‘Lieutenant Ross can’t corroborate any of what you and the corporals say. He arrived after it was over.’
‘But it’s so unfair,’ I blurted out. ‘They were trying to help me. He’d dragged me across the road towards the park. What were they supposed to think? What was I supposed to think?’ I stared at Molloy and shook my head. ‘Putting an officer’s uniform on a cad does not make him into a gentleman. I know what he was going to do to me.’
Captain Molloy snorted, but his face was troubled. ‘It’s their word against his. You were too ill to be a credible witness.’
There was a sick feeling in my stomach. Faye and Mary would suffer because they’d helped me. I looked at Captain Deacon, who was sitting in the chair beside me, staring into space with a lost look on his face. He drew in a deep breath, let it out in a sigh and raised his head to look first at Molloy and then at me.
‘Sergeant Aldridge, what happened the other night has been distressing for all of us at APLO.’ His quiet voice was like cool water in the heated atmosphere of the room. ‘We’re a small unit, but an important one, doing important work. Australia’s at war and personal considerations have to take second place. Sometimes compromise is the only way to handle difficult situations. The only way to move on.’
‘Compromise?’ My voice was wary.
‘Can you accept that you could have been mistaken about Lieutenant Cole’s intentions? He’s told me that he’s willing to accept that Corporal Thompson and Corporal Massey were trying to protect you from what they thought was serious danger. He has reiterated that you were obviously very ill when he came upon you and he was trying to help you when they attacked him. He’s not badly injured – it’s more his pride than anything else. But he thinks that it will be possible to continue working at APLO with you and the corporals. If he’s willing to forgive and forget, what about you? Would you advise Corporal Thompson and Corporal Massey to do the same?’
‘Have you spoken to Corporal Thompson and Corporal Massey about this?’
‘They’ll be guided by you,’ said Deacon. ‘You know that.’
I wanted to speak to Ross, but I thought I knew what he’d advise. I looked at Captain Deacon and I nodded. ‘We’ll let it go,’ I said. ‘Thank you, sir.’
Afterwards, Faye, Mary and I discussed it in my office.
‘He’s a mongrel bastard,’ said Faye. ‘He deserves to be gelded.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘But what can we do?’
‘Not a flamin’ thing. I’ll cope.’
‘Good girl.’
Mary nodded. ‘Sam says that it’s better this way.’
I looked at Faye and she rolled her eyes. ‘On another matter,’ she said, ‘Alice is back from Ballarat. She’ll see us tonight, if you like.’
‘She’s the wireless operator from Perth?’
‘Yep. She was shocked that Destro is still running, but wouldn’t tell me much. I said we’d meet her at my lodgings just after five.’
*
At five o’clock Faye and I left Goodwood, walked along Toorak Road and turned right into Park Street, where Faye’s lodgings were located.
‘The army requisitioned a boarding house for the AWAS girls who are in the top-security units,’ she told me as we made our way along the busy street, ‘and right next door is a –’ she leaned in and whispered ‘– a brothel.’ Throwing her head back she gave a shout of laughter, ignoring the looks from people around us. ‘What a joke. Mary gets really annoyed when I mention it. So I tease her and say that I’ll moonlight there to earn more money.’ She stumbled over some cracked pavement. ‘Mary is so gullible.’
I smiled. ‘She seems to think a lot of Sam de Groot.’
Faye pursed her lips in a small frown. ‘I know. It’s a bit of a worry. He’s a lot older, but I think she’s got quite a crush on him.’
‘He told me that he had no designs on her and that she reminded him of someone he cared about. At least it’s taken her mind off you and Jim.’
‘True. I don’t trust him, though. He asks too many questions. I’m worried he’s a spy for Cole.’ She laughed. ‘Maybe it’s just racial prejudice. His accent, I know it’s Dutch, but it sounds German to me. It gives me the willies. And he called her a stupid foreign word, lebe-something. Why couldn’t he just say she’s a bonzer sheila and be done with it?’
I laughed. ‘Liebling. It means darling, and Mary’s certainly a darling. My German friends in Paris used it. Dutch and German sound alike to me.’
