A Letter from Italy: Absolutely gripping and emotional World War Two historical fiction by Rose Alexander

Author:Rose Alexander [Alexander, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

NAPLES, APRIL 1944

Smarting from her encounter with Lieutenant Corder, but still curious about what Susan had been doing in the city that day, Betty tried to focus on work. But if those distractions weren’t enough to affect her concentration, there was also the constant tugging at her heartstrings caused by missing Gianni so terribly.

A few days after she had confronted the lieutenant with her concerns, he called all those working in the cipher room together again. Betty had thought that Susan was on the same shift as her, but she wasn’t there in the little group huddled around the huge desk that dominated Corder’s office. Betty wondered why Susan was absent; she hadn’t said anything that morning about feeling unwell or having swapped her hours.

‘We have uncovered the person we believe to be responsible for the sabotage and missing items,’ Lieutenant Corder told the assembled company. ‘And I’m sorry to tell you that the culprit is someone we had placed our trust in, mistakenly as it has turned out.’

There was a pregnant pause, in which you could have heard a pin drop. Betty imagined everyone searching through their mind for the guilty party. Was this the reason for Susan’s absence? Because she was languishing in a cell somewhere—

‘It is,’ continued Lieutenant Corder, his voice breaking through Betty’s ruminations, ‘Signor Conti.’

There was a collective sharp intake of breath. Cheerful Signor Conti, the voluble Neapolitan who was responsible for maintenance of the signalling and radio equipment, and general caretaking tasks, was a criminal? He had always seemed so genial, so obliging and loyal. Betty didn’t understand.

‘We have reason to believe he was behind all the misdemeanours,’ the lieutenant informed them. ‘And some other – er, irregularities. Our understanding is that he has a grudge against the British, and particularly the American troops, who blanket-bombed the city earlier in the war. He has, of course, been sacked, and now that he is gone we can all hope that there are no further disturbances to our work.’

After the briefing, Betty returned to her station and picked up her headset. It felt particularly heavy today, weighted with the knowledge of Signor Conti’s wrongdoing. She wished she could discuss it with Gianni, get his take on the matter.

Turning the tuning knob on the radio, she found her allotted frequency, picked up her thick black pencil and placed a stack of paper strips in front of her. She couldn’t let her mind continue to wander; she had work to do.

The signaller she was listening to today wasn’t hard to distinguish from all the others on the same or nearby frequencies. He had a unique style, hammering out the dots and dashes of Morse code as if they were bullets fired at the enemy. The aggression seemed to transfer itself into Betty’s veins, making her feel agitated and on edge. She imagined Gianni facing those bullets, his already damaged body being subjected to hostile fire as he fought for his country, stalwart and loyal to the bitter end.

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