Albatross by Evelyn Anthony Read Free Book Online Page A

brief reference to a colleague who had been friendly to her soon after she joined. Peter Harrington. Taken the new girl out to lunch once or twice, and to the local pub for a drink. No follow-up. Harrington was posted to Washington. The contact was so superficial it hardly merited a mention. Two, three years passed, and then the grit flew into Lomax’s eye. When Davina was given the job of looking after the most important Russian to defect to the West, Peter Harrington was recalled in disgrace from his job and posted to Personnel in London.
    And the consequences of that move were Service history now, and Harrington would be close to seventy before he saw the outside world. That was the start of Lomax’s uneasy feelings, and they intensified as he had read on. He heard the front door open and sprang up to greet her.
    He was out in the little hall and Davina was in his arms exchanging the long kisses that were more eloquent than any words of love. Sasanov had swept away her inhibitions; Lomax had taught her tenderness and subtlety in their sex lives. There had been a long abstinence when he was little better than an invalid after Mexico. Now, nearly back to full health, he was an ardent and demanding lover, needing reassurance that nothing had changed.
    They didn’t eat till late that evening; she slept in his arms and he woke her with food on a tray. Davina sat up and smiled sleepily at him. ‘Darling – you spoil me. Do you know, you’re a much better cook than I am?’
    â€˜Of course I am,’ Lomax grinned at her, climbing back into bed with his own supper plate. ‘Men are always better than women – even at so-called women’s work. All the great chefs are men.’
    â€˜Shut up and eat your omelette, you beastly chauvinist. It’s delicious!’
    When they had finished, he reached up and gently pinched the lobe of her ear. ‘You can make the coffee.’
    â€˜Charlie phoned today,’ he said later. ‘She wants us to have dinner; just the four of us, she said.’
    â€˜I suppose we’d better go.’ Davina frowned slightly. ‘I haven’t seen John for ages.’
    â€˜Don’t you want to?’ Colin asked.
    â€˜Not particularly. I don’t want to pick up with anyone from the office at the moment. He’ll start asking questions about Arlington and how do I like the job, that sort of thing.’
    â€˜You’ll cope perfectly well,’ he insisted.
    She shook her head a little. ‘You don’t know John. Seeing through people when they’re lying is his stock-in-trade. And he mustn’t suspect anything, Colin. You know that.’
    â€˜It isn’t him,’ Lomax said slowly. ‘It can’t be.’
    â€˜Why not?’ She turned towards him. ‘The Chief, Humphrey, John. They’re the only three important enough to qualify. One of them is a Soviet spy.’
    â€˜Hardly Humphrey, who put you on to the investigation,’ he retorted. ‘That’s straining credibility too far.’
    â€˜What better way of stopping me from finding him?’ Davina countered. ‘You gave him the report, Colin. He had to do something about it.’
    â€˜I gave it to him because he recruited me and I trusted him. I still do. You know whom I suspect, and always have.’
    â€˜I know,’ Davina answered. ‘James White. I’d like it to be him, Colin. Nothing would give me greater satisfaction than to nail him. But I don’t believe it. It’s too obvious, too easy. It could be John. That’s what I’m scared of finding out.’
    â€˜Charlie wanted you to ring back,’ he said. ‘I forgot to mention it. Stop worrying. I’ll make an excuse if you don’t want to go.’
    Davina hesitated. ‘No,’ she said after a moment. ‘We’ll go. It would look odd if we didn’t. I’ll ring tomorrow.’
    â€˜Do you have anything to report to