‘You mean the fingers he has missing?’
‘Yes. He lost them as a result of frostbite and his injuries in the crash. It was caused by the delay in rescuing them from the moor afterwards. My father took his gloves off to try to staunch
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blood from the wounds that Klcmcns had suffered.’
Cooper nodded. But that hadn’t been in the books he’d read.
‘My father and Klemens were more than just cousins,’ said Lukasx. ‘They were very close, like brothers — and that’s not an exaggeration. Not for Poles. They had been brought up together in their village in Polskie province. They escaped together when the Germans came, and they went to France. They had to leave when Trance was invaded too. Hitler called the Polish servicemen “Sikorski’s Tourists” after their commanding officer, and because they moved from one country to another. He shouldn’t have been so contemptuous, because they were some of the best fighters there were. They had passion, you sec. They had an enemy to fight. Eventually, Zygmunt and Klemens arrived in England to fight with the RAF. The British airmen used to called them “The Terrible Twins” because they were always together and they thought they looked alike.’
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‘Were they really very much alike?’
‘Nut all that much.’
‘Do you have a photograph?’
‘My lather has some. They’re very precious to him, hut I suppose he won’t mind you seeing them.’
Lukasz was gone only a moment. Hut when he reappeared he looked almost furtive, as if he were carrying something shamelul.
‘This one was taken when my lather and Klemens Wach were first based in Britain. They were hilleted in a hotel in Brighton. 1 think they prohahly had a good time there for a while.’
‘Who were the girls?’
Tvc no idea. There were always plenty of girls, according to my lather. Plenty of girls lor a good-looking young man in a pilot’s uniform. And the Polish airmen were a hit exotic too, I suppose. Why do you ask?’
‘I was thinking one of them might he your mother. A wartime
b o ,
romance, was it?’
‘Oh no. they didn’t meet until after the war.’
‘ ./ % ‘
1 sec.
As far as Cooper could tell, almost the only thing that made Lukasz and Wach look like twins was the uniform. Almost the only thing. But there was also something about the jaunty angle of their caps, the way they held their shoulders, and a certain Slavic set of the eves. Zvgmunt Lukasz was taller and more
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heavily built and had a greater air of maturity. In the picture, he had one arm round a girl with dark permed hair, and the other across the shoulders of his slighter cousin, Klemens. He looked not so much like a twin, more like an uncle, or at least an older brother.
‘According to the inquest report, Klemens Wach died of serious multiple injuries. They weren’t specific about what caused them.’
Peter Lukasz shrugged. ‘My father has never talked about the details of the crash. It was pretty horrific, by all accounts. Some of the British crew members were actually dismembered, I gather. They were thrown through the framework of the aircraft. Two others burned to death, trapped in the wreckage.
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McTcaguc had a lot to answer for. He was lucky they never tracked him down.’
‘Do you think McTeague is dead, Mr Lukasz?’ ‘I don’t know. My guess would he that he got back to Canada as soon as he could. McTeague had a wife and a newborn child over there, remember. Apparently, he talked about them all the time, and said he was desperate to get back home and sec them. You know, at one time, my father even talked about going to Canada to look for him. But I think, in the end, he preferred to carry the pain and the memories with him intact. His hatred of Danny McTeague has been like a talisman to be cherished; it’s kept his memory of Klemens fresh and alive, if that makes sense. If he knew McTeague had died peacefully in his sleep somewhere, it would be like losing that talisman. Then there would be nobody left to hate. And then, worst of all, there would be nothing more that he could do for Klemens. His memories would begin to fade.
o
Do you understand what I’m trying to say?’ ‘Yes, I think so.’ Lukasz nodded. ‘I’ve thought about it a lot over the vcars. My
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father and I are alike, I think. That’s the way I would feel, too, in the same circumstances. Hatred and a desire (or vengeance are things you can hold on to. They arc solid things. They give you a focus.’
‘A purpose in life?’
‘If you like. But, as I say, it would have undermined all that if my father had ever met McTeague again and discovered he
v 66
was only another human being. Of course, McTcaguc was just a man who made a mistake, a man who was afraid and let down his comrades. But it was better for my father to preserve his picture of a monster. It was the only thing that made the death oi Klemens more understandable. It was the only way to make sense of something that was ultimately senseless.’
Cooper listened for a moment to the claws of the parrot rattling on the bars of its cage in the corner of the
