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Back When We Meet Again Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  51. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  52. POPULAR BOOKS FROM THE ERA
  53. When We Meet Again
  54. A Conversation with Caroline Beecham about When We Meet Again
  55. Discussion Guide
  56. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  57. What’s next onyour reading list?

“It’s just very hard to prove your mother’s involvement, and I’m sorry to say, but the descriptions that she gave don’t really amount to anything.” Her expression softened as Alice’s face crumpled. “Weeks have passed, and I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but we need to spend time and resources on cases we can readily pursue.”

“But a baby is missing,” Alice said, her voice cracking. “A crime’s been committed. Forget about my mother . . . just find Eadie.”

“We’ve tried, Alice. I’m really sorry, but we have tried. Eadie will stay on the Juvenile Index, and if she’s with baby farmers, as we suspect she is, there’s a good chance we will get a lead at some stage.”

Twenty-five

London, April 20, 1943

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Theo asked, concern in his eyes and sympathetic smile.

“I’m fine, really,” Alice lied as she watched the pages of Patricia Reece’s novel furl through the feeder, certain that the last place she needed to be right now was in the middle of the countryside, out of contact with Penny, Olive and Sergeant Burns. And it was her birthday.

Under any other circumstances, seeing an Original Heidelberg printer would have impressed her. They had driven for over an hour to reach the printworks, one of only three left close to the capital since Partridge’s regular printer, Latimer Trend, had been turned over to government books and stationery. Theo had driven cautiously, only twice veering onto the wrong side of the road, and on one occasion swerving just in time to avoid an oncoming truck. While Alice had felt strangely calm as she’d watched this unfold, she’d been unable to speak when Theo had pulled over to ensure she wasn’t hurt. Now he stood opposite, talking to the foreman and casting frequent worried glances at her.

This wasn’t their first outing together since the Foyle’s luncheon. She’d taken him to visit the bookstores on Charing Cross Road, and they’d stopped to admire the Penguincubator, the book vending machine that Allen Lane had installed: cheaper books, conveniently located but so unexpected. “It’s miraculous!” Theo had exclaimed as he’d placed a coin in the slot and watched the machine dispense a sixpenny paperback. They’d spent quite some time half-seriously speculating on how it might take off, before their conversation had turned to more serious topics.

The press gave a violent shudder, sending reverberations across the workshop floor, and Alice grimaced as she kept her eyes trained on the loader, watching the stack of printed pages grow, ready to be guillotined and bound, the smell of hot oil filling the air. It was an unpleasant sensation, her teeth chattering and her insides jolting around. Just when she hoped it would stop soon, the rollers abruptly ground to a halt and the machine gave a final judder.