Elegy for Eddie (32 page)
Authors: Jacqueline Winspear
“Course you can, Maisie,” said Sam. “What can I do for you today?”
“Thank you, Sam. I’m waiting for someone; we’ll decide what we’d like then.”
“Just you sit there in the sunshine and give me a shout when you’re ready, love.”
She watched a coster bring his horse to a halt across the road. He jumped down from the cart and went to the horse, running his hand down the sturdy feathered left front leg of the piebald Welsh cob, and lifted the foot. He brushed off the hoof with his hand, then pulled a pick from his back pocket and popped a stone caught in the shoe. The man released the horse’s leg with a gentleness that belied his gruff appearance, then rubbed his hand across the beast’s thick neck, and was nuzzled in return. He fitted a nose-bag of oats and the horse was left to eat while the man went to talk to a friend.
Maisie thought she saw, in the market before her, the world in miniature: people going about their business, the horse and the motor car sharing the road, as if past and future were trying to get along. There were rich and poor and people in between; jobs to do and mouths to be fed; schools to be attended, lessons to learn and unlearn; and life went on its way, like the river. Everyone was doing what they had to do to maintain or better their lot, to stop themselves sliding, or to earn a few more pennies.
Her thoughts turned to John Otterburn and his predictions. When her investigation ended, she had asked Jack Barker if he had copies of old newspapers going back to the beginning of the year—and he didn’t disappoint, bringing a boxful to her office one afternoon. She added them to those procured and read throughout her work on the case, and one day went through each newspaper, cutting out columns of news and strips of headlines, laying them out like daisy chains across the table by the window in her office. Every story was another brushstroke in an image of terror.
At the end of March, Germany’s Herr Hitler had been given powers of dictatorship, and since that time decrees to disenfranchise the Jewish population had moved on apace, with Jewish men and women barred from government work, then from owning businesses and from the practice of law. Since the
Manchester Guardian
had printed an article in early April entitled “The Terror in Germany,” recounting ways in which the Nazi government was hiding the truth of its actions, even more worrying revelations had come to light in the weeks to follow. John Otterburn had been quick to unleash a torrent of inflammatory headlines in every one of his newspapers.
But now, as the sun shone on an ordinary spring day in London, her thoughts turned to Eddie once again, and how he must have felt, how his confusion upon suffering a manipulation he was ill equipped to understand must have darkened his simple days. And it occurred to her that perhaps they were all like Eddie; perhaps they were all unknowing, influenced to think in a given direction by men who believed themselves visionaries—she had not decided whether such a thing was wrong or right or fell somewhere to the center of those two bookends of morality.
“There you are!” James called to Maisie as he walked towards her, his black pin-striped suit looking out of place in the market. He sat down beside her, leaning back into the chair. “If you hadn’t told me about this café, I would never have found it. Lovely out here in this bit of sunshine, isn’t it? What are we having, by the way?”
“Ice cream,” said Maisie.
“Ice cream?” He began to laugh. “Sometimes you surprise me, Maisie.”
“Sam has the most delicious flavors. He makes them all here, at the back of the shop—my father would bring me here when I was a child, for a special treat. I particularly like the hazelnut with a little chocolate sauce on top. Sam will put it in a cornet or a bowl, whatever you want.”
“That’s good enough for me. I’ll never make it back to the office, though.”
Maisie shrugged. “Does it matter? The Compton Corporation won’t collapse if we go for a walk, will it?”
Maisie called out to Sam, who brought two cornets, each with chocolate rippling across a rounded ball of ice cream.
“Isn’t this lovely, Maisie?” said James. “Watching the world go by while dripping chocolate down a new tie and my favorite suit.”
“And my chin, and my blouse,” added Maisie.
Then they sat back in silence, eating ice cream. Each with their own thoughts. Watching their world go by.
T
o my father, Albert Winspear, for sharing with me the extraordinary true story of the man who was born in a brewery stable and from that time had a magical communication with horses—he inspired the character of Eddie Pettit. Thank you, Dad, for your stories, and for passing on your love of horses to me.
Once again, my friend Holly Rose fanned the flames of another novel with her insightful reading of the early chapters and huge helpings of encouragement.
To my agent, Amy Rennert, and my editor, Jennifer Barth—thank you for your enthusiasm for my work and your wise counsel. I am deeply grateful to you both.
To Andrew Davidson, the enormously talented artist and craftsman who designs the covers that grace the Maisie Dobbs series—thank you, Andrew, for your commitment to my books and for listening so carefully when I try to describe my own vision of each cover. Deepest thanks to Archie Ferguson at Harper, who pulls everything together.
Also at Harper, much gratitude to Jonathan Burnham, Josh Marwell, Virginia Stanley, Kathy Schneider, Katherine Beitner, Jennifer Hart, Nicole Judge, and Mark Ferguson—your support, hard work, and attention to detail is so very much appreciated by this author.
And deepest appreciation, as always, to my husband, John Morell, who knows the importance of breaking out the champagne when I reach The End.
JACQUELINE WINSPEAR is the author of the
New York Times
bestsellers
A Lesson in Secrets
,
The Mapping of Love and Death
,
Among the Mad
, and
An Incomplete Revenge
, as well as four other nationally bestselling Maisie Dobbs novels. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha, Alex, and Macavity awards for the first book in the series,
Maisie Dobbs
, which was also nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel and was a
New York Times
Notable Book. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in California.
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Maisie Dobbs
Birds of a Feather
Pardonable Lies
Messenger of Truth
An Incomplete Revenge
Among the Mad
The Mapping of Love and Death
A Lesson in Secrets
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ELEGY FOR EDDIE
. Copyright © 2012 by Jacqueline Winspear. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN: 978-0-06-204957-5
EPub Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN: 9780062049599
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