Albatross by Evelyn Anthony

be right. Whoever this joker is, he hasn’t shown any qualms about you. Now, sweetheart, seeing as you’re tired and worried, I’m going to make a few suggestions. Say nothing to Grant about the files. I’ll give him his key back and say we’re working on them. I won’t sound hopeful. And let me talk to Harrington next time you go. Put your feet up and listen. I’ve got an idea.’
    â€˜Why on earth do you want to meet Tony Walden, James?’
    The brigadier saw the frown on his wife’s face and said pleasantly, ‘Because he’s a very interesting man, my dear. Born in Poland, did you know that?’
    â€˜No,’ Mary White said. ‘All I know about him is what I read in that nasty gossip column in the Mail . He sounds the last sort of person you’d have anything in common with!’
    â€˜You mustn’t take any notice of all that business about yachts and whizz-kids buzzing around in a private plane. That just sells newspapers. I know it’s a bore for you to spend an extra day in London, darling, but I promise you it’ll be quite amusing.’
    She looked at him and said sharply, ‘James, you’re up to your tricks again. I’ve been married to you for thirty years, and I know perfectly well that it won’t be amusing and I shan’t enjoy it, but you want to meet this man, and that’s why we’re going. And if I have to cope with Mrs Walden, you’ll have to pay for a new dinner dress!’
    â€˜I’ll be only too delighted,’ he said, and laughed. ‘You’re quite right of course, Mary. It is business, in a way. I can put the dress down to expenses!’
    She laughed too. They had a very close relationship, and in spite of her unpretentious, domesticated life in their Kent house, she was sharply intelligent and very well informed. She had been exceptionally pretty as a girl, but James White would never have married a fool. His associates would have been amazed at how much he confided in her about his work.
    â€˜What is your interest in Walden then?’ she asked him.
    James White locked his hands behind his head and stretched his legs out towards the fire. The late April evenings were still cold. ‘You know Davina Graham is working for him?’
    â€˜How should I know? You didn’t mention it. What a funny job for her. I can’t see her selling things.’
    â€˜Nor can I,’ her husband remarked. ‘I can’t see her in that kind of world at all. Publishing, perhaps; or one of the quieter professions. She’s the last type of woman to enjoy a life of hustle and bustle and high living. I don’t see her on the famous yacht, do you?’
    â€˜No, I don’t,’ his wife said. ‘Not that I ever knew her well. A very reserved girl, even as a child, wasn’t she? Now if it were Charlie!’ They both smiled at the idea. They had known Captain Graham and his family for many years; it was an intermittent friendship, interrupted by service postings, but easy to resume however long the intervals. And it was James White who had seen the potential in the clever, introverted Davina Graham and asked her to work for him.
    â€˜Yes, Charlie would have fitted in beautifully,’ he agreed. ‘Amazing how she’s settled down to married life with John. Personally I gave it about six months before she bolted with someone else. I will never, ever, understand your sex, my dear.’
    â€˜I should hope not,’ his wife said. ‘If you’re dragging me up to London to meet Walden, I suppose you won’t tell me the real reason?’
    â€˜I’m not sure what it is, yet,’ he answered. ‘There are several things I’m curious about at the moment, and the connection between Davina and a man like Tony Walden is one of them.’
    â€˜And what about the others? Anything I may know?’
    â€˜I have never kept secrets from you, my dear. Only