‘The parents kept us two out of it,’ Belle remarked. ‘The manor. The trade. That’s the one good thing they did for us.’

‘Yeah,’ Milly agreed. ‘Just that.’

160

One bright morning, Belle put on her black Chanel skirt suit over her best underwear, then she slipped on matching heels and swept her hair back off her face in a tight chignon. Looked at herself in the mirror. Left side bad, right side good. She smeared on mascara and lipstick. Stared at her reflection. She wasn’t beautiful young Belle any more. But the scar had given her a sober, pain-filled dignity. She looked a force to be reckoned with, no longer the exuberant girl. Now, she was a woman at the very height of her powers.

She went to the wardrobe, opened it, and there it was: the Louis Vuitton holdall containing Nula’s journals and all Charlie’s secrets. Nothing had been left out. Nula had listed his contacts, his movements and those of his associates. His regular shipment details. It was all in there. The truth.

Nula had known it all, and it had destroyed her.

Now, that knowledge was Belle’s – and Milly’s too.

She closed the wardrobe door and walked out of the bedroom into the kitchen.

Jack nearly choked on his cereal.

‘Jesus,’ he said, astonished.

‘Is that good?’ asked Belle.

‘It’s fucking terrific. I’ve got used to seeing you slopping around the place in my old shirts and Mum’s threadbare jeans.’ He shook his head and gave her that heart-stopping grin of his.

Handsome bastard, she thought, feeling her stomach turn over with sudden longing. There were lots of things she hadn’t expected to happen in her life, and this was one of the big ones. She hadn’t expected – not in a million years – to meet Jack Tavender, or to feel the way she did about him.

‘Damn, you do scrub up well,’ he said. ‘Got time to go back to bed?’

‘No,’ said Belle, but she was smiling. ‘Jack, can you get in touch with Tank?’

She told him why.

‘OK,’ he said, and went on eating his cereal. ‘I’ll have a surprise for you when you both get back.’

‘A surprise? Like what?’

He tapped the side of his nose. ‘Secret,’ he said.

Milly came out of her bedroom and looked at them both. ‘Ready?’ she asked.

‘Yep. Let’s go,’ said Belle.

161

At Mr Gatiss’s office, the receptionist ushered them in and he looked up at them from behind his desk, peering at them over his half-moon specs. Belle saw him stare at her scar, almost wince; then his eyes went to Milly.

‘Miss Stone, I believe? And you’d like your friend Miss Barton to stay and hear the reading? Please sit down. Can we get you both a coffee? Or tea?’

Belle shook her head. Milly too.