‘I still don’t understand why you broke up with Greg,’ Jenny said as they were walking to the Piebald Pony. ‘You were so good together.’
It was a fortnight since Pearl had ended the relationship, and she missed Greg more than ever. That wasn’t the point, though, and she tried explaining herself again. ‘I told you why. He obviously didn’t care enough for me if he could wilfully risk his life and put me through all that anxiety.’
‘And I explained to you,’ Thea said, ‘that’s how most of the aircrews react. He’d just got back from a mission where three of his crew were hurt. Don’t you think he needed to let off steam? I saw the hole in C-Charlie’s fuselage, you know. If that shrapnel had hit a yard or two further back, it would have blown off the whole tail unit, and they’d all have been killed.’
‘Don’t tell me that! I don’t want to know how close he came to death.’
‘But you need to understand what it’s like to go through that and come out the other side. I’ve been mixing with the bomber crews ever since I was posted to an operational unit, and I see the state the aircraft come back in. Yet if I ask them about it, they brush it off with a joke. Probably because they can’t let themselves think about it too closely. These daredevil stunts are all about them proving to themselves that they’re still alive.’
‘Thea’s got a point,’ Jenny said. ‘I read a psychology book a month or two back that I borrowed from Mr Haughton.’ She pronounced the ch in psychology as in ‘church’, but Pearl let it pass. ‘And from what I read, some of them might do mad dangerous stunts because they’re not in control of what happens to them on a mission, so their high-jinks are all about doing something daring that they do have control over. Or even proving to themselves that they’re brave enough to do something dangerous when they have a choice.’
‘Maybe you’re right.’ Pearl could see the logic in what both Thea and Jenny were saying. ‘But it doesn’t make it any easier for me. I did the right thing.’ Even if it did mean crying herself to sleep most nights.
‘And do you feel any better now you’re not seeing him any more?’ Thea asked.
Pearl was saved from answering because they had arrived at the pub, and she pretended she hadn’t heard over the noise from the public bar. Pausing before going through to the quieter snug, her heart twisted when her glance fell on Greg, in the crowded bar. He was with his crewmates, although she was relieved to see he was just talking and not balancing on anyone’s shoulders this time. The answer to Thea’s question was that no, she didn’t feel better. She hadn’t stopped worrying just because she was no longer seeing him. But the fact remained that she couldn’t trust him with her heart. Not if he wouldn’t take care of himself.
Thea stopped short when they entered the snug. ‘The decorations are up. I’d forgotten it’s nearly Christmas.’
Pearl looked around, admiring the effort Norah Brumby had taken to make the snug look festive. Colourful paper chains festooned the bar and the ceiling, and little foil stars dangled from the beams. ‘How pretty. I’d forgotten too.’ The continuing mild weather hadn’t made her feel much like celebrating, meaning as it did that operations continued flying. ‘You two find a table. I’ll get the drinks.’
Norah was serving at the bar, and spoke before Pearl could give her order. ‘Glad to see you here. There’s a couple of women asking for Greg Tallis. I’ve been that busy, I haven’t had a moment to slip into the public bar to let him know.’ Norah pointed out two women sitting at a table by the fire. Neither were in uniform. One looked to be about Pearl’s age and had brown, wavy hair. The other was younger and had reddened eyes, as though she had recently been crying.
Pearl’s heart sank. Clearly Norah hadn’t heard that she and Greg had split up. She couldn’t imagine what the two women wanted with him, though, and her curiosity got the better of her. ‘I’ll have a quick word with them and tell Greg if it’s anything important.’
Once she’d paid for her drinks, she took them over to where Thea and Jenny were waiting. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ she said. ‘Apparently those women over there have been asking for Greg. I’d better go and see what they want.’
‘Absolutely,’ Thea said. ‘Stake your claim on Greg before they can get their claws into him. I knew you cared about him really.’
Ignoring her, Pearl went over to the fireside table. ‘Excuse me, but the landlady said you were looking for Greg Tallis. I’m Pearl Cooper, a… a friend of his.’
The brown-haired woman glanced up. ‘Pearl Cooper? Aren’t you the one who helped Flight Sergeant Tallis recover my brother’s watch?’
Pearl sat down on the nearest chair with a bump. ‘Oh, are you Max Turner’s sister? Yes, that was me.’
‘I can’t thank you enough for what you did. I’m Beatrice Little, by the way.’
