Vacuum by Bill James Page B

notes.
    â€˜He’d persist. That also is typical,’ Iles said.
    â€˜With finally the statement,’ Upton said, and read out: ‘“You’ve got a stipended voice that talks to you from inside our building, have you, Ralph?”’
    â€˜Stipended, yes,’ Iles said. ‘Harpur can come up with some quaint vocab. He’s more or less self-educated, and when the self is his kind of self there are going to be some odd results, aren’t there, sir?’
    â€˜What exactly did you mean, Mr Harpur?’ Upton replied.
    â€˜I’d assume he was suggesting some officer had been long-term bought by Ralph Ember and supplied him regularly with confidential material,’ Iles said.
    â€˜What exactly did you mean, Mr Harpur?’ Upton replied.
    â€˜Yes, as the Assistant Chief suggests,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜Someone bought?’ Upton said.
    â€˜Yes,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜This would be a grave offence, wouldn’t it? Perverting the course of justice,’ Upton said.
    â€˜Yes,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜Certainly,’ Iles said.
    â€˜You think money would be involved – bribery?’ Upton said.
    â€˜Almost definitely,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜Almost? There could be some other reason, in your view?’ Upton said.
    â€˜It’s possible,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜How would you intend to deal with the matter?’ Upton said.
    â€˜There must be inquiries,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜You have to identify this source,’ Upton said.
    â€˜Yes,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜This source had impeccable knowledge of our raid plans,’ Upton said.
    â€˜Clearly,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜Certainly,’ Iles said.
    â€˜That should limit the possibles,’ Upton said. ‘Someone exceptionally well placed.’
    â€˜Yes,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜It’s a situation putting a shadow on everyone who had pre-info on the raid, isn’t it, Mr Harpur?’ Upton said.
    â€˜It is,’ Harpur said.
    â€˜How do you feel about it, Mr Garland?’ Upton said.
    â€˜It is uncomfortable,’ Garland said.
    â€˜Desmond?’ Upton replied.
    â€˜Affronted,’ Iles said. ‘Utterly. It is contemptible behaviour.’
    â€˜You spoke of trying to lessen the shock for Ember in this early morning visit, but were you, yourself, shocked by his statement that he’d been expecting you?’ Upton said.
    â€˜Massively,’ Iles said.
    â€˜A very natural reaction, if I may say. Did you question him about it, in the way Mr Harpur did?’ Upton asked.
    â€˜People like Ember are unlikely to answer such a question – answer it truthfully,’ Iles said.
    â€˜Ah, we have that phrase again,’ Upton replied.
    â€˜Which phrase, sir?’ Iles said.
    â€˜â€œPeople like Ember”,’ the Chief said. ‘What are people like Ember like, in your opinion, Desmond?’
    Iles chuckled and gave the table a small blow with his fist. ‘It’s remarkable you should ask this, sir, because, as a matter of fact, Ember has a plaque on one of the gates at Low Pastures hinting at that very need, the need to define personality,’ he said. ‘Of course, you’ll recall it from your undergrad days at  . . . yes, your undergrad days: “ Mens cuiusque is est quisque .” Cicero being Mr Fucking Cleverclogs with all those Qs, but not clever enough. He tells us a man’s mind is what the man is, but he doesn’t tell us how to find out what a man’s mind might be up to.’
    â€˜You think Mr Harpur was wasting his efforts asking Ember how he knew everything about the operation?’ Upton replied.
    â€˜Col has his style of dealing with things,’ Iles said. ‘It’s more or less unarguable that he has had successes. And I stress the plural.’

SEVEN
    T here would be two more killings. Possibly, they proved Upton’s analysis of things right and Iles’s wrong. Or