Frank shrugged. ‘That’s what I heard.’
‘I’ll go and find it.’
Frank gave me a little mock salute and wandered off. I turned to Nelly. ‘Coming?’
‘I would,’ she said. ‘But Percy should just be finishing his shift so I thought I’d see if I could say a quick hello.’
‘My book and I can’t compete with the charms of Dr Barnet,’ I teased.
Nelly kissed me on the cheek.
‘You’re brilliant, but frankly, no you can’t,’ she said. She sashayed away from me and I laughed as I headed to the hut, wondering why the airmen had wanted to write more in the book.
Judith was just coming out as I approached, her arms full of sheets for the laundry crate, which was outside. She threw them in and turned to me, looking worried.
‘Oh, Elsie,’ she said. ‘We lost Eric.’
I put my hand to my heart. ‘Sweet Eric?’ He was so full of life, I couldn’t quite believe it.
She nodded her head, sadly. ‘Sweet Eric.’
‘But he seemed to be recovering well. What happened?’
‘Internal bleeding,’ she said. ‘And then his heart gave out.’
‘Lord.’
We stood for a moment in silence. I was thinking of how quickly a life could be snuffed out, and how glad I was that Eric had the chance to write a message.
‘How are they doing?’ I asked eventually, nodding my head towards the hut.
‘Sad and a couple are angry. But they’re resigned mostly. That’s what’s so awful. They just expect to go.’ She reached out and took my hand. ‘Your book has already helped so much.’
My eyes filled with tears again. I seemed to be doing nothing but crying these days. ‘I’m really glad,’ I muttered. ‘Is it here? Do you have it?’
‘It’s on the desk. I went to fetch it when Eric died. I wanted to check he’d written in it.’
‘He had written, hadn’t he?’ I screwed my face up, trying to remember if I’d seen something from him. ‘Something to his wife?’
‘Yes, he wrote to his wife.’
My legs were shaking. Knowing it was totally unprofessional I sat down on the wooden steps leading up to the hut. ‘So we can send her the message,’ I said. ‘That’s exactly what I hoped. I can copy it out from the page, and put it in the post for her.’
Judith bit her lip. ‘Eric was from the East End. And the telegram that was sent to his wife telling her he’d been injured was returned.’ She shook her head. ‘No one knows where she is.’
‘Blast.’ I leaned back, looking up into the grey sky. The sunnever seemed to shine anymore. A layer of grime covered everything. ‘Is she dead?’
‘I don’t think so, because I think we’d know if that were the case. I think it’s more likely she’s been bombed out and had to move.’
‘I didn’t think of that,’ I admitted. ‘It didn’t occur to me that we’d struggle to send the messages.’
‘I might be able to help.’ Judith sat down next to me.
‘You can?’
‘The Red Cross runs the Missing, Wounded and Relatives department,’ she said, sitting up straighter as she spoke. ‘They might be able to track her down.’ She turned to me with a sudden grin. ‘I know a chap who works there. I can pull a few strings.’
‘Do you think so?’
