Janet put them back into the silk purse. ‘Leave it with me. Are they insured?’
Amanda shrugged. ‘No idea,’ she said.
‘We’ll get insurance on them and then I can take them to our friend to get them valued.’
‘Thank you,’ said Amanda.
She looked out onto Janet and Carole’s garden. It was filled with flowers bordering a central green lawn, and the flowers went from low to high so there was a kind of natural step for the eye. The back of the flower bed was filled with large dahlias in beautiful jewel-like colours.
‘I can’t imagine how bad the Moongate garden is.’ She sighed. ‘Seven weeks is a long time. It’s going to be worse than before. Simon might as well not have ever been there. What a waste of time.’
Janet and Carole exchanged glances, like they did whenever Simon’s name was mentioned, but Amanda ignored them.
‘It might not be so bad,’ Carole said.
But Amanda knew it would be a mess. She looked at Janet. ‘Can you come up tomorrow with me to see what we have to do in the house? I can’t face it alone,’ she admitted.
‘Of course, my love,’ said Janet. ‘And you never know, it might not be as bad as you think.’
Amanda scoffed. ‘It will be, trust me. In the words of my dear departed mother, it’s going to be an absolute shit show.’
39
Janet
Janet was up first thing in the morning, before Amanda was awake.
She drove into Newcastle with the pearls in her handbag and went to the hotel and up to room 302, as she had been instructed.
The door opened and she nodded and handed over the bag with the pearls. She was handed an envelope of cash in exchange.
She went to open it.
‘It’s all there.’
‘I know, just force of habit.’
‘Speak later.’
‘Bye,’ she said, and turned and went back to the elevator.
She opened the envelope when the doors closed and checked. Yes, it was all there.
Janet drove back to Foxfield where Carole was waiting in the front garden with Trotsky.
‘Do you have to wee on my alyssums?’ Janet scolded the dog who ignored her.
‘Done?’ Carole asked, looking around nervously.
‘Done.’ Janet patted her bag.
‘Is she up?’
‘In the shower,’ Carole said.
Janet went inside and made tea and put the envelope on the counter and waited. It was a risk but she knew it was one she had to take.
Amanda wandered out with wet hair and in her jeans and T-shirt. ‘We should go to Shelley’s and get some coffee and pastries on the way to Moongate,’ she said. ‘I’m going to need something stronger than tea with what I’m about to face.’
