‘I don’t know where exactly, he just said some business in Europe. You know how it’s all the same place to the Americans,’ Betty told him. ‘Anyway, the important bit is that the business he has to deal with is over the next month or so – meetings with a client, he said, and so he thought why not start the trip a bit earlier so he could call in and see us while he’s here. Isn’t that kind of him? And then he can take a proper look at the paintings and all the other stuff in Mrs Donato’s unit too. He said he’s quite intrigued and thinks some of the paintings might be worth a few bob … well, he didn’t say that exactly, but you know what I mean. He wants to cast a proper eye over them to see if they are genuine. And if they are, well …’ Betty nodded impressively, ‘then we could be sitting on a bit of a gold mine, you know.’

‘Oh?’ Larry perked up. ‘Well, in that case you had better get the babka tin out as Ellis is bound to be hungry when he gets here after such a long journey.’

Chapter 9

Grace had missed meeting Ellis the day before as she’d had to get home to see to Cora rather than get another telling off for being late again. Now, the next morning, Grace had just arrived at work and could hear him talking in the office. After smoothing her top down, she stuffed her cardigan (it had a snag in the sleeve from catching on the corner of the kitchen counter as she’d rushed out to get the bus) into her handbag and pushed open the door with a big smile on her face to mask the anxiety she was feeling inside. Meeting new people was on a par with going to new places as far as she was concerned – fraught with uncertainty and something she’d rather avoid if possible. And last night had been another trying one, so she was now exhausted, and that never helped. Cora had hardly slept, calling out for drinks followed by demands for the lamp to be switched on, or indeed off, as the mood took her, and making Grace feel murderous. At about midnight Grace could have sworn she’d seen a smirk on her mother’s face when she’d bellowed for the lamp to be switched on again so she could read. It was all Grace could do not to bop her mother over the head with the flaming book, she was that worn out.