Mike Dixon

CHAPTER 33
Doldrums
irstin put down the telephone and walked into the
K kitchen to make herself a strong cup of coffee. She
knew it would be bad for her. The caffeine would add to her
arthritic problems. But she felt the need. Coffee took her
back in time to a world when she was young and better able
to cope.
She remembered long hours pouring over ciphers made
difficult because they were based on Shanghai criminal jar-
gon. She wondered if she‟d put her little boy at risk. Thinking
back on it, she could only conclude that she had. The
people she‟d been investigating were without scruples.
Much the same could have happened to little Humphrey as
had happened to Elizabeth.
The coffee was thick. Kirstin sipped it, trying to collect
her thoughts and work out the best course of action. She‟d
just spoken to her cousin, Mette, in Copenhagen. Despite
the passage of years, Mette had not hesitated in agreeing
to have Elizabeth stay with her. She‟d told Mette about the
assault and Elizabeth‟s distressed condition. She‟d even said
there might be security problems.
There was also Humphrey to worry about. He couldn‟t
stop comparing himself with the lecturer who naively
thought he could defy the mob. Footsie had cut his son‟s
toes off. He still bore his physical scars. Humphrey won-
dered if Elizabeth would carry her mental scars for the rest
of her life. He had accepted a post as lecturer in Chinese at
a minor college somewhere in the backwoods of Canada. He
was determined to take his daughter to a new and safer