Chapter 21.
Vandam knocked at the door of Elene's flat an hour before she was due to meet Alex Wolff.
She came to the door wearing a black cocktail dress and high-heeled black shoes with silk stockings. Around her neck was a slender gold chain. Her face was made up, and her hair gleamed. She had been expecting Vandam He smiled at her, seeing someone familiar yet at the same time astonishingly beautiful. 'Hello.'
'Come in.' She led him into the living room. 'Sit down.'
He had wanted to kiss her, but she had not given him the chance. He sat on the couch. 'I wanted to tell you the details for tonight.'
'Okay.' She sat on a chair opposite him. 'Do you want a drink?'
'Sure.'
'Help yourself.'
He stared at her. 'Is something wrong?'
'Nothing. Give yourself a drink, then brief me.'
Vandam frowned. 'What is this?'
'Nothing. We've got work to do, so let's do it.'
He stood up, went across to her, and knelt in front of her chair. 'Elene.
What are you doing?'
She glared at him. She seemed close to tears. She said loudly: 'Where have you been for the last two days?'
He looked away from her, thinking. 'I've been at work.'
'And where do you think I've been?'
'Here, I suppose.'
'Exactly!'
He did not understand what that meant. It crossed his mind that he had fallen in love with a woman he hardly knew. He said:
'I've been working, and you've been here, and so you're mad at me?'
She shouted: 'Yes!'
Vandam said: 'Calm down. I don't understand why you're so cross, and I want you to explain it to me.'
'NO!'
'Then I don't know what to say.' Vandam sat on the floor with his back to her and lit a cigarette. He truly did not know what had upset her, but there was an element of willfulness in his attitude: he was ready to be humble. to apologize for whatever he had done, and to make amends-but he was not willing to play guessing games.
They sat in silence for a minute, not looking at one another. Elene sniffed. Vandam could not see her, but he knew the kind of sniff that came from weeping. She said: 'You could have sent me a note, or even a bunch of bloody flowers!'
'A note? What for? You knew we were to meet tonight.'
'Oh, my God.'
'Flowers? What do you want with flowers? We don't need to play that game anymore.'
'Oh, really?'
'What do you want me to say?'
'Listen. We made love the night before last, in case you've forgotten'
'Don't be silly-'
'You brought me home and kissed me good-bye. Then nothing.' He drew on his cigarette. 'In case you have forgotten, a certain Erwin Rommel is knocking at the gates with a bunch of Nazis in tow, and I'm one of the people who's trying to keep him out.'
'Five minutes, that's all it would have taken to send me a note.'
'what for?'
'Well, exactly, what for? I'm a loose woman, am T not? I give myself to a man the way I take a drink of water. An hour later I've forgotten-is that what you think? Because that's how it seems to me Damn you, William Vandam, you make me feel cheap'
It made no more sense than it had at the start, but now he could hear the pain in her voice. He turned to face her. 'You're the most wonderful thing that's happened to me for a long time, perhaps ever. Please forgive me for being a fool.' He took her hand in his own.
She looked toward the window, biting her lip, fighting back tears. 'Yes, you are,' she said. She looked down at him and touched his hair. 'You bloody, bloody fool,' she whispered, stroking his head. Her eyes spilled tears.
'I've such a lot to learn about you,' he said.
'And I about you.'