‘See,’ said Faye darkly. ‘I knew I hated it. Where does he get off, calling her a bloody Kraut name.’
‘I was very fond of my German friends,’ I said. ‘Don’t judge an entire nation by those ghastly Nazis.’
Faye made a snorting sound. ‘We’re at war with them, Stella. Here it is.’ She gestured towards an Italianate nineteenth-century mansion that had seen better days. The entrance was of tiled marble steps, beneath grand pillars, leading to an elegant arched stained-glass doorway. The upper floor had elaborate balconies.
‘Nice,’ I said.
‘It’s a bit of a dump inside,’ said Faye. ‘Freezing cold and not enough blankets.’ She looked over my shoulder. ‘Here’s Alice.’
I turned to see a small dark-haired woman in AWAS uniform walking towards us. She had a thinnish face that was dominated by an aquiline nose. When she got closer I could see that her eyes were her best feature, very dark and a true almond shape. She smiled at Faye and waved.
‘I’ll leave you to it, then,’ said Faye, after making the introductions. ‘Stella’s security clearance is higher than mine and I’m not one for prying. There’s a nice little cafe down the road.’ She pointed out a small sign about fifty yards away. ‘I’d go there if I were you. Come and get me when you’re finished and we can get some grub. Adios.’ She ran up the steps and disappeared into the boarding house.
Alice looked at me closely, examining my face for what seemed a long time.
‘Faye tells me you work with her at APLO.’
‘I do. I’ve got full security clearance. If you want to see it I’ll show it to you.’
‘No. I trust Faye and she says you’re trustworthy. Let’s try that cafe.’
We found a table in the corner and ordered a pot of tea.
‘I’m helping Lieutenant Ross to investigate APLO and AIB operations that have gone wrong in the past year,’ I said, leaning close in so we couldn’t be overheard. ‘We’re worried about Destro.’
‘You should be.’ Alice sighed, and took a sip of tea. ‘Faye says that you need to know whatever I can tell you, and that it’s urgent. But I don’t understand why Destro is still operating. It’s obviously been compromised.’
My heart was thumping. ‘How so?’
‘About a month ago we studied pretty thoroughly a message received from Lieutenant Ellis, the Destro wireless operator. There were clear signal inconsistencies, which suggested he was sending the message under duress. I thought that my CO had wired your Lieutenant Cole about it.’
I shook my head. ‘I’ve seen the Destro transmissions. There was nothing from Perth among them. When did he tell Cole about it?’
Her head jerked up. ‘I told you, a month ago.’ She worried at her top lip as she thought about it. ‘I’m pretty sure it was the tenth of July. It was a Saturday. We studied that transmission thoroughly and we were so worried that we sent a telegraph message on the same day.’ Now she was breathing fast and there was a sharp crease between her dark eyebrows. ‘If you don’t know about the transmission from Perth, then maybe you’re not supposed to know about it. Maybe I shouldn’t be talking to you.’
I pulled out my papers and handed them to her. ‘My security rating was upgraded a couple of weeks ago.’
Alice examined my papers. Her head came up and she looked at me with steady brown eyes. When she spoke her voice was low and urgent.
‘Look, Stella, I’m not supposed to tell anyone anything about what goes on at our code intercept station in Perth. But Faye trusts you and your papers are high level and you’re AWAS.’ She raised her teacup with a shaky hand and took a sip. When she returned the cup to the saucer it rattled. ‘It was absolutely clear to me, and to my CO, that Bill Ellis was sending under duress. He used a couple of words that we’ve been trained to use in those circumstances. I don’t understand why no one here has picked up on it.’
I threw some money on the table and grabbed her arm. ‘You need to meet Lieutenant Ross. We need to make Captain Molloy aware of this. They’re going to send another mission up there on Friday.’
She pulled free of my arm. ‘No. You tell your CO to contact Major Hadley in Perth. I’m not going on the record about this.’
I stared at her, while I considered what to do. I probably had enough to convince Ross or Deacon to contact the people in Perth. I wondered if the signal inconsistencies were in the transmissions that Ross and I had seen and we just didn’t know enough to realise it. Indigo Baker wasn’t leaving for five days. We had time. We could save those men.
