And Browning marked them off on his board, too.
He didn’t smile.
Nor did Fred at the window.
Not withMabel’s Furystill missing.
Clare removed her headphones. She hardly needed it explained to her that, if another call did come, Iris would be the one to take it.
A minute passed.
Then another.
It was somehow ten past five.
‘We’d better get down to interrogation,’ Browning said to Clare, heading for the door, beckoning Piper with him, but leaving Iris where she was.
‘Keep the faith,’ Clare whispered to her, before she went.
Fred didn’t leave with them.
He remained with Iris.
Waiting again.
He was married, Robbie had told Iris. His wife, Miriam, had moved to Heaton when Fred had been stationed here. They had a baby daughter called Margaret.
I’ve told him about you,Robbie had said.I told him months ago, back in Kent. I wanted to. You’ve always been the person in my life I’m most proud of having.
Iris watched Fred’s frown as he looked down at his watch, then checked it against the clock.
‘Let’s give it another five minutes, shall we?’ he said to her.
‘Yes, sir,’ she agreed, her voice hollow to her own ears. ‘Let’s.’
They waited nine.
And, at precisely twenty-five minutes and thirty-two seconds past five, the switchboard flickered, Iris’s headset crackled, and, in the sky, distant wing lights appeared, blinking into view.
‘Hello, Tower,’ came Henry’s voice. ‘Oscar here, over.’
‘Hello, Oscar,’ Iris said, and it wasn’t just her hands that trembled any more. Her entire body did. ‘You took your time.’
‘Rob made us stop for ice cream. Over.’
She laughed, then nearly cried.
She’d been so scared.
‘In fact,’ Henry said, ‘we had to escort another plane home. Someone got angry with them. We’re quite low on fuel so would like a pancake please.’
‘Pancake,’ she said. ‘Absolutely pancake. Over.’
Exhaling a shuddering breath, she leant back in her chair, and, fumblingly, removed her headset.
Then, looking up, she caught the expression on Fred’s face.
‘Absolutely pancake?’ he said.
