A Light Between Oceans Episode 38
Hattie looked from Sandy to Lucas.
It should have been the two of them, cuddled on the sofa together, telling her all about their trip.
Instead, they sat stony faced in chairs on either side of the little room, with Hattie on the sofa, feeling as if she were holding court.
“It’s difficult to know where to begin,” Hattie said.
“It seems such a coincidence – your father, Lucas, being Hans Van Bakkar, and you sitting here in the very guesthouse where he stayed.
“That’s right.” Hattie nodded as Lucas’s eyes widened.
“But none of it is coincidence.
“You coming here was a result of your quest for truth, and to find out about your father.
“I must honour that.”
“But you lied. Why?” Lucas demanded.
“It would be best if you let me tell you everything that I know.
“Then by all means you must say whatever you need to.”
Hattie began to unfold the story from the very beginning – the arrival of the Townsends and Hans Van Bakkar.
She spoke of Donald’s growing friendship with Hans, her fears when she’d found Hans listening at the Townsends’ door, and her unstoppable instinct to search his suitcase.
“It became clear that your father wasn’t a scientist at all.
“Then I saw the Townsends snooping around what turned out to be one of the crucial links in the ring of warning radar stations that were being built along the coast.
“It was all very hush-hush, and no-one really knew what it was all about, though as a lighthouse keeper it seemed your dad, Sandy, had been told something about it.
“Wrong as I was to search anyone’s suitcase, I was frightened when I found the radio equipment and a gun, and very uneasy about your fathers spending time together.
“At the same time I was confused about the Townsends.
“They seemed such quiet, simple souls, but they clearly knew something about the radar station.
“And why had your father, Lucas, been listening at their door?
“It was just two days later that everything burst open.
“It was a cold, dark night and the wind was blowing a gale.
“I woke up with a start and thought I’d heard the front door close. It was nearly three a.m. – not a time for anyone to have gone out.
“I assumed the wind had blown something, so I got up to look around.” Hattie stopped for a moment to take a breath.
“It was then that I saw the Townsends’ door slightly ajar.
“I tiptoed down the corridor, thinking it had blown open, but the room was empty. They had gone.
“Then I listened at your father’s door, Lucas.
“Some instinct or fear – I’ll never know what – made me go downstairs for the extra key.
“Very slowly, and for the second time, I unlocked his door.
“He, too, had gone. I panicked and ran to your room, Sandy, but you were safe, asleep with your thumb in your mouth.
“And then, from your window, I saw something.”
Hattie paused, feeling her heart quicken with the memory.
Then, as she told Sandy and Lucas every detail of that night, it felt as vivid as if it were happening all over again.
Belmouth, 1941.
The night was pitch dark and the wind whistled round the window in Sandy’s room.
The blackout curtains had drifted slightly apart and Hattie went to pull them together, her heart still pounding with the discovery of the disappearance of the Townsends and Mr Van Bakkar.
Then, across the vast black expanse of the sea, came the flashes of the lighthouse – one, two, three, then four.
She caught her breath. Surely she had imagined it?
She waited, and then saw one flash, two, three – and four. What could it mean?
She hadn’t the faintest idea, and her mind was too much in turmoil to think.
Every fibre of her being was telling her to go at once to Donald.