Be Not Afraid
Page 27
“It was terrible,” Mary sobbed. “Terrible.”
“I know you all did everything possible,” Anna said. “And I am grateful. The fault is mine. I should have been here.”
“We must all thank God you were not, Miss Anna. Otherwise . . . well . . .”
“I might have died along with Papa,” Anna said, softly.
Druce squeezed her hand.
“I should have been here,” Johnnie said fiercely. He and Alicia had come home for the funeral; neither of them as yet knew of the Berlin adventure, or the truth of the Shrimpton affair.
“Again, I think we should be grateful that you were not,” Watt said.
“What about the assassin?” Druce asked. “Have you identified him?”
“No, we have not, sir. And I don’t think we will. He carried nothing on his person save the gun with which he killed the colonel, and some money. The gun was German-made, to be sure, but his suit was made in England. We should be able to trace where it was bought, but I don’t think we’ll be much ahead, if, as seems obvious, he was a foreigner.”
“But he got in and out of the country, and had to be helped to get here.”
“I agree, sir. But then, the Karlovys were also helped, and we have never been able to find out who looked after them. I would say this man came from the same source. At any rate, the business would now appear to be finished. The feud was between the colonel and these people, and with the colonel dead, well, there’d be no point in it.”
“I am sure you are right,” Martina said.
“What will you do, Mrs Savos?”
“It was Papa’s wish to marry Martina,” Anna said. “I therefore regard her as my stepmother, and hope she will remain so.”
Martina embraced her.
“And you, Miss Anna? Will you . . .” Watt looked at Druce.
“We will be married, yes, Chief Inspector,” Druce said. “Just as soon as is practical.”
“Then I will wish you every happiness.” Watt touched his cap and went to his car.
“Well, then,” Anna said. “It is just us, now.” She looked at Mary and Harry Lockwood.
“We are with you, Miss Anna,” Harry said. “Always.”
“It isn’t really over, is it?” Johnnie asked.
“No,” Anna said. “Papa’s death had absolutely nothing to do with the Karlovy feud.”
“Then we will avenge it.”
“Yes,” Anna said. “However long it takes, we will avenge his death.”
“Do you understand this, Mr Druce?” Johnnie asked. “That it is something we have to do?”
Anna put her arm round Druce’s waist to give him a hug. “Of course he does. Harry is one of us, now.”
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