sThe Quiet Wart

live with,’ Sean said, pulling her into his shoulder.
    â€˜I know. I’m an idiot. Sorry. I just don’t know what to do.’
    Seeing Liz in this state churned Sean’s stomach. She was the most together person that he knew and she’d been reduced to a blubbering wreck by this ludicrous situation. ‘Promise me that you’ll just be open about everything in the future. Then we can decide together,’ he said, stroking her hair.
    Nodding her agreement, Liz continued to cry. ‘It’s just not fair,’ she said.
    â€˜I know, but we’ll find a way through.’
    After a few minutes Liz pulled herself together and stopped crying, lifting her head from Sean’s shoulder. ‘I still don’t like her,’ she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
    â€˜Okay, tomorrow,’ Sean agreed.
    â€˜Good. You know she hinted that you’d been intimate with her to me before you came home, and then I saw you hugging her like that, what was I supposed to think?’
    Sean was taken aback briefly.
Why would Anna hint to Liz that they’d been intimate? Besides some brief flirting, nothing had happened.
‘Liz, I swear nothing happened between us. I’d never do anything to hurt you.’
    â€˜Then why would she say it had?’
    â€˜I really don’t know. I think she’s recently divorced and lonely.’
    â€˜Well, she’s not having you,’ Liz said, reaching out and pulling Sean into her again.
    Clinging onto her waist, Sean looked into Liz’s dark eyes. ‘I love you,’ he whispered.

    *

    Back at the flat, Sean made a point of sitting as far away from Anna as possible and of making open gestures of affection towards Liz, who returned the same. By the time Clive and Terry arrived, the tension between Liz and Anna was palpable and Sean hastily gathered the group around the dining table to watch the video clips of the rally from the previous evening.
    Watching the proceeding again made what they’d seen the previous night seem somehow more real. But Sean still found it hard to believe that this kind of thing still went on in Europe. All but Anna were overtly disturbed by the Nazi show of strength.
    â€˜What was he saying?’ Clive turned to Anna.
    â€˜Just the usual Nazi rhetoric: blaming the Jews, the Romas and the Muslims for the problems in Europe, and saying that the time is coming; that they’ll soon be in power; and they’ll be able to right the Jew-led wrongs of the last 100 years.’
    â€˜Aren’t there laws against that? Isn’t it inciting racial hatred?’ Sean asked.
    Anna shook her head. ‘In Germany, yes, but in the Czech Republic, no. That’s why they have the rallies there. Most of the people attending were probably German though.’
    â€˜Yes, there were a lot of German plates and the people were getting changed before driving back,’ Sean said.
    â€˜So Wagner can do this and just get away with it? What about all the armed militia there?’ Clive asked.
    â€˜As long as they’re used for private security, it’s allowed.’
    â€˜What if we released the video on YouTube?’ Sean asked.
    â€˜You could, but it’d just be one of many. Wagner doesn’t hide from his Nazi ideology; he actively promotes it,’ Anna responded.
    â€˜It’s true. There’s stuff all over the Internet on him, including videos at rallies like this one,’ Liz added, not looking at Anna.
    â€˜What about that flag? The combination of the EU and Nazi symbols,’ Clive asked.
    â€˜It’s nothing new and people will just write them off as cranks,’ Anna countered.
    â€˜So we’re no closer to finding out who killed Phil and Allsop, and who tried to kill Anna and us. And we don’t have a thing we can write about.’ Sean exhaled loudly.
    â€˜I wouldn’t say that. You’ve got pictures of Blom getting into Wagner’s car in a