Chasing Ghosts by Madalyn Morgan (best fantasy books to read .txt) 📕

still can’t hear anything. Now the confounded thing sounds as if it’s in the middle of a storm,’ Claire heard her say, her voice directed away from the telephone.

‘I understand. I wanted to tell you that I think I’ve found what I was looking for, and I hope you are keeping yourself safe.’

‘Perfect!’ Esther spat, in an angry voice. Then, quieter, as if she had turned her head away from the telephone’s mouthpiece. ‘First, all I could hear was the sound of wind rushing down the line, now it’s clicking like a pair of lovesick crickets.’ The telephone went dead.

Claire left the booth after only making two calls. Deep in thought, she strolled across the ticket hall and sat on a wooden bench to wait for Thomas. An idea came to her and she took a pen and notebook from her handbag. By the time she had finished writing, Thomas had finished the call to his work colleague in Paris and had joined her. ‘Where’s the nearest post office?’ she asked.

‘No idea.’ He looked around and shouted Excuse me to a porter who was pulling a wooden cart piled high with suitcases. The man stopped and Thomas ran over to him. ‘The post office is on a street parallel with this one,’ he said, on his return. ‘Why?’

Someone was with Mitch’s grandmother when I telephoned and the phone was tapped. The clever old thing pretended she couldn’t hear me and complained about clicking. I told her I thought I’d found what I was looking for. If someone was listening in, do you think that was too obvious?’ Claire bit her lip. ‘I was more specific with Aimée.’ Claire looked into Thomas’s face. ‘We are close to finding Mitch, aren’t we?’

‘Yes, of course we are! But why do you want a post office?’

‘I’m not going to telephone Commander Landry in case they’re listening in to his calls.’

‘Why would he have his own telephone tapped?’

‘It may not have been RCAF military intelligence tapping Alain’s grandmother’s line. I thought it was at first, but now I’m not so sure. After Canadian military intelligence searched Esther’s house, she was specific about which rooms they had searched and what they had taken away, but she didn’t say anything about them going near the telephone. Someone searched my house too, at Christmas, while I was at Foxden. I assumed it was Commander Landry’s people, but again, I’m not sure. To be on the safe side, I’m going to send him a telegram.’ She ripped the page from the notebook and got to her feet.

‘What if it’s intercepted?’

Claire laughed. ‘They won’t understand it. The only thing Commander Landry and I have in common is the love of cryptic crosswords, I’ve made it difficult for anyone else to decipher.’ She laughed again, despite the seriousness of the situation. ‘I’m not clever enough to make it difficult for the commander. He’ll know exactly what I’m saying.’

They arrived at the post office as the postmaster was turning the open sign to closed. Claire gave him one of her most endearing smiles, which he turned his back on. She knocked on the glass in the upper half of the door. He ignored her. She knocked again, louder, and he turned.

‘Claire!’ Thomas took her by the elbow. She lifted her arm and snatched it away from his grip.

‘Would you open the door, please? I’m begging you.’

‘Claire? Stop now.’

‘No, Thomas! I must send this telegram today.’ She knocked again. ‘It is vitally important that I get a message to England, sir.’ The postmaster, eyes glazed as if he was bored and his mouth set in a downward arc, threw up his hands. ‘Sir, I have written the message.’ She held the piece of paper against the window. The postmaster didn’t move. ‘Thank you,’ she shouted, and pushed the note through the letterbox, followed by five francs. ‘It needs to go to England tonight,’ she shouted. ‘It is very urgent.’

Turning his back on Claire again, the postmaster opened a door behind the counter marked private and flicked off the light. ‘Bastard!’ Claire shouted, kicking the door.

‘No, no, no!’ As she lifted her foot, Thomas grabbed her from behind and swung her round. ‘He’ll call the police as soon as he gets to his living quarters, I shouldn’t wonder. Come on! We need to get out of here.’ Thomas dragged Claire away from the post office door crying and complaining. ‘We’ll walk back to the hotel. Give you time to calm down.’

They walked along streets crowded with shoppers and office workers hurrying to get home, stopping only when they came to the restaurant next to the hotel. Seated with coffee and brandy, Thomas took the map of France from the inside pocket of his overcoat. He traced the road from Saint-Gaudens to Fontainebleau with his finger, pointing to various places where they could stop for refreshment. ‘It will take the best part of a day to get there if the weather doesn’t improve.’

Claire wasn’t listening, she was racking her brain for ways to contact Commander Landry. There wasn’t one, unless she went back to the station. She looked at her wristwatch, it was six-thirty. He would have left his office by now and was probably at home. She didn’t have his home telephone number. Even if she did, the number would probably be tapped. She took a long deep breath; there was no way of contacting him; not tonight anyway. Suddenly aware that Thomas had stopped speaking, she looked at him. ‘Sorry, what were you saying?’

‘It doesn’t matter. Drink your coffee.’

Just before seven they left the small restaurant and went to the hotel for dinner. Again, being early meant they were served within minutes of sitting down and had finished eating before most of the hotel’s other guests had ordered. Still annoyed with herself for not telephoning the commander from the railway station