Chapter 24 Cassie
Cassie
Lisbon
Lisbon was being battered by a summer storm. The rain was lashing down; water pouring along the streets making rivers flow down all the hills.
I was quite glad to have the distraction of some spectacular lightning, because even though Archie had told me he would take care of Parrish, and that I wasn’t to worry, I was worrying.
There had been no sign of Archie, nor of Henry, all morning.
I wondered if they were dealing with Parrish, or if they were just hiding from the rain.
Mind you, Henry was Welsh. Didn’t it rain all the time in Wales?
Surely he’d be used to it. And Archie was Scottish.
Scotland definitely got more than its fair share of rain. It seemed a very poor excuse.
I spent the morning working on some plans. I ate a listless lunch with Penny, and then I climbed the stairs back to the office wearily, listening to the rain battering the glass dome above my head, and wondering if everything had gone wrong.
Just as I reached the first floor, I heard familiar voices, down below.
I leaned over the banister and saw Archie and Henry in the corridor. They were standing at either side of the hall like palace guards. And walking in between them, holding a cardboard box of his possessions, was Parrish.
As if he could hear my thoughts, Archie looked up at me and waved.
I drew back in case Parrish looked up too.
But he didn’t. His jaw was set with tension and he stared straight ahead.
As he walked past, Archie and Henry followed.
But instead of going to the front door of the embassy as I expected, they went to the right, where the tiled stairs to the basement led.
‘What on earth …’ I muttered. What was going on?
I paced around the office, until a few minutes later they arrived. Henry was flushed and looked a little more dishevelled than usual. Archie was calm.
‘Morning,’ he said. ‘Steven Parrish has gone.’
‘It’s the afternoon,’ I pointed out. ‘But where has he gone? I thought you were going to send him back to London.’
‘Ah,’ said Archie. ‘Small hiccup there.’
‘What kind of hiccup?’ I wasn’t amused.
‘All the flights are grounded because of the storm. All day today, tomorrow too and there’s bound to be a backlog after that. He’s not going anywhere for a while.’
‘So you’ve locked Parrish in the basement?’
Archie chuckled. ‘More or less. We’ve found a new role for him.’
‘What kind of role?’
‘Very specific to his skills. No one else was up to the job,’ Archie said with a grin. ‘Filing journals in the basement.’
‘Is that enough?’ I said. ‘Shouldn’t we at least suspend him or something?’
‘I’d rather he was where I can keep an eye on him,’ Archie said. ‘He’s fine in the basement for now.’
‘Where there are no windows,’ Henry added with a certain amount of glee. ‘And no access to visa applications.’
I glanced at Archie. ‘He knows?’
‘He does.’
‘It’s a good thing you’re doing,’ Henry said. ‘Absolutely bonkers to do it unofficially, mind you. But a good thing.’
Despite myself I laughed.
‘Goodness, remind me not to get on the wrong side of you two,’ I said.
‘Never,’ said Archie. He gave me a broad smile, and I found myself beaming back at him.
‘What’s next on the list then?’ said Henry, regarding me with something like amusement.
Feeling flustered suddenly, I leafed through the paperwork on my desk. ‘I’ve been doing some sums. Working out how many Peacock books we can take.’
‘Did you get an answer?’ Archie asked.
‘It’s a lot.’ I smiled. ‘They don’t seem fazed by the numbers involved, though. They’re very keen to help.’
‘Excellent,’ said Archie.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked.
‘I’ve got a meeting with one of the chaps from London,’ said Archie. ‘Frightful bore. Talks about himself constantly.’
‘Do you need me?’ Henry asked.
‘Only if you want to come.’
‘I might head off,’ Henry said. ‘I’ve just moved into a new apartment and there are boxes everywhere.’
‘Go ahead,’ said Archie. ‘Shall we reconvene first thing tomorrow?’
I eyed him sternly. ‘And by first thing you mean …’
‘Ten-ish?’
‘Fine.’ I chuckled. Which was very unlike me. I prided myself on good timekeeping usually.
A knock on the door made us all look round and there stood Digby, a puzzled look on his face.
‘Ah yes,’ said Archie. ‘I was going to warn you. I thought we should tell Digby what you’re up to.’
Digby looked at me through narrowed eyes.
‘Cassandra?’
‘Hello,’ I said lightly. ‘Come in. Have a seat.’
Digby came into the office, but he didn’t sit down. He loomed over my desk and I slunk into my chair.
‘What’s going on?’ Digby said.
‘Well,’ I began. ‘Well …’
‘We’ve been working on a little side project,’ said Archie. ‘Making the most of the marvellous team you’ve got here in the embassy.’
‘Doing what?’ asked Digby. He crossed his arms.
‘Processing visas,’ I said quickly. ‘Helping Edith Johns get through them more quickly. Finding sponsors for applicants. We wanted to help get some people to Britain.’
