AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes.” She did not elaborate. Perhaps she had her own nightmares. “Has it not occurred to you that as well as old friends in Berlin, you might also have old enemies? And their memories can be even longer.”
“I know that,” he said, although it had not been at the front of his mind. “But I can’t leave her there.”
“Send Peter Howard,” she said without hesitation. “He’s a man in his prime.”
“He’s already said he’ll go, but…” He hesitated. This was not about himself.
“I know,” she said firmly. “He’s high up in MI6 and shouldn’t really do rescues of young women who get into tight situations. But don’t argue with me. Let Peter Howard go alone or I’ll go and make sure he does myself!”
“You won’t. You don’t even know where to find him.”
“Don’t be absurd! Of course I do!” There was a blazing certainty in her eyes, as well as a fear that was very deep indeed. She had one son, Charles, to whom she was not particularly close, no matter how much she loved him. Their natures were utterly different. But she had two granddaughters, and Elena was as dear to her as anyone in her life, perhaps even as dear as Lucas himself.
“All right. I’ll go and tell him I definitely won’t be going. I know where he’ll be this evening.”
“Thank you,” she said simply. “And make sure you give him some photographs of Elena. He’ll need to know what she looks like.”
The moment the front door closed behind Lucas, she picked up the phone and called Charles.
* * *
—
Lucas took Toby with him. A man with a dog drew far less attention than a man alone. Toby was delighted, he loved riding in the car. In his experience, it went to the most wonderful places: woods, fields, sometimes even beaches, and the homes of people who fed him treats.
It was a good thirty minutes’ drive in the May dusk, and they passed through one brief shower of rain. Lucas parked a distance from Howard’s house, put Toby on his lead, and set out to walk. Caution was a lifetime habit.
He had met Pamela Howard a few times, but he could not easily remember what she looked like. Fairer than Josephine, he thought, but not paler so much as lacking any color at all. She had beautiful skin, blemishless. He rather hoped she would not remember him well either.
He checked the numbers on the gates, opened the correct one, and walked up the path to the door. The light was on in the front room; he could see tiny strips of it where the curtains did not quite meet.
Toby sat obediently while Lucas rang the doorbell.
It was answered within moments by Howard, who looked startled to see Lucas again so soon, and even more so when Toby bounded forward to greet him.
“Sorry,” Lucas apologized, “but I have to speak to you. It really can’t wait.”
Howard opened the door wide and Lucas stepped inside. “What’s happened?” Howard said instantly, his voice steady, but clearly only because he forced it to be.
“Nothing,” Lucas replied. “I was going to go myself. I can’t leave Elena alone…”
“You also can’t go. We went over that,” Howard said between his teeth. “I’m going to be brutal. Although you might be one of the most brilliant men I’ve ever known, you’re also as subject to age as anyone else. You’d be a bloody liability, even without a gimpy ankle—” He broke off.
They were still standing in the hall, between the rack of coats with boots beneath them and the very nice oak half table with a salver for letters and small packets. It had probably been there in the past for people to leave calling cards.
The door of the sitting room opened and Pamela Howard stood outlined against the light. She saw the dog first and took a step back.
Toby did not move. He was still on his lead anyway, and practically standing on Howard’s feet.
“You seem to have got lost,” Howard said to Lucas, smiling pleasantly. “I think you needed the last turning. Let me show you.” He glanced at Pamela. “I’ll be back in a moment. I’ll just show this gentleman where he needs to be…” He turned to Lucas, dismissing her, or at least that was what it looked like to Lucas.
She went back into the sitting room and closed the door; she did not acknowledge either Lucas or his dog.
Howard did not apologize, but the awkwardness he felt showed in his face. He led Lucas to the front door, and outside.
“You can’t go, Lucas,” Howard insisted. “Apart from the fact that you’re not fit, has it occurred to you that you could be exactly the reason they’ll hold her? To flush you out and get you where they can take you easily, and no one will ever know? All the diplomatic complaints in the world won’t help. They’ll simply say they had no idea who you were. And you know as well as I do that it will be believed, and we can hardly prove otherwise without making total asses of ourselves. We’ve decided, I’m going! Now, I suppose you’ve got a couple of decent photographs of her, and a description?” Howard held out his hand.
Lucas fished in his inside pocket and pulled out an envelope with two photographs in it. “I want them back.”
