving the matter home. “Perhaps it was Ardmore himself who recommended his company to you during one of the meetings he’s bragged he’s had with you, Colonel Winter. He makes it appear like the pair of you are quite cozy.”