‘No, just marking some exams and losing the will to live. So it’s nice to have a distraction. What’s up?’
‘I’m pretty sure that Elsie didn’t die,’ I blurted. ‘Not in the war, anyway.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I don’t know for sure, but I saw a photograph from a nurses’ reunion thing in 1970.’
‘Where are you?’ Finn said.
‘Just outside the library.’
‘I’m in the café on the corner near Tall Trees,’ he said. ‘The one with the green awning. Fancy a coffee? You can tell me everything.’
‘I’m on my way.’
*
I cycled so fast that I was all sweaty and out of breath when I got near the café, so I slowed right down and took it easier. I didn’t want Finn to see me with a red face and damp armpits. Though my hair was flat from my helmet and my nose was shiny, so I thought he really wouldn’t be seeing me at my best anyway. Oddly, though, I found I didn’t care. I just wanted to tell him what I’d found out and see his face light up with the thrill of it all.
What was happening to me?
Finn was out in the café garden in a shady corner. He stood up when I approached and gave me a hug, which I hadn’t been expecting but I liked it even though I was a bit worried about being sweaty and gross. He looked a bit flustered when he let go and I liked that too.
I ordered a cold drink from the waitress because I was overheating after my bike ride, and grinned at Finn.
‘Tell me everything,’ he said.
‘I found a photograph of nurses from the hospital at a do in 1970, and I’m pretty sure this is Elsie.’ I showed him the picture I’d snapped on my phone. ‘See?’
‘It could be her,’ said Finn thoughtfully.
I must have looked disappointed because he added quickly: ‘It’s definitely a good start. What’s next?’
‘I thought I should go back to the book. I wondered if any of the nurses wrote messages. Maybe there’s a clue in there?’
‘Brilliant,’ said Finn. ‘You’re turning into a historian in front of my eyes.’
I snorted. ‘It’s not a real thing,’ I said, giving him a wink. ‘I keep telling you.’
Chapter 19
Elsie
January 1941
For the first time since Christmas, Nelly and I had the night off at the same time. Nelly had briefly mentioned going out somewhere, but even as she said it, she was beginning to laugh, because we were both so tired that we could hardly stand, let alone dance. She was exhausted with her new role in the operating theatre, and the raids had barely let up with more people arriving at hospital every night with terrible, life-changing injuries that pushed all of us nurses to our limits.
I wasn’t a great cook, but I’d managed to rustle up a stew that was, I had to admit, more veg than meat, but it smelled good. We ate early, because we wanted to be finished before the siren went off.
It was a full moon tonight. When I’d been walking home earlier, two women sitting at the bus stop had been looking up at the sky as I passed.
‘Bombers’ moon,’ one of them said to the other.
The other woman had shuddered. ‘Barely a cloud in the sky,’ she said. ‘No clouds and a full moon.’
‘Bound to be a bad one,’ her friend agreed. ‘Best get home, fast as we can.’
I’d hurried down the road, eager to get to safety. And now I was chivvying Nelly along, as I washed up our dinner plates, but she was peering into the mirror that hung over our fireplace.
