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  “I wish I could tell you what they were talking about,” Whorleigh said, “but once they got that chain on me, I was dazed and everything went blurry and I was as good as deaf and dumb once they had me on that bed frame.” He looked at them. “Worked iron does that to us.”

  “But they knew that,” Mary said. “I wonder how?”

  “Beats me,” he replied. “They knew somehow. Kept calling me a fee.”

  “It’s German for Fairy,” Alice said. “They thought you were a Fairy of some sort.”

  “I’m darn well not! Frippery creatures, Fairies. Always hanging about in trees and playing in the woods.”

  “But they must be some sort of kin,” Peter said. “Perhaps worked iron affects them the same way.”

  “How would I know?”

  It hardly mattered right now.

  “Best get back to the point.” Pendragon was right there. “We have a rogue Vampire in the neighborhood. And we know very well from past experience, he’s not here to admire the beauty of the Surrey hills. We need to get ourselves organized.”

  “Well and good, Dad,” Gryffyth said. “But what can we do? We can hardly knock on the front door of Wharton Lacey and say, “Tell your visitors to be careful, there’s a Vampire around full of evil intent. They’d lock us all up!”

  “But we can’t sit around and do nothing.”

  “We can’t sit around and talk about it either,” Alice said. “We need to find him and take care of him. Mr. Whorleigh, did you see the Vampire clearly enough to get a good look at him?”

  He shook his head. “Wish I had. They grabbed me from behind and threw something over my head, like in the talkies. I heard them, until they got the iron on me. They were talking English. The only thing I am sure of, one of them, the one who carried me out of the lorry and bit me, smelled like the thing that went for me the other morning.”

  “Distinctive, was it?” Helen Burrows asked.

  “They were both distinctive. Like most people,” he replied. “Tell you something else. Remember that baker chap who disappeared suddenly? He was Other of some sort. He went for me as well, but I got away from him.”

  “Mr. Oak?” Alice asked. “He was a Vampire too, but not to worry about him. Gloria ripped his throat out.”

  Terrible of her, really, to throw it at him like that, but his face was a sight to behold.

  “You mean Nurse Gloria? Nurse Prewitt?”

  “That’s right,” Pendragon said, with a broad grin. “She’s Other too. Pity she’s not here right now, we could use her.”

  “We’re not interrupting her honeymoon,” Helen Burrows said. “We need to take care of this. Seems Wharton Lacey is where they hang out. Don’t you think that’s where this one will come back to? May even be lurking there as we speak?”

  “We need a spy of our own,” Gryffyth said.

  “Right there, son, and we have a candidate,” Pendragon said. “You!”

  “Me?”

  “Why not? You give Sir Gregory a call, tell him you’re looking for a job and you heard he’s lost his gardener. He’ll take you on like a shot. Won’t say no to an old soldier. You’ll be right there on the spot, and we know they can’t resist Dragonfire.”

  “Wouldn’t mind having a go at him. He got away last time. Won’t now.”

  “Wait a minute,” Mary said. “It’s dangerous.”

  “No more dangerous than shoving stakes in them.” He looked around the table. “I’m game.”

  “It’s always taken two before,” Alice said.

  “You didn’t have a Dragon before.”

  “She’s got a point, son,” Pendragon said. “I just don’t see how we can get two of us up there without it seeming fishy.”

  “I can make myself close to invisible,” Whorleigh said. Then looked downright shocked at himself. “I could go up there after hours. Didn’t you say night was when they’re strongest and most dangerous?”

  “It seems so,” Alice replied. “What if I gave out that you were so weak from your ordeal you need a couple of days in bed? Your assistants could man the shop. Maybe work extra hours, and you could hang around Wharton Lacey and keep an eye on things.”

  “Marion can hold the fort and her Vernon comes in after school some days to lend a hand. Would be worth it. I’d like to see that thing get his comeuppance.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Mrs. Burrows said. “Anyone want another cup of tea?”

