Live and Let Drood

knowing about.
    Once again, I’d left the Phantom V parked so illegally it was practically committing treason just sitting there. I’d told Catherine Latimer I’d be parking the Rolls right next to the Houses of Parliament, so she could warn off the security people. In the full knowledge that the boss might or might not pass the information along. Depending on whether she thought it might be funnier not to. Like most people in positions ofpower, Latimer was famous for her perverse, not to say downright peculiar, sense of humour.
    “Poor car,” said Molly, running her hand affectionately over the gleaming bonnet. “It must get really bored, left on its own so often. Maybe we could leave the radio on.…”
    “I don’t think so,” I said.
    “Poor car…Who’s a good car, then?”
    “Don’t encourage it,” I said sternly. “The Armourer’s personalised cars have more than enough personality as it is.”
    We left the Phantom V behind, and strode determinedly towards the door only we could See. None of the tourists noticed a thing, of course. The door saw to that. It waited till the very last moment, and then swung smoothly and invitingly open before us.
    “You know,” I said, just a bit wistfully, “I can remember when I was a proper spy, and no one had a clue who or what I was.”
    “We’re clearly expected,” said Molly.
    “No one expects the Drood Inquisition!”
    And we both walked laughing through the Uncanny door, something that probably didn’t happen all that often. There was a brief and unsettling feeling of transition, and just like that we were somewhere else. And very clearly not anywhere inside the tower of Big Ben. Molly slipped an arm possessively through mine and leaned in close so she could murmur in my ear.
    “Very powerful teleport,” she said quietly. “Very sleek, very professional and, I might add, very much above the pay scale of a department like this. Which means either there’s more to this particular mob than meets the eye or they stole it. Can I just enquire? Can you get us out of here in a hurry, should it prove necessary for us to get the hell out of Dodge with bullets flying around our nether regions?”
    “I have the Merlin Glass,” I said just as quietly.
    “That’s not what I asked,” said Molly.
    “Oh, ye of little faith. I thought the blatantly purloined Twilight Teardrop currently hanging round your splendid neck had restored all your abilities.”
    “Oh, hell, yes. I’m just bursting with all kinds of magics! All kinds! I’m not worried at all. I just thought you might be.”
    “It’s good of you to be so concerned,” I said. “Makes me feel so much more secure.”
    “I can never tell when you’re being serious,” Molly said severely.
    “Neither can I…Just settle for the fact that we are where we wanted to be, and try not to dwell too much on the fact that the door we came through has already disappeared.”
    “Imagine my surprise,” said Molly.
    We were standing in a warm and cosy waiting room, with great bunches of flowers in oriental vases, pleasant paintings on brightly painted walls and a deep, deep shag-pile carpet. The whole setting had a familiar feel, and it took me a moment to realise it was because my new surroundings reminded me of home. Of Drood Hall. I suppressed a sudden stab of sorrow as I wondered if I’d ever see the Hall, my Hall, again. I’d purposefully kept myself busy all day just so I wouldn’t have to think or feel things like that. I’d always defined myself as the Drood who ran away from home, but if there wasn’t a home or a family to run away from…then who was I, really? What was I? I’d always fought for the right to live away from my family, but I’d always wanted them to still be there.…
    I remembered a moment from my childhood. Sitting alone in the silent empty dormitory while all the other children were off studying, while my uncle James sat beside me on the bed and told me that my mother and father wouldn’t be coming home again. Ever. Because they’d been killed out in the field on a mission that went wrong. These things happen, he said as kindly as he could. You have to be strong now, Eddie. Be a Drood. For your mother and father, and for the family. Can you do that? And I wanted to please him, because even then I greatly admired my uncle James, so I said, Yes, I can be strong. Anything for the family. Because I knew that was what I was supposed to say. And he smiled and slapped me on