Best Kept Secret

surprised, she didn’t show it. ‘And I also want to
send him a letter at the same time.’
    He closed his eyes, clearly composing the letter in his mind.
    ‘Dear Don Pedro, I have great pleasure, no,
particular
pleasure, in enclosing an invitation to the embassy’s garden party, at which we will be particularly, no, no,
I’ve already used “particular”, especially honoured by the presence of Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret. New paragraph. As you will see, the invitation is for you and a
guest. Far be it from me to advise you, but if there are any English men on your staff who might be able to attend, I think Her Royal Highness would consider that appropriate. I look forward to
seeing you, yours etc. Did that sound pompous enough?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Miss Shaw with a nod. Harry kept his mouth shut.
    ‘And, Miss Shaw, I’ll sign it as soon as you’ve typed it, then I want you to arrange to have it and the invitation delivered to his office immediately, so it’s on his
desk before he arrives back tomorrow morning.’
    ‘What date should I put on it, sir?’
    ‘Good thinking,’ said the ambassador as he glanced at the calendar on his desk. ‘What date did your son leave England, Captain May?’
    ‘Monday June the tenth, sir.’
    The ambassador looked at the calendar once again. ‘Date it the seventh. We can always blame its late arrival on the postal service. Everyone else does.’ He didn’t speak again
until his secretary had left the room.
    ‘Now, Mr Clifton,’ he said, returning to his seat. ‘Let me tell you what I have in mind.’

    Harry didn’t actually witness Sebastian, accompanied by Martinez, coming down the gangway of the SS
South America
the following morning, but the
ambassador’s secretary did. She later delivered a note to Harry’s hotel, confirming that they had arrived and asking him to report to the embassy’s side entrance off Dr Luis Agote
at two o’clock the following afternoon, a full hour before the first guests were due to turn up for the garden party.
    Harry sat on the end of the bed, wondering if the ambassador would prove right when he’d said that Martinez would rise to the bait quicker than a salmon on the Tweed. The only time
he’d ever fished, the salmon had ignored him.

    ‘When did this invitation arrive?’ shouted Martinez, holding the gilt-edged card high in the air.
    ‘It was hand-delivered yesterday morning by a member of the ambassador’s personal staff,’ said his secretary.
    ‘Not like the British to send out an invitation that late,’ said Martinez suspiciously.
    ‘The ambassador’s personal secretary rang to apologize. She told me they hadn’t received replies to a number of the invitations that had been sent out by post, and assumed
they’d gone astray. In fact she said if you get another one in the mail, please ignore it.’
    ‘Damned postal service,’ said Martinez. He passed the invitation to his son, and began to read the ambassador’s letter.
    ‘As you can see from the card,’ said Martinez, ‘I can take a guest. Would you like to join me?’
    ‘You must be joking,’ said Diego. ‘I’d rather fall to my knees during high mass at the cathedral than be seen bowing and scraping at an English garden party.’
    ‘Then perhaps I’ll take young Sebastian with me. After all, he is the grandson of a lord, so there’s no harm in giving the impression that I’m well connected with the
British aristocracy.’
    ‘Where is the boy now?’
    ‘I’ve booked him into the Royal Hotel for a couple of days.’
    ‘What reason did you give for bringing him out here in the first place?’
    ‘I told him he could have a few days’ holiday in Buenos Aires before returning to England with a consignment I need delivered to Sotheby’s, for which he would be well
paid.’
    ‘Are you going to tell him what’s in the crate?’
    ‘Certainly not. The less he knows the better.’
    ‘Perhaps I ought to go with him, just to make sure there aren’t any slip-ups.’
    ‘No, that would defeat the whole purpose of the exercise. The boy will return to England on the
Queen Mary
, while we fly to London a few days later. That will allow him to slip
through the net while British customs concentrate their firepower on us. And we’ll still be in London well in time for the auction.’
    ‘Do you still want me to bid on your behalf?’
    ‘Yes. I can’t risk involving anyone outside the family.’
    ‘But isn’t it possible that