‘Is that why you’re here – to thank Greg and me in person?’ Pearl thought it a little odd. Beatrice had thanked them both by letter and, since people were being urged not to make unnecessary journeys, coming all this way to repeat thanks already sent by letter seemed over the top.
‘No. It’s something else.’ Beatrice indicated the woman she was sitting with. She looked to be in her early twenties. Although she was dressed in a pretty frock, and from her neatly waved chestnut hair and carefully applied lipstick she evidently took care of her appearance, Pearl noticed that her fingernails were ragged and her hands chapped and callused. ‘This is Felicity Nugent. She’s the sister of Harry Nugent, who was a gunner in P-Peter, one of the Lancasters in the same squadron as Greg.’
‘P-Peter?’ Pearl frowned. ‘Didn’t that—’
‘It crashed, yes,’ Felicity said. Her voice sounded a little hoarse, as though from crying.
‘I’m so sorry. Did you come here to meet the people who knew him? I never met him myself, I’m afraid.’
It was Beatrice who answered. ‘Felicity’s got a story that will interest you. I can tell you most of it, though.’
Pearl glanced round to catch Thea and Jenny’s eyes and signalled that she would be some time. It saddened her to see a space around Thea. Pearl distinctly saw one WAAF speak behind her hand to another, and they both moved a little farther away from Thea. Although the snug was busy, no one came to claim one of the empty seats at their table.
Pearl turned back to the two women at her table. ‘Go on, then.’ She had a feeling their tale would be to do with the theft of Max’s watch, and, considering Thea was now a suspect in many people’s eyes, it was best to keep her out of it.
Beatrice took up the story. ‘First of all, I do want to thank you in person for going out of your way to find Max’s watch. It means more than I can express to know I have something of his that I can give to my little boy. Oh. I nearly forgot.’ She reached into her handbag and pulled out the jewelled pin. ‘Greg Tallis sent this to me. It was Max’s but he told me Max had given it to a girl he was keen on. I think she should have it back.’
‘That was my sister, Thea.’ Pearl concluded that Greg couldn’t have told Beatrice of his suspicions, and she was grateful for that. It was reassuring to know that he had played no part in the general shunning of her sister. Ironic, too, that Beatrice and Greg now seemed to trust Thea more than Pearl did. For Pearl couldn’t forget how she had been suspicious when Thea had disappeared the night they had been waiting for the bombers to return. She was glad no one had reported anything missing from their lockers that night, or she would have been in a terrible quandary whether to report Thea’s actions. As it was, she could keep silent with a clear conscience.
Beatrice handed the pin to Pearl. ‘Will you give it back, please? Tell her I’m sorry for getting her into trouble.’
Pearl tucked the pin into her purse. ‘Of course. What else did you want to say?’
‘Well, Felicity here is a Land Girl, working on a farm not far from where I live. My local church held a memorial service last Sunday for all those who’d lost a loved one in the war, and that’s where I met her.’
Felicity leaned forward. ‘We got chatting after the service, you see, and it turned out that we both had brothers who had been at RAF Fenthorpe. The service was the first time I’d met Beatrice, or we might have discovered our connection earlier. Anyway, we got chatting about our brothers and—’ Felicity’s voice broke, and she signalled to Beatrice to carry on.
‘It’s like this,’ Beatrice said. ‘Felicity was upset because she’d just got her brother’s belongings returned to her.’
Pearl could see where the tale was going. ‘Don’t tell me. There were some valuables missing.’
Felicity nodded, dabbing her eyes with a dainty lace-trimmed handkerchief.
‘She had some leave coming up,’ Beatrice carried on, ‘so I persuaded her to come up to Lincoln with me for a few days so we could try to speak to Flight Sergeant Tallis. He was so helpful last time that I thought he ought to know.’
Pearl swallowed. ‘What’s missing?’ This was the last thing she wanted to hear. Valuables going missing on a night when she had witnessed Thea emerge from somewhere near the locker rooms. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she hated herself for suspecting her sister.
Felicity, who was a little recovered, took over. ‘There were a couple of items I missed. I know he had them because they were gifts from me and, as we only had each other after our parents died, he would never have given them away. There was a silver cigarette case and a fountain pen. Also I think there was some money stolen, although I couldn’t swear to that, not knowing if he spent it, but he was saving up to buy a motorbike and I don’t think he would have spent the money without good reason.’
‘How awful,’ Pearl said. She pulled a pencil and her notebook from her pocket. ‘I don’t think we’ll be able to do anything about the money, but we can look out for the other items. Please can you describe them? Did they have any initials engraved? That would help us identify them.’
