Here Be Monsters

'Never ended.' It wasn't a question, he merely repeated the words. And it wasn't hatred or anger in his eyes, let alone fear. But it might be distaste. Then he turned to Audley once more. 'What do you think, David? Or what do you believe - which is better?'

'It doesn't matter what he believes.' With a little practice she might catch an echo of Admiral Varney's voice, too. 'If Major Parker was a traitor, Dr Thomas, then what are you?

That is what matters.'

This time he didn't look at her. 'By damn, David! You've got a hard one here, and no mistake! Is this what it's like now? Or maybe the one our Ruddy wrote about -

'When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, And the women come out to cut what remains - One of them, maybe?' He set his glass on the table and filled it to the brim, and then picked it up and turned towards her. 'And if I am a traitor too, Miss Loftus - what then? Will you cut up these remains?'

They were exactly where she had always feared they would be, once she had let herself be pushed too hard and too fast. But then, out of nowhere, she remembered Father. 'Some people say youth is sweet, Dr Thomas.' Her youth had not been sweet, that was what memory told her. 'But I have observed that time running out is even more valuable when you are old. Is that so?'

He still wasn't frightened. But he showed his teeth when he smiled, for the first time, and she realized, also for the first time, that it wasn't only the memory of Father that was driving her.

'Is that some sort of threat, Miss Loftus?'

But she had seen those teeth before. And they were not like Father's at all, of course -

Father's had been his own, because he never ate sweets or took sugar in his tea.

'Not a threat.' She hadn't touched her wine. 'This is my first job, "in the field" as they say.

Or "first combat mission", for a Spitfire pilot, would that be?' She tipped her glass, and the dummy2

wine slashed out like a pool of blood, engulfing the few drops he had spilt. 'I sent a colleague out yesterday to inquire into your past.' Some of the wine had splashed on her shoes, staining them indelibly, she noticed. 'So now he's dead. Do you have any explanation for that, Dr Thomas?'

Haddock Thomas stared at her in astonishment. Then he looked at Audley - who was also staring at her. 'Do you have an explanation, David?'

Audley turned his head slowly, without taking his eyes off her until he was almost facing the old man.' The received wisdom is that I made a mistake, Haddock. Long ago.'

'A mistake?'

'About you.' Audley paused. 'Or if not you, then Peter Barrie, maybe.'

' Peter Barrie? That's foolishness, man!'

'Yes. That's what Peter Barrie said - about you.'

Haddock Thomas moistened his lips. 'Have you any evidence?'

'Two dead men is what we have,' said Elizabeth.

Audley shook his head. 'Not a thing. But then, if I did make a mistake… then you're good.

One of you - or both of you.'

'And if you didn't make a mistake?'

Audley drew in a deep breath. 'Let me make a picture for you, old comrade - if that's what you are - if I made a mistake.' He drew in another breath. 'Long ago… something went wrong on the Other Side - something slipped. So there had to be a salvage job, to save their inside man.' Another breath. 'If it was Peter, then they acted very quickly: he resigned, and became a nobody. There was no evidence against him - he just had to start again somewhere else. If it was you… if it was you, they were a bit slower. Or they decided to take more of a risk. But in the end they reckoned you'd never be altogether trusted. So you started again, too.' Audley shrugged. 'You each did well, anyway. And in the way they wanted you to do well, like maggots in an apple.'

Haddock Thomas sat back. 'A maggot, am I? But - '

Audley raised a finger. 'There's more. One of you - or both. Plus Delphi Marsh, of course.'

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The old man sat up. 'Now, David - '

'She would have been your contact. Or your alibi. She complicated things very nicely at the time - moving from one of you to the other, as required. I spent a lot of time on her. Maybe she was my real mistake.'

Haddock Thomas's jaw tightened. 'Now, you can leave Delphi out of this, David. Make all the pictures you like of me, and of Peter. But leave her out of them.'

'I'm afraid I can't. Because she comes in again, you see.'

'Again? What?' The old man's hands tightened into bony fists on his lap. 'How?'

'Our colleague who died yesterday was looking into Delphi's death, Haddock,' said Audley gently. 'He couldn't have found anything so quickly. But I think I know what he didn't have time to find, in any case.' He switched to Elizabeth suddenly. 'You see, Elizabeth, Mrs Delphi Thomas wasn't pregnant when she had her road accident. And that isn't a picture - that's a fact.' He turned back to the old man. 'Sorry, Haddock.'

The old man shook his head. 'No need to be sorry, man. We only invented that baby to make Peter angry, rather than sad. It was the least we could do for him, to make him hate us both.'

'Was that it?' Audley cocked his head. 'Well, indeed! And I always thought she trapped you with it! Now there's a turn-up for the book!'

'Not so clever, eh?' The old man wasn't smiling. 'And is that your picture, then?' He frowned suddenly. 'But then… if you believed that… then you can hardly believe your picture, David - ?'

'Not a word of it.' Audley sounded almost cheerful. 'I spent a lot of time on you - all three of you. And I was in my prime then, not the doddering fool I am now. And now I've all the wisdom of hindsight to add.'

'And what does hindsight add?'

'Well, for a start, if either you or Peter have been working for the Other Side these twenty-thirty years, you damn well haven't earned your keep. I had a devil's advocate run-down on you both, a couple of days back. And, in your very different ways you both qualify for the firing squad - but theirs, not ours, old comrade.'

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Elizabeth sat up. 'You never told me that, David.'

'You never asked, Elizabeth. And, besides, I wanted you to come to your own conclusion.'

He shrugged unapologetically.

'I see.' Haddock Thomas poured himself another drink. 'But then, again, I do not see at all.'

'What don't you see?'

'I don't see why you are here - here to rake up a past which I have no desire to recall in this fashion.'

'My dear Haddock, I do not want to be here.' Audley sniffed, and held out his glass to be refilled. 'As a matter of fact, I was busy with something much more important than raking up your fairly innocent past.'

'But two men are dead, nevertheless.' Haddock Thomas turned to Elizabeth. 'He talked about old times, Miss Loftus - Major Parker did. He said he had come back for the D-Day anniversary, and he thought he'd look me up. He had very little to say. But then we really didn't have anything in common.'

'Least of all treason,' murmured Audley.

'But now he is dead.' The old man stared across his valley again, shading his eyes with his hand. 'And your colleague is also dead. While investigating…'He trailed off. 'And for those two reasons - not wholly inadequate reasons, I must now admit - for those two reasons you are here, David. In fact… in view of our shared past, you could really hardly avoid coming to see me - no matter that you believed me to be innocent. Perhaps that might even supply a greater compulsion - ' He half-looked at Elizabeth ' - rather than leave me to other tender mercies…' He returned his gaze to the distant hillside. 'When the received wisdom (whatever that may entail… but "received wisdom" is difficult to argue with, I agree!) - the received wisdom is that you made a mistake.' He continued to stare across the valley, but fell silent now.