He nodded briefly and his tone became crisp as he replied, “We don’t want the same happening to you.” He stood and looked Claudia in the eye. “You have my number,” he said, “but Leo is here, on the ground. Don’t be afraid to contact him if you feel the need to.”

Leo put his card on the table as he stood too. “Anything,” he told them. “If you feel it needs checking out just call.”

Marcy thanked him, and Claudia could see that she was as dazed as her daughter was by the unexpected turn this had taken.

“There’s just one other thing,” Phillips said, before leaving. “According to your sister-in-law something is missing from the house. Can you throw any light on that?”

Heat spread all the way through Claudia as she pictured the attaché case, now hidden beneath her mother’s bed. “I don’t know what she means,” she said, trying for confusion and hitting a note that was slightly too shrill. “Did she say what it was?”

He shook his head. “No, but she seemed keen to get it back.”

AFTER THE DETECTIVES had gone Claudia returned to the sitting room to find her mother gazing down at the street below, watching the two men getting into a car.

“Do you think he believed me?” Claudia asked, twisting her fingers anxiously.

Marcy turned back into the room. “About the attaché case? I don’t think it matters. He’s clearly not interested in pursuing it.”

Claudia stared at the empty mugs and cafetière on the table. “If we could work out a way of getting it to her do you think she’d stop trying to find us?”

Her mother replied without hesitation. “No, I don’t, and as far as I’m concerned the money at least belongs to you.”

Claudia didn’t argue with that, since she was only too aware that Marcus had taken the profit she’d made from the sale of her and Joel’s house to invest and she’d never seen as much as a single penny in return. Whether the cash in the briefcase covered the amount, she had no idea. She hadn’t counted it, but it was certainly a sizable sum. “What about the documents?” she said, certain they were of as much, if not more interest to Marcus and his sister.

Marcy shrugged. “Let’s hang on to them,” she replied. “At least for now.”

Chapter Six

“Sorry I’m late,” Andee apologized, sinking into a booth at the Seafront Café where one of her closest friends was waiting. “It’s been a crazy morning in the world of interior design. How are you? You look wonderful, as usual.”