Chapter 32
Henry went to see what he could find out about the train, and I went to find Lara.
I actually didn’t have to go very far, because when I left the embassy to walk down the hill to the bar or the bookshop, she was on her way up.
Her face was like thunder.
‘What on earth is going on?’ she said as she approached. ‘This is an enormous mess. Bea’s frantic about her friend Frances. I can’t believe this is all because of that sodding Parrish? Is this all him? Just a tiny man making a huge impact?’
‘It seems to be,’ I said. ‘It’s too much of a coincidence otherwise. He told the Nazis about Frances helping airmen and now this has happened.’
‘So it’s all true? It’s true that no one knows where Frances is?’
I made a face.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘And no.’
Lara stopped walking and glared at me, hands on her hips.
‘What the bloody hell do you mean by that?’
I looked round. We were on a quiet street, but we were still in public. ‘Not here,’ I said. ‘Come to the embassy.’
Together we went back up the hill and headed to the office. Henry was still away somewhere talking to someone, so I shut the door and pulled down the blinds.
‘Start talking,’ said Lara who was still being quite fierce. I must have looked alarmed because she immediately softened. ‘I’m not cross with you,’ she said. ‘Just this whole thing.’ She waved her arm in a way that meant Parrish, the PVDE, the Nazis, war … ‘It’s all just awful.’
‘Frances is still in Paris,’ I said. ‘She may even still be in the library.’
‘Surely they’ve looked there?’ Lara frowned.
‘There must be somewhere they’ve not looked, because the sleeper agent has arrived from Paris and he said she’s hiding.’ I explained about Marcus turning up and outlined what he had told us.
‘Where’s this Marcus now?’
‘He’s gone to hospital.’ I grimaced. ‘He’s in a bad way, Lara. I’m not sure he’ll make it to tomorrow.’
‘Bugger.’ She sighed. ‘And that’s all he said, that she was in the library?’
‘He didn’t even say that really. Not in so many words.’
‘So, what’s happening? Are they going to send someone to look for her?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘And no.’
‘You’re going to have to stop saying that because it is really sodding annoying,’ said Lara.
‘Before Marcus arrived, Henry and I asked if we could go to Paris, but Digby said no.’
‘Typical Digby,’ Lara said. ‘But someone’s going?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘We are.’
‘Of course.’ Lara nodded in approval. ‘Wait, when you say “we”, is that you and me?’
‘No, we as in Henry and me,’ I said.
‘Sod that.’ Lara sounded outraged. ‘If you’re going to Paris, I’m coming too.’
I looked at her and she looked back at me, chin lifted, and I gave in immediately. ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘We might need you actually.’
She smiled, as though she’d known all along she’d be needed. ‘Digby doesn’t know?’
‘No.’
‘Right.’
‘Still want to come?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘How will we get there?’
‘Henry’s gone to see if there’s a train,’ I said. ‘Apparently the SudExpress still runs every now and then.’
‘That’s true, it does,’ Lara said. ‘Bea talks about it. It’s operated by the Nazis now, so refugees can’t travel that way anymore. It’s too risky.’
‘Can you remember how often it comes?’
Lara thought about it. ‘Maybe about once a month. I remember it last came before the storm.’
‘So hopefully there’s one due soon?’ I said, gesturing with crossed fingers. ‘If there’s one in the next couple of days, we can get to Paris much faster than if we try to go another way.’
‘What about Archie? Where is he? Is he coming?’
I’d half-hoped she wouldn’t ask about Archie, and half-hoped she would. I was desperate to talk about him and also didn’t want to mention his name.
Now I made a face. ‘Digby says he’s on his way back to Lisbon, but if he’s not back before we go, we can’t hang about.’
I allowed myself a tiny daydream about coming back from Paris, having triumphantly rescued Frances Reed, and found Marcus’s books …
‘Are we going to need to travel on false papers?’ Lara asked, bringing me back down to earth.
‘We are.’
‘So shall we get cracking on the plans, then?’ said Lara. Her eyes gleamed. ‘Is it like the casino?’
