By the time Officer Boucher returned, her male counterpart had eaten and was standing guard outside the door. Officer Boucher snacked on bread and cheese, drank a cup of coffee and then joined him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The telephone extension in the bedroom rang, waking Claire from a deep sleep. Eyes barely open, she squinted at Mitch. He was nearest to it. She nudged him but he didn’t wake. She turned over, reached out and took her wristwatch from her bedside table. It was eight o’clock. They had overslept. She leapt out of bed, went round to Mitch’s bedside table and picked up the telephone. ‘Hello? Yes. Let yourself in, will you? Thanks.’ She put down the receiver. ‘Mitch,’ she said, shaking him by the shoulder. ‘Mitch, darling?’ she said again, ‘it’s time to get up.’
‘Where’s the fire?’ he said, turning over and pulling the sheets over his head.
‘It’s gone eight. Come on.’
Claire dragged on her dressing gown and opened the door. Officer Boucher stood in the sitting room with navy blue slacks and jacket, and a pale blue sweater over her arm. In her hand was a paper bag. ‘Shoes,’ she said. ‘Navy to match the pants. It all fits me. Fingers crossed it will fit you.’
Claire took the trousers and jacket from the officer and held them up. ‘They’re lovely. How on earth did you get a shop to open for you at this hour of the day?’
‘The owner of the shop is a friend. Ex-air force. I called her when I took the washing down last night and she opened up for me at seven.’
‘Thank her for me, will you?’ Claire tried on the new clothes. ‘They fit perfectly,’ she said. ‘I can’t keep calling you Officer Boucher. What’s your Christian name?’
‘Céline, but I’m not sure it’s protocol to--’
‘Céline it is.’
The young RCAF officer laughed. ‘The car to take Captain Mitchell to his father’s house will be here at nine.’
Claire returned to the bedroom to wake Mitch. He was in the bathroom. ‘A car will be here at nine,’ she said, standing beside him as he cleaned his teeth.
‘Huh-huh!’
‘I’m coming with you.’
Mitch put down his toothbrush and spat out a mouthful of toothpaste. ‘You are not!’
Claire followed him out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. ‘I’ll stay out of your way. You won’t know I’m there.’ He didn’t answer. ‘Mitch?’
‘No, Claire!’ he shouted. ‘It’s out of the question. Jacob’s won’t allow it, you know damn well he won’t. And I don’t want you there either. I don’t want to have to worry about you.’
‘Okay, okay.’ Claire put up her hands. ‘There’s no need to shout! Damn!’ Claire said, as the door closed. After using the bathroom, she dressed in the clothes Céline Boucher had brought her, put on her makeup and left the bedroom.
They ate breakfast in silence. When they had finished, Claire said, ‘I’m sorry, darling. I was only trying to help.’ She reached across the table to take Mitch’s hand. At the same moment he picked up the napkin to wipe his mouth. Her hand dropped to the table.
‘I know you want to be there,’ he said, looking into her eyes, ‘part of me wants you there, but--’
Dare she hope her husband was coming round to the idea of her going with him? She needed to tread carefully. ‘A man and a woman holding someone hostage needs a man and a woman to go in--’
‘And, you have had more experience dealing with guys like Beckman.’
Claire wasn’t going to remind him of that, but it was true. During the war, when Mitch had been captured and imprisoned, she had worked solidly with the Resistance. She poured them both a cup of coffee. ‘I’ll see what the chief says, honey.’ Claire knew the Chief of Police wouldn’t like the idea. She also knew asking him was the best her husband could do.
She was right. Chief Jacobs didn’t like the idea. His reply to Mitch when he mentioned Claire going with him to his parents house was a categorical No!
‘It’s time we left,’ Chief Jacobs said, walking to the door.
Claire threw her arm around Mitch’s neck. She kissed him on his lips and cheek, before burying her face in his neck and kissing him again, loudly. It had the desired effect. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the chief turn to his sergeant and shake his head.
‘I shan’t be far behind you,’ Claire whispered. Mitch sighed. She couldn’t tell whether he was sighing because he thought it was good that she was going to follow him, or bad. She let her arms drop to her sides, took a step back, and looked into his eyes.
A faint smile played on Mitch’s lips and he said, ‘See you later, China.’
‘My husband agrees I should go with him,’ Claire told Officer Boucher, when Mitch and Chief Jacobs had left. Officer Boucher listened. Her forehead was lined and her eyebrows seemed close together, but she didn’t comment. ‘A hostage situation, where a coldblooded murderer is calling the shots, is beyond dangerous for one person to try and defuse,’ Claire went on. ‘It will take two people if everyone is to get out alive.
‘Mitch’s only concern,’ she said, her voice almost a whisper, ‘is what will happen to our daughter if we were both--’
‘Killed?’ Officer Boucher said.
‘The chances of that, Céline,’ Claire purposely used the officer’s first name to show friendship and solidarity, ‘are almost nil when two trained--’ She stopped. Should
