Page 77 of Right Place, Right Time
‘This is where it gets a bit weird.’ Barney frowns. ‘He asked what I was doing, so I said just looking for some files. I held up the keys as if I was supposed to be there. He said some files on who? I debated whether to lie or tell the truth, but there was something about the old guy that made me want to tell him, so I did. I said I was looking for information on Professor Archibald Darcy, and I thought the guy was going to pass out on the spot.’
‘Goodness, why?’ I ask.
‘He just went totally white. Then his expression changed from shock to relief. He said he’d been waiting for so long for someone to turn up asking for information on that person. And he couldn’t believe it had finally happened.’
‘Blimey,’ Adam says. ‘What happened next?’
‘He asked why did I want to know more about the professor and I said it was do with something calledProject Eden, and I swear his legs almost gave way. Then he looked around him like they do in movies to check if anyone was watching us. When he seemed happy the coast was clear, he asked did I know an Adam and Eve?’
‘Whoa, he didn’t?’ Adam says, looking shocked, and I notice he’s barely touched his tea.
‘He did. I said that’s who I’m here for, and he looked like he might cry. I was a bit worried for the old guy, to be honest, so I said would he like to get a cup of tea somewhere? He agreed and so we went to a café.’
‘Then what happened?’ I ask eagerly.
‘Once we’d got a cup of tea each, Ernie – that’s the old guy’s name – told me all about how Roger, his father, knew Archie during the war. Roger had worked at the university with Archie, before Archie had left to work with the government on something top secret. But they had stayed in touch, often going for a drink at the pub together. Archie would never say what his top-secret project was. But Roger knew that Archie met Dotty at RAF Duxford when he’d gone there to scout for an assistant to help him. He’d been very impressed with her, and had secretly enlisted her to help him with his war work.’
‘We wondered how Archie and Dotty had met, didn’t we, Adam?’
Adam nods.
‘Ernie said he’d also met Dotty.’
‘Really?’I’m amazed that Barney has spoken to someone who actually knew my great-grandmother.
‘Yes. Archie enlisted his friend Roger’s son as a sort of runner for him when he was working in Clockmaker Court. Ernie was a young boy at the time, and he would carry messages to and fro for both Dotty and Archie whenthey were working, and sometimes fetch them things. He said he often worked alongside George, Archie’s son.’
‘Ernie knew my grandfather too?’ Adam asks in amazement.
‘Apparently. I asked where in Clockmaker Court Dotty and Archie were working and Ernie said they would meet him or George in the bookshop, but he wasn’t sure where exactly they did their work, because it was just a bookshop as far as he was concerned. He assumed there must be a room at the back of the shop. But in the war there were a lot of secret things going on, so you learnt not to ask too many questions.’
‘So the office was a secret, then?’ I say, looking at Adam. ‘I mean we thought it might be, but, hearing this now, it definitely was if Ernie didn’t know where they went.’
‘It would seem so,’ Adam says, and I can see he’s trying to piece together what all this means as Barney talks, just like I am.
‘Ernie said this secret project continued through the rest of the war, even after the funding was withdrawn in 1944,’ Barney continues. ‘Apparently Archie was still committed to the project, even after the war ended, which Ernie thought was strange because he’d assumed it had been for the war effort, so why continue after the war? Anyway, Ernie said it wasn’t long after that Archie became a little odd – as he described it – and he started to say some strange things before he disappeared. But by then Ernie was older and he had a new job himself, so he didn’t think too much about Archie, Dotty, or his time in Clockmaker Court. That was until his father came to the end of his life about twenty years ago, and began talking about Archie and the war again. It was then hisfather said – andthisis the important bit …’ He pauses for dramatic effect, looking between the two of us.
‘Come on, Barney!’ I say when he holds his pause a bit too long. ‘We need to know.’
‘Ernie’s father told him that one day an Adam and an Eve would come asking questions at the university about Archie and a Project Eden, and if Ernie came across them, he must tell them to find thetimekeeper. The timekeeper in Clockmaker Court will have all the answers.’
Barney stops talking and looks at both of us expectantly, as though we might now be able to fill in all the missing answers.
‘Who or what is the timekeeper?’ I ask.
‘How the hell should I know?’ Adam replies, holding up his hands in despair.
‘Could it be the pub?’ Barney asks. ‘That’s called The Timekeeper?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Adam says excitedly. ‘So it is!’
‘It’s not actually in Clockmaker Court, though,’ I say. ‘Is it? But it’s worth bearing in mind,’ I add when their faces fall. ‘It might be related. Did he say anything else, Barney?’
‘Not really. That’s all Ernie knew. I think he was just glad to be able to tell someone after all this time.’
‘But he knew about us, Barney?’ I ask. ‘You said he mentioned an Adam and Eve.’
‘He did. He asked me how I knew you and I told him I worked at the antique shop with you, Eve, and Adam had the bookshop next door, and he seemed more than happy to hear that.’
