“Alistair… You are a very dark horse.”
Alistair chuckled. “I was quite a charmer in my youth.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“You see that box over there on the chair? It contains diaries, photos, drawings, letters from my years in the foreign office. I’ve not looked at it for ages but it was where I kept everything that was important to me that wasn’t covered by the Official Secrets Act. Why don’t you take it away, go through it and see what you think? It might give you some ideas. Fiction or non-fiction if you prefer. We can have a talk about it. Do you have time to make a start now?”
“Yes.”
Kaden was intrigued. He carried the box over to the table and began to go through the contents.
“That’s the first diary I ever wrote,” Alistair said. “A very old one. I was only sixteen. Even then, I was thinking about exploring the world. But the diary will mainly be about school. The rest were written after I came back from New Zealand. We’ve already used my notebooks from the trip.”
Elsie was whining now, walking to the door and back.
“I’ll let Elsie out into the garden while you take a look,” Alistair said.
As Kaden read the diary, he could feel Joe reading along with him, urging him to turn the pages. Kaden was reading more quickly than he usually did. His fingers seemed to be flicking faster and faster, and he was shocked when he reached the final entry. He couldn’t possibly have taken anything in.
You can remember all of it.
What?But he could. Alistair’s time at boarding school, his crush on a prefect, on a teacher… His parents, their disapproval when they found out he was gay…
“Finished already?” Alistair joined him at the table.
“I skipped through getting a feel for things.”
“Take it all home with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. There’s little value in my scribbles or pictures. Give me a call when you want to come back. You can tell me what you think.”
“Okay.”
Kaden carefully slotted the box into his backpack.
“I’ve put the final payment in your bank account. You’ve done a wonderful job. I couldn’t have done it without you. I hope I have another book inside me.”
“Are you allowed to tell me where you were a spy?”
“Russia, mostly.”
Kaden smiled. “Ya lyublyu russkuyu istoriyu.”
Alistair raised his eyebrows. “You love Russian history? Do you speak Russian?”
“Da, ya govoryu po-russki. Not brilliantly, but well enough. Have you read Nelson DeMille’sThe Charm School?”
“I have. If we can write a book even half as good as that I’ll be happy.”
“I’ve read a lot of books set in Russia, so…”
Alistair smiled. “Same fee as before? No, no, you’ll be having to work harder. Another fifteen percent?”
“That would be great. Thank you. I’ll go through everything and come up with some ideas for us to talk through.”
Kaden left the house after he’d said goodbye to Elsie. It would be no hardship spending a few more months working for Alistair. He headed towards the Tube.
