Here Be Monsters

'They threw him over the cliff at the Pointe du Hoc, Haddock,' said Audley brutally. 'Just about where he climbed down that morning, before he rescued you. We think he may have had a rendezvous there. But it wasn't the one he was expecting.'

The old man turned slowly back to Audley, ignoring Elizabeth. 'So it's all starting again, is dummy2

it, David? After all this time? Is that really possible, man?'

Elizabeth was tired of being ignored. 'Perhaps not, Dr Thomas.'

This time he did look at her.

'If it never ended, Dr Thomas - ' She looked down Admiral Varney's nose at him ' - why then, it has no reason to start again, has it?'

'Never ended.' It wasn't a question, he merely repeated the words. And it wasn't hatred or anger in his eyes, let alone fear. But it might be distaste. Then he turned to Audley once more. 'What do you think, David? Or what do you believe - which is better?'

'It doesn't matter what he believes.' With a little practice she might catch an echo of Admiral Varney's voice, too. 'If Major Parker was a traitor, Dr Thomas, then what are you?

That is what matters.'

This time he didn't look at her. 'By damn, David! You've got a hard one here, and no mistake! Is this what it's like now? Or maybe the one our Ruddy wrote about -

'When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, And the women come out to cut what remains - One of them, maybe?' He set his glass on the table and filled it to the brim, and then picked it up and turned towards her. 'And if I am a traitor too, Miss Loftus - what then? Will you cut up these remains?'

They were exactly where she had always feared they would be, once she had let herself be pushed too hard and too fast. But then, out of nowhere, she remembered Father. 'Some people say youth is sweet, Dr Thomas.' Her youth had not been sweet, that was what memory told her. 'But I have observed that time running out is even more valuable when you are old. Is that so?'

He still wasn't frightened. But he showed his teeth when he smiled, for the first time, and she realized, also for the first time, that it wasn't only the memory of Father that was driving her.

'Is that some sort of threat, Miss Loftus?'

But she had seen those teeth before. And they were not like Father's at all, of course -

Father's had been his own, because he never ate sweets or took sugar in his tea.

'Not a threat.' She hadn't touched her wine. 'This is my first job, 'in the field' as they say.

Or 'first combat mission', for a Spitfire pilot, would that be?' She tipped her glass, and the dummy2

wine slashed out like a pool of blood, engulfing the few drops he had spilt. 'I sent a colleague out yesterday to inquire into your past.' Some of the wine had splashed on her shoes, staining them indelibly, she noticed. 'So now he's dead. Do you have any explanation for that, Dr Thomas?'

Haddock Thomas stared at her in astonishment. Then he looked at Audley - who was also staring at her. 'Do you have an explanation, David?'

Audley turned his head slowly, without taking his eyes off her until he was almost facing the old man.' The received wisdom is that I made a mistake, Haddock. Long ago.'

'A mistake?'

'About you.' Audley paused. 'Or if not you, then Peter Barrie, maybe.'

' Peter Barrie? That's foolishness, man!'

'Yes. That's what Peter Barrie said - about you.'

Haddock Thomas moistened his lips. 'Have you any evidence?'

'Two dead men is what we have,' said Elizabeth.

Audley shook his head. 'Not a thing. But then, if I did make a mistake… then you're good.

One of you - or both of you.'

'And if you didn't make a mistake?'

Audley drew in a deep breath. 'Let me make a picture for you, old comrade - if that's what you are - if I made a mistake.' He drew in another breath. 'Long ago… something went wrong on the Other Side - something slipped. So there had to be a salvage job, to save their inside man.' Another breath. 'If it was Peter, then they acted very quickly: he resigned, and became a nobody. There was no evidence against him - he just had to start again somewhere else. If it was you… if it was you, they were a bit slower. Or they decided to take more of a risk. But in the end they reckoned you'd never be altogether trusted. So you started again, too.' Audley shrugged. 'You each did well, anyway. And in the way they wanted you to do well, like maggots in an apple.'

Haddock Thomas sat back. 'A maggot, am I? But - '

Audley raised a finger. 'There's more. One of you - or both. Plus Delphi Marsh, of course.'

dummy2

The old man sat up. 'Now, David - '

'She would have been your contact. Or your alibi. She complicated things very nicely at the time - moving from one of you to the other, as required. I spent a lot of time on her. Maybe she was my real mistake.'