Chapter Eight #3
‘Now, you listen to me, Tony,’ she said. ‘We have had many men as clients at The Right Sort who were injured by the war. You are not even the first burn victim. There are women among our clientele who look past mere appearances, and we have made successful matches with them.’
‘Is Miss Lowle one of these superior women?’ he asked.
‘It remains to be seen,’ said Sparks. ‘If she isn’t, I will make every effort to find you one who is. But she did ask to see you, already knowing this happened.’
‘She does like to take the initiative,’ he said. ‘Tell her I’m not ready yet, but to be patient and wait for me. Tell her I need time to get my hair done and pick out a hat that will match this outfit.’
‘I will,’ promised Sparks, laughing. ‘And I know you’re going to recover because your sense of humour is still intact.’
He laughed briefly, which triggered a sudden coughing fit, which in turn must have caused him pain, for she could see tears running from his eyes, dampening the bandages.
‘You poor thing,’ she whispered. ‘Who did this to you? Tell me, so I can hunt him down myself.’
‘Will you? Have you become an avenging angel in your spare time, Sparks?’
‘A girl needs a hobby,’ she said. ‘Any ideas?’
‘None,’ he said. ‘It’s all so bizarre. I survived Spain, I survived the world war, and I survived what I did in China, then I finally make it back to the peace and safety of London, and this happens.’
‘I was wondering, and this will sound far-fetched …’
‘What, Sparks?’
‘Do you think it might have anything to do with what happened to Sauce back in Cambridge? Someone else’s avenging angel, perhaps.’
He went silent. She waited.
‘Oddly enough, that whole sad tale has been preying on my mind since I woke up here,’ he said finally.
‘Why?’
‘I keep thinking about poor old Catey,’ he said. ‘He never really cared about the cause. He liked being rich. But he thought Spain would be some glorious adventure, maybe with a chance to redeem his soul.’
‘So he thought he needed redemption,’ she said. ‘Do you think he found it in the end?’
‘I know you’re no believer, Sparks,’ said Tony.
‘But Catey— after Sauce drowned, he started quoting all the sermons from his childhood that he used to make fun of. The ones promising everlasting hellfire. When I suggested joining the fight, he jumped at it. Yet in the end, the fire found him anyway.’
‘Excuse me, miss,’ said a nurse standing at the door. ‘We have to take him for another treatment.’
‘I’ll come back tomorrow,’ said Sparks, patting his hand.
When she emerged from the lift, she saw the Brigadier’s man in the reception area.
He was wearing a hospital porter’s outfit this time, but made no attempt to conceal himself, nodding as she noticed him.
She raised an eyebrow in response, and he jerked his head over to a row of telephone boxes. She followed him.
‘No kissing this time,’ she said.
‘I imagine that would have been fairly painful for him,’ he commented as he stepped into one of the boxes. ‘I’m here to make sure you report right away.’
He dropped a coin into the slot, then dialled a number, using his body to conceal the telephone from her as he did so. He waited for it to ring. A voice answered at the other end.
‘I have her with me, sir,’ he said. ‘I’m putting her on now.’
He stepped out of the box and handed her the telephone. She stepped inside and closed the folding door. He walked away as she did.
‘Sparks here,’ she said.
‘Did he agree to Miss Lowle’s visit?’ the Brigadier asked immediately.
‘Not yet,’ said Sparks. ‘I did broach the subject, but he’s in fairly bad shape at the moment. He wants a few days before he sees her.’
‘A pity,’ said the Brigadier. ‘Morphine can be very helpful in these situations. Did he say anything else useful?’
‘No. He doesn’t have any idea about who did this. Sir, if we didn’t do it, then maybe someone from the other side did, which would mean Tony isn’t working for them. Have you considered that?’
‘Of course, I have,’ said the Brigadier. ‘Why do you think I stationed a man in the hospital?’
‘Am I supposed to believe that’s for his protection, not to see who might try to contact him?’
‘It’s for both,’ said the Brigadier. ‘Another possibility to be considered is that Danforth had been a double agent, but quit. They might consider him either a loose end or a loose cannon.’
‘Then wouldn’t he come to us to tell us?’
‘And risk life in prison? Hardly.’
‘He could trade information for his safety.’
‘We would be amenable to that discussion, Sparks,’ said the Brigadier. ‘But I still think he’s in league with them. Now more than ever.’
‘Why so?’
‘We found some coded messages in his flat,’ said the Brigadier.
‘Not in his handwriting. Our cypher team is going at them, but it appears to be a book code, and those are difficult to crack without the source. Miss Lowle suggested we try the copy of Thucydides that he purchased at Maggs Brothers, which was a smart idea, but it wasn’t that, nor was it the language book he bought with it.
Even so, there’s no good reason for him to be in possession of those messages. ’
‘Won’t he notice they’re missing when he gets out?’
‘We don’t anticipate his release from medical treatment for some time, Sparks. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meanwhile, will you be visiting him again?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Get him to agree to Miss Lowle’s visit.’
‘I’ll do my best, sir.’
He hung up.
He never asked me to try and get the information from him, she thought.
He doesn’t trust me. Or he thinks I’m compromised.
Maybe I am.
She rang her office.
‘Saundra, it’s Iris,’ she said. ‘Could you put Gwen on?’
A moment later, her partner came on the line.
‘How is Tony?’ she asked.
‘In bad shape,’ said Iris. ‘Not at death’s door, but down the hall from it.’
‘I’m so sorry, Iris,’ said Gwen. ‘How are you doing?’
‘Distraught, aggravated, guilt-ridden – any number of horrible feelings jumbled together.’
‘Is your head clear enough to investigate this?’
‘I’ll meet you at Marble Arch in twenty,’ said Iris. ‘We can take the bus to Holland Park from there.’
‘On my way,’ said Gwen.