‘Wait a minute, didn’t you hear what I said? I turned them down.’

‘Of course you did.’

‘I’m serious. I refused point blank. A categorical no.’

‘You turned down the chance to catch Adolf bloody Hitler?’

He shrugged and found himself laughing. ‘Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?’

They had an early supper, then went to the cinema, without once returning to the subject of the proposed mission. When they got home, Johnny had gone to bed and Wilde walked Doris home. By eleven, he and Lydia were in bed, making love.

Afterwards, they lay in silence, both wide awake and aware of the simmering tension between them. Lydia made the first move, turning to him and taking him in her arms. ‘I suppose you should do it,’ she said at last.

‘I don’t want to.’

‘I know, but someone has to, don’t they? The world can’t let the hideous swine off the hook.’

‘But not me. I’ve done my bit. We both have.’

‘True.’

They were silent again. ‘However,’ she said after a couple of minutes.

‘There is no however. I am preparing for Michaelmas. There’s going to be a difficult new intake of students. I haven’t taught in over three years and I need to be on top of my game. Also, I have a book to write.’

‘But you wouldn’t be away long, would you? It’s August and the term doesn’t start until October.’

‘Are you trying to persuade me to accept their mad mission, Mrs Wilde?’

‘It would be quite an achievement – to bring the tyrant to justice. That would be something to tell our grandchildren.’

He turned to the side table and switched on the lamp, then sat up against the headboard. ‘You know, Lydia, one of the main reasons I turned down this insane mission was because I thought you would be dead set against it. I thought you wanted us to be a proper family again.’

‘I do. Yes, of course, I do. But this . . . this is different. And there would be no danger, would there? The Nazis have been beaten to a pulp.’

He hadn’t told her about the deaths of Randy Collingham and Denis Harper and something still held him back. ‘Sometimes, Lydia, I really don’t think I understand you at all.’

‘Whereas I understand you perfectly, Tom. And I know you would be hell to live with if you turned down this opportunity. Anyway, it’s obvious you’re going to say yes eventually. Eaton knows it – which is why he’s hanging about in Cambridge.’

He was silent again. This felt like a trap.

‘And I’m told southern Germany is very beautiful at this time of year,’ Lydia continued. ‘Just think of it as a lovely late-summer holiday to refresh you in time for the new term.’

Chapter 3

Eaton arrived at nine the next morning in a ministry car with a driver. Wilde helped him up the steps into the house and guided him towards the sitting room.