‘Garnets,’ said James. ‘Some people like them and they can fetch a bit of money.’

‘Ooh, rings – I know what these green ones are,’ said Gina, lifting out from the second parcel a couple of gold rings with tiny emeralds set in them.

‘They’re a bit small but perfect for Bella’s purposes,’ said James. ‘Nothing too big or too precious.’

They looked through the rest of the items, Gina asking what each was made of and whether it was especially valuable. Then they wrapped them all up in the newspaper again and put them into two cloth bags that James had brought with him. Gina asked James to show her what he had brought with him in the car. They were supposed to be working together, and she felt sidelined whenever he showed Bella items she herself had never set eyes on before. Reluctantly he nipped out to the car and fetched the zipped holdall, which he’d stowed there earlier, and they went through everything. These items were much the same size and of the same kind as those in the parcels Gina had received, but she still wanted to see them.

‘So that’s fourteen pieces altogether,’ Gina said, when they had rewrapped them.

‘Correct, Gina,’ said James, giving her a long look. ‘Now you make sure old Ma Bassett is about her cooking pots, and if the coast is clear I’ll take this lot out to the car.’

Gina unlocked her sitting-room door, had a quick look down the empty corridor and James had the loot in the car boot within moments.

‘See you in the lane beyond the gates at two o’clock,’ said James, kissing the top of her head. ‘Be on time or I’ll go without you.’ He winked and turned away to the front of the house.

Gina was learning to be a very strict timekeeper since she’d joined James in his ‘business’.

She made her preparations for the afternoon, laying her clothes ready on the bed: her coat and hat, her handbag; the scarf of Diana’s that she’d admired the first time she’d ever gone into Diana’s bedroom and found it in the dressing-table drawer. In revenge for Diana’s angry words she’d decided to take it. It was a small and rather feeble act of vengeance, Gina knew, but nonetheless it was significant: she would not let snooty Diana Stellion tell her what to do.

She slipped Mrs Stellion’s letter to Mrs Hillier in the fire in the sitting room before she left that afternoon.

Gina and James arrived at the Tom and Tabby, the stolen goods in the cloth bags.