Felicity shook her head, dabbing her eyes again. ‘No initials. I wish I’d thought of that now. But the cigarette case was engraved with a crescent moon and stars in one corner.’ She sniffed. ‘I chose it because I knew he flew mostly at night. The fountain pen was a Mentmore lever-filling pen in black and gold marble.’
Pearl jotted down the description with a heavy heart. There was nothing special about the pen apart from its sentimental value to Felicity. If she saw one, she would have no way of telling if it was the one that had belonged to Harry Nugent. ‘Where did you get the cigarette case? I mean was it something that was unique, or were there other cases the same in the shop where you bought it?’
‘From an antique shop in Cambridge. It was the only one of its kind in the shop, although I’ve no idea if there are others the same.’
‘Still, it’s a start,’ Pearl said. ‘We’ll have more luck identifying that as Harry’s than the fountain pen, although if we were to find both in the same place it would be very suspicious.’
Felicity tucked her hanky up her sleeve, looking recovered and determined. ‘Will you help, then? To be honest, until I spoke to Beatrice I just thought that someone on the base had taken them as a keepsake, and I wasn’t too upset. Neither the pen nor the cigarette case were valuable, and I thought one of Harry’s friends was welcome to them. But when I met Beatrice and heard her story, that’s when I thought Harry’s things might have been stolen too. And that made me angry, that some unscrupulous person is benefitting from Harry’s death.’
Pearl patted Felicity’s hand. ‘I’ll do what I can. You have my word.’
‘What about Greg Tallis – will he help? He was so good to me last time, when the authorities had dismissed my complaint as hysterical nonsense,’ Beatrice said.
Pearl hesitated. Part of her was tempted to keep this to herself. It would make a great story for the Bombshell, after all. But then the thought occurred that if she didn’t involve Greg, he would be angry and disappointed when he found out what she had kept from him. What was more, she couldn’t forget what Greg had said about feeling as responsible for his crew as she felt for Thea. If it turned out that Harry’s things had been stolen, there was a good chance they had been taken by the same person who had stolen Max’s watch. It would be wrong to exclude him.
She rose. ‘I’m sure he would want to be involved. I saw him in the public bar as I came in, so I’ll see if I can fetch him.’
It would be awkward and painful to be with him again, but that was no reason to keep him in the dark.
Greg stood watching the group who were writing yet more names on the ceiling. If Fenthorpe lost many more bomber crews, Norah Brumby would have to extend the public bar, because they were running out of space on the ceiling. He hadn’t felt like joining in with the performance this time. It was enough to simply drink the health of the seven men who hadn’t returned from last night’s mission. The ironic thing was, it hadn’t even been a bombing mission but a leaflet drop. These were usually done by crews in the operational training units, not fully fledged bomber crews, as leaflet drops were seen as routine and a good way of preparing for bombing runs. But the crew of S-Stanley was inexperienced, and, as there had been another lull in longer bombing missions, it had been felt that the crew needed more practice. It had been a routine run until the Lancaster had iced up. The pilot had dived to dislodge the ice, but S-Stanley had gone into a spin from which the pilot had been unable to recover. And now the young crew were nothing more than names on the ceiling. Greg couldn’t even remember what any of them had looked like.
He sipped his pint, his thoughts inevitably turning to Pearl and her devastated expression when he had spoken those terrible words. He felt sick every time he remembered them, not because of their brutality but because he recognised their truth, that he could no longer bear the dread of waiting for death.
Maybe nothing in life is worth that.
Nothing? Not even me?
Her words had broken his heart, yet he had said nothing. He’d let her walk away. He had avoided her since the break-up, even to the extent of missing editorial meetings. He had still written a contribution for the next edition, but had sent it via Corporal Yates. He felt Pearl’s absence keenly, missing her calming presence when he was off duty. It had always helped him avoid dwelling on hairy moments from his recent missions when she was with him.
A hand tapped his shoulder. He spun round, expecting to see one of his crew. Instead he came face to face with Pearl. Unprepared for the sudden pain of seeing her, he lashed out. ‘Come to tell me off for encouraging dangerous behaviour? It must be bad if it makes you step foot in the public bar.’ Already the presence of a woman was attracting attention, and there were one or two whistles.
She shook her head, flushing. ‘Beatrice Little is here,’ she said. ‘She’s brought a friend who’s got news of more thefts.’
