Me: Has Charlie gone?
Nell: Yes, for now.
Me: Dave was so pleased to see him and he seems to have calmed down.
Nell: Yes. Charlie promised him that his sister will be home soon. Now, you are going to have to sit down. I know what you are like, so take a deep breath and don’t fuss, just listen.
Me: Does he know where Harriet is?
Nell: No, he doesn’t but he is sure she is nearby and we will find her soon.
Me: How can he know that?
Nell: Charlie is not a journalist. He works for the British Secret Service.
Me: Do you mean MI5? Is Charlie a spy?
Nell: Yes. Apparently it all started at the Royal Wedding. A Russian double agent was supposed to exchange classified material. The exchange went wrong and he ended up putting it in my handbag.
Me: A Russian double agent? Your handbag?
Nell: Yes. Strange little man. I remember him now. I dropped my handbag and he picked it up.
Me: It’s the cufflink!
Nell: Yes. He managed to get a message to MI5 telling them what he had done and describing me and the handbag. They checked the security camera footage of the wedding and tracked me down.
Me: What happened then?
Nell: Charlie was sent in to get it.
Me: Why didn’t he take it? He had plenty of opportunities when he was pretending to be Siegfried.
Nell: While he was here he received information that there was a Mole in MI5 so he decided to leave the cufflink with me to see if the Mole would try and get it.
Me: We are talking double agents now aren’t we? Informants, not animals?
Nell: Good grief!
Me: And that’s why you still have the cufflink? I don’t want it here. Get rid of it.
Nell: No. It has forced them to show their hand. The cufflink contains a list of double agents. It will lead Charlie to the Mole.
Me: But what about Harriet? It’s terrible that she is being used in all this.
Nell: I know. Charlie apologised. He and the Dobermans were monitoring us but they hadn’t counted on the cats moving so quickly.
Me: So the Dobermans are part of MI5?
Nell: Yes, Charlie wasn’t sure at first if one of the Dobermans was the Mole which is why he warned me to keep away from them.
Me: And the Cat?
Nell: The Cat is innocent. It tried to warn us.
Me: Does he have an idea who the Mole is?
Nell: I think he does. He has asked me to trust him and wait for them to get in touch. He has promised me that we will get Harriet back very soon. I don’t know why, but I believe him.
Me: So all we can do is wait?
Nell: Yes. He needs to unmask the Mole and Harriet is the key.
Me: So Charlie is like James Bond? Ruthless but charming. Breaking hearts and risking innocent lives.
Nell: James Bond is a fictional character, Miss Moneypenny. We are close to rescuing Harriet. Focus on that.
Me: Yes. Sorry.
