Mrs. Rose opened her mouth to speak but Letty rushed on: “I know you have no free rooms but there are two beds in mine—do say Miss Templeton may bunk up with me—at least for the night?”
“Well, of course, Miss Talbot. Your friend is very welcome. You will show her the facilities and—”
“Yes, yes, I’ll do all that, don’t worry.”
“Cocoa? Would the young lady like to join you in your bedtime cocoa?”
Thetis nodded dumbly, then murmured her thanks.
“Let me take your bag,” said Letty. “The room’s just up here on the second floor.”
Letty settled in the one armchair and watched as Thetis kicked off her shoes, tugged off her hat, and slumped down on the bed Letty invited her to use. For an anxious moment Letty thought the young woman had collapsed in exhaustion or fainted. Her blouse was badly buttoned up and one earring was missing. Her face was pallid under streaks of makeup and her dark hair clung damply about her face. And still the wretched girl looked beautiful.
“You all right, Thetis?” Letty asked. “You look as though you’ve just been thrown out of a Roman orgy.”
After a gurgle of laughter and a few deep breaths, Thetis raised her head and grinned at Letty. “It’s quite like being back in the dorm here! And cocoa on its way! You’re rather spoilt, I think.”
“Mrs. Rose is someone you can quickly get fond of. She and her husband kept house at the Embassy for years and now, in her retirement, she offers an oasis of Englishness and respectability in Athens. It’s known to be a safe place for single travellers and vulnerable young girls—like us. She loves to hear news from home, and scandal from her guests is most welcome—I should prepare a few stories for breakfast tomorrow morning, if I were you! They needn’t all be true so long as they’re entertaining. But—don’t worry—you can tell her anything you like. She is herself the soul of discretion.”
They chatted on, making general conversation until the tray containing cocoa pot, two mugs, and plate of digestive biscuits made its appearance. Thetis, unexpectedly, drained the mug Letty poured for her with relish and reached for a biscuit. “Jolly good cocoa! I haven’t eaten or drunk anything but alcohol since lunchtime,” she confided. “Two rum punches at the Grande Bretagne on the way home and that’s it … Home! Huh! Where is home now? I have no home!”
Letty was startled when her guest burst abruptly into racking sobs, hands over her eyes and fighting noisily for breath. She watched as Thetis moved to sit up on the edge of her bed, found a handkerchief, blew her nose, and bent her head, trying to regain some control.
“Here, have my cocoa” was all Letty could think of to say, disturbed as she was by the emotion on display. “No—really … you’re very welcome.”
“Sorry! Self-indulgent nonsense!” said Thetis critically. “How insensitive of me. You must be feeling pretty cut up, too? In the circumstances.” She gave Letty a meaningful stare from under her wet lashes, then apparently decided on bluntness. “A helpful little bird tells me you were very close … to the professor?”
“You know about Andrew and … me?” Letty said tentatively. “About our … affair? Ghastly word! But ‘friendship’ doesn’t stretch quite far enough, perhaps. Whatever it was, it’s long over, you know.”
“Yes!” The reply was instant and delivered with relief. “You obviously caught on faster than I did! Perhaps you heard a warning screech from the same little bird … Huh! Liver-pecking vulture, should I say? I’d no idea until my dear cousin took it upon herself to enlighten me. With considerable pleasure. You can imagine. So. We each know about the other’s exploits. And we’re no doubt intended doubly to suffer thereby. A refinement of cruelty, typical of my cousin. She’s probably calculated that we’ll kill each other on sight in a fit of jealousy. Lord! How Maud would chortle at the thought of the two of us sharing a room. What wouldn’t she give to be that fly on the ceiling!”
Letty went to sit on her own bed, opposite the tear-smudged face. She felt she had some understanding of the girl’s tumbling emotions. But her own enlightenment had, at least, come in the guise of an entertaining story told with compassion by an uncensorious man. She’d had time to deal with the shock and bitterness. She’d even arrived at the prospect of reevaluating Andrew and his place in her life. Thetis was still raw and spinning rudderless. She had no Gunning close by with quiet offers of unconditional love.
