She wondered if that was why he was so determined that this was what had happened. Because, bad as it was, it was better than the alternative. On the other hand, it could explain why their retrieval teams hadn’t shown up, and why there were five fatalities.
You don’t know for certain that there are, she reminded herself. You need to find out. And soon, before Mike heard about the five.
I must go to the hospital tomorrow. And keep him away from Miss Laburnum and newspapers till then. He’d said they needed to check her drop and see if it was working. If she could take him there as soon as they got out of here—
“As soon as the all clear goes, I’m going back to Padgett’s,” he said. “I’ve got to tell them there may still be casualties in the wreckage. If it’s the retrieval team, they won’t be looking for them.”
“But you can’t—”
“I won’t tell them it’s the retrieval team. I’ll say I saw some people going in while I was waiting for Eileen. We can’t just leave them there. They may still be alive.”
No, they aren’t, Polly thought. Whoever it is, they’ve already been pulled out of the wreckage dead. But she couldn’t say that.
“We have to help them,” Mike said.
“We can’t—”
“Mike?” Eileen called from above them. “Polly? Where are you?”
“Down here!” Mike shouted, and they heard her start down the clanking steps.
“Don’t say anything to her about this till we know for certain,” Polly whispered to Mike. “She’s—”
“I know,” he whispered back. “I won’t.”
Eileen came down to where they were standing. “You weren’t leaving to go to the drop without me, were you?”
“Not a chance,” Mike said. “We were just trying to figure out what other historians might be here besides Gerald Phipps.”
“Why did you come down here to do that?”
“We didn’t want to disturb you,” Polly said.
Mike nodded. “We couldn’t sleep, and we thought we might as well make use of the time. Don’t worry. We wouldn’t go off and leave you.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” Eileen said shamefacedly. “I’m sorry. It’s only that I can’t bear the thought of being here all alone again.” She sat down on the step. “So have you thought of anyone?”
And you’d better come up with something quickly, Polly said silently, or she’ll know we’re lying.
“Yeah,” Mike said, “Jack Sorkin, but unfortunately, he’s on the USS Enterprise in the Pacific.”
“What about your roommate?” Eileen asked. “Wasn’t he doing World War II?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t do us any good either. Charles is doing Singapore.”
Oh, my God. Singapore! Polly thought. And if his drop isn’t working, like ours, he’ll still be there when the Japanese arrive. He’ll be captured and put in one of their prison camps. She wondered if Mike realized that. She hoped not. “Who else?” she asked to change the subject. “Eileen, what about the other people in your year? Were any of them doing World War II?”
“I don’t think so. Damaris Klein might … no, I think she was doing the Napoleonic Wars. What about the historian who was doing the rocket attacks?” She turned to Polly. “When did those begin, Polly?”
“June thirteenth of 1944,” Polly said, “which is too late to be of any use. We need someone here now.”
“And we don’t know who it was who did the V-1 attacks,” Mike said.
“But if we can’t find anyone else …,” Eileen said. “Mike, are you certain they didn’t say who it was?”
“They might have …,” he said, frowning as if trying to remember.
“Could it have been Saji Llewellyn?” Polly asked.
“No, she was observing Queen Beatrice’s coronation. You know that, Polly,” Mike said. “Do either of you know Denys Atherton?”
“I’ve seen him at lectures and things,” Eileen said, “but I’ve never spoken to him. What’s he doing?”
“I don’t know,” Mike said, “but it’s something from March first to June fifth, 1944, which is also too late to help us. What would he be observing then, Polly? The war in Italy?”
“No, he would have come through earlier for that. He’s likelier to have been observing the buildup to the invasion, especially since his return date’s one day before D-Day.”
“Which means he’ll be here in England,” Mike said. “Where? Portsmouth? Southampton?”
“Yes, or Plymouth or Winchester or Salisbury,” Polly said. “The buildup was spread over the entire southwestern half of the country. Or he could be observing Fortitude, in which case he’d be in Kent. Or Scotland.”
“Fortitude?” Eileen said. “What’s that?”
“An intelligence operation to fool Hitler and the German High Command into believing the Allies were attacking somewhere other than Normandy. They built dummy Army installations and planted false news stories in the local papers and sent faked radio messages. Fortitude North was in Scotland. Its mission was to convince the Germans the invasion would be in Norway, and Fortitude South in southeast England’s mission was to convince them it was coming at the Pas de Calais.”
“So Denys Atherton could be anywhere,” Mike said.
“And if he’s working in Intelligence, he won’t be using his own name,” Polly said.
“But I know what he looks like,” Eileen said. “He’s tall and has dark curly hair—”
“Christ,” Mike said. “I hadn’t even thought about names. That means Phipps could be here under some other name, too. Eileen, did he say anything about whether he’d be using his own name or not?”
“No.”
Polly asked Mike, “And you didn’t see his name on the letters he was carrying?”
“No,” he said disgustedly.
“But you and Eileen both know what he looks like.”
“If I can only remember the name of his airfield,” Eileen said ruefully. “I know I’d know it if I heard it.”
“It’ll be in the railway guide,” Polly said. “I’ll see if Mrs. Rickett has one in the morning, and if she doesn’t, I know Townsend Brothers has one in the book department. I used it to look up the trains to Backbury. I’ll buy it on Monday. And in the meantime, the best thing we can do is get some sleep. We’ll all be able to think more clearly if we’ve had some rest.” And I’ll be able to think of a way to keep Mike from going to Padgett’s in the morning, she thought.
But how? Telling him that they couldn’t help, that historians couldn’t affect events, brought them back to Hardy. And telling him it had already happened and there were fatalities, and therefore there was no point in trying, not only sounded completely heartless but was too much like their own situation. And hopefully Mr.
Dunworthy wasn’t telling Colin the same thing at this very moment.
She would have to persuade Mike that she should be the one to go to Padgett’s. “Mr. Fetters is less likely to recognize me than Eileen or you,” she could tell him,
“especially if I change my clothes and put my hair up. I can tell him I was waiting outside for Eileen and saw people go in just as the store closed.”
But when she tried to persuade him, waking him up before the all clear so the sleeping Eileen wouldn’t hear, he insisted on going himself.
“But shouldn’t I show you where the drop is first?” Polly asked. “If it’s working, you can go through and tell Oxford to send a team disguised as rescue workers.”
He shook his head. “We’ll go to Padgett’s first and then the drop.”
“But what will we tell Eileen?”
He finally agreed to take Eileen back to Mrs. Rickett’s, tell her the two of them were going to the drop, and then go to Padgett’s.