He forgot his hurt and confusion. If there was any chance of finding out who had stolen Max’s watch, he would do all in his power to catch the culprit. ‘Lead on.’ He automatically reached out to take her hand, then recollected himself and let his hand fall to his side. Fighting down a fresh wave of pain, he followed Pearl into the snug.
The introductions to Felicity and Beatrice were quickly made, and he listened to Felicity’s tale with a growing conviction that there was, indeed, a persistent thief in the station. ‘I’m sorry this has happened to you,’ he told Felicity. ‘I will do everything I can to recover the cigarette case and pen, although the money will probably be gone for good.’ He remembered Steve, then, and the lost money that should have gone to his fiancée, and wondered if the thief hadn’t learned his lesson from the watch and was now stealing items that would be harder to trace. There were untold numbers of Mentmore pens around, and the cigarette case, although more unusual, probably wasn’t unique. Even if they were found, would they be able to prove they were Harry’s?
He questioned Felicity closely about the cigarette case and pen, hoping to uncover a detail that would help him identify them. The only possible identifying mark was a scratch on the back of the cigarette case, caused when Harry had been scrambling up a rocky hillside while on holiday and the case had dropped from his pocket.
‘Do say you’ll help us find his things.’ Felicity turned pleading eyes upon him. ‘Harry was my last close relative, and I would like to have something to remember him by.’
Greg couldn’t refuse such a plea, even though it would mean working more closely with Pearl again, for he knew her too well to expect her to turn away from the investigation. She would want to be in on the story so she could write it up for the Bombshell. Anyway, he couldn’t help hoping that spending time with her would give him the opportunity to show her he was the right man for her. ‘I can’t promise anything,’ he told Felicity, ‘but of course I’ll look into it.’
Felicity and Beatrice thanked him profusely, then soon afterwards excused themselves, leaving Greg alone with Pearl. A long moment of silence stretched out between them, then Pearl said, ‘Thank you for agreeing to help. That was kind.’ She sounded stiff and formal, like a little girl thanking an elderly relative for inviting her to tea. Nothing like the Pearl who had spoken to him for hours, pouring out her heart about her ambitions and her worries about Thea.
‘I’m glad you asked me,’ he said. ‘If there’s any chance of finding the bastard who stole Max’s watch, I want to be there when they catch him.’ He wasn’t surprised to see Pearl had her notebook open on the table. ‘Did Beatrice or Felicity tell you anything they didn’t mention to me?’
Pearl read through her notes, tapping her pencil against her lips. He wished she wouldn’t do that; it reminded him all too strongly of how soft and kissable those lips were and sparked a line of thought that didn’t help with the investigation at all. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said finally. ‘I didn’t speak with them for long before coming to find you.’ She flicked back through her notes. ‘I suppose it’s worth thinking about whether there is a connection between this theft and the theft of Max’s watch.’
‘And don’t forget Steve Jonas’s money.’
Pearl frowned. ‘I remember you mentioning it but I don’t think I wrote anything down about it. Maybe because it was money that went missing instead of a valuable item like a watch or a pen.’
Greg repeated what he remembered from that case. ‘I only wondered if there was any connection with the other thefts because the money went missing from a locker.’
Pearl scribbled some notes about this other theft, then read them through. ‘Funny how the thefts are confined to men who have been killed. In each case we’ve only found out because a relative has missed items from the returned belongings. Are you sure no one in your crew has ever mentioned having anything stolen?’
‘I’m sure. You’re right. It is strange. It could be the thief strikes when he hears about a death from the returning crews.’ He tapped his fingers on the table as he ran through a list of the people who would be the first to hear. ‘There are the ambulance crews, of course, but they’re too busy dealing with the injured and dying and they would notice if one of their number suddenly slipped away. The WAAF drivers would also be among the first to know.’
‘But I was watching them the other night,’ Pearl said, ‘and they were too busy driving back and forth for one of them to slip into the locker room.’
Greg grimaced; he didn’t want to make the next suggestion. ‘There are the ground crews. They’re generally there to meet their plane when it returns.’ He hated to think any member of the ground crew was involved. They worked all hours of the day and night to keep the Lancasters in tip-top condition. Greg knew his life depended on them. He couldn’t bear to think of any of them turning against the bomber crews for their own gain.
Pearl’s face lost some of its colour. She looked as though she was about to say something, but stopped.
‘What is it?’ Greg asked.
She shook her head.
‘Seriously, Pearl, anything you can think of would be helpful.’
‘It’s probably not relevant.’ But her face said otherwise. Greg said nothing, but pinned her with his gaze and waited. Her hands were clasped over the notebook and she twisted them in a way that was most unlike her.