Letty took Thetis’s cold hands in hers and spoke quietly. “I see no reason why we shouldn’t grieve together. This is not the moment—and we aren’t the people, I think—for destructive rivalry and jealousy. We both loved him. It might compensate—if anyone up there is taking account—for the meagre amount of concern his widow is able to squeeze out in his memory. Weep for him all night if you want to—I’ll understand.”
She was encouraged to feel a reciprocal squeeze of the hand; then Thetis looked up with a sudden smile. “What? Caterwauling all night? What a dreadful notion! The saintly Mrs. Rose would have to evict us both.” Back in control of her emotions once more, she changed her tone to one of hesitant intimacy: “I say, Laetitia, that was a pretty steamy scene I interrupted just now. I’m most awfully sorry. Sorry too that I guess we shall all have to cross the heavenly William Gunning off our lists of eligible men about Athens … Does everyone know? It hadn’t reached my ears!”
“No. It’s not generally known. And I’m not sure ‘heavenly’ is quite the word for William.”
“Ah. Well, I have to tell you—that little secret is out! At least Maud knows—which means the whole of Athens knows—that your Gunning is … um … professionally speaking, somewhat lapsed. As a priest, I mean. I’m sure he’s in good standing in all other respects! ‘Lost his faith on the battlefield’ is what Maud’s saying. Like a pocket handkerchief! And she’s proposing herself as his spiritual guide to help him retrieve it! You’d better warn the poor chap she intends to make a project of him! Maud likes to surround herself with a retinue of younger men, you know.”
“Thetis—I’d prefer you to keep this thing to yourself.”
“Of course. Whatever ‘this thing’ may be …” Her bright eyes invited a confidence.
Letty smiled. “It’s very simple. I love him. He says he loves me. My father’s threatened him with dire consequences involving horsewhips and steps of London clubs if he rejects me, but he’s turned me down.”
“You’ve asked him to marry you? Have I got that right? Well! There’s a novelty! And he’s turned you down, you say?”
“Three times.”
“Great heavens! A catch like you, Letty? The man’s mad!”
“You may be right. I sometimes think he is—a little bit mad. The war, you know. He suffered mentally as well as physically. Not neurasthenia but something more subtle … He’s still fighting some monstrous fallen angel of his own invention. It’s not a battle I’m invited to join or even witness.” She gave a rueful smile. “Sadly. Because I love him very much and I’d stride through Hell and confront Satan on his behalf if he asked me to.”
“Have you thought …? Have you wondered …? I mean-he may well be struggling with dark angels in Hades and all that, but is there a possibility that his reticence might have a much more earthy cause? I’m trying to say—do you suppose he’s found out about Andrew? Could that be the reason? ‘Damaged goods’ and all that rot? You know how even the nicest men can entertain such medieval notions …”
“He does know. Andrew told him himself at a crucial moment in our relationship. A piece of meddling for which I haven’t forgiven him and now never will be able to. Nor will I be able to thank him for his subsequent change of heart. But that’s not the reason. William isn’t an example of your narrow-minded, prejudiced English gentleman. In his way, he’s a man of the world …” She paused for a moment. “Though don’t ask me what world … it’s not a place into which he’s invited me yet. And he was fond of Andrew. He actually stayed with him and Maud for some months in London last year. It was Andrew who slotted him
into a position where he could use his talents—in Crete. We’ve been working there together for seven months. We were to spend a week or two here in Athens reporting back to Andrew on the success of the dig he set up for us.”
Letty stopped talking. She had resisted all Montacute’s attempts to draw her out into a declaration of her circumstances and here she was, blurting out her deepest concerns to this stranger. But the stranger’s eyes were sympathetic and knowing and they were not judging her.
Thetis seemed to accept that Letty had said as much as she was prepared to say, and decided not to pursue the conversation. She got to her feet, and began to fish about in her bag, unpacking a small toilet bag and a white cotton nightgown.
“You haven’t brought much with you. Here—let me hang up that dress … Will you have to return tomorrow to Kolonaki for the rest? Face Maud again? I’ll come with you if you like,” offered Letty. “And did you tell anyone where you were coming?”
