‘But you don’t even like it. What on earth would you have done with it?’

‘Sold it!’ spat the Strop woman. ‘It was an original Giovanni Boldini and worth a small fortune!’

Once she had paid, reluctantly (bad news costs the same as good, Imelda had told her), Imelda locked up and went with Grisha in search of Star and Treasure for their promised walk. At the café, Jack was listening to the radio and looking unusually subdued.

‘Those poor buggers. And what about their families?’ He shook his head in disbelief as the newsreader continued.

‘It is believed that due to a faulty braking mechanism, the descending cage failed to slow down as it approached the bottom of the mine shaft at Markham Colliery, killing eighteen miners and seriously injuring eleven more . . .’

Sparking metal and coal dust.

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

1973

Jeanie sat on the bed and watched as Vivienne pouted at the mirror, painting her mouth scarlet with a new lipstick. The bed was strewn with clothes and more spilled from the wardrobe. Boxes of shoes teetered in precarious towers on the floor, and jewellery and make-up covered the shiny surface of the dressing table where Vivienne sat. The overall impression was that of the aftermath of a burglary in an upmarket boutique. Vivienne had invited Jeanie back to her rented flat after the two of them had been shopping. Jeanie had splashed out on a new top from Chelsea Girl while Vivienne had bought several outfits that now lay discarded on the floor still in their bags.

‘Don’t you ever put things away?’ laughed Jeanie, thinking how sparse and plain her own bedroom looked in comparison. She didn’t own enough clothes to make even a fraction of the mess that surrounded her here in Vivienne’s boudoir.

‘I don’t have to. A woman comes to clean once a week and she does it.’

Jeanie shifted uncomfortably on the bed. She was still very much in awe of Vivienne and flattered that she had chosen her as a friend. She was witty, clever and unfailingly generous – forever treating Jeanie to lunch and buying her make-up whenever she bought any for herself. But there was a coolness to her when she dealt with other people as though she thought herself to be above them. It was an arrogance that made Jeanie uneasy.

‘Does your dad pay for all this?’ she asked, jumping off the bed and inspecting the contents of some of the shoeboxes.

‘He pays for the flat and I have an allowance for everything else.’

Jeanie tried on a pair of silver platform shoes and wobbled across the room in them.

‘When will you be going home?’

Vivienne’s course had finished, and she was waiting for the results of her typing and shorthand exams.

‘Why? Are you trying to get rid of me?’