Thirty-seven
I left Faye and Alice to their reunion dinner and walked back alone to Goodwood. As I got closer to the house I could see that the light was on in Nick Ross’s room. Once the guard let me in, I ran up the stairs two at a time so that when I reached the top I was gasping for breath. I banged on his door, opened it without waiting for his answer and almost fell into the room, gabbling out the story as I did so.
‘Perth knows about Destro. We’ve got something, Nick. Something concrete this time. They’ll have to listen to us.’
Eric was in front of the desk, holding a drink. Ross was standing next to him. He and Ross were having a drink together. I stopped short, staring at Eric while I caught my breath, pulling in rapid breaths and expelling them. He took a step towards me but stood still when I retreated to the door. His mouth was a thin line and there was fear in his eyes.
‘Is it another attack?’ He seemed to bark out the words.
‘What?’
‘You’re gasping. Is it an asthma attack?’
‘No. I ran up the stairs.’ I gulped in air and gradually got my breathing under control.
‘Idiot,’ said Ross. ‘We don’t want to do another mercy dash.’
‘Why are you here?’ I said to Eric. ‘I thought you hated Ross. I thought you wanted to kill him.’
He twisted his mouth up into a wry sort of smile and shrugged a little. ‘Right now, the only person I want to kill is Lieutenant Cole.’
I held Eric’s gaze, looked into the eyes that I’d so loved. With some surprise I realised I longed to touch him. It was a disconcerting thought and I turned away from him, towards Ross.
‘I think Cole has been keeping quiet some information he’s received about Destro, suggesting it’s been compromised.’
That made Ross start. He stared at me, eyes wide open in an almost pantomime expression of surprise. ‘What did the girl from Perth say?’
‘Perth sent Cole a communication on the tenth of July, telling him that there were signal inconsistencies in a message from Bill Ellis and suggesting that Ellis was sending under duress. Apparently there are special words or something they use in those circumstances and Ellis was using them.’
‘Cole knew this?’
‘Perth sent the message to him about it on the tenth.’
‘Can we prove it?’
‘You need to call a Major Hadley in Perth.’
‘I’ve heard of him. Haven’t met him.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘It’s only a quarter past four in Perth right now.’ He looked at Eric. ‘Should I call him?’
‘Wire him,’ said Eric. ‘Phone calls to Perth are hopeless. Too much static to hear anything clearly.’
Ross seemed uncertain. ‘I think Deacon knows Hadley.’ He began to pace around aimlessly, looked at Eric again. ‘Should we get Deacon involved now?’
Eric shrugged. ‘Can’t hurt. Deacon’s all right.’
Ross glanced at his watch. ‘I’m pretty sure he left work at five thirty.’ He sat down at his desk and picked up the phone, and asked the operator on duty to put him through to Captain Deacon’s home number.
‘Have you eaten?’ Eric was addressing me.
I shook my head.
‘Want to check the kitchen?’
‘It’ll be army sandwiches.’
‘Better than nothing.’ He glanced at Ross, who was holding the receiver, waiting to be put through. ‘Nick, want some sandwiches?’
At Ross’s nod, Eric looked at me. ‘Come on. We all need something to eat.’
I wanted to say no, that I wasn’t going to the kitchen where I’d be alone with him. I wanted to tell him I never wanted to be alone with him again, that I didn’t trust him, that he scared me. Instead, I followed him down the stairs and along the corridor to the kitchen.
‘Want to put on the kettle for tea?’ he asked, in that light voice he used to disguise his feelings.
‘All right.’ I filled the kettle and put it on the stove to heat.
‘Not much choice,’ he said, opening the icebox and taking out a plate of sandwiches. He lifted the tea towel that was covering them. ‘Fish paste, ham paste.’ He looked more closely. ‘You beauty! Vegemite.’
‘Ugh. How can you eat that stuff?’
‘Vegemite helps us win the war,’ he quoted, from an advertisement in the Argus. There was a glimmer of a smile in his eyes. ‘Nick loves it, too.’
