The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear (the best electronic book reader TXT) 📗

“First of all, Maisie, I do hope this is not going to disappoint Anna—I don’t think I could bear to see the hurt on my granddaughter’slittle face when I tell her that Mummy won’t be there at the show to see her ride.”

Maisie raised her eyebrows. It was a day of firsts—she had never heard Brenda refer to Anna as “my granddaughter,” althoughshe was sure she would have done so while chatting to other villagers. She smiled as the words seemed to swaddle her in comfort.“No, I’ll be there, but I won’t be home until Friday evening.”

“Is it to do with Mr. Scott?”

Now she could almost feel Brenda bristle as she spoke. “No, he’s . . . he’s not here at the moment. And I have to go to . . .to go somewhere else. Not too far, but I won’t be able to get back until Friday. Which means that I will be home as soon asI can.”

“What about him?”

“Him?”

“Mr. Scott. Will he be coming? I would like to know if he’s also going to return from wherever he’s been, so I can make upa room.”

“No, he won’t be in London for another week or so.”

“Right then. Will you telephone to speak to Anna later? She’s still down at the stables with her grandfather.”

“I’ll call from the station—she’ll be back by that time.” There was a pause, one Brenda did not fill. “Well, I’ll be off then.Give my love to Anna and to Dad—and to you, Brenda.”

“Mind how you go, Maisie,” said Brenda.

Once again Maisie was left holding the receiver, having heard another person end the call without saying good-bye. She exhaledas she replaced the receiver in its cradle.

“Seems I’m in more trouble with Brenda than I thought,” she said aloud. She looked at her watch and wrote a message for Billybefore picking up her jacket and leaving the office, locking the door on her way out. A black motor car was waiting for her,engine idling and a young ATS driver standing alongside the rear passenger door. The ATS—the Auxiliary Territorial Service—wasthe women’s branch of the army. The driver smiled as Maisie approached, saluting as she opened the door.

“Miss Dobbs? Traffic is light today, so I should have you home in next to no time.”

Maisie thanked the driver, taken aback by the salute.

As the motor car pulled up outside the front entrance to Maisie’s garden flat, another black vehicle approached from behind.

“Wonder what he wants,” said the ATS driver, glancing into her rearview mirror. “One of them Yank motors just pulled up behindus.”

Maisie glanced up at the rearview mirror and met the eyes of her driver, who had raised an eyebrow. She smiled at the youngwoman and turned to look out of the back window. “Yes, I wonder,” she said, and was about to open the door when the driverstepped out of the vehicle and opened it for her. Maisie alighted from the motor car as the driver of the other vehicle approached,bearing a small package.

“Miss Dobbs?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Special delivery—from the United States embassy.”

“Oh, thank you,” she said, accepting the proffered parcel. The driver touched his cap and returned to his vehicle.

As Maisie watched the motor car pull away, the ATS driver issued a reminder. “Sorry, ma’am, but we really don’t have muchtime.”

“Oh yes, of course.”

Maisie rushed into the house, gathered sufficient clothing for two days, including the items specified by MacFarlane, andpushed the parcel from Mark Scott between two woolen cardigans.

Negotiating streets still in the process of being cleared of debris from the previous night’s bombings, the young driver lookedback at Maisie every time the motor car was required to come to a halt, before being waved on by police. Finally, she addressedMaisie.

“You don’t recognize me, do you, Miss Dobbs?”

“I—I beg your pardon?” said Maisie, once again meeting the woman’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “I thought you looked somewhat familiar, but—well, to tell you the truth, everyone looks different in uniform.”

“It’s been a while, to be fair, and we only met briefly. I wasn’t in uniform then—but I was on my way out the door of thatterrible office.”

“Of course! You were working for that dreadful man—the company where Joe Coombes was an apprentice.”

Maisie saw the driver’s eyes take on a mischievous sparkle as she smiled. “That’s it, Miss Dobbs. Charlie Bright at your service—thoughit’s Corporal Charlotte Bright now. And I was really glad to get away from that miserable sod in that gawd-awful office. Whata—well, I shouldn’t say, Miss Dobbs. It wouldn’t be very ladylike.”

Maisie smiled. She thought not being ladylike probably didn’t worry the corporal at all. “And now you’re a driver.”

“I’ve done other jobs since I enlisted. For a while I was in the ack-ack batteries, working the cameras with my friend Mavisto get a position on enemy aircraft. We’d joined up together. I almost copped it one night—I’d sprained my wrist, so anothergirl was on duty with Mavis, and they were both killed. Broke my heart, it did. I thought I’d never stop crying, I miss herso much. She was a real laugh, was Mavis. But you’ve just got to get on with it, haven’t you? We all have, you know, to geton with it, because the Germans aren’t giving us time to mourn.”

“And how did you become a driver?”

“I asked until I got, is more or less how I did it. Went on the training course—and it’s not that it takes a lot, drivinga car, or a lorry, is it? I’ve done both—put me behind the wheel of anything and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Anyway,then I was funneled into more training for this posting.”

“Why was that?”

“Um—well.” Bright seemed to check herself. “It was just for a few more things I had to learn. I mean, I’ve got to look after important people like you, haven’t I?” Catching Maisie’s eye in her mirror, she gave a wink and then concentrated on the road again.

“So you must know Mr. MacFarlane,” said Maisie.

“Everyone knows Mr. Mac. It was him who told me to come over to your office