Here Be Monsters
Page 28
Butler knew the glint. ‘Which is?’
‘You must put Elizabeth Loftus in charge.’
‘Why her?’
Audley made a face. ‘Isn’t she the obvious choice?’
‘Why her, David?’
Audley looked into space for an instant, then concentrate on Butler with peculiar intentness. ‘Back in ‘58, before started on the Debrecen List, I was on the way to becoming a pretty bloodthirsty character. I’m not at all sure that wasn’t why old Fred Clinton put me on it—and kept my nose to the grindstone … to teach me that if there’s no different between them and us, then we might as well join ‘em and have done with it.’ He held Butler’s eye without blinking. ‘ came damn near to resigning. But in the end I decided to rejoin the human race, even if only as a part-time member.’
Butler nodded slowly. ‘You want to cut Elizabeth Loftus down to size in the same way?’
‘Not quite.’ Audley shook his head. ‘But there was moment, back in France when we were pushing old Haddock, that Elizabeth began to enjoy what she was doing bit too much. And she must have already had those recommendations of hers in the back of her mind by then. Which is fair enough … except that we just could have another little monster in the making, I’m thinking.’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe that was what old Fred thought, back in ‘58—I don’t know. And maybe she’ll prove me wrong, don’t know that, either.’ He grinned suddenly. ‘Although do, actually. Because I was in my prime back in ‘58—didn’t make mistakes then, like now, Jack … But, either way, she’ll know what she is, monster or not, when she finished with Haddock Thomas. And when he’s finished with her.’
The End