Janet pushed the envelope towards Amanda. ‘This is for you,’ she said.
‘What is it?’ Amanda asked.
‘Look inside.’
Amanda picked it up and opened it, and then dropped it. ‘What the hell?’
‘It’s for the pearls,’ said Janet. ‘My friend loved them, said they are worth fifty thousand. It’s all in there.’
‘Fifty? Thousand?’ Amanda frowned. ‘I don’t understand. Didn’t they need to go to auction or something?’
Janet paused and Carole came to her side.
‘She said that she already had a buyer who would pay above asking price, because they wanted them so badly. It’s a win-win.’
Amanda looked at the cash. ‘It’s a huge win but…’ She looked up at them both. ‘The last time I won something it wasn’t really a win, so excuse me if I’m being a little suspicious.’
‘Absolutely. You can call my friend if you like. She’s more than happy to speak to you. Or you can return the money and go to auction, but that won’t be until after Diana comes back to Moongate.’
Amanda paused, looking at the cash and then looking at Janet.
‘I can’t argue with this amount of money and I trust you. We can go today and then we can engage a contractor to do the bathroom first.’
Janet jumped up, relieved. ‘Excellent idea, now let’s go to Shelley’s and then make our way to Moongate.’
Carole clapped her hands. ‘You might want to pop that in the bank, dear. Not safe wandering about with that amount of cash.’
‘Good idea,’ said Amanda. ‘Let me go and hide this and I will take it to the bank in Newcastle when I visit Diana later.’
Amanda disappeared and Janet turned to Carole.
‘You weren’t worried about me carrying that amount of money back from the hotel. I could have been robbed.’
Carole snorted. ‘You are a self-proclaimed angry dyke with pink hair and badges and Doc Martens. You’re intimidating. No one will rob you.’
‘You think I’m intimidating?’ Janet asked. ‘I like that.’
‘No, I don’t think you’re intimidating because I love you and I know you talk to the tomato vines when they’re fruiting, but some might find you a little unnerving.’
Janet nodded. ‘That’s good enough for me.’
‘Okay, we ready?’ asked Amanda, who was wearing a bright blue Hawaiian shirt over her T-shirt.
‘Aloha and yes,’ said Janet. ‘Let’s go and visit Moongate.’
40
Amanda
With a coffee in one hand and a warm cinnamon bun in the other, Amanda braced herself to see Moongate Manor again.
‘I’m nervous,’ she admitted to Janet as they drove down towards the sea.
‘That’s natural,’ said Janet as they rounded the corner. ‘A lot happened there that last day.’
Amanda tried not to think about that awful morning; there was so much still unfinished. She hadn’t told Diana she knew, Simon had gone, and her plans for her future at Moongate seemed impossible now.
The car rounded the bend and Amanda steeled herself to see the mess of the garden.
