Ena almost choked on her drink. Was she going to hear about Rupert Highsmith’s softer side? Did he even have a softer side? ‘Oh?’
‘And he doesn’t show his feelings in public.’
‘I can feel a but coming.’
‘But,’ her friend said pointedly, ‘he wants me to move in with him. Live with him.’ Artie wrinkled his nose and blushed scarlet.
‘What are you screwing up your face for? Isn’t that what you want?’
‘Well, yes, it is…’
‘So, I don’t see a problem.’
‘There isn’t one,’ Artie said, laughing.
‘Can I give you a piece of advice?’
‘I’m all ears.’
‘Don’t let him turn you into a cook, cleaner and bottle washer.’
Artie laughed again. ‘I don’t think he’ll expect me to do any of that. I told him in no uncertain terms when I left GCHQ that it was because he treated me like a servant. Don’t worry, he got the message.’ Artie giggled.
‘Have you told him you’ll move in with him?’
‘No, I said it was a big decision. I said I needed to be sure it was what I wanted, and that he must be sure it’s what he wants too.’
‘And are you, sure?’
‘I am now. Thank you, Ena. I’ll get us another drink and, as soon as we’re on our own, I’ll tell him.’
Ena hadn’t seen Artie as happy for a long time. He was due some happiness, someone to care for him, love him. He almost skipped over to Henry for more wine. As arrogant as Rupert Highsmith could sometimes be, he and Artie were a good match. Her smile faded. The fact that Rupert was being sent threatening letters would affect Artie, and Ena couldn’t help but feel worried for Artie. She decided to talk to him about the anonymous letters on Monday when they were in the office. Her thoughts were interrupted by Inspector Powell.
‘I don’t want to talk shop tonight, but I thought you’d like to know, Arnold Hardy was picked up in Margate yesterday trying to rob a Post Office. The Police searched his lodgings and found several hundred pounds under his mattress, which I hope will go back to Doreen.’
‘I’ll drink to that,’ Ena said, raising her glass.
‘And, the Chief Constable is happy with the work you did on the art theft case.’
‘So, Giselle Aubrey is his goddaughter, is she?’
‘She is. And,’ Inspector Powell continued, ‘if there is anything in the future, would you be prepared to work with the Met?’
‘With you and Detective Constable Jarvis,’ Ena teased.
‘Shush! But yes.’
‘Do you know our rates, Inspector?’ Artie asked.
‘I do, Mr Mallory.’
‘Artie!’ Ena said, shocked by his forthrightness.
‘And, so do I, Ena,’ Rupert Highsmith said, joining them.
‘To Ena and Artie and the Dudley Green Investigation Agency.’ Henry shouted, popping the cork on a bottle of champagne and pouring it into a row of champagne flutes.
‘And to Ena and Henry,’ Artie shouted in reply, raising his glass.
“To Ena and Henry!”
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Madalyn Morgan has been an actress for more than thirty years working in repertory theatre, the West End, film, radio and television. She is a radio presenter, writes poetry, and has written many articles for newspapers and magazines.
Madalyn was brought up in Lutterworth, at the Fox Inn. “The pub was a great place for an aspiring actress and writer to live, as there were so many different characters to study and accents to learn.” At twenty-four Madalyn gave up a successful hairdressing salon and wig-hire business for a place at E15 Drama College and a career as an actress.
In 2000, with fewer parts available for older actresses, Madalyn taught herself to touch type, completed a two-year correspondence course with The Writer’s Bureau, and started writing. After living in London for thirty-six years, she has returned to her home town of Lutterworth, swapping two window boxes and a mortgage for a garden and the freedom to write.
As an Indie Author, Madalyn has successfully published seven novels: Foxden Acres, Applause, China Blue, and The 9:45 To Bletchley are set during WW2 and tell the wartime stories of Bess, Margot, Claire, and Ena Dudley. Foxden Hotel and Chasing Ghosts are post war. There Is No Going Home is set in 1958.
Madalyn is a member of The Society of Authors, the Romantic Novelists Association and Equity. Her books are available on Amazon - in eBook and in paperback at:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Madalyn-Morgan/e/B00J7VO9I2/
FUTURE BOOKS
The only Dudley sister who doesn’t have a sequel is Margot (Applause), but that is about to change. My work in progress is called Christmas Applause. Set in The Prince Albert theatre, Christmas 1960, it will be a celebration of Margot’s life as London’s leading lady and ENSA’s Sweetheart in World War Two. The story brings together the Dudley sisters, their daughters - now young women - and Margot’s dancer friends from the war.
Christmas Applause begins in 1960 and goes back in time to the 1940s, to the London Blitz, to the late-night clubs and the problems Margot had with alcohol and prescription drugs. It also goes back to Margot’s survival, how she conquered her demons to become the The Prince Albert Theatre’s leading lady and Talk of London.
I have never before written a duel-time novel. Nor have I written a feel-good Christmas story. Christmas Applause will be both. Two firsts for me - and two challenges.
I am also writing a Memoir. It will be a record of my work as an actress and as a writer. I have worked with some interesting people, I a collection of poetry, articles and biographies - with photographs of the characters I played when I was an actress. I think a collection of work would make a good memoir. It will be different, but I hope interesting to read.
