‘Well, your guess is as good as mine. Lulu’s neighbour is one for a bit of gossip, I know that.’
‘Hmm. Maybe it was dead horse they found?’
‘Nah. A body, Lulu said.’
‘Where?’
‘Somewhere behind the old Opera House.’
‘Today?’
‘This morning.’
‘Blimey. Still finding bodies even now and the war’s been over for more than a year. Bloke, was it?’
‘She didn’t say.’
As soon as Florence could politely leave, despite her hair not being fully dry, she paid and hurried to StradaReale where, flanked by South Street and Ordnance Street, the Royal Opera House still lay in ruins since 1942. How sad that war had destroyed so much that had been beautiful. Not far away, the remains of a house piled high with rubble was cordoned off with two bored policemen guarding it.
‘What happened?’ she asked the younger one, who looked like he might be a rookie.
‘Body under rubble. Must have caught a stray bomb at the end of the war. We do still find them. Sad really.’
Florence nodded. ‘Man or woman?’ she asked.
‘Woman. Pretty bashed up I believe. Except for her hair.’
‘Her hair?’
‘Yeah, bright red. Must have been foreign. None of us have red hair like that.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘What’s it to you?’
‘Where have they taken her, the poor thing?’ she said with a pounding heart but trying for nonchalance.
He shrugged.
‘Do you know? I’m curious, that’s all.’
‘Hospital mortuary,’ he said, relenting.
‘I see. Well, have a good day. Hope you don’t have to stand here for too long.’
Florence glanced at her watch. Oh God, she thought, panicking now about the body, a woman with red hair. Could it be? Could it? And now she was going to be late for Cam too. She forced herself to calm down because there was a shortcut to his office and with luck she might just make it in time.
When she knocked on his door, he already had his jacket on.
‘I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,’ he said.
‘Sorry, I just heard they found a body. I need a favour. Can you help me?’
When Jack arrived home that evening, he immediately picked up on her distress.
‘Feeling bad about your mother?’ he asked, with a sympathetic look, then came to her and drew her close. ‘I’m afraid there isn’t a ship for ten days. We only just missed one. It left yesterday.’
She screwed up her eyes. ‘It’s not just Maman. You haven’t heard?’
‘What?’
‘A woman’s body was discovered today. Under the rubble in the bombed remains of a building. Cam called someone he knows at the hospital.’
