Part 35 (2/2)

'Yes, you did. And what's the point? There's no sense in that, no sense at all it's not productive.' He gave the table a decisive smack with his hand. 'Right, so we now have a plan. I check out the fettlers and call on a couple of MP mates. I'll let you know what I come up with next week.'

He stood, swiftly draining his gla.s.s. 'I'll only get one more trip into town between now and the next firing. They've scheduled the second test for the twenty-fifth.'

She also stood. The brusqueness of his manner surprised her. He was in a very strange mood, she thought. In fact, he'd been in a strange mood from the moment he'd arrived but she hadn't really noticed until now. She'd been so excited about gaining his help that she hadn't given a thought to anything else. But now she was puzzled. She was puzzled about a lot of things.

'Why are you doing all this, Nick? Why are you helping me? What made you decide to tell me about ...' She tailed off. 'Oh my G.o.d!' Her eyes widened in amazement and she clapped a disbelieving hand to her mouth. 'Oh my G.o.d, the Official Secrets Act. You've broken your oath of silence.'

'Yes.' The penny's finally dropped, he thought. 'Yes, I have.'

'But that's a treasonable offence. You could be court-martialled.'

'If someone betrayed me, I could, yes. I could even face a firing squad if the military decided to exercise the full measure of the law.' His smile was wry. 'I suppose that means I'm in your hands, Elizabeth.'

'Why?' She was dumbfounded. A man like Nick Stratton! The army was his life. It was incomprehensible. 'You of all people I don't understand. Why would you do such a thing?'

'I believe you have right on your side and I want to help you.'

'No, it's more than that. It's much, much more than that. Why, Nick?'

Then she read the answer in his eyes. His eyes quite clearly said: can't you guess, Elizabeth?

'You love me,' she said.

He said nothing, but his silence was answer enough.

'Since when?'

'Probably for some time,' he admitted. 'I just didn't know.'

'When did you find out?'

'Not long after I left you that afternoon. When I got over my wounded pride and the notion that you'd used me, and when I realised what you'd said.'

'What? That I love you?'

'Yes. You took me by surprise, I have to admit.'

'And this is your way of reciprocating?'

'I suppose it is.'

'You could have just told me, you know. That's the normal way.'

'I don't put much faith in words myself. Words are too easy, they usually mean little.'

She smiled. 'Actions speak louder, is that what you're saying?'

'Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.' The answer really was that simple, he thought. 'You need my help, Elizabeth, and I want to offer it to you in any way that I can.' He would offer this woman his life if necessary and, indeed, perhaps he already had.

'I accept,' she said. 'I accept wholeheartedly.'

Later, as they made love, Nick no longer fought a personal battle with his body in order to maintain supremacy. Their union ceased to be a challenge and a test of his power over her, becoming instead a mutual exchange. He gave himself as freely to Elizabeth as she did to him, and when it was over and they lay in each other's arms, he couldn't remember ever in his life having felt such a sense of belonging.

Tommo slipped the fifty pounds into his top pocket. 'You better come in,' he said, and aimed a kick at the mangy yellow dog sniffing around Nick's feet. 'Get out of it, you mongrel b.a.s.t.a.r.d.'

The dog slunk away into the shadows of the verandah, and Nick stepped inside the shabby little cottage.

'Stick the kettle on, Mave, we've got a visitor,' Tommo yelled, and Mavis, a thin, sunburnt woman, appeared from the backroom.

'Don't bother with the tea,' Nick said pleasantly. 'I don't want to put you to any trouble.'

'For fifty quid, mate, a cup of tea's no trouble, I can promise you that.' Harry gave an ostentatious wink to his wife. 'Put the kettle on, Mave.'

'No tea.'

Recognising the voice of authority, Mave halted halfway to the wood stove in the corner.

'No tea,' Nick repeated, 'just a few answers to a few questions.'

'Whatever you like.' Tommo slumped into the soggy sofa. 'Only trying to be friendly.'

'Both of you, if you wouldn't mind.'

Mave joined her husband on the sofa, and Nick pulled up a kitchen chair from the nearby table and sat opposite them.

'Do you recognise this man?' He showed them the photograph of Daniel that Elizabeth had given him.

'Nup.' Tommo's reply was instant, but Mave hesitated, glancing at her husband as if seeking permission. She'd copped it for opening her mouth in the past.

'Fifty quid, love.' Tommo nudged her encouragingly. 'Tell the man what he wants to know. Mave never misses a trick,' he said with a gap-toothed grin.

'Yeah, I seen him,' Mave said, 'but not for some time now. Used to turn up for the train deliveries.'

'What did you tell him about the murder of Pete Mitch.e.l.l?'

Nick got straight to the point. He saw no reason not to; Tommo and Mavis had both given evidence at the trial of Harry Lampton.

'Eh?' Mave looked at him blankly.

'He was around here asking questions about the murder.'

'No, he wasn't,' Mave said, 'not him.' She waved a finger at the photo.

Tommo nodded; for fifty quid he wanted to be helpful. 'No, he wasn't, mate. The only ones asking questions were the coppers and the other bloke.'

'What other bloke?'

<script>