Page 39 of Fire Must Burn

‘I almost liked her for a moment at the end,’ said Gwen. ‘You’re still competing with her, by the way.’

‘I know,’ grumbled Iris. ‘She sets me off for some reason.’

‘You can’t see why?’

‘I suppose you can.’

‘She’s doing what you used to do, and thought you would do well,’ said Gwen. ‘And despite the unhappy end to your adventures in espionage, you still miss it.’

‘Maybe,’ said Iris. ‘You’ve given me a head start on my session with Dr Milford this afternoon. I’ll have Saundra send a letter to Tony. What a week it’s been! And it’s only Thursday. What have you planned for the weekend?’

‘I’m going out to the Bainbridges’ estate to visit Ronnie and John,’ said Gwen.

‘Is Sally going?’

‘Weekends are his busy time at the BBC, so we’ll resume things Monday,’ said Gwen. ‘I told him about Mr Danforth, by the way.’

‘Told him? Told him what exactly?’

‘That he was now our client.’

‘Nothing about the mission, though.’

‘Of course not. Why would you think that?’

‘Because he’s a signatory to the Official Secrets Act as well as being your boyfriend,’ said Iris. ‘I’m not sure it was wise bringing Tony to his attention.’

‘If he found out about him signing up with us later, he’d wonder why I hadn’t said anything,’ said Gwen. ‘I thought this would be a natural way of letting him know.’

‘How did he react?’

‘He was surprised to hear that Mr Danforth had returned to England,’ said Gwen. ‘He mentioned something about him leaving amid a scandal of some sort.’

Iris said nothing.

‘At Cambridge,’ continued Gwen, watching her.

‘Tony wasn’t— that was a long time ago,’ said Iris.

‘But he was involved?’

‘He was on the periphery, not in the centre,’ said Iris.

‘And you know this because?’

‘Because I was on the periphery with him,’ she said reluctantly.

‘You might have said something before,’ said Gwen.

‘It had nothing to do with the current situation.’

‘But a woman died as a result,’ said Gwen.

‘Sauce – Nancy, I should say – drowned. They never figured out the how or the why of it. But Tony wasn’t the cause.’

‘You sound quite certain about that.’

‘He wasn’t involved with her,’ said Iris. ‘I’m certain about that.’