I opened my mouth to reply and she jumped in: ‘Do not say “yes and no”.’
I laughed. ‘It’s a bit like the casino,’ I said. ‘But then we had the whole department behind us. This time it’s just us.’
‘And we definitely need false papers?’
‘Yes, because the people who travel on the SudExpress – especially now when it only runs occasionally – are the sort of people who can buy themselves safe passage across occupied Europe.’
Lara nodded. ‘So we need to become people like that?’
‘Exactly.’
‘And how will we get these papers?’
‘I’m hoping Edith will help us.’ I sighed. ‘But we can’t really ask her until we know if there’s a train.’
‘Did Henry say how long he’d be?’
‘I’m not absolutely sure where he’s gone, to be honest,’ I admitted. ‘He said he knew people at the railway station.’
‘Bless him,’ said Lara. ‘Henry’s such a sweetheart.’
The man himself appeared in the doorway. ‘Are my ears burning?’
Lara laughed. ‘We were wondering where you’d got to.’
‘Any luck?’ I asked.
‘I’ve had a lot of luck,’ said Henry. He looked a little dishevelled and sweaty but he was grinning proudly. ‘There’s a train leaving Lisbon tonight.’
‘Tonight?’ I was pleased but also daunted. ‘What time?’
‘Departing Lisbon at nine o’clock.’
‘Oh god, that only gives us about ten hours to get sorted,’ I said, checking my watch.
‘No one knows when the next train after that will be,’ Henry warned. ‘If we want to go by train then we go tonight or not at all.’
‘Tonight,’ said Lara.
‘Absolutely.’ My stomach fluttered with nerves and excitement and relief that we were going to go and put right – hopefully – what had gone so very wrong. ‘What about coming back to Lisbon? We don’t want to end up stuck in Paris.’
‘There’s a return train leaving Paris at nine o’clock on Friday morning,’ he said. ‘That gives us just under a whole day and night to find Frances.’
‘That’s enough time,’ I said, confidently. ‘What do we need to do, Henry?’
‘I’ve reserved two tickets but they won’t hold them all day,’ he said.
‘We need three,’ Lara corrected. ‘I’m coming.’
Henry nodded as though that wasn’t a surprise. ‘Then we need to be even faster. We have to come up with those names as quick as we can.’
‘Characters,’ said Lara.
Henry blinked at her. ‘Pardon?’
‘Not just names,’ she said. ‘We need characters. We can’t travel under the papers belonging to Lady Penelope Potato and then talk like we’re plain old Lara Hope from the Tram Stop Bookshop.’
I chuckled at the thought, while Henry simply looked a little bewildered. ‘Penelope …’
‘Potato,’ I said. ‘It’s Lara’s default name for anyone a bit posh.’
Henry gave a small, confused laugh. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Good. So we need characters.’
‘Ideally we’d have backstories, paperwork, someone in London to verify us,’ I said. ‘But none of that’s going to happen in ten hours.’
‘Especially not if Digby doesn’t know about it,’ Lara pointed out.
‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘So we need to come up with plausible names and backstories ourselves.’
Lara slid off her chair and stood up. ‘Allow me,’ she said.
‘She’s good at this,’ I told Henry.
Lara was gazing at Henry thoughtfully. ‘You’re Welsh?’ she said.
‘I am.’
‘Do you speak Welsh?’
‘I do.’
‘Brilliant. Is there a middling sort of aristocrat whose title you can borrow?’
‘Hughes is actually a noble Welsh name,’ said Henry.
I shook my head. ‘Hughes is your real name, and it doesn’t sound noble.’
‘Fine,’ said Henry. ‘If a little rude.’
I chuckled.
‘There are quite a few barons,’ said Henry. ‘I could be one of those. And Morgan is a good, strong noble surname.’
‘Good,’ said Lara. ‘Let’s go with some Welsh first name …’
‘My father is Rhodri,’ said Henry.
