Page 36 of N or M? (Tommy & Tuppence 3)

Tuppence transferred her own powder and lipstick and stood up, prepared to set out.

Tony Marsdon turned his head away. He said gruffly:

"I feel a swine letting you do this."

"I know just how you feel."

"But, you see, it's absolutely vital - that we should get some idea of just where and how the attack will come."

Tuppence patted him on the arm.

"Don't worry, my child. Believe it or not, I'm enjoying myself."

Tony Marsdon said again:

"I think you're simply wonderful!"

III

Somewhat weary, Tuppence stood outside 14 St. Asalph's Road and noted that Dr Binion was a dental surgeon and not a doctor.

From the corner of her eye she noted Tony Marsdon. He was sitting in a racy looking car outside a house further down the street.

It had been judged necessary for Tuppence to walk to Leatherbarrow exactly as instructed, since if she had been driven there in a car the fact might have been noted.

It was certainly true that two enemy aircraft had passed over the downs, circling low before making off, and they could have noted the nurse's lonely figure walking across country.

Tony, with the expert policewoman, had driven off in the opposite direction and had made a big detour before approaching Leatherbarrow and taking up his position in St. Asalph's Road. Everything was now set.

"The arena doors open," murmured Tuppence. "Enter one Christian en route for the lions. Oh, well, nobody can say I'm not seeing life."

She crossed the road and rang the bell, wondering as she did so, exactly how much Deborah liked that young man.

The door was opened by an elderly woman with a stolid peasant face - not an English face.

"Dr Binion?" said Tuppence.

The woman looked her slowly up and down.

"You will be Nurse Elton, I suppose."

"Yes."

"Then you will come up to the doctor's surgery."

She stood back, the door closed behind Tuppence, who found herself standing in a narrow linoleum lined hall.

The maid preceded her upstairs and opened a door on the next floor.

"Please to wait. The doctor will come to you."

She went out, shutting the door behind her.

A very ordinary dentist's surgery - the appointments somewhat old and shabby.

Tuppence looked at the dentist's chair and smiled to think that for once it held none of the usual terrors. She had the "dentist feeling" all right - but from quite different causes.

Presently the door would open and "Dr Binion" would come in. Who would Dr Binion be? A stranger? Or someone she had seen before? If it was the person she was half expecting to see -

The door opened.

The man who entered was not at all the person Tuppence had half fancied she might see! It was someone she had never considered as a likely starter.

It was Commander Haydock.

Chapter 14

A flood of wild surmises as to the part Commander Haydock had played in Tommy's disappearance surged through Tuppence's brain, but she thrust them resolutely aside. This was a moment for keeping all her wits about her.

Would or would not the Commander recognize her? It was an interesting question.

She had so steeled herself beforehand to display no recognition or surprise herself, no matter whom she might see, that she felt reasonably sure that she herself had displayed no signs untoward to the situation.

She rose now to her feet and stood there, standing in a respectful attitude, as befitted a mere German woman in the presence of a Lord of creation.

"So you have arrived," said the Commander.

He spoke in English and his manner was precisely the same as usual.

"Yes," said Tuppence, and added, as though presenting her credentials: "Nurse Elton."

Haydock smiled as though at a joke.

"Nurse Elton! Excellent."

He looked at her approvingly.

"You look absolutely right," he said kindly.

Tuppence inclined her head, but said nothing. She was leaving the initiative to him.

"You know, I suppose, what you have to do?" went on Haydock. "Sit down, please."

Tuppence sat down obediently. She replied:

"I was to take detailed instructions from you."

"Very proper," said Haydock. There was a faint suggestion of mockery in his voice.

He said:

"You know the day?"

Tuppence made a rapid decision.

"The fourth!"

Haydock looked startled. A heavy frown creased his forehead.

"So you know that, do you?" he muttered.

There was a pause, then Tuppence said:

"You will tell me, please, what I have to do?"

Haydock said:

"All in good time, my dear."

He paused a minute and then asked:

"You have heard, no doubt, of Sans Souci?"

"No," said Tuppence.

"You haven't?"

"No," said Tuppence firmly.

"Let's see how you deal with that one!" she thought.

There was a queer smile on the Commander's face. He said:

"So you haven't heard of Sans Souci? That surprises me very much - since I was under the impression, you know, that you'd been living there for the last month..."

There was a dead silence. The Commander said:

"What about that, Mrs Blenkensop?"

"I don't know what you mean. Dr Binion. I landed by parachute this morning."

Again Haydock smiled - definitely an unpleasant smile.

He said:

"A few yards of canvas thrust into a bush create a wonderful illusion. And I am not Dr Binion, dear lady. Dr Binion is, officially, my dentist - he is good enough to lend me his surgery now and again."

"Indeed?" said Tuppence.

"Indeed, Mrs Blenkensop! Or perhaps you would prefer me to address you by your real name of Beresford?"

Again there was a poignant silence. Tuppence drew a deep breath.

Haydock nodded.

"The game's up, you see. 'You've walked into my parlour,' said the spider to the fly."

There was a faint click and a gleam of blue steel showed in his hand. His voice took on a grim note as he said:

"And I shouldn't advise you to make any noise or try to arouse the neighbourhood! You'd be dead before you got so much as a yelp out, and even if you did manage to scream it wouldn't arouse attention. Patients under gas, you know, often cry out."

Tuppence said composedly:

"You seem to have thought of everything. Has it occurred to you that I have friends who know where I am?"

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