‘Just spit it out, Pearl. Whatever it is can’t be that bad.’
‘But it might be.’ Pearl’s voice was barely above a whisper. ‘You know I was volunteering with the WAAFs making tea the night P-Peter crashed? Well, Thea was there too, and she disappeared for a while.’
Greg listened while Pearl described the circumstances.
‘I was so cross with you when you accused Thea of stealing Max’s tiepin, but now I’m worried you were right,’ she said at the end. ‘What if I’m blinded to the signs because she’s my sister?’
Greg knew what a big admission this was for Pearl. But even though he didn’t know how to win back her heart, at least he could put her mind at rest. ‘I know how difficult it must have been for you to have said that.’ He glanced across the room to where Jenny and Thea were sitting. Alone. As though there was a quarantine zone around them. ‘And I know I expressed my doubts about her before, but I really don’t think Thea is involved. I’m sorry if I put any doubt in your mind.’
Pearl shook her head. ‘It wasn’t you. But Thea said she often waits up for the crews, and she’s on the ground crew, after all. That’s two groups of people who hear of any fatalities before most others.’
Greg wished he could take Pearl’s hands between his own and still their fidgeting. But he did his best to reassure her. ‘The night P-Peter was lost, we didn’t have confirmation until some time after I got back. Yet you said she disappeared before the first crews returned. She couldn’t have known then that Harry wasn’t coming back.’
Pearl felt as though a lead weight had fallen from her chest. ‘Of course. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking straight.’ She had allowed her fear to get the better of her common sense. ‘Although by your reasoning, I don’t see how anyone had the opportunity to steal Harry’s things. We only knew he wouldn’t return after all the other Lancasters had returned, and by that time there would surely have been men in and out of the locker room. And I’m sure when you told me about Max, you said the Committee of Adjustment removed belongings from his locker very soon after he was reported dead.’
She saw the blaze of understanding flare in Greg’s eyes. ‘You’re a genius. Of course.’
For the briefest of moments she thought he would lean across the table to kiss her. If she was being totally honest with herself, she wouldn’t have pushed him away. Her treacherous body had even leaned towards him. She tried to disguise it by reaching for her notebook. ‘Are you going to share your revelation with me?’
‘It’s the Committee of Adjustment. It explains everything. It explains why only dead crew members are having items stolen, and it explains why we never see anyone breaking into a locker. A member of the committee is stealing from dead crewmen. I saw one of them empty Max’s locker not long after we got back from that mission. I’m a complete drongo for not thinking of it before.’
He was gabbling in his excitement, his Australian accent broader than ever. Pearl thought she could follow what he meant, though. ‘Do you mean the person who officially empties the locker is the one who is stealing things?’
‘Possibly. It would certainly be easy for that person to slip items into his pocket before taking them to be listed and packed up. But it’s not necessarily that person. It’s also possible that whoever’s responsible for itemising everything is then leaving any item that strikes their fancy off the list and keeping it for themselves. The person who empties the locker probably wouldn’t check the itemised list – and even if he did, who’s to say if he’d remember everything he removed.’ Greg grimaced. ‘Not when they have so many other men’s belongings to deal with.’
‘I think you’re right.’ Pearl felt sick. ‘How awful, though. The thief is benefitting from a man’s death. He must be pleased when he hears of one of our Lancasters crashing. How vile is that?’
Greg’s expression had gone rigid, and he barely seemed to be able to utter his next words. ‘When I thought it was someone slipping into the locker room and breaking in… well, I thought that was bad enough. But this is so much worse. As you say, whoever it is must be actively hoping for one of us to be killed. It’s despicable.’
‘What do we do now?’
Greg turned his gaze on her, and his features softened. ‘We?’ There was no challenge in his tone. In fact there almost seemed to be a note of hope, and Pearl felt a flutter in her insides.
‘I want to help in any way I can,’ she replied. Then she hardened her heart. It would be cruel to let him believe there was a chance of winning her back. Although Greg had been the one to declare Thea innocent, there was still the matter of his reckless behaviour. Nothing had changed, even though she missed him terribly. She must be strong and remember that getting back together with him now wouldn’t solve anything, not when he insisted on risking his neck needlessly. Although she hated herself for what she was about to say, she had to make it clear that she no longer had feelings for him. Even if that was a lie.
‘This is huge news. Probably the biggest story we’ll ever cover in Fenthorpe, and I want to publish it as soon as we’ve got the culprit. Don’t you dare leave me out of this.’