Page 40 of Fire Must Burn

‘So he wouldn’t present a threat to any woman we set him up with?’

‘No,’ said Iris.

But she knew from Gwen’s expression that she hadn’t convinced her.

She sat in the chair in front of Dr Milford’s desk in his Harley Street office.

‘You’ve stopped smoking,’ she observed.

‘Only in here,’ he replied. ‘I’ve had some complaints, and thought it would be fairer not to smoke in front of everyone rather than ask each individual for permission. Some of my patients might feel I’m putting undue pressure on them.’

‘Go ahead,’ said Iris. ‘I like watching you smoke your pipe. You turn it into a little ritual every time.’

‘I suppose I do,’ he said, picking it up from its stand and tamping tobacco into it. ‘It’s a useful prop for stalling for time while I think of the next question. Why do you like watching me do it?’

‘Is that the next question?’

‘It is.’

‘Well, Daddy didn’t smoke, so it doesn’t remind me of him,’ she said. ‘I can’t think of any significant pipe-smokers in my history apart from my narrowboat neighbour, Casper, and I don’t have any ambivalent feelings about him. If we extend it to older men who smoke …’

She stopped, frowning.

‘Tell me what you’re thinking,’ he said, lighting his pipe and drawing in the smoke with a grunt of contentment.

‘Another older man who smokes has reappeared in my life,’ she said. ‘My old boss.’

‘From your Intelligence days,’ he said.

‘Yes.’

‘And?’

‘And he’s roped me into an operation,’ said Sparks.

‘I thought you weren’t going back to that line of work.’

‘Unfortunately, I put myself and Gwen into harm’s way last April, he being the harm.’

‘Without going into details, how heavily involved are you now?’

‘A minor cog in a great machine,’ she said. ‘He’s found someone else to do the real dirty work. I just have to put her into position.’

‘“Her.”’

‘Yes, “her”. A new me. Younger, maybe better. And not at all conflicted about any of it.’

‘You sound jealous.’

‘I know, I know,’ she groaned. ‘Gwen said as much, too. My replacement father figure has a new favourite daughter, and that feeds into my general feelings that I am ageing out of all hope of accomplishment in my life.’

‘You’ve accomplished quite a lot in the past year or so,’ he pointed out. ‘A successful business. Several criminal cases solved.’

‘But this isn’t what I saw myself doing when I was seventeen and starting at Cambridge,’ she said.

‘Most people don’t end up doing what they expected at seventeen,’ he said.

‘That doesn’t make it feel any better,’ she said. ‘I was supposed to be a world-travelling adventuress by now, alternating voyages into dark jungles to discover new species of beetles with shattering societal structures while clad in smashing, risqué frocks.’