‘We’ve been calling in favours,’ said Archie and I felt a rush of gratitude that he’d said ‘we’.
‘My parents have got all their friends offering jobs, or sponsorship,’ I said. ‘It’s been lovely for them, actually, a real distraction.’
‘I can imagine,’ said Digby. He looked relieved, as though whatever he’d imagined I was doing had been much worse.
‘And Lara and Bea, they’ve been helping.’
‘Of course they have,’ muttered Digby.
‘Then there’s Hector. And Edith’s sister in Oxford. She’s found lots of jobs for refugees.’
‘Good,’ said Digby. ‘Very admirable.’
A gust of wind whipped the rain against the windows and we all jumped.
‘We’ve made great strides with the books,’ I said, wanting to change the subject before Digby asked any awkward questions about the job offers or the sponsors. ‘The library in Paris is going to help distribute and Peacock Books are falling over themselves to help.’
‘Excellent,’ said Digby. ‘I’ll let you all get on.’
He turned to leave, then paused. ‘Valentine,’ he said. ‘I meant to ask – there seems to be a disgruntled chap working on filing in the basement archives. I asked him to fetch me something and he was almost rude. Certainly surly.’
‘He’s been causing some issues,’ Archie said to Digby. ‘Let me walk back to your office with you and I’ll explain.’
The two men left the room, leaving Henry and me.
There was a pause. Henry loosened his collar.
‘Digby didn’t seem to mind,’ he said. ‘About the visas?’
I made a face. ‘As long as he doesn’t get wind that the sponsors and job offers might not be completely legitimate. And we’re the only ones who know that, so how would he?’
The unspoken truth that Parrish also knew hung heavily between us.
‘Right.’ Henry sounded uncertain. ‘Well, that’s a relief seeing as I’m involved now.’
‘Oh, you’re involved all right,’ I said. ‘So shall we get on?’
Digby didn’t just give us his approval for the visa project.
He went even better. I came into the embassy early the next day – when it was still raining and everyone in Lisbon was rather grumpy about it – and found Edith already bashing away at a typewriter in clerical, looking quite pleased with herself.
‘You’re here very early,’ I said in astonishment.
‘I wanted to get on while it’s quiet,’ Edith said. ‘But there’s good news: Digby says we can have Penny.’
‘Really?’
‘Really. He said he thought it might help to have a proper typist.’
‘That’s rude,’ I said mildly. ‘But very helpful.’
‘This is her job for the next few weeks,’ Edith explained. ‘So she can work on visas all day. I’m going to show her what to do when she gets in.’
‘She’s very quick,’ I said. ‘She won’t need much showing.’
‘That’s what I hoped.’ Edith’s typewriter tinged and she pushed the carriage back, then carried on. ‘I’m just finishing off this pile that I started yesterday. It’s busy upstairs today, so Penny will be on her own.’
‘She’ll be fine.’
‘You remember Steven Parrish who we talked about before?’
I arranged my face into what I hoped was a quizzical expression. ‘I do.’
‘He’s gone.’ Edith frowned. ‘Moved to archiving. I didn’t even know we had an archive.’
‘Maybe you can keep Penny now Parrish has moved.’
‘I hope so, she’s a lot more fun than Parrish, that’s for sure.’
I laughed. ‘Lara’s coming in later, and I’ll come back too. We should get a lot done now we’ve got Penny too.’
‘The people whose visas were first on our list have all arrived in England now,’ Edith said, looking slightly teary eyed. ‘Your mum and dad’s gardener is leaving Lisbon today. Their village – where is it, remind me?’
‘Gloucestershire.’
‘Well, it’ll be full of French Jewish people in no time.’
I chuckled. ‘My mother will be learning how to make baguettes, and my father is probably teaching himself Hebrew right this minute.’
‘Good for them,’ said Edith.
She picked up another form and fed it into the typewriter. ‘Now off you go and stop distracting me. I’ve got half an hour before I’m needed upstairs and I want to make the most of it.’
Pleased that everything was going well, I wandered back along the corridor, thinking about getting tea for Henry and Archie, but wondering if I did it again, whether it would become my job.
And I should call my parents, too, if their gardener was on his way.
Check in with them that everything was going as it should back home.
And it was with my mind full of all these thoughts that I came face to face with Parrish, who was just emerging from the stairs down to the basement.
‘Oh!’ I gasped, not expecting to see anyone, and then ‘oh!’ again louder as I realised who it was in front of me.
He glared at me. ‘Oh.’
‘Sorry, you just startled me,’ I said, my usual composure ruffled. I went to move past him, but he reached out and grabbed my arm, tightly, just above my elbow.
‘Don’t,’ I said, yanking myself free. ‘Really, just don’t.’
I thought for a moment he might try to grab me again, but he didn’t. Luckily for him.
‘I’ve been moved downstairs,’ he said. His eyes were piercing as he fixed me with his angry stare. ‘It’s humiliating and it’s boring and it’s your fault.’