‘Excellent. Baron Rhodri Morgan it is.’ Lara picked up a piece of paper and a pen, and gave them to Henry.
‘Now sit down and write everything you can think of about Rhodri. Where does he live, is he married, does he have children … everything. And most importantly, why is he travelling between Lisbon and Paris?’
I was thinking hard. ‘Being Welsh is convincing because Henry’s got the background, but we need to come up with some Nazi connections,’ I said. ‘No one else in their right minds would be travelling to Paris.’
‘That’s true,’ said Henry.
‘What about that prince, the one who’s a German duke?’ Lara said.
I screwed my nose up. ‘Charles Edward?’ I said. ‘I think he’s too close. They could check that.’
‘We could use the Duke of Windsor again,’ she suggested. ‘Or Moseley? The Mitfords?’
‘Yes, that sort of thing would be safer,’ I said. ‘Lara, you’re good at accents – how about you’re German–American, travelling back to Britain with your Welsh husband. Your German skills will help, too.’
‘Right,’ said Lara, nodding. ‘I could be Adolfa …’
‘No,’ I said. I loved Lara’s clowning, but we had so little time, today was not the day for it. ‘Ada works though.’
‘Baroness Ada Morgan? Is that what the wife of a baron is called?’
‘I think so?’ said Henry. ‘But I think they’re called Lord and Lady when you talk directly to them.’
‘As long as I live I will never understand the aristocracy,’ said Lara.
‘Well, Ada, you don’t have to,’ I said with a grin. ‘Because you are American and they are known to be dreadfully ignorant of the class system.’
‘Good for them,’ said Lara in a very convincing American accent. ‘Who are you?’
‘Erm, your companion?’ I said. ‘Friend? Sister?’
‘Sister, could work,’ Lara said. ‘Maybe half-sister, to account for the age difference.’
Henry stifled a chuckle and I glared at him.
‘And your German is better than mine,’ Lara pointed out. ‘You can be from the German side – that will help.’
‘You’re right, actually. I could be …’ I thought about it. ‘Marta?’
‘Perfect.’ Lara looked pleased. ‘Marta …’ She looked round for inspiration and then she grinned. ‘Bucher.’
‘Fine,’ I said. I studied Henry. ‘Can you get into Archie’s apartment? I think you should borrow one of his suits. You are always nicely dressed, but his clothes look more expensive than yours.’
Henry tutted but he nodded. ‘And we can just slick down your hair and you’ll look different,’ I added.
‘Your hairstyle is quite memorable,’ Lara said, looking at my straight hair critically. ‘Because everyone has curls now.’
‘My hair does not like to curl,’ I said. ‘It will not curl. Believe me, I’ve tried.’
‘We’ll find you a wig. It only has to convince a few people for a few hours. I’ll tie mine back in a bun – that always makes me look much older.’
‘Old enough to pass as my sister,’ I said, slightly barbed, and Lara grinned.
‘Right, we need to find Edith and get these papers started before we do anything else.’ I clapped my hands.
‘What will we do? Will we need German passports? Or American?’ asked Lara, looking worried. ‘I’m not sure even Edith can find one of those.’
Henry shook his head. ‘We can get British Certificates of Travel issued from the embassy,’ he said. ‘They wouldn’t work if we wanted to go to Germany, but they’ll get us to Paris.’
We all looked at one another. ‘This is very dangerous,’ I said. ‘Even with Ada, Marta and Rhodri’s identities, it’s risky. If either of you have any doubts, now is the time to share them.’
‘No doubts,’ said Henry. ‘We are doing the right thing.’
‘Me neither,’ said Lara.
‘Okay,’ I said, taking a deep breath. ‘Henry, you get the tickets in our new names. I’ll go and speak to Edith, and Lara, can you get clothes and makeup? And pack a couple of suitcases? We’re not staying obviously but we’ll look awfully suspicious if we travel without luggage.’
‘Righto,’ said Henry, as Lara said: ‘Leave it to me.’
‘Great.’ I looked at them both. ‘Then we’re all set. Let’s go.’