The Apothecary Page 0,12

Maid Marian and her Merry Men.”

My father said, “What if we do a story where she has to flirt with the Sheriff of Nottingham, to—I don’t know, steal the keys to the jail or something, to spring Robin. And the sheriff thinks she’s really in love with him.”

Olivia shrugged. “Maybe—then what?”

The three of them started spinning the idea out. They were happy and comfortable with one another, and good at what they did, and they didn’t treat me like a child. They treated me like one of them. I thought about the apothecary’s powder and realised I wasn’t homesick anymore.

I kept thinking, as the adults talked, about Benjamin taking a train to Hammersmith that he didn’t need to take, just because I interested him, and I couldn’t keep a dopey smile off my face. I had a date, I was pretty sure. It wasn’t dancing, and I didn’t have perfect curled hair and a bell-like skirt, but I had a date to play chess.

CHAPTER 6

His Excellency

I got through the Friday at school by keeping my head down, and I stayed in study hall at noon because I couldn’t face the lunchroom. I would have loved to sit with Benjamin, but what if he didn’t want to sit with me? I couldn’t take the chance.

That night, my mother made a dinner of scrambled black-market eggs from the landlady. She had brought home, as a hand-me-down from Olivia Wolff ’s daughter, a warm flannel nightgown that was so long it touched the floor. It was old-fashioned and shapeless, but I was grateful—the apothecary’s honeysuckle and aspen might work, but the hot water bottles only lasted so long in a chilly bed.

On Saturday afternoon, Benjamin met me on the steps of St Beden’s with his satchel slung across his chest. I hoped my face didn’t show my relief that he’d actually turned up. On the walk to Hyde Park, we talked about school. He laughed when I said the secretary reminded me of a sheep, and I wished I’d been brave enough to sit with him at lunch. It was so easy to talk to him, especially when we were both walking and looking around at the London streets and I didn’t have to stare at him across a lunch tray.

In the park, Benjamin chose a table and set up the chessboard swiftly, giving me the white pieces and lining them up without having to think. I always had to think about where they went. I wished I’d let my dad give me some advice.

“I’m not very good at this,” I said.

“Terrific,” Benjamin said. “Then we’ll play for money.”

“Seriously, I’m not going to be a match for you.”

“Never mind,” Benjamin said. “I want you to watch the park bench over my left shoulder. There’s a man sitting there with a wooden leg.”

I looked up. A broad-shouldered man in a grey overcoat was seated facing away from us, reading a newspaper. Beneath the bench I could see two feet in black boots. They looked like ordinary feet. Maybe one was a little smaller than the other. “How can you tell?”

“I’ve been watching him,” Benjamin said. “Do you know the Russian boy at school, Sergei Shiskin?”

“He sits behind me in Latin,” I said. “He’s nice.”

“That’s his father, Leonid Shiskin, who works for the Soviet embassy. He comes here every weekend. Tell me when someone else sits down.”

The chess date suddenly seemed less like a date, and I felt myself deflate a little. “Is that why we’re here? I’m helping you spy on him?”

“We’re just playing chess. It’s your move.”

I slid a white pawn towards his king, and Benjamin pushed out the black pawn in front of his queen’s bishop.

I slid out my own bishop, and Benjamin frowned at it. “Are you sure about that?”

“What does it matter, if the game is just a cover?”

Benjamin sighed. “You have to make your cover convincing,” he said. He moved a knight out. “You have to believe in it. For example, Leonid Shiskin is an accountant for the embassy. He acts like an accountant and lives like an accountant.”

“Maybe because he is an accountant.”

“But he’s an accountant who passes secret messages to people in this park. By leaving part of his newspaper on that bench. It’s your move.”

I saw a chance at his king, and moved my queen out two spaces.

Benjamin shook his head. “Janie.”

“I’m threatening checkmate!”

“No, you’re not.” He moved his knight so it blocked the checkmate and could take my queen or my bishop.

“Oh,” I said. I