CHAPTER XIV

FURTHER REVEALATIONS

Once the two of them were in the Imp Dick began, Susan had already thought to herself that he was not interested in social chitchat, there was something on his mind she could help him with.

"Did you know Nancy was here?"

"No, why?"

"Well, I used some old wartime contacts to see what I could find out when Titty and the others were worried about her. It was of no use, as I suspected, but this morning the man I was put in touch with telephoned me at the hotel and told me he had heard I had found her."

"I see." Susan was non-committal.

"Well, only Nancy, Daisy, Dot and you knew we were here at the hotel. What do you think is going on?"

Dick knew little of what Susan did in the navy, mainly that she was shore based, unlike John, but she was the only connection there may have been to his enquiries. Susan was ready to drive back to the cottage, but they became deeper in conversation. During their childhood the two of them spent little time together but now they had a common matter to deal with. In the early days after the Swallows meeting with Ds Susan was entrusted with looking after Dick and Dot and the other younger participants of their escapades, now they were able to converse with ease so he felt comfortable in asking her all these questions. As Susan didn't answer his question Dick noticed for a few minutes she looked thoughtful.

"Do you know Dick, your name came up in a meeting I was involved in during the war." Dick glanced directly at her as they sat in the front seats of the car.

"Really, over what matter?" As he spoke he wondered who she could have encountered who would have known of him, and if they did what they knew of what he participated in.

"Well, once I became an officer around forty-three I was appointed to a committee connected to naval intelligence. We were all being briefed on classified information coming out of Station X, we actually weren't told much but for some reason we were given some classified papers that included lists of names of some of those involved. You were on one of the lists." She knew that Dick never said much about his wartime activities, even if he did anything, and until she saw his name on the list at that meeting then she knew. But she then knew there was nothing she could say to the others, not even John, he may have reached a higher rank than herself but on such matters he was not someone 'in the know'.

"Was I now." Dick felt himself being defensive, and though he had said nothing to anyone in the years since, he realised that all the time Susan knew.

"It was you on that list wasn't it?" Dick hesitated.

"Yes." He felt a sense of relief, at last he could say something. Somebody knew he had not avoided 'doing his bit' during the war.

"I thought so at the time, and in the meeting I said so." Dick was shocked.

"What!" Susan was not disturbed by this, she carried on the conversation.

"I had to, we were all asked if any of the names meant anything to us, and I assumed there could not be any other Dick Callum. I was then asked to stay after the meeting and I was questioned further. They wanted to know what I knew about you, when I mentioned your parents and what they did, particularly your father, it became obvious to them that I did really know you."

"What did they say?" Dick was curious.

"Not much, I assumed everyone had a file somewhere, and the fact that we were acquainted was noted for some future reference. So what were you actually doing, surely you can give me some idea now?"

Dick said nothing, but she could see he was deep in thought and so let him take his time.

"It was while I was at university, I got interested in symbolic logic and related things, it's part of science where you reduce ideas to letters and symbols, a bit like algebra, it has connections to other things. Things like language structure and formal arguments. It was easy to me, I'd just have to glance at a problem and I could see the outcome, how I don't know but my tutor seemed to be impressed. Then in forty-one I was approached by another of my tutors, an unremarkable conversation, he started asking whether I was going to volunteer or wait until I was called up, I didn't know. Until he'd asked I think I avoided the question and was just going to wait and see what happened." Susan did not say anything, she just nodded at the right moments to show she was following what he was saying. "A few weeks later I went for another tutorial and in the room with my tutor there was a man I was introduced to, an army officer, and after a lengthy conversation with the officer he asked me to come to London for a meeting. I went, I had to do some tests and then was asked what I knew of codes and so on, I remembered Morse and semaphore of course and then explained the signal code we used in the winter holiday, when Nancy had mumps, this seemed interesting to them because of the way that we used just two shapes to communicate so much. At the time I couldn't really see why!"

Susan was intrigued, she had some idea of what Dick may have done, but she had never heard him be so open. It was clear he was pleased to be able to talk to someone.

"So you were recruited, I guessed you had been when I saw your name on the list." She wanted to ask so many questions, she had been told some of what went on, sometimes things she probably shouldn't have been told; but she knew Dick would only say what he wanted to say.

"I was in the same hut as Turing for some of the time, I got to know him a bit."

"I heard his name mentioned at some meetings, then after the war when he died he wasn't mentioned again." Dick carried on as if Susan had not spoken.

"Then I helped Tommy Flowers with the computers he built, nothing major but I helped out on some of the logic side." This meant little to Susan other than the name, but she now knew a lot more than before of what Dick had done during the war.

Dick looked worried.

"You won't say anything to the others will you?"

"No of course not, I'm pleased you could tell me."

"When are you retiring?" It was now Susan's turn to show some reluctance.

"I don't know, they keep hinting to me that I should be thinking about it. What would I do?" Dick laughed.

"Whatever you want, you'll get a good pension wont you?" Susan started the engine and pulled away.

"Which way? They'll think we've got lost!"