“Thank you,” Lindsay said. “I’ll bring it all back as soon as possible.”

“You mean you want to take it away?” Mrs. Maxwell demanded, outrage in every line of her face.

“I’ll have to. I’ll need to be able to go through all her computer disks to see what they contain. And there could be documents in there that are referred to on the disks,” Lindsay explained. “I’ll be very careful with them, Mrs. Maxwell.”

The elderly woman looked worried. “I don’t know,” she hesitated. “I really don’t know.”

“That way, I won’t be under your feet. There’s at least a few days work in there,” Lindsay said persuasively.

The thought of having Lindsay in her home for any length of time clearly tipped the balance. “Very well,” Mrs. Maxwell said, resuming her normal decisive manner. “But I expect everything to be returned in the state in which you found it. Is that clear?”

“Perfectly,” said Lindsay. Half an hour later she was on her way back to Glasgow, feeling utterly triumphant. At last, everything was going her way.

18

Lindsay surveyed the living room with satisfaction. Everything was ready. Bottles and glasses were set out on a side table with mixers and a bucket of ice. The chairs were arranged so that she could see everyone if she stood in front of the fire. Very Hercule Poirot, she mocked herself as she went through to the study to check that there were no problems there either. She found Sophie sprawled across the divan reading the latest Jeanette Winterson, and Alex sitting at the computer, a fierce frown of concentration on his face.

“Glad to see you’re making the best of it,” Lindsay remarked.

Alex looked up with a scowl. “You didn’t give me a lot of choice, did you? Huckling me off here to do your dirty work. When am I going to get my money back? You robbed me!”

“I didn’t rob you,” Lindsay said mildly. “Think of me as a kind of bank. You’ll get your money back soon enough.”

Alex ignored her and said, “Hey, Sophie, got any more games? I’m getting kind of fed up with Batman.”

Sophie dropped her book and got up. “Sure, Alex, just a minute. No one here yet?” she asked as she rummaged in a drawer to emerge with another disk.

“They’re due any minute,” Lindsay replied, nervously checking her watch.

“Good luck,” Sophie said.

“I’ll come and get you when I’m ready,” Lindsay promised on her way out of the door. She paced up and down the hall, smoking continuously. Ten minutes passed before the doorbell pealed out.