“No, I didn’t. I had no idea myself where I was going when I left. I made an exit! I just swept out in a marked manner. Very marked. Wish I hadn’t lost my temper, but you know what she’s like!”
“Drives you mad! What did you say to her?”
“It wasn’t so much what I said as what I did! Pushed to the very limit, you understand—I paused in the doorway, turned, and hurled my Parthian shot! All too literally! I threw my sword at her!”
“Your sword?” said Letty faintly, recalling the determined and righteous face of Judith the Beheader.
“I was still wearing my stage gear with the sword stuck in my belt. ‘Like Boadicea,’ my cousin remarked.” Thetis grinned.
“Another sword-wielding lady! History’s full of them.”
“Well, the image was a good one, I thought! Now, there’s a woman who would have stood no nonsense! ‘Right, Maud!’ I said to myself. ‘You’ve conjured her up, now you can have a taste of the Warrior Queen’s wrath!’ The snarl and the screech, the jangling bangles, the whole business—I really turned it on! Played it for terror! And then I shied my weapon at her head! Drew blood! Regret that. Stupid thing to do …”
“Remind me, Thetis,” said Letty carefully. “It was made of wood, wasn’t it? You couldn’t possibly have harmed anyone with that?”
“Of course not! Wood? Yes, I think so. It was very light. Well, you would know—you frisked me, I think the word is among the criminal fraternity. You handled it yourself. But a jolly convincing piece of stage stuff, whatever it was! Jewelled hilt, silver-painted blade, but you couldn’t have cut into a blancmange with it, don’t you agree? I was surprised to see it had drawn blood. On her right cheek.” Thetis demonstrated. “Nothing serious—I think it might have been a sharp bit on the hilt, one of the glass gems, perhaps, that cut her. She didn’t even squeal. Still—a disgraceful scene. Andrew would have been horrified. He hated scenes.”
“What did Maud say?”
“Nothing. She just stared at me. She touched her cheek where the blood was trickling … looked at her fingers … and then …” Thetis shuddered at the memory. “… and then she smiled. Horrid smile, Letty! Like a cat licking cream from its whiskers. You’d swear she was pleased she’d riled me to such a pitch. It’s more than likely that she’d achieved her aim-getting rid of me without appearing to be vindictive or inhospitable herself.”
“Of course. And now, in the eyes of the world, you are the thankless, treacherous cousin. The woman who deserted her in her hour of need.”
“Exactly!” Thetis agreed, and then, with unaccustomed hesitation: “And it’s worse than you realise! It’s worse than even Maud realised. The eyes of the world, I’m afraid, are going to slam shut in horror when it all comes out … I’ve got something dreadful to confess … Oh, Letty! How strong are your shoulders? This could turn out to be a very long night …” She lapsed into silence, lost in her thoughts.
“But, anyway, you managed to get out of her clutches?” Mystified, Letty tried to put her back on track again.
“Oh, yes … I went straight downstairs to the front door. I left it on the latch and went into the square to hunt for a taxi. Always make sure your line of retreat is clear—not a bad maxim to live your life by if you get into trouble as often as I do! I was in luck—there was one loitering nearby while the driver stopped for a smoke. I told him to get his cab and come along to the house to pick me up at the door in ten minutes. I raced back up and stuffed some things into a bag. I ran a flannel over my face and got into a respectable suit.”
“Maud didn’t try to stop you?”
“No—not a squeak from Maud! Didn’t really expect it. She wouldn’t have wanted to detain me! The drawing room door stayed shut. She’d achieved her aim, I think, in casting me loose … All the same …” Thetis mumbled with unaccustomed hesitation. “She may not have wanted me around but perhaps it was my duty to stay? I do wonder if it was a bit heartless of me to sneak off like that, leaving her by herself for the night.”
“I shouldn’t worry too much about Maud. She always lands buttered side up,” said Letty comfortably.
“But she was in such a nervous state …”
“Nervous state? Maud? She’s about as nervous as a doorstop! Look—mentally and emotionally the old girl’s made of steel. She’s very tenacious of life. I’ve learned to take all her creaks, groans, and palpitations with a pinch of salt. No, Thetis, don’t worry! Whoever else suffers around her, Maud always comes out on top.”
