The Night Watch

'I'm afraid of it!'

'I have to drive the woman and her son to the hospital.'

'Your friend can do it, can't she?'

Kay laughed. 'Look here, do you want to get me chucked out of the service?'

She put her hand to Helen's head, to brush back the dusty hair from her brow. She did it casually enough; but the sight of Helen's anxious expression-the large, darkened eyes, above the plaster-white cheeks-made her hesitate.

'Just a second,' she said. 'You must look your best, for the R and D men.'

She ran to Mickey, and returned to Helen with the flask of water. She fished out her handkerchief, and wet it; and began, very gently, to wipe the dust from Helen's face. She started at her brow, and worked downwards. 'Just close your eyes,' she murmured. She brushed at Helen's lashes, and then at the little dints at the side of her nose, the groove above her lip, the corners of her mouth, her cheeks and chin.

'Kay!' called Mickey.

'All right! I'm coming!'

The dust fell away. The skin beneath was pink, plump, astonishingly smooth… Kay brushed a little longer, then moved her hand to the curve of Helen's jaw and cupped it with her palm-not wanting to leave her, after all; gazing at her in a sort of wonder; unable to believe that something so fresh and so unmarked could have emerged from so much chaos.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Le

Thanks to Hirāni Himona, Sarah Plescia, Alison Oram, Liz Woodcraft, Amy Rubin, Fidelis Morgan, Robyn Vinten, Bridget Ibbs, Ron Waters, Mary Waters, Caroline Halliday, Mary Garner, Trudie Sacker, Vicky Wharton, Je

Thanks to Martina Cole for generously bidding to have her name appear in this novel at an Immortality Auction on behalf of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture; and for kindly giving me permission to use her name in abbreviated form.

I drew ideas and inspiration for The Night Watch from many sources, including novels and films of the 1940s, photographs, maps, diaries, letters, and modern accounts of life during and after the Second World War. The non-fiction I found most useful includes the following: Verily Anderson, Spam Tomorrow (London, 1956); Peter Baker, Time Out of Life (London, 1961); George Beardmore, Civilians at War: Journals 1938-1946 (London, 1984); Barbara Bell, Just Take Your Frock Off: A Lesbian Life (Brighton, 1999); ASG Butler, Recording Ruin (London, 1942); Gerald Fancourt Clayton, The Wall is Strong: The Life of a Prison Governor (London, 1958); Diana Cooper, Trumpets from the Steep (London, 1960); Rupert Croft Cooke, The Verdict of You All (London, 1955); Michael De-la-Noy, Denton Welch: The Making of a Writer (Harmondsworth, 1984); Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health: With Key to the Scriptures (Boston, 1906); Jill Gardiner, From the Closet to the Screen: Women at the Gateways Club, 1945-85 (London, 2003); Pete Grafton, You, You amp; You!: The People Out of Step with World War II (London, 1981); Je