“Come on then, Barb, tell us what this is all about.” Wraggles was deeply curious. “So Colonel Raymond was the traitor?”
“Both he and Schiller are traitors,” replied Barb, buttoning up her rather mud-stained blouse. “Schiller’s secret is that his mother was a Jewess, who abandoned him and his father before the first world war, and married Colonel Raymond’s father in England. But Schiller’s father was killed in the trenches, after the war Schiller joined his mother and brother in England, which is why he speaks both perfect German and perfect English.
“The two lads became almost inseparable as boys and young men, but then Schiller went back to Germany and joined the SS, and Raymond joined the RAF. Once war was declared they swapped secrets with one another completely independently of any secret service, so that each had an edge over their peers, which did no harm to either career. And whichever side lost the war, the brothers had pledged to vouch for each other, to guarantee their post-war future.
“The comfort of that post-war life was guaranteed by their mother’s legacy. She was such a sweetie, Wraggles, you’d have loved her. Messa and I boarded with her at the beginning of the war, and we grew to love her as our own mother. She was immensely rich, but she also saw through her sons, and realised how evil they were. And her wealth couldn’t save her from cancer. So, as she died in our arms last year, she left all her wealth to us, and not a penny-piece to them. It’s in a safe in Zurich, and only Messaline and I know the number. And they knew that we knew, because their mother had written to them. Nothing, but nothing, Herr Schiller, would have dragged that number out of either of us!”
Schiller glared malevolently at her as she continued.
“So Messa and I have spent the past year collecting enough evidence of the brothers’ nefarious activities to see them both hanged. I’ve been collecting the dirt on Colonel Raymond, Messaline on Lieutenant Schiller. Messaline, as you see, has paid dearly for her efforts. I had to come and at least be with her, if not save her. I’m just sorry that I wasn’t quite able to be crucified with her. Anyway, if we hadn’t returned from this mission, dossiers would have been passed across in London and Berlin at 5pm this evening, and the wheels of justice would have done the rest.
“But then, you see, Colonel Raymond had come to the conclusion that the safest way forward was for him to dispose of all three of us and then find a way to get at the money later if he could. He was prepared to sacrifice the money to see us all dead. Including Schiller; now that the war is almost over he regards his dear brother as a liability. Very luckily for me, I am on extremely good terms with Ted Parry, and he rang me to let me know that he was due to attack this clearing at exactly 4:35 this morning, and that he had had specific orders from Colonel Raymond to aim specifically for any women that he saw, especially any that may be on crosses. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind specifically missing any women that he saw, and then I got a message to my dear friend Tree here to let him know that, if it were humanly possible, it would be handy if he could arrive in the clearing immediately after the air raid. Also it would be good if he could arrange to have Colonel Raymond arrested as soon as possible. Bless him, he’s done both those things!” She planted a big wet kiss on Tree’s cheek. He looked as though the whole war had been worthwhile, after all.
Messaline had, by now, been released from her cross, and a couple of Americans were carrying her past on a stretcher. Barb turned, and threw her arms around her. “Oh, Messa, how you’ve suffered! I’m so sorry you had to go through that! You poor girl!”
“Don’t worry, Barb!” replied Messa, in her sweetly musical French accent, “It was worth all the pain, for you, and for Eulalia Raymond!”
“For Eulalia Raymond!” echoed Barb, and kissed her on the forehead.
THE END.