“No, it’s not that … This was different, I think. I tried to make light of it, but I did wonder … She had some mad idea that the house is being watched. She thinks some misdemeanour of Andrew’s from his past has come back to haunt him. I thought she was genuinely frightened—spooked by some character lurking under her window this evening. She kept saying a name in that tone she uses for her portentous prophecies of doom… ‘Salonika!’ That was it.” Thetis repeated the word with a perfect rendering of Maud’s booming contralto.
“Andrew was up there in Macedonia in the war years,” murmured Letty. “But how extraordinary! You’d better tell the inspector tomorrow, just in case, but it does sound to me like one of her attention-gathering stories. In which—I remind you—she always features as the heroine! If there really were anyone so unwise as to lurk under Maud’s balcony, my advice to him would be—put your tin hat on, mate!”
“Well, there certainly was no one around but me and the poor little boot boy who was hovering about, scared out of his wits by the screeching. Oh … and the taxi driver I whistled up when I left,” said Thetis, remembering. “I didn’t know myself where I was heading until the driver asked me for an address. You had just been in my mind, Letty, and I remembered you’d told me where you were staying when we mumbled at each other at the theatre this evening. Awful imposition! I’m sorry. Nowhere else to go. No home here or in England now. And no bolt-holes in an emergency—this very definitely isn’t Brighton! Always hard up, I’m afraid—I can’t afford the Grande Bretagne prices! I know a few other smaller hotels, all rather sporting when it comes to welcoming clandestine couples but they’re not the kind to take in unaccompanied women, especially after dark.”
“Well, I’m glad you thought of me,” said Letty. “We’ll dream up something to tell Mrs. Rose in the morning after breakfast. You’ll enjoy breakfast … a touch of home. And—don’t worry, Thetis, you’ll be quite safe here.”
Thetis smiled and sighed and helped herself to a second mug of cocoa.
Chapter 17
The man in the shadows pulled his hat further down onto his forehead and tipped the brim to hide as much as he could of the impressive hooked nose below it. He paused under a lamp to light a cigarette, his eyes squinting into the flame but taking in the arrival of the police car. It screeched and swayed to a halt in front of the house and a man got out. He identified the lithe figure of the Englishman at once. Yes, there was no mistaking those devilish dark features.
The Greek sergeant driving the car manoeuvred for a moment to direct t
he headlights onto the front of the house, then got out and stationed himself, back to the building, hands on hips, facing the street. Well trained. The officer moved forward to talk to the housekeeper and the young boot boy who were keeping watch over a hunched shape lying on the paved area that divided the house from the street.
The housekeeper’s piercing babble reached him in bursts: “Demetrios found her … He was just about to lock up … Right here under the drawing room window … She’s not dead. I rang for her doctor before I called you but you’ve got here first … We’ve covered her up but we’ve not dared to move her.
I think her back’s broken … She’s said nothing … just groans with pain.”
Montacute knelt by the side of the still form and checked for signs of life. He raised his head and called urgently to the sergeant. “Philippos! Go inside and ring for an ambulance. Better be one of ours, I think.”
He turned back to the recumbent figure. “Lady Merriman, it’s Inspector Montacute. Can you hear me?”
Only her head was visible; the rest of her body was shrouded in a woollen blanket. On the ground beside her, someone had hopefully placed a glass of water, a bottle of brandy, and a towel. The slightest nod of the head and a gurgling sound encouraged him to continue. “Medical aid is on the way. Try to keep calm. I’m going to switch on my torch so that you can see my face and I can see your face more clearly.”
Percy did this, sheltering the injured woman’s eyes from the first sudden light with one hand. He made an attempt to smile reassuringly, holding the beam high, aware of the effect his strong features often had on those of a nervous disposition. Underlit, he knew he looked like Beelzebub himself and he had no wish to frighten the poor lady to death. But all was well—Lady Merriman’s eyes, he noted, were still bright and were focussing on him with recognition and understanding. The mouth, on the other hand, was set rigidly, a trickle of blood from one corner betraying internal injuries, the lips glued together.
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