Brownlow sat back in his chair and genuflected. “An old work colleague, you say? What kind of work would that be, Mr Martineau?”
“We were wartime comrades of a sort.”
“And after the war?”
“We worked for the same department,” replied Martineau.
“In business?”
Martineau shook his head. “In government service. We were not in exactly the same department but rather at a tangent to each other.”
“I see,” said Brownlow, clearly unsure.
Martineau pushed forward. “Mr Brownlow, I am simply here to oversee the tidying up of affairs that may have related to Mr Dutton’s career and to help the police, if I can, with any… background knowledge.”
“But you can’t tell me which department that you… he… both of you worked for?” said Brownlow cautiously.
“I’m afraid I can’t,” said Martineau. “I’ve signe
