Phyllis would not make the mistake of underestimating her. A woman scorned, as she knew better than anyone, was a force to be reckoned with.

She’d have to be careful. But one thing was for sure: one way or another, she wasn’t going to leave Oxford without a substantial amount of money.

Chapter 14

At the same time that Phyllis Raynor was pacing her room and contemplating Millie Vander with such relish, Millie’s twin children were out and about in the city on business of their own.

They’d purposely waited until it was fully dark before venturing out. As that obligingly occurred at barely five o’clock in the afternoon, not too much patience had been required on their part. Which was a good thing, since neither of them had ever been blessed with that particular commodity.

They had each dressed in their winter skiing clothes, usually only worn at Gstaad in season, and thus all but guaranteed to keep them well insulated. Even so, they were both glad when they finally turned down a side road just off Hythe Bridge Street, and approached the address they were looking for.

‘Patsy’s place is just down here,’ Juliet said to her twin, her voice muffled by the mink lining around her hooded jacket. ‘You’d better stay here,’ she added, as they reached the front gate. ‘Her mother can be a bit protective of her, and if she sees you, she might invite us in and make sure we don’t slope off to Patsy’s bedroom for a private chat. If she sees just me, I should be able to come up with something to make sure Patsy comes out on her own.’

Jasper sighed heavily. ‘Fine, but hurry up, if you can. I might just freeze to death out here otherwise.’

Juliet hurried to the door and rapped hard. For once, their luck seemed to be in, for it was Patsy herself who opened the door. Quick as a flash, she glanced behind her, checked the coast was clear, then reached up to grab a coat from the rack in the hall and stepped out through the door.

She shut the door very quietly behind her. ‘Come on, let’s get down the path and behind the hedge out of sight, just in case!’ Patsy hissed, shrugging into the coat quickly, already shivering violently. ‘I don’t think Mum heard the door go. She and Granddad have been on the sherry all day,’ she added with a nervous giggle.

It wasn’t until they got near the gate that Patsy was able to see Jasper standing in the light of the streetlamp across the road, and her steps slowed automatically.

‘It’s all right,’ Juliet said bracingly, when she saw that the younger girl was about to balk. ‘Jasper won’t bite.’