Page 54 of The Girl with a Secret
“Oh my…” Rosa murmured faintly. She hoped that really was just a story.
“But the colonel’s a good man,” Elaine reassured her. “Although it’s true he can be quite lively, and he can have a devilish sense of humor when he wants to. But as long as you keep your tongue in your head and are sensible about it, it should all be just fine.” She glanced back at Rosa again, her eyebrows raised. “Are you German?”
This was said in such a friendly, interested way that Rosa was a little taken aback. Mrs. Kneale’s kindness aside, she realized she’d become used to the suspicion and wary hostility of many of the Manx residents, with their small island infiltrated by so many Germans.
“Yes,” she admitted. “I’m Jewish.”
“There are loads of Jewish émigrés working at the camp,” Elaine told her. “The colonel recruits them specially. Ah, here we are.”
She turned the car through a pair of impressive gates flanked by brick pillars. Rosa glimpsed an elegant country house that had now clearly been repurposed for the war. Prefabricated huts and buildings made of concrete blocks dotted the grounds, and the whole estate was surrounded by a brick wall which had been topped with three rows of barbed wire.
More barbed wire, Rosa thought, and almost laughed. What was going on here, that required these stringent security measures, along with such secrecy?
Their identification was checked as they went through the guard posted at the gate, and handed back without a word. As they drove in, Rosa glimpsed what looked like watchtowers atthe corner of the estate; she had no idea what to make of any of it. Was this another prison? Maybe she wasn’t wanted for war work; perhaps she was simply being detained somewhere else. But Elaine Lister hadn’t acted as if she was…
The car drew up to the front of the great house, which was also made of brick, flanked by two impressive wings, windowpanes glinting in the late-afternoon sunshine, and slowly Rosa climbed out and went to fetch her bag from the boot.
“Colonel Kendrick will see you in the Blue Room,” the lance corporal said, and Rosa nodded, although she had no idea where that was.
“Thank you. Where…” she began, only to have Elaine nod toward the impressive set of paneled front doors.
“Inside. Someone will direct you, don’t worry.” She gave her a conspiratorial smile. “Trust me, it’s all going to be absolutely fine. Welcome to Cockfosters Camp!” And with a smart salute, she drove away.
Slowly, her heart hammering, her suitcase knocking against her knees, Rosa mounted the few, shallow steps to the front doors. Inside the grand foyer, a young man in a military uniform took her name and then directed her to a chair in front of a pair of ornate double doors; several led out from the hall in various directions.
From somewhere in the huge house, Rosa heard the clack of typewriters, the click of heels, the murmur of voices. Although the foyer was empty save for her and the guard, the whole place seemed to be a quiet yet bustling hive of industry. It made Rosa wonder, again, what it was all for… and why on earth she was here.
After about ten minutes, when a few people, both men and women in uniform, had crossed the foyer, giving Rosa no more than cursory, if friendly, glances, the guard sprang to attention.“Colonel Kendrick will see you now,” he told Rosa, and she rose from her chair on decidedly unsteady legs.
She tapped once on the door and then turned the handle, stepping into a large, elegant room with deep blue walls and long, sashed windows overlooking parkland.
Colonel Kendrick stood up from behind a desk in the center of the room; he was in his late fifties, with a sagging, jowly face and bright eyes, his dark hair parted with razor-sharp precision. “Miss Herzelfeld,” he said, stretching out one hand, which Rosa took gingerly; she felt as if she were at a party, and yet… not. “I trust you had a good journey? It is a long way, admittedly, from the Isle of Man.” He let go of her hand as he sat down, indicating with a nod of his head for her to sit in the chair in front of the desk.
“It is,” Rosa agreed after a second’s pause. She knew it shouldn’t unnerve her that he knew she’d come from Rushen, but it did all the same. How much did he know about her?
She sat down, placing her suitcase on the floor next to her.
“I am sure you are curious as to why you are here,” Colonel Kendrick told her with a small, sympathetic smile. Rosa managed a nod. “And what it is we do here. There are many people who are certainly curious aboutthat.” He leaned back, steepling his fingers together. “Unfortunately, there is very little I can tell you. We operate on a strictly need-to-know basis, Miss Herzelfeld, and the less you know, the better.”
Rosa, having expected this thanks to Elaine Lister, simply nodded again.
“Before I go any further,” he continued after a moment, “I must ask you to sign this document.” He pushed a piece of paper across the desk toward her. “This is the Official Secrets Act,” he explained. “When you sign it, you are swearing not to disclose any—and I meanany—of the information you might learn here.” He paused, steepling his fingers together once more. “If youwere to do so, then I’m afraid the Manx internment camp would be far preferable to what would await you.”
So, this was her version of the Enfield pistol, Rosa thought wryly. She suspected the colonel was trying to scare her, but she also believed he was deadly serious.
“I see,” she murmured and then reached for the pen, dipping it in ink before she carefully signed her name in the relevant place. As she laid the pen down, she forced herself to ask in a voice that quavered only a little. “Now may you tell me what I am doing here? And how you got my name?”
“Your name?” Kendrick sounded surprised. “From your father. I thought you might know that piece of the puzzle, at the least.”
“Myfather?” It was just about the last thing she’d expected. Her father had had dealings with whatever went on here, with the British government? She shook her head slowly. “No, I didn’t know that,” she admitted. “He’s being held at a different camp. I don’t see him very often. But… how do you know him?”
Kendrick rocked back in his chair. “Your father gave us some very interesting and relevant information,” he told her. “Information he’d gathered before the war, back in Berlin, about some of the officers he came into contact with. It’s always helpful, you see, to know a man’s preferences and predilections. His weaknesses and wants, as well as his hopes and ambitions. Your father gave us quite a lot of information in regard to all that, as well as a few choice titbits he overheard, by the by.”
Rosa struggled not to gape in shock at this news. Clearly Kendrick knew about her father’s pre-war associations; just as, clearly, he did not take the same view of them as the interrogators once had. Her head spun.
“He also mentionedyou,” Kendrick continued with a smile. “And how you might be of service to us.”
“How?” Rosa asked helplessly. She still felt completely lost, as well as a little afraid.
