Again I deliberately said “we,” knowing that if he assumed it was a decision Stephen and I had reached together, I might be able to deal with the situation without complications; if he thought I was doing it on my own, he might very well call Stephen, and then my plans would fall apart. Bank managers then, maybe now too, never really thought a woman could handle large sums of money, even if it were her own money. I didn’t want any risks.

“I’ll be down to pick it up tomorrow,” I said. “Stephen’s tied up, so I’ll have to deal with it. Do you think that’s time enough?”

“Certainly,” he said, puzzled. “It’ll be no problem tying off the account.” He hesitated. “Is there anything I can help you with? Any financial advice or anything of that nature?”

“No,” I said politely, “I think we’ve got everything worked out. I’ll likely be in the bank about, oh, eleven-thirty tomorrow. Is that too early?”

“It’ll be fine. We’ll get everything prepared this afternoon; you’ll just have to sign a few things. How would you like the money?”

“Cash. In hundreds, I guess.” I wanted everything simple, straightforward, and I wanted to leave no traces, no cheques, no transfers of the account.

“Cash!” He was shocked. “You can’t go walking around carrying sixty-seven thousand in cash. That’s dangerous.” There was a pause. “Why don’t you leave the account open and pay for whatever it is with a certified cheque?”

“No, it’s all right, I won’t have it long. Please don’t worry about it, we’ve figured everything out and a cheque won’t do. I’ll be by in the morning. Thank you for your trouble.” I replaced the receiver gently and prayed that he wouldn’t think it necessary to call Stephen and protest. Perhaps, and I giggled, he would think I was being blackmailed and would be discreet. Equally, he might be outraged and want to check. It was the largest chance I was taking; I waited tensely by the phone, but nothing happened, there were no calls from Stephen, so I guessed that for whatever reason, the manager had decided it was simpler to do what he was told.

I sat down to work out a budget. If I could get the place at thirty-six or thirty-eight, I would have about thirty thousand left. Assuming a very simple lifestyle, it should last me for a long time. But I knew it had to be for good.