“Yes, you do know what I was about to say.”
“Hector, one day soon you will find a lovely woman, make a fine husband and a wonderful father to keep the Neville-Percy line going, which will delight your mum no end. But it won’t be me.”
“Oh.”
“I would like an invitation to the wedding, though. I promise to be on my best behavior, speak only English, and you know I can be trusted to use the right knife and fork.”
He nodded, disappointed.
“I’ll be seeing your mum as soon as the war’s over anyway. I told her I would go visit, and I’ll be taking my mum up to meet her. She’s never been out of the valley, and we will go on a grand mum odyssey. First, to see yours, then to visit Barbara MacNeil in Castlebay, and finally back to Glen Coe to say hello to Big Maggie. And while I’m there, I intend to ask her where I can get a dog of my own like Fiona.”
“That sounds like a pleasant journey.”
“It does, doesn’t it? And I am looking forward to it.” Caitrin half-turned away, closed her eyes, and tilted her face toward the light. “But there is just one important thing I need to know before I set off.”
“And that is?”
“Why you and Winston Churchill are such stone-cold liars.”
48
Caitrin was motionless, face raised to the light. Gazing at her, Hector was at a loss for words. She turned toward him, opened her eyes, and again he was struck by her simple beauty. Her serene expression and steady blue eyes unnerved him, and always would.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Hector, you’re not a beagle, so don’t beg. Let’s start with the grand teller of whoppers, Winnie-the-Prime-Fibber. I took the so-called Koh-i-N
r Diamond to a jeweler for an appraisal. He said it was a very good copy and offered me a fiver. Said he’d make it an even tenner if I had dinner with him. I told him I wasn’t hungry, but my husband was famished and I’d send him down. Surprise, huh? I mean the jewel, not the hungry hubby.”
He nodded. It seemed the safest thing to do.
“If I were a betting woman, I’d wager the Fifteenth Farquharson of Invercauld’s one hundred and thirty thousand acres that months ago Winston took a huge gamble and sent the authentic Crown Jewels across the Atlantic along with the gold. I’d bet this very moment they are nestled securely in a Montreal bank vault.”
A cloud bank drifted across the sun, the air grew colder, and they both shivered.
“Now, fibber number two—you. When we were staying at your mum’s place, you rushed in early one morning and said the submarine Talisman had already arrived in Greenock and was leaving early. Before I came here, I had my nautical chums at 512 check that out. Seems it docked and departed on schedule. First big fib.”
Hector shuffled his feet, stared out at the horizon, and said, “Plans suddenly changed.”
“Not true. You were trying to keep me in the dark, and to my shame I helped. Next big fib. We arrived in Greenock, and you went to a telephone, supposedly for instructions on how to get to the ship. You returned, having written them down. To the dismay of some, and that’s about to include you, one of my talents is an exceedingly good memory. Reading what was supposedly written in the notebook, you said: ‘Go through green gate entrance and travel uphill. It gets steep, and about three hundred yards in and on the left is Highland Mary’s grave. It is a tall monument surrounded by a low black fence.’ ”
Hector looked stricken.
“I found the notebook in your jacket—every page a blank one.” She spread her hands and pretended to look surprised. “Fibbers, both of you. The prosecution rests, m’lud.”
Hector straightened and squared his shoulders. “You must learn to separate your class enemies from the political and national ones. Much of the aristocracy is brain-addled or married off to some wealthy American heiress because they’re broke. They will rage about Jews, Freemasons, and socialists because they’re frightened by the future steaming at them. And so they should be. But that’s all most of them will ever do. However, we believe there are other men buried deep inside the country who are far more dangerous.” He stamped his feet. “It’s cold.”
“And this is no time for you to get cold feet.”
“We were trying to find a way to expose the whole Die Brücke network, and someone in my organization suggested dangling the Crown Jewels as bait to bring them to the surface. Naturally we would use copies.”
“Naturally.”
“Then I got a message from James. His unit was slaughtered outside Cherbourg, and only he survived. He was a mental ruin when the Germans captured him, and they were not kind. Our old skiing schoolfriend Walter Schellenberg came to the rescue and convinced him an armistice would save England. Because he was so beaten, it was a simple step to implant the idea that there would be no more wasted lives and no harm would befall anyone if they used the Crown Jewels as a bargaining chip. And after it was done, Schellenberg promised to send him home. Poor James.”
“Yes, poor James. It must have been a terrible time. Why didn’t you include me in the plans?”
“You were in the room when I told Churchill I was trained to work alone, but he insisted on his silly married couple idea. Later he told me he thought you would be a distracting presence for the Germans. Which you were, but certainly not the way he imagined.”
Caitrin allowed herself a smile.
“To be honest, I still didn’t want you, but I consoled myself with the thought that at least you were pleasant to look at.”
“Thank you.”
“And, as I soon discovered, quite amusing.”
“Thank you.”
“And so damn bright.”
“Thank you. You left out the crack-shot bit.”
“And a crack shot.”
“Oh, you remembered.”
“But just as I was working out how to get you involved, you took a massive swan dive off the back of the lorry and vanished into the wilds of Glen Coe.”
“You waited too long.”
