Page 128 of Strangers in Time

He calmed them down, locked the front door, and led the pair into the study. “All right, I will tell you what happened. The fact is that, well, someone killed Mrs. Macklin. I found her body in the basement when I was checking on her for the air raid.”

“Bloody hell,” exclaimed Molly, causing Charlie and Oliver to shoot her a surprised look.

“Yes, it is quite shocking,” Oliver said.

“Was she robbed?” Charlie asked.

“It didn’t appear to be a robbery.”

“Who would want to harm her?” asked Molly.

“I’m not sure. Certainly crime has increased in the city since the war started. It could be put down to that. They might have thought she would have been in a shelter. Then she may have stumbled upon them and they… did what they did.”

For some reason Molly glanced over at the bookshelf and her gaze came to rest on the copy of George Sand’sJacques, with the cut-out pages, which was the only item on that shelf. When she looked back at Oliver, his gaze slowly came round to her.

The man did not seem pleased at all.

A CRISIS OFDISCOVERY

AFEW DAYS LATERthe tap-tap on the glass came right at the stroke of midnight. There was something mystical about that hour, Oliver thought as he slowly walked to the door. Both in the pages of a book, and sometimes in real life.

Oliver drew aside the blackout curtains and saw Cedric standing there. He unlocked the door and motioned him in, but put a finger to his lips and whispered, “Please keep very quiet, I have others here with me.”

“I know that you do, Ignatius,” hissed Cedric. “And I donotlike it.”

Oliver led Cedric to the study, closed the door, and turned to his visitor. “Well?”

“What are those children doing here?” demanded Cedric.

“Don’t worry. I’m looking for a place for them. Now, tell me about Mrs. Macklin.”

“Who?” said Cedric.

“Busybody across the alley who ran the tea shop.”

“What of her?”

“She’s dead. Someone stabbed her.”

“Interesting.”

“You’re saying you know nothing of it?” said Oliver incredulously.

“Well, if someone did kill her, you might have already struck upon the reason. Perhaps she saw things that had nothing to do with her. And something had to be done before she could take her foul suspicions and do damage with them. Damage toyou, I might add. I am, of course, just speculating here. I really know nothing of the matter.”

“Do you really think she suspected me?” asked Oliver.

“Let me put it this way. If certain inquiries were made, discreet ones, and those inquiries indicated that the woman might have been preparing to alert the authorities about certain things she had seen, certain people she had witnessed doing certain suspicious-looking things, then, yes, I think there was the potential for important plans to be disrupted. And, of course, that could not be allowed.”

“I see. Well, the policedidcome. And the questions wereveryuncomfortable.”

“And what do the police think?” Cedric wanted to know.

“I told them about the attempted robbery of my business. But it would have helped if her till had been raided.” He stared pointedly at Cedric. “That would have made my theory more plausible.”

Cedric shrugged and gave a superior smile. “I never thought of that. You see, there is no crime in Germany. Der Führer will not allow it.”

“How commendable. So what do you want now?”

---