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There was another reason to suspect Sofia. If Markov had in fact been jabbed by a poison-tipped or poison-firing umbrella—or had been shot with a pellet gun by a man holding an umbrella—only a security service would probably have such sophisticated gadgetry at hand. Today's secret agents and hit men have access to numerous James Bondian devices that can make murder look like natural death —poison delivered by aerosol spray, tiny darts fired from pens or cigarette boxes. In the late '50s a KGB agent killed two Ukrainian exile leaders in Germany by squirting prussic acid into their faces from a fountain pen; the symptoms made it appear that the men had died of simple heart attacks.
During the past year, Bulgaria's President Todor Zhivkov has been trying to improve relations with the West. Bulgaria claims that Markov and Simeonov were liquidated by Western intelligence services seeking to besmirch the country's image. To lend credence to that pitch, the regime offered to help British authorities dealing with the case. It was an offer the British just might be able to refuse.