‘And the Soveyemka newspaper article that named the Soviet spies operating in England,’ replied Abby quickly.
Rosamund let out a snort.
‘Propaganda.’
Abby softened her tone of voice.
‘But why would Alexei lie about it? He’s an old man without an agenda.’
‘People like Gorshkov always have an agenda,’ said Ros quietly.
She opened her handbag and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Abby.
‘I loved Dominic. I don’t believe he would have betrayed his country. But I’m not the only one. Read this,’ she said.
Glancing quizzically at Rosamund, Abby pulled out a small white postcard, the sort you could get in any post office. Written in small black letters were the words Trust Dominic.
‘Who sent this?’ she asked.
‘No idea,’ replied Rosamund. ‘It arrived yesterday. First-class stamp, central London postmark. I assume someone read the Chronicle at the weekend and posted this sometime on Monday. Although look, my address seems to have been written in different handwriting to the postcard.’
Abby looked up. Ros’s expression was animated, resolute.
‘Trust Dominic. What do you think it means?’ she asked, handing back the card.
‘That he was innocent,’ said Rosamund with passion. Abby noticed that she had clenched her fist.
‘Or that whoever sent it believes he was innocent.’ Abby’s mind was whirling.
Rosamund gave her a stern look.
‘Whose word do we really have that Dominic was a KGB spy? Gorshkov’s? He admits he wasn’t Dominic’s spymaster.’
‘But he knew him. Apparently the spymaster died over ten years ago, and that’s why we couldn’t speak to him.’
‘That’s convenient.’
Abby let her shoulders slump. She knew how desperately Rosamund wanted Dominic to be innocent of the charges he was posthumously facing, but she was growing frustrated that she refused to see the facts.
‘Ros, I know Elliot’s story was sensationalist and perhaps he didn’t speak to enough people—’
‘You can say that again,’ said Rosamund over the top of her. ‘Journalism was a whole different ball game in my day. Things had to be corroborated and re-corroborated. Nowadays any old source can give you a nod and a wink and it passes for investigative journalism.’
She sighed and looked at the envelope.
‘I always trusted Dominic,’ she whispered. ‘He was no traitor. He was a good, good man.’
Abby wanted Dominic to be innocent too. Just as she had hoped that when Nick had told her about his infidelity, it had all been an unpleasant joke. Like Ros, she had believed in the man she loved, right up until the moment that tears had welled in her husband’s eyes and she had seen the guilt in his expression.
‘What do you want me to do, Ros? Why are you showing me this? As you said yourself, the story has run, the damage has been done.’
‘We have to find out what this means,’ Ros said, her voice going up a notch. ‘Dominic is innocent and I want you to help me prove it.’
‘Me?’
‘Don’t worry, I will pay you.’
‘How can I help you?’ said Abby desperately. ‘I’m an archive assistant, not a bloody detective. I have a divorce to sort out, a job to salvage . . . I want to help you, and that message you’ve been sent is definitely intriguing but what can I do?’