The Lazarus Secrets Read Free

concerned, but no, she was standing in front of him telling him that her husband was coming home, that he was seriously injured and needed her, and that it was her duty to do the right thing and be there to look after him.
    He stared at the bed where they had just made love, it was not sex alone, it was intense love so how could she now destroy it, but tears ran down her face as she begged him to understand and make it easier for her.
    Anger rose up in his body as he dressed and collected his belongings, “Won’t you say goodbye to me, Stefan?” she pleaded but he didn’t want to even look at her. He opened the bedroom door and moved swiftly and silently down the staircase and out into the street.
    Paula fell onto the bed and cried for several minutes and then realised that the siren was blaring again. How she hated that noise! Hated the war! And hated herself! She could hear people in the house moving about, making their way down the staircase out through the front door to get to the air-raid shelter. She heard lots of grumbling and shouting but she didn’t care. She didn’t care at that moment if a bomb did drop on her, anything would be preferable to the misery she was feeling.
    The house became silent. The landlady and her family would be crammed into the cupboard under the stairs and the other residents would be huddled in the air-raid shelter waiting for the noise and destruction to commence. Slowly Paula got up from the bed, wiped her tears away and started to dress. There was a movement at the door and the handle started to slowly turn. She thought it might be the landlady coming to check on her as she sometimes did, or perhaps Stefan coming back to say a proper goodbye but the face that came around the slightly open door was that of a complete stranger.
    Mildred Jefferson
29 DECEMBER 1940
    Mildred Jefferson pulled her tatty fur coat around her and shivered. It was such a cold night and there were not many people around, most of them had more sense than to be out on a night like this. She reached into her handbag and pulled out a half bottle of gin and took a hefty swig, then lit a cigarette and dragged heavily on it. She had moved further into the railway station away from her usual beat at the corner by the entrance. The wind was howling around there and those damned Christmas carols were still blaring out from the crackling loudspeaker. She wished they would switch them off, after all, Christmas was last week. There were lots of people about then — people trying to get home to families for Christmas, servicemen travelling through London to places all over the country — trade had been brisk with many of them having an hour to kill before their trains left. In spite of the crowds and the delays, people had cheerfully sung along with the music and punters had definitely been more generous but now as New Year approached, the music sounded jaded and people were staying indoors out of the cold. The next busy day would be after the New Year celebrations were over when the travellers would be returning to wherever they had come from.
    A man wearing a tweed coat and carrying a briefcase was walking towards her. She extinguished the cigarette with her nicotine-stained fingers and pushed it into her pocket then straightened her body and her smile. He looked a bit posh, but these days that didn’t mean a thing and she was certain he was eyeing her. She stepped forward. “Hello there!” she said, “Do you want some company sir?”
    The man looked flustered and his face coloured, “Certainly not,” he said curtly, looking in horror at the middle-aged street-walker who smelled of gin and cheap perfume.
    â€œPlease yourself, dear,” Mildred chimed as she moved back to rest against the wall and retrieved the half-smoked cigarette from her pocket. She was about to light it when she saw a policeman walking along the platform towards her, “Oh damn!” she