Page 89 of No Man's Land

Smiling in amusement, Lottie followed Violet towards the shop door.

Josef glared at Dutta; Dutta glared back. Then, with nothing resolved, they both turned and strode after the two women.

If possible, Mr Brooke looked more bemused than ever when Josef returned to his shop with Lottie, Violet, and Dutta in tow.

Well, the ladies weren’t so much in tow as in the lead.

“Lady Charlotte Wolsey,” Lottie said, standing primly before Mr Brookes. “Thank you for securing the door. We’ll be going in now. Kindly close and lock it behind us.”

Brooke looked from her to Josef and back again. “Beg your pardon, ma’am—”

“That’s ‘my lady’ to you,” Violet piped up.

Brooke’s eyes widened. “Beg pardon, ma’am—uh, my lady—but it don’t seem right for two ladies to be going in pursuit of the Hun.”

“Maybe not,” Lottie said, smiling. “But there’s a war on, Mr Brooke. We all must play our part. And your part is to open that door.Now.”

Maybe it was his imagination, but Josef thought he heard an odd little thrill of power in that word. Brooke must have done as well, because he turned immediately and began unlocking the door.

Dutta tutted, loudly. Lottie ignored him

When the ponderous door swung open, she glanced once into the dark stairwell before reaching into her bag and retrieving what looked to Josef like a Christmas tree bauble of delicate blue frosted glass. The sort they’d made on the Continent, before the war. Then she stepped boldly through the door, Violet on her heels. Josef glanced at Dutta, met the challenge in his eyes with one of his own, and followed.

“We’ll need to get out again soon,” he told Brooke. “Stay by the door until we’re back, would you?”

Brooke looked uncertain. “Well, we close at five o’clock.”

Josef stared. “Youclose?”

“I dare say ten pounds will make it worth your while to stay behind,” Lottie said. “And to say nothing of this, to anyone.”

Brooke’s startled expression was comical. “Ah, yes, I dare say it would, your ladyship.”

“Mylady,” Violet corrected again.

Lottie’s smile was small and frosty. “Close the door, Mr Brooke.”

He did so with alacrity, plunging them into abrupt and absolute darkness. Josef’s breath caught, chest tightening in claustrophobic panic.

In the darkness, Lottie murmured something, a slippery word Josef couldn’t quite catch, and then a soft blue light blossomed around them. It came, he saw in astonishment, from the Christmas bauble she held aloft.

“What on earth…?”

“Witch Light,” Violet said with a wink. “I’d leave it at that, if I was you.”

Josef fully intended to leave it at that—for now at least. “Come on,” he said, hurrying down the stairs. “He’s this way.”

As the others followed, a stark electric beam joined Lottie’s light. Josef glanced over his shoulder to see that Dutta held an army hand torch, the same as his own.

“I prefer manmade light,” he said stiffly. “More reliable.”

“Until the batteries run out.”

He raised an eyebrow at Josef’s, apparently, stupid comment. “I have spares.”

Of course he bloody did.

Lottie said, “Times are changing, Mr Dutta. Soon, The Society will have no choice but to value the female sphere.”

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