  “Mind if I use your phone, Alice?” Gryffyth asked. “Might as well call up there now.”

  He came back not three minutes later. “That’s done. The job’s mine as long as I want it. We’re in business.” He looked almost elated at the prospect.

  Mary didn’t.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “That’s interesting,” Sir James said as he walked back into the dining room where two dark-suited men sat around the remains of lunch. “Word spreads fast in a village.”

  They looked at him. “News got around that the gardener had skipped off and I already have a replacement.”

  “Seems a bit sudden,” Parish, the taller one, said. “You know who he is? After this trouble we need to be careful.”

  “I’ve known him since he was a boy. Gryffyth Pendragon. His father’s in the Home Guard.”

  “What’s this lad doing hanging around the village? Wasn’t he called up?” Baynes, Parish’s superior, asked.

  “Just got back. He was a sergeant. Invalided out. Lost a leg after Norway. Said he’d thought of going up to the munitions plant but with it closing decided an outdoors job might suit him better.”

  “Some returning amputees come back with resentment and a chip on their shoulders,” Parish said. “He could be trouble.”

  Sir James knew better than to be certain. Not after the business with nice Miss Waite, and the carryings on this weekend. “I doubt it. He’s a good man. And while he might be sour about the war and what it’s done to him, he’s hardly likely to aid and abet the Jerries who took his leg. I told him he had a job. If that Paul Smith ever turns up, he’s fired.”

  “If he does, he’ll be arrested,” Baynes said. “Your cook admitted he was a plant.”

  “Talking about your cook,” Parish said, pushing back from the table. “Why don’t we have her bring in some coffee and have a little chat with her?”

  It was inevitable, Edith Aubin supposed but the summons still came as a shock. With a leaden pit in her stomach, she took off her apron and nodded to Molly. “Not sure how long I’ll be. Clear the dining room and do the washing up. Give yourself a break and if I’m not back, take the linen keys and check there are enough sheets in the airing cupboard to make up six extra beds. If you’ve still time, might as well get on with dinner for tonight. Soup’s already simmering but you could start the vegetables. We’ll have it with jacket potatoes and cheese.” The house ate simply when there was no company.

  “Think you’ll be that long?”

  “Who’s to tell, Molly, but I might be.”

  “They’re not staying for dinner?”

  “I wasn’t told they were.” Most likely they’d leave right after they arrested her. “Just be sure to take a break, Molly. No point in wearing yourself ragged.” Especially since she’d be single-handed tonight. Edith vaguely wondered who they’d get to replace her but shrugged it off. She had far more pressing worries than that.

  She smoothed her hair, brushed down her dress and, picking up the coffee tray, headed for the drawing room.

  “Ah, Miss Aubin, have a seat.” If Sir James intended that to throw her off kelter, he’d succeeded. She might sit with Lady Wharton when they discussed menus or household business, but she’d never in her life sat at Sir James’s invitation. “And would you please pour coffee, including one for yourself.”

  She sat down in the straight-backed chair by the tea table and poured coffee with a shaking hand. Asking about sugar and milk as if she poured coffee every day for people about to arrest her. Cups handed around, she put her own back
on the tray for fear of spilling, and waited. The two men had not been introduced.

  “Miss Aubin,” the taller one began. “I want to remind you that you signed the Official Secrets Act yesterday.”

  As if she was likely to forget! “Yes, sir. I did.”

  He took a sip of coffee, looking at her as he put the cup back in the saucer. “We just read the report you made about this Paul Smith.” Her confession in essence. She waited. “Could you please tell us exactly how you came to recommend this unknown man for employment?”

  Her face burned with guilt and shame. Now came the reckoning. She’d explained this in detail, but no doubt they were checking for inconsistencies, errors on her part. “I was approached by this man. He said he had contacts in Germany and could take care of my family who were left on the island.”

  “Jersey?”