‘I repeat,’ I said, ‘ugh. Australians are very odd about Vegemite.’
‘An English bloke at training camp used to call it the black death.’
I laughed without thinking. His face relaxed a little. I turned away to busy myself getting the tea down from the shelf and pouring milk into a jug.
Eric’s voice was very quiet. ‘They wouldn’t let me see you in the hospital. Said you wouldn’t allow it.’
‘I told them I didn’t want to see you.’
I turned and my look at him was a challenge. He leaned against the counter, watching me closely. I thought he seemed tired. The skin on his face was stretched tight over the bones and there were dark shadows under his eyes.
‘I’m sorry I scared you,’ he said. ‘Sorry you think –’
‘Let’s not talk about it now,’ I said.
‘I think we have to talk about it, Stella.’ He was gripping the edge of the counter with white-knuckled hands. ‘I’m so sorry that I scared you. But you must know that I’d never have hurt you.’ He shook his head slowly, and straightened up to stand stiffly by the counter.
‘You hurt Nick,’ I said, in a shrill high voice. ‘How could I know you wouldn’t hurt me?’
‘I’d never hurt you,’ he repeated. ‘Never.’ A small vein in his neck was throbbing, betraying his agitation. Eric was not a man who gave much away. With Eric you looked for the small signs. I glanced down. His hands were not clenched in fists, but open in silent entreaty.
‘I didn’t want Nick to kiss me,’ I said. My voice strengthened as I became angry. ‘I didn’t expect him to do that. I don’t want him like that. I told you that before and you should have believed me. But that’s not the point. It’s not up to you to say Nick shouldn’t kiss me or that he’s no good for me. I decide who kisses me, who I want to be with. You don’t own me, just because we went to bed together. No one owns me.’
His voice was low. ‘I don’t want to own you. I went crazy that night. I – I never do that. When I fight, when I’m on a field mission, I’m always cool. Ask Nick. I’ve never lost control like that before. If I scared you, I scared myself, too.’ His eyes were dark, the pupils great pools of black in the blue irises. ‘I thought you’d chosen Nick over me. The thought of losing you – losing you to Nick – it made me crazy.’
I turn
ed away from him, not wanting to see the entreaty in his eyes. ‘You were so harsh, so cold that night . . .’ My throat tightened so that it hurt to swallow. I forced myself to continue. ‘You said, “No lies, Stella.” My husband used to say that to me. He’d accuse me of flirting, or say I’d not followed some instruction, some order he’d given. And he’d ask for an explanation. “No lies, Stella,” he’d say. He’d never believe me, though.’ I looked at Eric. ‘And then he’d hit me.’
Eric flinched. He ran an unsteady hand through his hair. ‘He hit you? Your husband hit you? A lot?’
I nodded slowly, holding his gaze. He seemed to retreat into himself, and his face became masklike, abstracted, before a shudder rippled through him. The small vein on his neck was pulsing in fast, betraying beats. His gaze fell as he sucked in a breath. ‘No wonder you . . .’ He looked up at me again and gave an approximation of a laugh. ‘I was your nightmare, wasn’t I? Your dead mongrel husband come back to life. I even look a bit like him.’
I gave a quick nod, unable to speak.
‘So now I know,’ he said.
I pulled back my shoulders and raised my chin. ‘Now you know.’ My manner became brisk. ‘I’ll finish making the tea.’ I turned around to pick up the kettle.
‘I’m not like him, Stella. Not like your husband.’ His voice was so low that it was scarcely audible.
I didn’t reply. I had no idea what to say.
Once I’d made the tea we put everything on to a big tray that he carried upstairs to Ross’s office. Ross gave us a keen look when we entered, but didn’t ask any questions. The sandwiches were dry and unappetising, but I washed them down with draughts of sweet, strong tea and I felt better after I’d eaten.
At around seven we heard the noise of a car pulling up outside the house, a door slamming. A minute or so later, footsteps in the corridor, a quick rap on the door and Captain Deacon was in the room. Eric and I stood and saluted. He brushed us aside with a wave.
‘What’s this about?’
A Time of Secrets Page 30
