Page 144 of The Stranger in Room Six

When Harry continues, his voice is cold. ‘It seems that your favourite carer had been feeding information to Amanda about your work for Clarissa and Jonty.’

‘No,’ cries out Mabel, dropping Belinda’s hand. Was it really possible that she’d been betrayed by the woman she’d told her life story to? The only woman who knew the truth about her?

‘I thought you cared for me, Belinda,’ she chokes.

‘I do, Mabel. I really do. I can explain –’

‘GET OUT!’ Mabel startles herself with the sound of her own voice. ‘Do you hear me, Belinda? I never want to see you again.’

If it wasn’t that Belinda knew so much about her, she’d dismiss her on the spot.

After that, come more headlines. There’s no mistaking them: every time Mabel is wheeled into breakfast, ignoring Belinda’s pleading face, she sees the other residents poring over the papers and giving her hostile looks.

99-YEAR-OLD OWNER OF OLD PEOPLE’S HOME HID LONG-LOST LIST OF HITLER SYMPATHIZERS, INCLUDING HER OWN NAME

Of course she didn’t hide it, Mabel wanted to say. She didn’t know it was there. But who would believe her? Then, at the end of the week, comes the final nail in the coffin.

As Mabel arrives at breakfast, there’s the usual group hovering over the papers.

‘In those days, it would have been a scandal,’ she hears one say, before looking at her with contempt. ‘My father was a prisoner of war in Italy. I don’t want to be in a place where the owner had an affair with one of them.’

Mabel’s blood runs cold as she leans towards the group.

They move aside, their faces shooting daggers.

The picture is of a young couple who are clearly in love.

Gently, Mabel runs her finger over the black-and-white picture on the front page, stroking the young man in uniform, as if doing so might bring him back. ‘Antonio,’ she whispers. ‘My love.’

Below the picture is a caption.

Proof that Mabel Marchmont, half-sister to PM candidate Harry Marchmont, socialized with the enemy. This man was an Italian prisoner of war.

Below is another picture. This time it is Mabel holding a baby.

And this was their child.

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‘How did it happen?’ demands Harry after leaving a Cabinet meeting to find out what ‘the hell is going on’.

‘I loved him and he was kind,’ says Mabel staunchly.

‘I understand that,’ says Harry more gently. ‘But who took the pictures?’

‘One of Antonio’s friends in the camp took a couple of us together before I was sent away. I kept one and he had the other. The picture of me with my baby was taken by the sisters I stayed with in Cornwall. I sent a copy to Antonio but I never knew if he received it.’

‘How did they get into the hands of the papers?’

‘I’ve no idea. I hid them in a shoebox on top of the wardrobe.’

‘Let’s get Belinda in here,’ says Harry grimly. ‘My bet is that she stole them. Perhaps she stole your locket too. You said she kept asking about it. Maybe she found it and sold it. I said you should tell the manager and get her sacked.’

‘I can’t,’ says Mabel, who’s had time to think a bit more clearly now. ‘I know she’s betrayed me but she had her reasons. I’m still angry but I don’t want her out of a job.’

Although this is true, it isn’t the only reason but she can’t tell her Harry that.

When Belinda comes in, she is adamant that she didn’t steal the locket. ‘You do believe me, don’t you?’