House of Cards (37 page)
'Silly
me
’
said
Mattie.
I'm
getting
slow
in
my
old
age. Can't
decipher
the
code.
Which
Cabinet
Minister
is
supposed
to
be
responsible
for
environmental
matters,
and therefore
responsible
for
this
mess?'
The
public
fight
to
eliminate
Michael
Samuel
had
begun.
WEDNESDAY 3
rd
NOVEMBER
Mattie
tried
many
times
during
the
following
week
to
get hold
of
Kevin
Spence,
but
he
was
never
available.
In
spite
of the
repeated
assurances
of
his
gushingly
polite
secretary, Mattie
knew
that
he
was
deliberately
avoiding
her.
He
was therefore
not
at
all
pleased
when,
in
some
desperation,
she called
very
late
on
Wednesday
evening
and
was
put straight
through
to
his
extension
by
the
night
security guard.
'No,
of
course
I
haven't
been
avoiding
you
’
he
assured her,
'but
I
have
been
very
busy.
Working
very
late.'
'Kevin,
I
need
your
help
again.'
‘I
remember
the
last
time
I
gave
you
my
help.
You
said you
were
going
to
write
a
piece
on
opinion
polls
and
then you
wrote
a
story
slandering
the
Prime
Minister.
Now
he's gone.'
He
spoke
with
a
quiet
sadness.
'He
was
always
very decent
to
me,
very
kind,
and
I
think
the
press
have
been unspeakably
cruel.'
'Kevin,
I
give
you
my
word
that
I
was
not
responsible
for that
story.
You
may
have
noticed
that
my
name
was
not
on the
article,
and
I
was
even
more
displeased
about
it
than you.
It's
about
Mr
Collingridge's
resignation
that
I'm
calling.
Personally,
I
don't
believe
the
allegations
which
are being
made
against
him
and
his
brother.
I
would
like
to
be able
to
clear
his
name.'
‘I
can't
see
how
I
could
assist
you,'
he
said
in
a
distrusting tone.
'Anyway,
I'm
afraid
that
nobody
outside
the
press office
is
allowed
to
have
contact
with
the
media
during
the leadership
campaign.
Chairman's
strictest
orders.'
'Kevin,
there's
a
lot
at
stake
here.
Not
only
the
leadership, of
the
Party,
and
whether
you
are
going
to
win
the
next election
or
not,
but
also
whether
history
is
going
to
regard Henry
Collingridge
as
a
crook
and
a
cheat
or
whether
he
is going
to
have
a
chance
to
put
the
record
straight.
Don't
we owe
him
that?'
He
thought
about
it
for
a
second,
and
she
heard
his hostility
slowly
melting.
If
I
could
help,
what
would
you
want?'
'Very
simply,
do
you
understand
the
computer
system
at party
headquarters?'
'Yes,
of
course.
I
use
it
all
the
time
to
help
analyse opinion
research.
I've
got
a
screen
in
front
of
me
which
is linked
directly
to
our
main
frame.'
‘I
think
your
computer
system
has
been
tampered
with. Will
you
let
me
see
it?'
Tampered
with?
That's
impossible.
We
have
the
highest security.
Nobody
from
outside
can
access
it.'
'Not
outside,
Kevin.
Inside.'
There
was
a
stunned
silence
from
the
other
end
of
the phone.
I'm
working
at
the
House
of
Commons.
I
can
be
with you
in
less
than
ten
minutes,
and
I
suspect
at
this
time
of night
the
building
is
very
quiet.
No
one
will
notice.
Kevin, I'm
on
my
way
over.'
Before
he
could
mutter
a
flustered
few
words
of
protest, the
phone
went
dead
as
he
held
it.
Mattie
was
with
him
less than
seven
minutes
later.
They
sat
in
his
small
garret
office,
dominated
by
the mountains
of
files
which
tumbled
over
every
available
fiat surface
and
onto
the
floor,
with
their
attention
fixed
rigidly on
the
glowing
green
screen
in
front
of
them.
'Kevin,
Charles
Collingridge
ordered
material
from
the Party's
sales
and
literature
service
and
asked
them
to
be delivered
to
an
address
in
Paddington.
Right?
’
'Correct.
I
checked
it
as
soon
as
I
heard,
but
it's
there
all right.
Look.'
He
tapped
a
few
characters
on
the
keyboard,
and
up
came the
incriminating
evidence
on
the
screen.
'Chas
Collingridge
Esq
216
Praed
St
Paddington
London
W2
—
001
A
’
01.0091.'
'What
do
these
other
hieroglyphics
mean?'
'The
first
set
simply
means
that
he
subscribes
to
our comprehensive
literature
service
and
the
second
that
his subscription
has
been
fully
paid
from
the
beginning
of
the year.
If
he
wanted
to
receive
only
the
main
publications,
or was
a
member
of
our
specialist
book
club
or
one
of
our other
marketing
programmes,
that
would
be
shown
by
a different
set
of
reference
numbers.
Also
if
he
were
behind with
his
subscription
payments.'