Henry Young, MBE, and his wife Elizabeth had been slaughtered in their own home, while their maidservant Mavis Triston was near to death after a brutal sexual assault and an attempt to throttle her.

Young. That was a common enough name, and yet he had heard it once before today, outside his own home, Cornflowers. Charlie Young, he had called himself. Was it just coincidence, or would the name mean something to Kapitänleutnant Flettner?

Eaton returned. ‘Now then, we’ll save a lot of time if you do up my shoes, cufflinks and tie. And then we’re going in my adapted car – because I’m damned if I’m clinging on to you on your pillion with only one arm.’

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

Despite his limp and the loss of his left arm, Eaton had become adept at driving. Hand signals were impossible, but the gear shift could now be operated with a flick of the thumb, without removing his right hand from the steering wheel.

Latchmere House, known to the Secret Intelligence Service as Camp 020, was a rather forbidding Victorian building of thirty rooms, now converted into cells and interview rooms at Ham Common, Richmond, ten miles from Eaton’s Chelsea house.

Surrounded by barbed wire and heavily guarded, its purpose was not known to the public. This was where suspected enemy agents were brought by MI5 for questioning by a team of hardened interrogators led by the austere figure of Lieutenant-Colonel Robin Stephens, known as ‘Tin-Eye’ because of the metal-rimmed monocle that had taken up permanent residence in his right eye.

On the way, Wilde and Eaton discussed the Evening Standard story about the murders in Sevenoaks.

‘I know it’s a long shot, but if the killer is the man I met, it means our would-be assassin is English,’ Wilde said. ‘How do you find one Englishman among millions?’

‘We’ll get a good description off you, and the car you saw – and put out an alert to all police forces and home guards.’

‘I can’t provide a proper description of him. It was dark, no street lights or house lights. I got a sense of him, that’s all. But he knows what I look like because he has my picture. Worse, he has a photo of Lydia.’

‘But she’s safe.’

Yes, she was safe – so long as she stayed indoors – at least until his return.

‘Perhaps we should talk to the Youngs’ maidservant?’ Wilde suggested.

‘Let’s see what our Kapitänleutnant says first.’

‘By the way, what are you going to do with Sunny? For all that I profoundly disagree with her motivation, she did risk her life helping us get Klara out of Germany.’

‘After what you did, I’m afraid that Frau Somerfeld’s present whereabouts and ultimate destination are considered none of your business, Wilde. Anyway, enough of that. We’re here.’