China Blue (The Dudley Sisters Saga Book 3) by Madalyn Morgan (top 100 novels of all time TXT) 📕

struck a match. Its pale glow was enough to show the damage the fire had done. Someone had put the fire out, or the rain had got in, because the floor was wet. Mitch blew out the flame, spat on his finger, and held the match between finger and thumb before putting it into his pocket. He rubbed the stone floor with his other hand and sniffed. ‘Water,’ he said with relief. He led the way along the plastered wall of the passage to Édith Belland’s front room and lit another match. ‘Not as much fire damage in here,’ he said. ‘Odd that this room has hardly been touched when the kitchen is half gutted. The kitchen window ledge outside is so blistered, you’d think…’

‘The fire was started outside, by one of the thugs who were here earlier.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I heard him bragging about it to the others. He threw a bomb through the window.’ Claire felt tears threaten. Édith’s front room, her best room, stank of smoke and the settee was rotting with damp. She followed Mitch upstairs. The fire hadn’t touched the first floor, but the German soldiers had. The beds were a jumble of ripped and stained sheets and blankets. Empty beer bottles and half-eaten scraps of food littered the floors. ‘I’m tired,’ Claire said, yawning. ‘Would it hurt if we had a rest? We could take it in turns to keep watch.’

‘No, it wouldn’t hurt. We should get some sleep, but not in the house. I wouldn’t put it past those horny jackasses to pick up a couple of girls and bring them back here. Come on. Let’s get out.’

Claire followed Mitch downstairs and after checking that there was no one outside, he led the way to the barn. Claire stopped as soon as they were inside. ‘You said you wouldn’t put it past them to come back tonight. Won’t they drive through here as they did earlier?’

‘Yes, but they won’t know we’re here, because we’ll be up there.’ Mitch pointed to the store loft. ‘We’ll have the advantage because we’ll be able to see and hear them.’

‘What if they set fire to the place again?’

‘Why would they? What would be the point?’ He took the ladder from behind a stack of hay and leant it against the floor of the loft. Claire climbed up. ‘Get the bedding from the secret store while I fetch the bags.’

‘At least it’s dry up here,’ she said, when Mitch returned.

After passing up the cases and Claire’s basket and handbag, Mitch took the ladder two rungs at a time, and then pulled it up. Claire made up two makeshift beds while Mitch unbolted the door to the rope-pulley. He pushed it open a few inches. ‘In case we have to leave in a hurry.’ Claire smelled the pillows and grimaced. ‘You can’t afford to be fussy, China,’ Mitch said, taking the pillows and placing them next to each other. ‘We might not be warm, but we will be safe. No one will suspect we’re up here.’ He lay down. ‘Let’s get some shut-eye. I’ll wake you in a couple of hours. We need to be on the road before dawn.’

Claire lay uneasily between the itchy blankets. She looked across the loft, through the ill-fitting pulley door, and out into the night. The clouds had cleared. She could see stars glinting in the sapphire sky. She sighed.

‘Can’t you sleep?’ Mitch whispered.

‘No.’ Claire turned over and Mitch put his arms around her.

‘Try, China. Tomorrow is going to be a long one.’

Claire lifted her face and looked into Mitch’s eyes. He kissed her and she became aroused. ‘Make love to me, Mitch. Make love to me and make me forget the horridness of all this.’

Claire opened her eyes. Mitch was watching her. ‘What time is it?’

‘Almost four-thirty.’

‘I could just drink a lovely cup of coffee,’ she said, yawning.

Mitch laughed. ‘You hate French coffee. You said it tastes like tar.’

‘That was a lifetime ago. I’m used to it now.’

‘Well, the sooner you’re up and dressed, the sooner we can find you a café and buy you some. So jump to it.’

‘I need to use the toilet and have a wash,’ she said shyly.

‘You can use the outside toilet, but you can’t wash in the kitchen. We need to leave it as the Germans left it. Wash in the river at the back of the house. Go upstream a way, you won’t be seen.’ Mitch kissed her on the cheek. He then kissed her on the lips. Sighing, he kissed her again and Claire pushed him away playfully. ‘Okay, let’s make this place look as it did when we arrived. The Germans are bound to come back.’

Claire folded the blankets and dropped them into the hiding place, lowered the trap-door and covered it with straw. While she gathered her belongings, Mitch bolted the rope-pulley door and roughed up the straw where they had lain. With all evidence that they had been there eradicated, Claire climbed down, leaving Mitch to bring down the bags and hide the ladder.

‘Why can’t we use the well?’ Claire called. Kneeling beside it, she picked up a shiny object.

‘It isn’t clean,’ Mitch shouted, running across the yard to her.

‘What’s this?’ Claire held up a pretty silver hair slide. ‘These little stones look like real diamonds and sapphires,’ she said, running her finger along the spine of the slide. ‘I wonder who it belongs to?’ She turned, put the hair slide on the low wall surrounding the well, and froze.

Mitch grabbed her by her upper arms and roughly swung her round until she was facing him. ‘I said the water isn’t clean,’ he hollered. ‘Wash in the river. That’s an order!’

‘Mitch, stop!’ Claire shouted, twisting free of his grip. ‘It’s too late. I’ve seen her. I’ve seen the girl in the well.’