A Time of Secrets Read Online Free

of the ordinary by stone-grey eyes, flecked with sharp intelligence. He smiled a lot, but the smile rarely reached those eyes, and he watched more than he smiled. I’d liked him well enough, because there was no nonsense about him and he really seemed to care about Dolly. His first marriage had ended with his wife’s death five years ago and I suspected that he had surprised himself by falling so deeply in love with a bubbly little Australian divorcee. But surely no man, no matter how besotted, would be willing to put up with infidelity. I suspected that Dolly would never be Mrs Stanford Randall if he found out that any of her liaisons in his absence weren’t entirely innocent.
    When I’d asked Leroy about Major Randall, he’d whistled.
    ‘He’s loaded. Stanford Randall has a finger in every pie. He arranges the movement of supplies from the US to Australia, and he’s using this war to make contacts for peacetime. He’s a mighty fine supply officer, but he’ll end up getting more out of this war than he gives to it.’
    Dolly was living in a fool’s paradise if she thought that no word of her activities would filter back to Stanford. The situation had caused me real concern over the past weeks. The strange thing was that I thought Dolly really did love Stanford – she just didn’t want to be faithful to him yet. She had a few months of freedom when he was away from Australia, and she was determined to enjoy it.
    Dolly finished her tea, rose and glanced towards the rear of the cafe. ‘I’ll just visit the little girls’ room before we leave,’ she said, and ducked off.
    As I waited for her to return I found myself thinking of Frank, and I tried to work out why seeing the blond staff sergeant had affected me so much.
    My husband had also been fair-haired, but his face had been finer featured and he’d been objectively better-looking than the man who was sitting behind me. It was the eyes, I thought. Frank’s eyes had drooped slightly at the corners – ‘bedroom eyes’ people called them – and that soldier had similarly shaped eyes. Attractive, but they implied a dreamy sensuality. That hadn’t been the case with my husband, and I doubted it was the case with the staff sergeant, who seemed the strong, silent type.
    I swallowed the dregs of my tea and stared out the window. The rain was easing, but as it was June, the light was fading quickly. I checked my watch: three o’clock. It would be dark soon, and because of the brownout there would be no lights to help people make their way along the city streets. I did want to be home by five for Leroy’s call, because I did want to go out dancing. When I was dancing I forgot the past, forgot everything.
    ‘He’s a bastard. You know it, we all know it.’ I’d not been paying any attention to the men behind me, but those words were said in a louder, annoyed voice. There was a brief laugh and I heard something about ‘stupid bints who fall for his charms’. I knew that a bint was a woman; I was starting to become familiar with Aussie slang.
    A deeper voice answered; I thought it was the Viking. ‘We all knew what might happen. We all volunteered.’
    ‘Stop sticking up for him, or I’ll think it’s not just the silly bints he’s charmed.’
    The reply was good-natured in tone. ‘Shut up, you’re talking bull.’
    When the other man replied in Malay, I froze.
    ‘ Lambat laun, seseorang akan membunuh dia .’ Sooner or later, someone will kill him.
    The blond man gave a short laugh and said in English, ‘Maybe you’re right; sometimes I’d like to kill him myself.’ There was a short silence, then he said, ‘Let’s go.’
    My heart was like a small fist pounding inside my chest and I’d soon be wheezing if I didn’t calm down. I tried to think. Had the soldiers sitting behind me been in the laneway? Who were they talking about? Could it be Lieutenant Ross? Should I tell someone in authority?
    I heard the noise of chairs being pushed back. A