12. Chapter 12 (1/2)

"sweetheart," he purrs, "whatever is wrong?"

"nothing and yet everything," she says at last. "where are you?"

"i'm in a gte just outside reims ….. on the way to laon. it's lovely here. so peaceful. except for one thing."

"which is?"

"i'll be sleeping alone. i wish you were with me. i don't suppose you feel like making a quick trip to france, ruth."

"i can't possibly do anything out of the ordinary for weeks. they'll be watching me, and if not, then they should be."

harry waits for a moment before he speaks.

"how did it go? the identifying, and then telling the team."

"it was awful. i hadn't meant to, but i cried throughout both events. the team are angry, i think. your ….. demise …... seems so senseless, such an anticlimax."

"yes, i agree, and if there's a weak point in our plan, then this is it. i don't want them going off to exact revenge."

"the only one likely to do that is lucas, and as i've mentioned to you before, his mind is definitely elsewhere." ruth hesitates before she continues. "i could be wrong, but i had the impression he had something up his sleeve for you, and …... your death has …... foiled his plans. just a hunch."

"i …. the team need to focus on the jobs they were doing when this happened. it will be your task, ruth, to keep them on track. have you rung catherine?"

"not yet. i'll do that immediately this call ends."

they only speak for another couple of minutes, and then reluctantly end the call. ruth then rings catherine.

catherine is staying with a friend in shepherd's bush, and hearing the tone of ruth's voice, offers to come around right away.

ruth decides to tell catherine the truth. she and harry had disagreed on this one point, with he wanting his children to believe him dead – to add authenticity at his funeral – but ruth couldn't do that, not when she knows their father is alive and well somewhere in france.

"this is about dad, isn't it? i saw something on the news this morning."

"that was about harry, yes, but ….."

"but what?"

"your father is alive, catherine. he's faked his death."

catherine is visibly shocked.

"why would he do that?"

"i can't tell you that. it's ….."

"classified, right?"

"that's right. i was the one who planned this. it's to keep him alive, catherine. i don't want him dead, and i don't think you and your

other do, either."

catherine is stuck for words, and ruth senses harry's daughter is not happy.

"spit it out, catherine."

"i …... i know i don't have a right to be angry, ruth, especially now you and he are together. you are his family, and he's protecting that, but …..." catherine stops, and quickly wipes tears from her eyes.

"he wasn't around to protect you when you were growing up," ruth says gently, and catherine nods, unable to speak. "he wants that to change. i know, because he's told me. he's a different man now to the one who was an absent father, putting his family last."

ruth gives the younger woman time in which to shed a tear, and feel angry, and then even a little guilty about being angry.

"i shouldn't be feeling this way, i know, but i can't help it. will there be a funeral?"

ruth nods. "we can insist on it being invitation only …... a private funeral, if you like. after all, the man isn't even dead. if the big wigs want to have a memorial service at a later date, then they're free to do that."

"that sounds like a sensible approach. i'll talk to graham. is it alright if he knows?"

"yes, but he musn't tell anyone …... not even your mother, and nor must he tell his girlfriend. at a later date, he can tell her that his father has moved out of london. it's best she doesn't know the details."

"he's not going to like that. he and jade are close – like you and dad."

"he must co-operate. your father's life depends on it." ruth allows her tone to soften. "i expect you will want to be at the funeral, but if graham doesn't want to be there, that is fine. i don't think harry is terribly interested in a funeral which isn't even real."

"when will it be?"

"in around a week, i imagine."

"and the body?"

"a homeless guy, dressed in a suit of your father's. he's even wearing harry's underwear. sorry ….. you don't need to know that."

ruth spends the next five days arranging harry's funeral. beth helps out by making sure there is plenty of edible food, and and a supply of wine in the flat. beth also treads gently around ruth, but does not get in her way. ruth has to keep reminding herself that harry is not dead. she has only heard from him once since he'd disappeared, and she misses him. she and catherine have agreed that the homeless man needs to be cremated, so the cremation is held in the morning, with only catherine and ruth in attendance, while the service is held in the afternoon, in the funeral home's chapel. only senior members of section d have been invited, as well as malcolm wynn-jones. ruth asks malcolm to give the reading, and to malcolm's surprise, she leaves it to him to choose the reading.

"nothing soppy, malcolm. he wouldn't want that."