OUTLINE OF EARLIER BOOKS IN THE DUDLEY SISTERS SAGA
FOXDEN ACRES: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BCX59LE/
Foxden Acres, the first book in the saga, begins on the eve of 1939 when twenty-year-old Bess Dudley, the daughter of a Foxden groom, bumps into James Foxden the heir to Foxden Estate. Bess, a scholarship girl, lodges at Mrs McAllister’s boarding house in London while studying to be a teacher.
With offers of a teaching job in London and Foxden, Bess opts for Foxden, to be near James. However, when she is told that James is betrothed to the socially acceptable Annabel Hadleigh, Bess accepts the teaching post in London.
When war breaks out and London’s schoolchildren are evacuated, Bess returns to Foxden to organise a team of Land Girls and turn the Foxden Estate into arable land. James, having joined the RAF, is training to be a bomber pilot at nearby Bitteswell Aerodrome.
German bombs fall on London and Mrs McAllister’s house is blitzed to rubble. South Leicestershire is scarred too when an RAF plane carrying Polish airmen crash lands in a Foxden field. Traditional social barriers come crashing down when Flying Officer James Foxden falls in love with Bess. But is it too late? During the time Bess has been back at Foxden she has grown to like and respect Annabel Hadleigh. How can Bess be with James knowing it would break her friend’s heart? Besides, Bess has a shameful secret that she has vowed to keep from James at any cost.
APPLAUSE: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00J7Y5LCW/
Applause is the second book in the saga. In the early years of World War Two, Margot (Margaret) Dudley works her way up from usherette to leading lady in a West End show. Driven by blind ambition Margot becomes immersed in the heady world of nightclubs, drink, drugs and fascist thugs – all set against a background of the London Blitz.
To achieve her dream, Margot risks losing everything she holds dear.
CHINA BLUE: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00XD85NQW/
China Blue, the third book, is Claire Dudley’s story. At the beginning of World War II Claire joins the WAAF. She excels in languages and is recruited by the Special Operations Executive to work in Occupied France. Against SOE rules, Claire falls in love. The affair has to be kept secret.
Even after her lover falls into the hands of the Gestapo, Claire cannot tell anyone they are more than comrades.
As the war reaches its climax, Claire fears she will never again see the man she loves.
THE 9:45 TO BLETCHLEY: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GEVW3Z8/
The 9:45 To Bletchley is the fourth book in the Dudley Sisters Saga. In the midst of the Second World War, and charged with taking vital surveillance equipment via the 9:45 train, Ena Dudley makes regular trips to Bletchley Park, until on one occasion she is robbed. When those she cares about are accused of being involved, she investigates, not knowing whom she can trust.
While trying to clear her name, Ena falls in love.
FOXDEN HOTEL: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071LDYD2D/
The war is over. It is time for new beginnings.
Celebrating the opening of Foxden Hotel, New Year’s Eve 1948, and an enemy from the war years turns up. He threatens to expose a secret that will ruin Bess’s happiness and the new life she has worked so hard to create. Bess’s husband throws the man out. So is that the last they see of him? Or will he show up again when they least expect?
Bess had hoped fascism was a thing of the past, buried with the victims of WW2. Little does she know the trouble that lies ahead, not only for herself but also for her family.
CHASING GHOSTS: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D42HP1Q/
1949. After receiving treatment for shell shock in Canada, Claire's husband disappears. Has Mitch left her for the woman he talks about in his sleep? Or is he on the run from accusations of wartime treachery? Claire goes to France in search of the truth, aided by old friends from the Resistance.
THERE IS NO GOING HOME: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SHTGMFF/
London, 1958, Ena recognises a woman who she exposed as a spy in WW2. Ena’s husband, Henry, an agent with MI5, argues that it cannot be the woman because they went to her funeral twelve years before.
Ena, now head of the Home Office cold case department, starts an investigation. There are no files. It is as if the woman never existed. Suddenly colleagues who are helping Ena with the case mysteriously die… and Ena herself is almost killed in a hit-and-run.
The case breaks when Ena finds important documents from 1936 Berlin that prove not only did the spy exist, but someone above suspicion who worked with her then, still works with her now.
Fearing for her life, there is only one person Ena can trust… or can she?
SHE CASTS A LONG SHADOW https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B089JDCR8D/
Preparing to expose the mole at MI5, Ena’s husband Henry is abducted by Special Branch and Ena is thrown into a murder case.
All the evidence points to Henry having killed the mole, leading Ena to conclude that Henry is being framed. Close to finding out the truth, Ena is suspended from her job at the Home Office and the investigation is blocked by Special Branch. Only her sisters and her old friend Inspector Powell believe Henry is innocent.
Help comes from an untrustworthy character. A deal is agreed: A ticket to Austria in return for the names of the mole’s associates, evidence to solve two of Ena’s cold cases, and the proof that Henry is innocent of murder. The catch? Ena must accompany this character to Austria as insurance.
Old Cases New Colours (A Dudley Green Investigation) (The Dudley Sisters Saga Book 9) Page 26
