Extracts of Let Us Do Evil
(From Chapter 19 - An Interrogation)
“I’m sorry, I have to ask you this Mrs Hallowes but were you intimate with him?”
“Do you mean did we go to bed?”
Not for the first time that evening the Assistant Superintendent wished somebody would hurry up and find Calderwell. Absently, he picked up De Wet’s service cap from his desk and nodded.
“Why? Is it a criminal offence? I always thought anybody could be the Harlot of Jerusalem.” Jessica was on the verge of tears, desperate not to show it, determined to give as good as she got.”
“Look Mrs Hallowes,” he said, putting the cap down. “We think this man, the man you knew as Major Maurice De Wet, may be guilty of some very serious crimes.”
“Am I allowed to know what?”
“Murder. We think he shot dead a shepherd boy who got in his way. Then he planted a bomb which killed one person, a young nurse, seriously wounded five others and came within seconds of bumping off your boss who was almost certainly the target. There’s probably a lot more.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“I think you should. The man you know as Major De Wet is not Major De Wet. He's a German agent.”
It was too much for Jessica. Much worse than Bob going, part of her had always been prepared for that. It would have been strange had she not been. This was entirely different. It made her feel used, dirty, raped.
“My husband was killed,” she heard herself saying. “Shot down by the Vichy French last year.” Why did she have to talk about this? Any of it? “Yes, Major De Wet, whoever, sometimes spent the night at my flat. Not-” Jessica broke off, looking down, biting her lower lip, and hating herself for being so bloody stupid.
“Sorry, smoke in my eyes,” she gulped, accepting the proferred handkerchief before recovering her cigarette from the ashtray. “I was about to say, not often enough.” And she had the satisfaction of observing a faint blush come to the cheeks of her interrogator.
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