A Sister's War by Molly Green (the reading strategies book txt) 📕

not to get upset,’ he said. ‘It’s war. Lucky wouldn’t have felt a thing. She’d have been asleep and usually that sort of a shock just stops an animal’s heart instantly.’

‘How do you know that?’ Ronnie couldn’t keep the challenging note from her voice.

‘Because I grew up with dogs and cats. I love animals. When I was a boy I read several books about how to look after them. One of them was a medical book about how harmful it was for animals to hear sudden very loud noises. It mentioned in the last war when the Germans dropped bombs that animals could have an instant fatal heart attack because their hearing is far more sensitive than ours. So that’s how I know.’ He smiled for the first time.

She wanted to hug him. Instead, she gave him a beaming smile.

‘All right, you’ve convinced me you speak with the voice of authority.’

‘I’m not a policeman for nothing,’ he said, grinning. Then his smile faded. ‘But I didn’t come here to tell you about my boyhood.’ He picked up her hand again and stroked it with his fingers. ‘Ronnie, I wrote to you but you never wrote back. So I decided then I had to honour your last words that you never wanted to see me again.’

‘Oh, but I—’ Ronnie bit down hard on her lower lip to stop it trembling. She looked at him directly, momentarily forgetting her wild appearance. ‘So what made you change your mind?’

‘I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I had to see you again. I managed to find out where Persephone and Penelope were moored but when I got there neither Jessica nor Sally had your address but they told me about the V1 exploding on the warehouses opposite – well, I could see the destruction – and that you’d been taken to hospital. I was frantic and phoned them but you’d already been sent home, and of course they wouldn’t divulge where that was. But then I thought of Paul Butler – you know, the constable who first came here with Sergeant Sandford …’ She nodded. ‘He gave me your address. So here I am. And I need to know if you meant what you said about never wanting to see me again.’

Her stomach gave a somersault.

‘On that table there’s something for you.’

He raised his eyebrows. She nodded and he strode over and picked up the sheet of notepaper. Briefly glancing at it he came back to his chair.

‘This is yesterday’s date.’

‘I know.’ Ronnie bit her lip. ‘I wrote it last night.’

She watched him as he began to read, holding her breath. Had she set the right tone? Should she have used the word ‘love’ at the end? He might be embarrassed by it and she couldn’t bear the idea. Oh, if only she’d just said: From your friend Ronnie. Or nothing – just Ronnie. Certainly none of the ‘love’ stuff. Inwardly she cringed as Michael silently turned over the sheet of notepaper.

He finished reading, folded the letter carefully and tucked it in his inside pocket, then gazed at her. ‘I might be repeating myself but I wanted to tell you in person, not in a letter.’ He cleared his throat. ‘When the inspector told us he was planning to bring Dora in for more questioning as she was still under suspicion, and he wanted her to confirm she was Will Drake’s mother, and where her loyalties lay, he asked me to be there to take notes. I was happy to do it. Then he said he was bringing you in, too. I asked why as there was no chance you were involved in anything underhand. When he asked how I could be so sure, I said I knew you in a personal way. That was my big mistake. He immediately said I would be biased and he would instruct someone else to be in the interview room instead of me. I had to use all my powers of persuasion to let me be there. I knew how shocked you’d be to be called in but I thought you might be slightly more reassured when you saw me.’

‘I was … at first. But then you gave me no sign to let me know you were on my side and I felt you had let me down, knowing we were supposed to be friends.’

‘That was what was so awful. I couldn’t let you know. Like I said in the letter, he was watching me like a hawk. At the first hint he would have dismissed me from the room. I had to stay at all costs.’ He gazed at her. ‘You’ll never know how terrible I felt seeing the look on your face and having to put on such an act when all I wanted to do was to put my arms round you and tell you not to worry.’

‘I thought you were worried you wouldn’t be promoted if you told him you disagreed.’

‘At that moment I didn’t care a hoot about my career and promotional prospects. It was only you I was thinking of. Do you believe me?’

‘Yes.’ She looked away from the hurt in his eyes. How could she have judged him so harshly. ‘I already believed you. That’s why I wrote that you didn’t need to explain.’

‘There’s something else. Something young Will Drake said when we interviewed him.’

Ronnie’s stomach turned over. What now?

‘He said – and these were his words – “I wanted to give Ronnie something special so I got her the camera. I love the wench but I’m not good enough for her.”’ Michael gave her a searching look. ‘He wanted you to know that.’

Ronnie squeezed shut her eyes. Poor Will. He hadn’t had much of a chance in life with a father like Leonard. Dora had tried to do her best but it wasn’t enough. He needed a good father to look up to and respect. She swallowed the tears. Dear Michael. He didn’t need to have told her, but