  She nodded. “My family have lived there for generations. Things were lean between the wars, so I came over to the mainland to find work. I used to go back for a couple of weeks each spring. I missed the past two years because of the limits on travel. I hadn’t heard any news since the invasion, then this man approached me. Told me things were bad on Jersey. Whole families being rounded up and taken to Germany.

  “I was shocked. Scared for them, but he said he had friends as could ensure my family weren’t deported. I just had to promise to do him a favor when needed.”

  She paused and thought back. “I knew what had to be involved. I won’t lie and say I didn’t, but I was terrified. My parents are old, my sisters have children and grandchildren. I felt I had to do something. I heard nothing more until three weeks or so ago. He was waiting for me outside the post office. It was very simple. All I had to do was introduce this young man as a nephew and find him work up here.”

  They said nothing when she paused, so she went on. “He was quiet and kept to himself. I watched him carefully when he was in the house. Which wasn’t often. He never ate with the rest of us in the kitchen. Used to take toast and sandwiches back to his room. Odd, that was. He obviously wasn’t used to laboring, but he did his job and I watched him as best I could. Until…”

  “Until what, Miss Aubin?” the other one prompted.

  “Until I decided I couldn’t let it go on anymore and told Sir James.”

  They passed glances between themselves as if sending some sort of facial semaphore. She let out a breath she’d barely realized she was holding. What now? She’d confessed. The man had run off, there wasn’t much more to say. Would they give her a chance to say good-bye to Molly? Most likely not. Well, the girl could hold the fort tonight, but she’d need help if the expected visitors came.

  “So, Miss Aubin, you just changed your mind like that? Remorse and guilt brought you to admit you’d abetted a possible spy?”

  She stared at the speaker. The shorter one who’d not spoken much. “No.” Dear God! She’d just said she didn’t feel guilt or remorse, how would they take that? She was past worrying. She was done for after all. “No, not that. It was Mary LaPrioux.”

  “The new schoolteacher?” Sir James broke in. “She’s in on this too?”

  “No! No! She doesn’t know anything about it. I met her at the party for that young man who came back after losing his leg.” A look passed between Sir James and one of them. She ignored it and went on. “She’s from Guernsey and I invited her up for tea. She and her family set up a sort of code to send news, and according to them, there was no rounding up of islanders there. Some of the beaches were requisitioned for the Germans and use of boats was restricted, but people were safe. Then I got a letter from my sister-in-law in Devon, telling me pretty much the same.

  “I have to be honest. It was anger at being duped and fury at myself for believing his lies that led me to tell what I knew.”

  Mother had been right all those years ago. Getting it off your chest did feel better. Now came retribution and it was going to be far worse than a swat from a wooden spoon on the back of her legs.

  For a good two minutes, the only sounds in the room were the ticking of the marble clock on the mantelpiece and the coals shifting in the grate.

  She swallowed to moisten her dry throat and waited. It was all over.

  “Miss Aubin.” The first one spoke and made her jump. “The one who approached you. Would you recognize him if you saw him again?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “You’re absolutely certain?”

  “Yes. I saw him twice, it was broad daylight both times, and we were together for several minutes. I’d know him.” Maybe they already had him and wanted her to identify him.

  Another silence. Longer this time.

  The other one spoke this time. Did they have this rehearsed? Was it a ploy to put her off balance? If it was, it was working very well. “You have a choice, Miss Aubin. You can either work with us and help catch these two men or we can arrest you for treason.”

  She must have looked like an imbecile staring at him, but she couldn’t help it. There was an alternative?

  “Well?” he snapped.

  “Of course I’ll help. I’ve no idea where to contact him. Each time he just appeared and then slipped off.”

  “We feel sure he’ll be back,” Sir James said. “They went to a lot of trouble to make a cover for this Smith chap. They wanted him here. Most likely to keep watch on comings and goings. These gentlemen also think they are linked to the sabotage attempts at the government installation on Brytewood Heath, and possibly connected to the spy arrested in the village back in September.”

