‘It’s from the UK. Look at the name . . . Mel, it’s him, see the photo . . . but the name?’ said Grace. She stared in shock at Mel. ‘Who the hell is Justin Odford?’

‘What!’ Mel glanced at the passport again then looked at Grace. ‘This is his real name, or it’s a fake passport. Except it’s expired . . .’

‘What on earth is going on? Who did I marry?’ said Grace hoarsely. She dropped her head in her hands.

‘You okay?’ Mel reached over and put a hand reassuringly on Grace’s arm.

Grace looked up. ‘What else don’t I know about this man? It’s scaring me now.’

‘Calm down. He thinks he’s clever and everyone else is stupid. Like I said, we’ll get these documents photocopied and witnessed, and we’ll put everything back in the safe.’ Mel leaned forward. ‘We could start doing searches on this name. But you know what? You don’t care, Grace! You don’t want to know! Just disentangle yourself from this man as soon as you can. You must send copies of all this to your lawyer and keep a set yourself. Say nothing to Lawrence. He’ll figure it out soon enough. Then he can’t bluff you and you’ve got ammunition.’

‘He’ll know I saw it all. Jenny will tell him.’

‘She doesn’t know that you took anything other than the passport, and we’re going to return it all. And right now, who cares? Say nothing. Carry on. We can use this to your advantage, Grace. Drink your coffee; I hope it’s better than my dishwater tea. We have a few errands to run, and a return trip to Jenny. And after that, you’re going to Bali!’

*

The next week or so passed in a frenzy of preparation. Grace sold the earrings for a decent price – not as much as they were worth, but enough to give her some money to tide her over. She could start contributing to her lawyers’ fees – and there was a lot of work for them to do. She gave Mr Jamison the certified copies of the insurance document and the trust deed so he could advise her on what they meant. She also gave him a copy of that creepy old passport, for safekeeping.