Wilde held the door open. ‘Klara came with me from a village near Berlin. We had to get her away, you see. But we’re all safe now.’

His eyes told Lydia the opposite, as had his phone call. They were anything but safe.

‘Now then, Klara,’ Wilde continued, ‘Lydia is going to take us for a little drive – show you some of the beautiful English countryside. Would you like that? We might even find some ice cream somewhere. You can sit in the back with Johnny. He would love to play with you, I’m sure. Perhaps you’d look after him.’

Lydia took Wilde’s arm, speaking close to his ear.

‘Tom, are you sure about this? What’s going on?’

‘I’ll tell you everything, but not just yet. And yes, I am sure about this.’ He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘We have to get her away.’

‘It feels like we’re abducting her.’

‘Lydia, it’s felt like that all along – but we have no choice, I’m afraid. She’s in grave peril.’

Lydia gave him one of her looks. ‘You’re going to have to have a very good explanation for this, Tom. Do you want to drive?’

‘No, you drive. I’ll watch.’

‘Climb in, then. Where are we going precisely?’

‘I wondered about London. Easy to get lost in London.’

‘We’ll never make it – no ration allowance left for petrol. We’ve less than a quarter of a tank left. But I did have an idea – Harry Taylor’s house in Cambridge. Do you remember he left the key with me when he joined up? Asked me to look in on the place from time to time.’

‘It’s very close to the centre of town.’

‘Is that a bad thing? No one but us knows about it. If that’s no good, you’ll have to give me a few more clues as to who we’re trying to avoid, and why.’

‘Well, just drive for the moment. Head out of the village back along the Cambridge road. You might just be right about Harry’s place. Let me think it through as we go.’

They pulled out of the side road, and turned at the pub. Lydia put a hand on Wilde’s arm, gripping hard.

‘There’s a woman in the rear-view mirror. Arms crossed, staring at us. She doesn’t look happy.’

‘Damn, that’s Sunny. She’s seen us.’

‘Who’s Sunny?’

‘Sigrun Somerfeld – she came over from Germany with us. I’m no longer sure whose side she’s on. Put your foot down, Lydia.’

*