The 9 by Madalyn Morgan (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

There’s no lock because they don’t want people locking themselves in, Ena thought. She looked around. A tower of white paper towels sat neatly on a shelf at the side of the washbasin next to a pile of linen towels.

After using the toilet – and filling the small jar – Ena washed her hands, drying them on one of the freshly laundered towels. It felt soft to the touch. Before leaving, she wrapped a paper towel around the jar. Just looking at it embarrassed her.

When she handed it to Tilly, Ena felt her cheeks colour. Tilly took the bottle as if it were an everyday occurrence, which, Ena supposed, to a nurse it was. She sat down. ‘What next?’

‘I need to take your blood pressure and a sample of your blood. If you would roll up your left sleeve?’

Ena did as Tilly asked. She didn’t mind having her blood pressure taken. At worst the feeling of tightening pressure made the procedure uncomfortable, but she hated the thought of a needle in her arm drawing blood. She looked away.

A second later, she felt a prick in the bend of her arm as the needle broke the skin.

‘Not long now,’ Tilly smiled. That was what the Red Cross nurse had said when Ena had given blood in Woodcote Village Hall, and she’d had to sit there for another ten minutes afterwards. ‘All done.’ Ena looked down at her arm to see Tilly placing a small square of lint over the spot where she had taken blood. ‘Hold onto this and apply a little pressure, will you?’

A minute later she put a plaster over the tiny pin-prick and Ena pulled down her sleeve.

Tilly took the syringe and slowly expelled Ena’s blood into a small bottle. After screwing the top on it, Tilly put it in her bag and wrote something in the notebook. ‘I’ll get you a cup of sweet tea,’ she said, ‘as soon as the intelligence officers get back.’

‘Thank you.’ Ena watched Tilly pick up the telephone. She asked for Intelligence, gave Ena a sympathetic smile while she waited to be put through, and then said, ‘Miss Dudley and I have finished.’

Two minutes later, the intelligence officers entered the room.

‘I’ll take this to the medical hut. On my way back I’ll call into the canteen and get Miss Dudley a cup of tea.’ The man who had done most of the talking earlier nodded and walked round the table. He sat down opposite Ena. The other man sat on her right.

The man facing Ena put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. ‘I want you to tell me everything that happened from the moment you left home this morning until you spoke to Commander Dalton here at the Park. Do you understand?’ Ena opened her mouth to speak, couldn’t find her voice, and nodded. ‘Every detail – however small, or unimportant you might think it is, I want to know about it. Right?’

Ena nodded again and inhaled nervously. ‘I cycled to Lowarth. I got to Silcott’s Engineering, where I work, at half past eight. I parked my bicycle and went into the factory. No! I’m sorry. On the way I stopped at Newman’s, the newsagents on Lowarth High Street, and bought a quarter of pear drops. Then I went to work.’ Ena clasped her hands, gripping the fingers on her right hand with the fingers on her left, until her nails dug into the fleshy parts at the back. She winced.

The man opposite said, ‘Take your time.’

Composing her thoughts, in order to recall every detail of the journey, Ena began again. ‘After buying the pear drops, I cycled on to the factory and put my bike in the shed at the back. I went in through the main door and walked across the factory floor to the annexe where I work. Mr Silcott, my boss, was already there. I waited while he took my work from the concrete safe--’

‘Was the safe locked?’

‘Yes. I had locked it the night before. I’m sorry, Mr Silcott unlocked the safe and took out my work.’

The man made a note. ‘Is the safe always kept locked?’

‘Yes.’

‘Who has keys?’

‘Mr Silcott keeps the master key on his keyring with the annexe key, the key to the factory’s main door, and his car keys. And there is one in his drawer, which only his assistant Miss King and I have access to.’

‘Have you had reason to use the key in the past?’

‘Yes. Every night. Before I leave, I unlock the safe, put in my work, and lock it again. I put the key back in the drawer.’

‘And have you ever taken the key out of the office?’

‘No.’

‘Never? Not even when you’ve popped out to get a cup of tea? Perhaps there has been an occasion when you’ve dropped the key into your pocket and forgotten it was there.’

‘No! Never! We make our own tea. Because we work long hours we have a kettle, milk, and tea in the annexe. But even if we didn’t, the safe is next to Mr Silcott’s desk, so there would be no reason for me, or anyone else, to take the key out of the room if we popped somewhere.’ Ena felt a surge of anger. She knew she mustn’t show it, and took a calming breath. ‘I return the key to Mr Silcott’s desk drawer every time I unlock, or lock, the safe.’

‘And at night? Have you ever been there after Mr Silcott has left for the day?’

‘Of course. But on those occasions, I put the key to the safe in Mr Silcott’s desk, lock it, and put his desk key in his assistant’s desk, which I have a key to, and I lock that. When I leave, I lock the only door to the annexe and I take both keys