‘That’s right,’ Mr Conway said, getting up from the leather bucket chair to shake Larry’s hand, then turning to Grace he added, ‘I’m very well, thank you. In fact, I’m here to show you something if you have some time to spare. Sorry to arrive without warning but we thought it best to show you right away …’ And he looked towards the door as if he was expecting someone else to join them. ‘Shan’t be a jiffy,’ and he whizzed back out of the door, only to return a few seconds later with Lady Bee in tow, who had told him to go ahead and check if they had the right place before they turned up unannounced.

After another set of introductions, Larry invited them all to come into the office and make themselves comfortable on the sofas.

‘So what is this all about?’ Larry asked.

‘Ooh, we have guests.’ Betty appeared. ‘I’m putting the kettle on – would anyone like tea or coffee?’ The perfect hostess as always. Grace jumped up to give her a hand.

‘Don’t be daft, dear, I can manage, and you’ll want to be there to hear what’s going on,’ Betty said in a hushed voice to Grace as she followed her back to the little kitchenette area and flicked the kettle on.

‘If you’re sure?’ she said, keenly.

‘Of course, I am. Here, you can take the babka tin and offer it around. Freshly baked this morning, thankfully.’ She handed the cake tin to Grace before doing a shooing motion with her hand on the side of Grace’s arm.

‘It’s a good job Mr Conway remembered where you said that you worked, my dear,’ Lady Bee started. ‘Or we would never have managed to get this to you.’ And she fished inside her handbag and pulled out a faded blue Basildon Bond envelope and handed it to Grace.

‘Oh, thank you. What is it?’ she said, turning the envelope over. And then her heart almost stopped as she gasped on seeing cursive letters in black ink from a fountain pen. But then she sagged on realising that this wasn’t Connie’s handwriting … yes it was old-fashioned and very similar to Connie’s, but Grace had read enough of Connie’s diaries and letters to know that it wasn’t exactly the same. So whose writing was it then?

‘It could be a missing piece of the jigsaw,’ Lady Bee said, covertly. ‘Mr Conway will explain,’ and she gestured grandly for him to speak, making Grace smile and wonder if she was indeed connected to the royal family or something, for she had a very imperious air about her.