far better chance of rescuing Sarah, but he felt that leaving now would be his final betrayal of her, as well as a final departure from his old life.
He had never been to Soho during the day before. It seemed greyer, more ordinary – narrow streets, now filled with markets selling fruit and vegetables. The coffee bar beside the alley was closed; the alley itself looked even dingier in daylight. The door with the two bells beside it had, he saw, once been green but most of the paint had flaked away long ago, revealing strong old planks. He pressed Natalia’s bell.
There was no answer. He waited and rang again but still no footsteps sounded on the stairs. He tried the door but it was locked. An old man in a threadbare overcoat, bent with age, shuffled down the alley and gave David a look of dislike as he passed; he must have thought him a client for the prostitute. David felt panic rising again, wondering whether something had happened here, too. He wished he didn’t look so conspicuous in his overcoat, pinstripe trousers and bowler hat.
Eventually footsteps clattered down the stairs inside. The door half opened and the prostitute peered round the frame at him. She wore an expensive-looking silk dressing gown, her red hair curling around her face. ‘You’ve woken me, ringing the bell like that.’ She spoke crossly, then she recognized him and her face became suddenly alert.
‘Dilys, I need to speak to Natalia—’
‘She’s just gone to the shops. Is something the matter?’
‘I need to see her urgently.’
The girl thought a moment, then said, ‘Come up.’
David followed her up the creaking stairs, into a poky little bedroom dominated by a large, unmade double bed and a dressing table covered with pots and powders. The room was separated from the rest of the flat by a flimsy-looking door. It stank of cheap scent and cigarette smoke and was stiflingly hot, a gas fire hissing away in the corner. The girl sat on a hard chair at the dressing table and waved David to the bed. ‘Sit down.’ She turned to the partition, and to David’s surprise, shouted ‘Helen!’ A middle-aged woman in an apron came through the inner door. Dilys said, ‘We’re out of tea, love. Go and get some, will you? Get some groceries as well, take your time.’
The woman gave David a stony look. ‘Be all right, will you?’
‘’Course I will. This one’s a shy boy, aren’t you?’
With a doubtful look at David, the old woman left. Dilys smiled archly. ‘First time you’ve been in a place like this?’
‘Yes – yes, it is.’
She nodded at the door. ‘Helen, she’s my maid. We girls always have an older woman working with us, to help us, keep us safe. Helen doesn’t know about next door.’ Dilys took a deep breath. ‘Something’s up, isn’t it? I can see by your face.’
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘Am I going to have to go?’
‘I don’t know. I’m afraid they’re on to me.’
Dilys looked sad. ‘Luck always runs out in the end, doesn’t it?’ She spoke quietly. ‘Just give me fair warning when I have to go, will you ask them that? I’m okay for money, but I’ll have to look after Helen till we find somewhere else. I don’t want her in the clutches of the bloody Blackshirts.’
‘I’ll tell them.’
‘Thanks. Don’t say any more,’ Dilys added quickly. ‘It’s best I know as little as possible.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed. It was just what Carol had said to him over the telephone.
‘You can only tell what you know. Would you like a cup of tea?’ Her tone was suddenly cheerful again. Poor girl, David thought, she must have to put on a cheery face all the time.
‘No – no, thank you.’
She glanced at him wistfully. ‘Nice-looking chap like you, bet you can get it whenever you want, eh? Don’t need the likes of me.’ David felt himself blush. ‘I see you’ve a wedding ring. Bet you’re the faithful sort.’ Her manner was bantering now, trying to keep her spirits up. ‘You got any Maltese blood in you?’ she asked suddenly.
‘Not that I know of.’
‘You remind me a bit of my Guido. The bastards deported him two years ago. England for the English, as they say. And for the Germans and Italians, of course,’ she added bitterly. ‘That’s when I joined up with you people. They put me here, to keep an eye out for you.’
‘Thank you,’ David said.
Dilys opened a drawer of the dressing table and pulled out a bottle of gin and two smeared glasses. ‘Want one?’
‘I’d better keep a clear head.’ David realized he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. ‘You haven’t any food, have you?’
‘I’ll see what there is.’
She went through the inner door, returning with some cold ham and bread and butter. David took it eagerly. Dilys sat at the dressing table, watching him eat while she swigged back her gin, the hand holding the glass trembling slightly. When he had finished she said, ‘Should I get ready to open up today?’ He looked at her blankly and she laughed. ‘For business. I usually open up at five, and it’s nearly four now.’
‘I think – maybe better not. There may be more of us coming.’
She took a deep breath. ‘I’ll put a note on the door, say I’m ill. I’ve a couple of Friday regulars, they’ll be disappointed but it can’t be helped. Oh well, it’ll save me the trouble of getting ready, won’t it?’
David looked at her curiously. ‘How did you get into – into this?’
She frowned. ‘Shock you, does it?’
‘No. It’s just – I never—’
She smiled again. ‘You’re quite an innocent thing, aren’t you? My dad died at Dunkirk, he wasn’t one of the ones that got away. My mum went to pieces, turned to drink. We hadn’t any money. A friend got me into this game.’
He looked around the room. ‘Isn’t it – well – dangerous?’
She laughed suddenly. ‘You’re asking, is what
It was fifteen minutes before footsteps sounded again on the stairs. Dilys sat up, looking relieved. ‘That’s Natalia.’ She went out and David heard the two women talking quietly. They came back into the flat together. Natalia wore an old grey coat and hat and carried a shopping bag; she looked dowdy and ordinary beside Dilys’ colourful femininity. David thought it was probably a look she cultivated deliberately, so as not to be noticed. It was sad she had to. His heart had leapt at the sight of her but then sank again as he thought of Sarah, out there somewhere, in grave danger.
Natalia looked at him, then said quietly, ‘Come through. Dilys, I’ll tell you what’s happening as soon as I know.’
They went back to Natalia’s flat. It smelt of paint as usual, but she had taken most of the pictures down, stacking them against the walls. Only the striking battle scene remained, the dead soldiers lying in the snow with the high white mountains in the distance. The room was cold. Natalia followed David’s gaze. ‘Yes,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I’m packing up, I’ll have to leave too. This is very serious.’
He turned to her. ‘I’m sorry.’
She smiled wanly. ‘It happens. We always have a fallback place ready.’
They stood looking at each other for a long moment. Then Natalia said, ‘Sit down.’ David took a seat and watched as she switched on the gas fire, bending to slot pennies into the meter. She said, over her shoulder, ‘I am sorry I was out. One of our people came to tell me you’d had to run, and I had to make some telephone calls. Mr Jackson will be coming soon, Geoff Drax too.’
‘Geoff? Oh no.’
She stood up and spoke sadly, almost apologetically. ‘If they’re making enquiries about you they will soon find out you and he are friends. I had to phone Mr Jackson at work. We don’t usually do that, we don’t know which Civil Service phones are tapped, but it was an emergency.’
‘What about the other man in the cell? Boardman, from the India Office.’
‘He’ll be warned. But there’s nothing to lead them to him that we know of.’ She sat down opposite him, a
