J E N N Y RAND LES
16
tually from. By now Mr. Greenfield was determined not to let them in and told them firmly that his daughter had no interest in discussing the matter further. Only one of the two men was doing all the talking, and he responded quite sternly to this rebuff: "If you do not let us in now we will come back later and make Shirley speak to us.'' The threat was not uttered lightly. It seemed very believable. Shirley had overheard the conversation from the top of the stairs and shouted down that she would speak to them. She told me later that this was definitely against her better judg足 ment and she is unsure why she did it. Her father was even more baffled. He said to me that he could not understand why he let these men into his house given their attitude of intimi足 dation toward his daughter. But things were to get a lot stranger very quickly after they stepped through the door. Both men were aged about 40 and wore smart black suits. They had a definite air of power and authority about them, clearly convinced that they had a right to do and say whatever they chose. But they were also rather eccentric in behavior and appearance. The one who did all the talking was tall and fair, almost blond. He never refered to either himself or his colleague by name. Instead he simply used the term ''Commander'' to in足 troduce himself and created the impression that he was with the RAF. If so, Commander is an inappropriate title. Wing Commander would be correct, but Commander is a naval rank. There is a curious disagreement between Shirley and her parents with regard to the physical appearance of the "Com足 mander.'' She says that he had only one
arm,
a feature that
one would assume was noteworthy. Indeed she says that he described losing the appendage during an aircraft accident. But Shirley's parents were less certain. It was the only serious discrepancy in the account of this visit, and they did not try to hide it. Indeed their bafflement was quite evident during our initial discussions.
All three witnesses recall how the "Commander" admired an image of Sir Winston Churchill that the Greenfields had in their living room. He made a point of explaining that he had