So they weren’t going to buy it. The estate agent had a large bunch of keys, she was searching for the right one. This was my chance. I was walking towards her before I could think about what I was doing. ‘Hello!’ I made my voice bright. ‘I don’t suppose I could take a peek, could I? I was just passing, I’ve been looking for something in this area.’

She frowned. ‘Normally we’d ask people to make an appointment at the office.’

‘Oh, I know, but since I’m here and you’re here – just a quick little look.’ I rubbed my stomach. ‘Moving’s become a bit more urgent, if you get me.’ Being pregnant entitled you to all kinds of special treatment. She glanced at her watch and nodded reluctantly, and then she was taking the key and letting me in, and it was only then I thought to wonder if your wife might still be there.

Elle

Elle

The money was gone.

She hadn’t taken it in at first. The lawyer was saying phrases, and she could see his large frog-like mouth moving, but nothing made sense. ‘. . . not as expected . . . significant withdrawals . . .’

She interrupted him. It was rude, and she imagined Mother scolding her, but she just didn’t understand. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t . . . What do you mean?’

He had looked at her with kind, dark eyes. ‘I’m so sorry, Elle. There’s no money left. I’ll keep checking for any hidden accounts or savings, but – so far, there’s nothing.’

Seconds ticked by. ‘But . . . there’s all the savings accounts. The trust documents.’ He had worked on her family business for years, he knew all this. He knew about the vast sums her father had left to her, the only surviving child, her parents’ life insurance, the insurance on the house too. The company had dithered over paying it, after all the rumours, but in the end it had come. ‘They can’t be empty.’

‘Elle . . . as you know, we maintain your funds. But they are yours, to do what you want with. We don’t interfere with withdrawals, so long as all the security checks are in line.’

He didn’t mean all the money. He must be misunderstanding. What about all her earnings, the thousands she had made from concerts, so much she simply stopped looking at her accounts, knowing she could buy whatever she wanted? ‘Yes, but . . .’

‘There were a lot of big withdrawals over the last ten years. Always just at the limit where we’d have to call you to double-check – which is, as you may recall, twenty thousand pounds. There was a lot in the accounts . . . but this is quickly used up by heavy spending.’

‘But . . . I didn’t take it.’ She was still clutching at hope. ‘Some mistake? Fraud, maybe?’ Didn’t the government protect you against that? ‘Identity theft?’