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Back A Change of Circumstance Save as PDF
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-One
  23. Twenty-Two
  24. Twenty-Three
  25. Twenty-Four
  26. Twenty-Five
  27. Twenty-Six
  28. Twenty-Seven
  29. Twenty-Eight
  30. Twenty-Nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-One
  33. Thirty-Two
  34. Thirty-Three
  35. Thirty-Four
  36. Thirty-Five
  37. Thirty-Six
  38. Thirty-Seven
  39. Thirty-Eight
  40. Thirty-Nine
  41. Forty
  42. Forty-One
  43. Forty-Two
  44. Forty-Three
  45. Forty-Four
  46. Forty-Five
  47. Forty-Six
  48. Forty-Seven
  49. Forty-Eight
  50. Forty-Nine
  51. Fifty
  52. Fifty-One
  53. Fifty-Two
  54. Fifty-Three
  55. Fifty-Four
  56. Fifty-Five
  57. Fifty-Six
  58. Fifty-Seven
  59. Fifty-Eight
  60. Fifty-Nine
  61. Sixty
  62. Sixty-One
  63. Sixty-Two
  64. Sixty-Three
  65. Sixty-Four
  66. Sixty-Five
  67. Sixty-Six

He had a long weekend’s leave coming up, though late winter was not a great prospect for a relaxing break and it was not long enough to get away to guaranteed sunshine, but just to be away from the office, the job, everything and everyone, would help. It was a depleting time of year and the icy weather didn’t help. Everybody was burning on a short fuse, impatient and irritable about nothing very much.

He opened up his laptop and went to recent messages but it did not take long to gather the general situation – nothing urgent, no new major incidents. If things would just stay that way until the following week, he had his leave in the bag.

Thirty-Three

Greta Tonks started work as soon as Olivia had left for school, had a short coffee break and half an hour for lunch, then continued until Liv got home around five, though if something urgent had come in she might go on until six. There was no shortage, a good legal secretary and typist would always be in demand, and she enjoyed the plain, meticulous prose she had to copy up.

This week she had taken half a day out, to have her check with the GP – more a formality than anything now, as it was eight years since her breast cancer and he had told her that she could make the checks every two years from now on, all was well. But the relief was always huge and she walked on air back to her car. It was only ten past three. She would go into town to buy her sister’s birthday present and a new wallet for herself – her present one, which Jeff had given her a very long time ago, was falling apart.

After that, a cup of tea and a scone, a quick call into the book-shop to collect her order, and home around the same time as Liv, who had her own key, but going into an empty house was a bleak thing at the end of a long school day, and Greta had always tried not to let it happen.

It was still very cold but the sleet and dark clouds had given way to a brilliant blue sky. Her relief at coming through the latest health check uplifted her spirits so much that she spent more than she had meant to on Nadine’s present and splashed out on a red Italian leather wallet for herself, larger than her old one with more sections. She also bought Olivia a small yellow rucksack, and a copy of a Maya Angelou novel, when she picked up her own book. In the tea shop in the Lanes she decided on a thickly buttered teacake with her Earl Grey and bought a ginger slice to take home.