‘Fine, Sister.’
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t see you last night. I had an emergency, but Father Martin tells me he called in.’
‘As usual.’ Steiner nodded.
The old priest said, ‘This is Major Conlon, by the way. As you can see, an Army chaplain. He’s on sick leave. Like yourself, recently wounded.’
Devlin smiled amiably and put out his hand. ‘A great pleasure, Colonel.’
Kurt Steiner, making one of the most supreme efforts of his life, managed to keep his face straight. ‘Major Conlon.’ Devlin gripped the German’s hand hard and Steiner said, ‘Anywhere interesting? Where you picked up your wound, I mean?’
‘Sicily,’ Devlin said.
‘A hard campaign.’
‘Ah, well, I wouldn’t really know. I got mine the first day.’ He walked to the window and looked out down to the road beside the Thames. ‘A fine view you’ve got here. You can see right down to those steps and that little beach, the boats passing. Something to look at.’
‘It helps pass the time.’
‘So, we must go now,’ Sister Maria Palmer said and knocked at the door.
Father Martin put a hand on Steiner’s shoulder. ‘Don’t forget I’ll be in the chapel tonight at eight to hear confessions. All sinners welcome.’
Devlin said, ‘Now then, Father, didn’t you say I’d take some of the load off your shoulders? It’s me who’ll be sitting in the box tonight.’ He turned to Steiner. ‘But you’re still welcome, Colonel.’
‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’ Father Martin said.
As the door opened, Sister Maria Palmer cut in. ‘An excellent idea.’
They moved along the corridor and Morgan opened the outer door for them. Father Martin said, ‘Just one thing. I usually start at seven. The MPs bring Steiner down at eight because everyone’s gone by then. They prefer it that way.’
‘So you see him last?’
‘That’s right.’
‘No problem,’ Devlin said.
They reached the foyer and the porter handed them their raincoats. Sister Maria Palmer said, ‘We’ll see you tonight then, Major.’
Til look forward to it,’ Devlin said and went down the steps with the old priest.
‘God save us, talk about Daniel in the lion’s den,’ Ryan said. ‘You’ve the cheek of Old Nick himself.’
‘Yes, well it worked,’ Devlin said. ‘But I wouldn’t like to hang out there too much. Asking for trouble that.’
‘But you will go back this evening?’
‘I have to. My one chance of speaking properly to Steiner.’
Mary, sitting at one end of the table hugging herself, said, ‘But Mr Devlin, to sit there in the box and hear people’s confessions and some of them nuns -that’s a mortal sin.’
‘I’ve no choice, Mary. It must be done. It doesn’t sit well with me to make a fool of that fine old man, but there it is.’
‘Well, I still think it’s a terrible thing to be doing.’
She left the room, came back a moment later in her raincoat and went outside.
The temper on her sometimes,’ Ryan said.
‘Never mind that now, we’ve things to discuss. My meeting tonight with Carver. Black Lion Dock. Could we get there in your boat?’
‘I know it well. Take about thirty minutes. Ten o’clock you said.’
‘I’d like to be there earlier. To review the situation, if you follow me.’
‘Leave at nine then. You’ll be back from the Priory before, surely.’
‘I would think so.’ Devlin lit a cigarette. ‘I can’t go down to Shaw Place in your taxi, Michael. A London cab would definitely look out of place in Romney Marsh. This Ford van of yours. Is it in running order?’
‘Yes. As I said, I use it now and then.’
‘One very important point,’ Devlin said. ‘When I get Steiner out, we move and move fast. Two hours to Shaw Place, the plane waiting and out of it before the authorities know what’s hit them. I’ll need the van that night and it would be a one-way trip. It wouldn’t be a good idea for you to try and get it back.’
Ryan smiled. ‘I took it as payment for a bad debt from a dealer in Brixton two years ago. The log book’s so crooked it’s a joke and so is the number plate. No way could it be traced back to me and it’s in good order. You know me and engines. They’re my hobby.’