  It was too much to digest on top of the earlier shock, but she did her best to appear less than inane. “I see.” It was a lie but he seemed to expect her to say something.

  “Good.” That was the taller one again. “We’ll supply you with a device.” What sort of device? “A recorder. Wear it at all times. When you see him, turn it on. Keep it off otherwise, as we’re short of batteries. It’s winter time so it’s easy enough to conceal under a cardigan or jacket. Record any conversations and we’ll have him. You’ll also be monitored and recorded if he approaches you near the house. It may take awhile but we think we’ll get him.”

  “Both of them,” the second, who wore a striped tie, added. “White and Smith.”

  Nice ordinary English names that wouldn’t get a second consideration.

  “Or Weiss und Schmidt,” Sir James said.

  She’d been such a fool. Convincing herself she was acting to protect her family when she’d been abetting the very people who’d overrun her home. But she was a free woman. She signed the paper they put in front of her, glancing at it first to make sure it wasn’t a confession, and handed it back.

  “Welcome to the Service, Miss Aubin,” the shorter one, with the blue tie, said. “You do understand what signing that paper means.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Now, Miss Aubin, we want you to make sure the news leaks out that important guests are expected Tuesday. Can you do that?”

  “Yes, mentioning it once in the village is as good as putting up a notice in the village hall. Word spreads.”

  “Good, now go about your business as if nothing has changed. We’ll get you set up with our little device.”

  That took all of five minutes. It was light enough, but felt like a rock against her skin.

  “Well, Miss Aubin, help us catch this chap and we’ll drop every charge.”

  If only it were that easy.

  “What do you think, Sir James?” Baynes asked after she left. “Can we trust her?”

  “Time will tell. She’s our best link to them.”

  “Our only link,” Parish said.

  Baynes raised an eyebrow but said nothing. “We’ll leave a man here,” he said to Sir Gregory. “You have the direct phone number?”

  “I do.”

  “Then it’s all up to your Miss Aubin. Let’s see what she can do.”

  Chapter Forty

  “What do you think?” Parish asked Baynes as their car pul
led down the drive and headed for a certain government installation twenty miles away, in a secluded Sussex village.

  “I think we have trouble. Maybe just the beginning, but all signs point to it. It was too much to hope, I suppose, that we’d be the only ones using Vampires.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “First we have the tip-off from J that they might be operating in the area. Then we have a sensible, practical woman. The sort who would normally go running to the nearest police station if she were approached by a strange man claiming connections in Germany. Instead she goes along with what he wants. Even things a three-year-old would see as fishy. Sounds like mind control, if you ask me.

  “Add the maid: a sensible girl who initially gave the police a very clear account that the cook, Sir James, and Lady Gregory all corroborated, but when the girl gets back from her day off, she doesn’t remember a thing. Mind control again? No doubt encountered one on her way home, or coming back. We need to enquire if she told her family anything or not.

  “Then the disappearing man. Jumps out of a high window, smashes the glass, leaves blood behind and appears to have just upped and walked away. Add the horses that seem to be ailing and it’s all too much to be coincidence.”

  “Bloody hell,” Parish replied. “So, do we call in J? He’s back from France.”

  “Yes. I wonder how soon he can get here.”

  “We should be glad it’s only Vampires we have to deal with. What if they start sending over Werewolves?”

  Next morning Alice dropped Sam Whorleigh at the bottom of the drive at Wharton Lacey, since his presence was definitely clandestine, and drove up to the kitchen door to let Gryffyth get out.

  “Thanks, Alice,” he said. “You’re a brick.”

  “No trouble. You’d better explain that your arrival time may vary a bit. And my pick-up times too.”

  “Wildo, hopefully this won’t last long. I’m not sure gardening is my forte.”

  “Maybe they’ll be so impressed they’ll want to keep you on.”

  “God forbid! When we get this taken care of, I’ve a mind to marry Mary and disappear somewhere.”