Secrets of the Last Nazi

EPILOGUE

Helen was about to press ‘confirm’ when the doorbell rang. She frowned as she checked her watch, not sure who it could be. Standing up, she leaned towards the window, and peered down onto Pembroke Street. There, beaming up at her, sweating and recovering his breath, stood her fiancée.

She smiled back, then shouted down to him, ‘Did you do the whole route?’

He nodded. She raised her eyebrows in admiration, then turned to press the entry buzzer, and listened to his footsteps bound up the stairs, two at a time.

She kissed him as he came in through the door, then made a show of wiping his sweat from her cheeks. ‘Still OK with the leg?’ she asked, noticing a graze on his shin as she said it.

‘That’s just from where I tripped near the lecture hall,’ he explained. ‘They’re both fine.’ He squatted down on his haunches, proving he could stand up again without pain.

‘Good,’ she said, beckoning him over to her computer. ‘So how about trekking through the mid-West for our honeymoon?’

Myles smiled again. ‘Shouldn’t we plan our wedding first?’

She was about to answer when the phone rang. She pulled a face, then picked up the receiver. ‘Hello?’ She slumped a little when she recognised the voice. ‘OK — he’s right here,’ she said. ‘Simon Charfield,’ she mouthed silently, as she passed the phone over.

Myles took the phone, slightly fazed. ‘Er, hello?’ he said before a pause.

After a few moments he began to concentrate on Simon Charfield’s questions. ‘Ah, well,’ he began answering, ‘It certainly had a great impact. A forerunner to modern chemistry, it led to the discovery of oxygen, explosives… it also caused the death of King Charles the Second, who experimented with it — if he hadn’t died, Britain might not be a democracy.’

Then she saw him frown.

‘Really? Are you sure? They might be faking, you know,’ cautioned Myles.

Helen mimed a question, asking him what it was about.

Myles put his hand over the receiver. ‘Terrorists performing alchemy,’ he whispered in reply, before concentrating back on the phone call.

Then she saw him nodding.

‘Of course, I’m very curious. If someone really can make gold then….’ Another pause, then, ‘What exactly to do you want me to investigate?’

Myles looked at her admiringly as he waited for the answer. Their eyes connected. He winked lovingly. But she knew what would happen next.

‘OK, Simon,’ he said. ‘Tell me more…’