Secrets and Shadows (14 page)

‘T
hat was a brilliant film last night,’ said Grace.

‘Yeah, it was good,’ answered Barry.

‘And The Three Stooges are gas – I was still smiling when I got into bed!’

Grace and Barry were crossing Viking Place, the morning sunlight hazy as they made their way to call for Charlie on the way to sports camp.

‘The Three Stooges are good, but Mum and I prefer the Marx Brothers.’

‘Your ma is great fun,’ said Grace. ‘And dead generous. It was really nice of her to bring us to the pictures.’

On Sunday evening Mrs Malone had taken Barry, Grace and Charlie to the local cinema, the Broadway on Manor Street. She had paid for everyone’s tickets and bought each of them an ice pop.

Barry nodded. ‘She’s sound, all right. But…’

‘What?’

‘I’m worried…’

‘About her going out tonight with Mr Pawlek?’

‘Yeah.’

‘She’ll be fine.’

Barry looked at Grace, concern etched on his face. ‘He could be a Nazi!’

‘But he’s only bringing her to a concert. He’s not going to harm her there.’

‘He might get information out of her. About the aircraft factory.’

‘Well, if we’re wrong, and he’s innocent, that won’t matter,’ said Grace.

‘But we don’t think he’s innocent.’

‘It still won’t matter. Because then we’ll be turning him over to the police.’

Barry continued to look worried, and Grace tried to raise his spirits.

‘This is our chance, Barry,’ she said. ‘They’ll be at the concert tonight for hours. It’s perfect.’

‘Not perfect. We could still be seen climbing the wall.’

‘But not by Mr Pawlek. And we have to get into that locked press. You said it yourself.’

‘I know. I just wish Mum wasn’t involved.’

Grace felt sympathetic. If it were Ma she would be just as concerned as Barry was. But Mrs Malone had accepted the invitation to the concert, and neither she nor Barry could change that.

‘I know how you must feel,’ she said gently. ‘But she’s seeing him, whether we break in or not.’

Barry thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. ‘You’re right, I’m being stupid.’

‘Not stupid.’

‘Dithering then. And we can’t dither.’

They turned into Norseman Place, and Barry stopped before they reached Charlie’s house. ‘OK, then, we do it tonight.’

‘Sure?’

‘Certain.’

‘Right,’ said Grace, nervous but at the same time excited at the idea. ‘Tonight it is.’

The evening sunshine filled the room with warmth and mellow golden light, but it wasn’t just the heat that was making Barry perspire. He breathed out deeply to calm himself, then wiped the thin film of perspiration from his forehead.

He had followed Grace over the wall of Mr Pawlek’s garden once more, this time with a rucksack on his back, then Grace slipped the catch on the window and they entered the house and made for the living room. Barry pulled back the curtain on the alcove and, as he had expected, the padlock on the press was still there.

Grace went straight to work on trying to pick the lock. She was using a small flexible piece from a metal spring that Barry had got from his father’s old toolbox, which was kept under the stairs in Grandma’s. Not wanting to put Grace under pressure, Barry had stood back to let her at it, even though he found it hard to cope with standing there doing nothing.

He had felt deeply uneasy when Mr Pawlek had called to the
house for Mum, but had put on a good front, actually going so far as to say that he envied them hearing ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ being played live. Apart from suspecting Mr Pawlek of being an enemy agent, it was a little strange to see his mother going out for the evening with a man other than Dad. He wondered if the same thought would have occurred to Grandma. Mum was, after all, married to her son. But he suspected that Grandma – just like Mum – simply saw it as two music fans availing of an opportunity. And of course Grandma regarded Mr Pawlek as a perfect gentleman, who could be counted on to act accordingly.

Barry had waited about ten minutes after Mum and Mr Pawlek left before calling for Grace and making his way here. Which meant that they should have plenty of time before the concert ended and Mr Pawlek returned home. Even so, Barry felt really on edge as Grace worked on the lock. Supposing a neighbour had seen them scaling the wall and had told the police? It was one thing claiming you had trespassed into a garden to retrieve a ball, but going into the house itself was breaking and entering.
Come on!
he thought, as Grace wiggled the spring in the lock to no avail.

He forced himself to say nothing for what felt like ages, then eventually he couldn’t contain himself. ‘How long did your granddad say it would take?’

‘He didn’t say an exact time,’ answered Grace, without looking up from what she was doing.

‘He must have given you some idea!’

‘He said you needed patience, and luck.’

‘We can’t hang around much longer, Grace, you’ve been trying for ages.’

Grace looked up at him briefly. ‘I’m doing my best!’

‘I know. But we have to get into that press.’

Grace had gone back to working on the lock, but now she breathed out in resignation. ‘All right then,’ she said, removing the spring. ‘All right, do it your way.’

‘Good try, Grace,’ he said.

‘But it didn’t work. So let’s do it your way.’

Barry nodded, then reached nervously into his rucksack.

