strode out into the hallway and came to greet Vivi. He shook her hand.
‘Please come with me, Miss Hamilton,’ he encouraged and ushered her into his office.
‘I have some critical intelligence I need to communicate to you,’ she whispered as she closed the door.
‘Please sit down.’ He offered her a chair and, sitting back behind his desk, eyed her intently. ‘What do you know about Captain Meade?’
She quickly looked at the name on the desk and realised this wasn’t the right person. ‘I must not have been explicit. I’m not sharing the information with anyone but the Rook himself. I have classified information that I can only share with him.’
‘You can share it with me,’ he stated with a doleful smile.
All at once the secretary returned and dropped a file on his desk, which he looked at briefly before nodding at her. The secretary left the room.
Vivi watched him. He looked trustworthy, but after the last few weeks, she had learned to be extremely wary about her conversations. Vonstein had been explicit Whatever his mission, it was of the utmost secrecy.
‘I don’t mean to be disrespectful, sir, but I’ve been given precise instructions to only speak to one person.’
Confusion crossed the man’s face, which softened to irritation. ‘I’m afraid that is impossible.’
‘I can’t tell anybody else,’ she stated, pressing the point.
‘I’m not trying to be difficult,’ he responded, ‘but, you see, the Rook is no longer with us.’
Vivi was confused. ‘He is somewhere else in London?’
The man blew out air and strolled over to the window and then shook his head. ‘When I say “he is no longer with us”, I mean in this world. I’m afraid Captain Meade was killed a couple of weeks ago.’
Vivi sat back in shock. ‘How did he die?’
‘Unfortunately, a wall collapsed on him during a recent bombing.’ He walked back to his desk and pushed the file his secretary had brought in towards her. ‘You were SOE, the Sparrow, that’s true, before you were asked to leave. So you can see, I am a little concerned about trusting you with any further details.’
Vivi was astounded.
Reading her expression, he smiled. ‘Don’t look so surprised that I know of you,’ he added, shaking his head. ‘You are very striking and not easy to forget. Your file came across my desk a few weeks ago. I just happened to remember your face.’
The information I have is vital.’
‘And you can share it with me,’ he repeated, moving back to his seat.
Vivi’s throat became dry. She desperately didn’t want to make another mistake, and she’d learned that it was better to remain silent than to say something that she could never take back. It had been a risk trusting Vonstein, but she had made him a promise, and she intended to keep it.
Vivi shook her head. ‘I thank you for your time, but I need to go.’
His eyes narrowed at her for a moment and then he clasped his hands. ‘If you change your mind, please come back. You can trust us here.’
She stood up and shook his hand, but Vivi no longer trusted anyone. Her frustration bubbled up. The frustration of not knowing who to trust. How to help the situation. She felt powerless.
Vivi made her way out of the office and out the main door. For a second she paused in the doorway and looked out across London. From the top of the steps she had a perfect view of Baker Street, and looking down to the road, she felt a new boldness. Vivi wasn’t certain what would happen next, but she knew somehow she would do the right thing and felt good about trusting her gut. Vivi was going to use all of her wits from now on, even with Vonstein. Though she also couldn’t avoid the fact that something in her trusted him, something intangible she couldn’t put into words, but she was going to let that guide her. She knew one thing, that he cared for her, and she was choosing to trust that love.
When Vivi arrived back in Cornwall that evening, she informed Vonstein of what she had found out, and saw just how devastating it was for him.
‘I have such important work to do. I have to leave somehow,’ he said, with utter discouragement in his tone. When he looked at her, she could see the desperation in his eyes. ‘Vivi, I know how hard it must be for you to trust me, but I need your help for one more thing.