Page 78 of The Secret Librarian
‘James, I owe you a proper apology,’ she said, as he took a sip of coffee and winced at the temperature. ‘I distrusted you for so long, I even tried to make Avery distrust you, and I’m embarrassed my instincts were so wrong.’
His smile was easy, and she wondered how she’d ever missed that. He certainly didn’t look like a man with anything to hide.
‘We have a saying in English when it’s time to let something go, that it’s water under the bridge,’ he said. ‘And it is, Camille. You have nothing left to apologise for because it’s already water under the bridge. Truly it is.’
Something inside of her softened and she knew that there were tears glistening in her eyes. ‘Thank you.’
‘I actually came here today because I have information for you,’ James said. ‘I thought it might give you some closure.’
Camille watched curiously as he set down his coffee and retrieved an envelope from inside the bag he was carrying. She smiled to herself.A true spy if ever I’ve seen one.
‘The reason I was posted to Lisbon in the first place was to hunt for Allied double agents,’ James said, tapping the folder as he spoke. ‘We knew they were working in Lisbon – it’s the best place for it, after all – and so I was sent here under the guise of a journalist to try to figure out the lay of the land, so to speak. Iwas closing in on William that night, but it all went down rather differently than I’d planned, as you well know.’
She took the envelope when he passed it to her, but James kept hold of it when he saw how much her hands were trembling.
‘You don’t have to look at any of this information if you don’t want to. I’m sending my report back to London today, and you can forget all about my ever coming here if you want to. It’s up to you.’
Camille stared at the envelope, her heart beating loudly, but she knew she’d regret it forever if she didn’t look. She’d spent every day since Hugo had died seeking revenge and wanting to find out who was responsible, and James was right – it would be closure for her.
‘It’s time for me to move on from what happened,’ she eventually said. ‘But to do that, I need to see what’s in this file.’
James let go of the envelope and sat back, and she took a deep breath before opening it.
‘William was trained in London, recruited into the SOE after being top of his class at Cambridge University,’ James said as she slowly ran her eyes over the information in front of her. ‘There were no red flags at all, nothing that would have given any of his instructors reason to doubt him, and most of them are still baffled at how he was turned so easily, or that it was him at all.’
‘You think he had Nazi links?’ she asked, glancing up at him. ‘A connection that was missed?’
‘It appears he was simply bribed by the lure of wealth,’ he said. ‘The Nazis were giving him jewellery and other valuables looted from the Jews they arrested, in exchange for information, such as the pocket watch you recognised. It was truly as simple as him putting himself above his country for personal gain.’
Camille sat on that information, trying to digest it and finding it impossibly hard to stomach. ‘All this time, I’d thought it would be more complicated. People all over the world are fighting for theircountry, risking everything because of what they believe in, and he was just looking out for himself?’
‘It certainly appears that way,’ James said, crossing his legs at the ankles as he nursed his coffee.
‘You believe he was responsible for my husband’s death?’
James looked at the file then back at her, his gaze steady. ‘I am certain, without a doubt, that William was responsible. He’s the only double agent that we’ve identified who was in France at the time of your husband’s death.’
‘And the family in France who we were supposed to help that night, do you know anything about their fate?’ Camille asked. ‘Is there any way to find out what happened to them? I know they would have been discovered where they were waiting for us, they would have been like sitting ducks, but I’ve always hoped ...’
James shook his head. ‘They are presumed dead, although there is always a chance that they made it to a camp and survived.’
Camille closed her eyes and took a deep breath. So that was it. Maybe she would never know what had happened to them, but at least she knew who was responsible for what had happened that night. When she opened her eyes, she was rewarded by James’s warm, steady gaze.
‘James, have you heard from Avery?’ she asked.
‘I haven’t. Have you?’
She sighed. ‘No. I’ve never been so eager to check the mail in all my life, but I haven’t heard anything from her yet.’
They sat in silence for a long moment, James sipping his coffee and her looking over the extensive report that detailed everything James had uncovered about William’s duplicity, as well as photographs of jewellery that had been recovered, including the precious watch.
‘So what happens next?’ she asked, closing the folder and placing it on the table. ‘Will you stay in Lisbon?’
‘I’m actually taking this report back with me to hand-deliver,’ he said. ‘I leave for London this afternoon.’
Camille felt an overwhelming sense of being lost. She’d focused on one thing for so long, and now it was over. Avery had gone. James was going. It was all over.
‘What will you do?’ James asked. ‘Will you stay in Lisbon?’