Grace stepped back, disappointed that her efforts to open the lock had failed. It would have been exciting to get the lever in the lock to click open. It would have been a better tactic, too, because then if there was nothing incriminating in the press they could have relocked it without Mr Pawlek knowing. Still, no point worrying about that now. And besides, she still believed that they
would
find something.

She watched as Barry drew closer to the lock. He had found a bolt-cutter in his father’s old toolbox, and was going to try to cut the metal neck of the lock.

Barry placed the teeth of the bolt cutter on either side of the metal band. Grace held her breath. If they were wrong and Mr Pawlek was an innocent man, then there would be no disguising
a snapped lock. And if Mr Pawlek reported a break-in, and the police questioned the neighbours, she and Barry might well be identified as the culprits.

It was too awful to dwell on, so she swallowed hard and tried to put it from her mind. Instead, she watched as Barry closed the arms of the bolt cutter. To Grace’s dismay it didn’t cut through the lock.

‘I thought you said it cuts through all kinds of metal?’ she said.

‘It does. But I think the lock is steel – it’s really tough.’

Barry tried again, pressing with all his might to make the bolt cutter shear through the metal. Despite Barry’s face going red with the effort, the lock didn’t snap.

‘Here, why don’t we both do it?’ said Grace.

Barry hesitated, looking uncomfortable with his failure.

Grace sensed that his pride was at stake, but she couldn’t bear the thought of coming this far and not succeeding, so she looked him in the eye and spoke bluntly. ‘Come on, Barry, this isn’t about how strong you are. We have to snap that lock.’

He seemed to weigh this up for a moment, then nodded. ‘OK.’

Grace took one arm of the bolt cutter and Barry the other, and together they closed the tool on the resisting neck of the lock. They both pressed hard, but still the lock held. Eventually they had to breathe out and let go.

‘Damn!’ said Barry.

‘Let’s try again,’ urged Grace.

‘All right.’

They applied the bolt cutter again. Grace strained hard, and this time she felt the tool biting into the metal. She pushed with all of her strength, but still they couldn’t snap all the way through the steel, and after a moment they had to admit defeat again.

‘We made some headway there,’ said Barry, looking thoughtful.

‘I was using every ounce of my strength,’ answered Grace. ‘I can’t push any harder.’

‘I’ve an idea,’ said Barry. ‘Know what leverage is?’

‘No.’

‘It’s where you get extra power by using something solid as a tool. If we brace ourselves against the walls of the alcove, we can use the walls for leverage.’

‘How?’

‘The alcove is narrow, so you wedge your shoulder against one side and jam your feet up against the other side. I do the same from the opposite direction, then we both push with all our might, pressing back against the walls.’

‘OK,’ said Grace, immediately moving and jamming herself into the alcove the way that Barry had said.

Barry quickly did the same, then they raised the bolt cutter again. Grace pushed hard, her shoulder hurting from where it pressed back into the wall, but she did feel she was exerting more power this time.

‘Come on!’ said Barry, ‘Come on!’

They both pressed, faces straining, then suddenly there was a snap and the lock fell to the floor.

‘Yes!’ cried Grace. She lowered her feet from the wall.

Barry reached for the handle of the press. ‘Right’ he said, ‘let’s see what he’s hiding!’

Barry felt his hand trembling as he opened the door of the press. He was going to feel pretty stupid if the press was empty. Or if it contained something that Mr Pawlek regarded as valuable enough to lock away, but which had nothing to do with spying.
Too late now
…

He pulled the door open and looked in. The press wasn’t empty. Resting on a shelf was a compact looking suitcase, and to the right of the case were two small boxes. There was nothing else in the cupboard, and Barry moved at once to take out the suitcase.

It was heavy enough for its size, and Barry placed it on the table, his pulses racing. He paused a moment, and Grace impatiently indicated the clips that allowed the case to be opened.

‘Come on, Barry!’ she said.

He reached out and undid first one clip, then the other. He took a deep breath, then opened the lid of the case.

‘Oh my God!’ said Grace.

It was a radio transmitter, with leads attached and a key for tap-ping out messages in Morse code.

‘I knew it!’ said Grace. ‘I just knew it!’

‘Yeah,’ answered Barry.

She looked at him, her expression surprised. ‘You don’t sound pleased.’

Barry looked at the radio, his mind a whirl of mixed emotions. ‘I’m glad we got proof. But part of me…part of me didn’t really want him to be a spy.’

‘I know what you mean. He is pretty likeable. But then again that only shows you what a snake he really is. It’s all a front.’

Barry nodded grimly ‘Yeah, you’re right. And now that we know, we have to stop him.’

‘So what will we do?’

‘We have to go to the police, tonight.’

‘And tell them we broke in here?’ said Grace nervously.

‘They won’t care about that if it means catching a spy.’

‘I hope not.’

‘They won’t, Grace. This is way bigger than breaking in. He’s been
spying
. People get executed for that.’

‘Right.’

‘Let’s check the other boxes. The more we know, the better.’

‘OK,’ agreed Grace, as Barry turned back to the open press.