Gina pushed Ellen away, her face showing amazement as she looked from her sister to Tom and then Edward.

‘What … what are you doing here? How …?’ She made to rise from the stool as her look of surprise turned to an angry frown, but Ellen was holding her so tightly that she was unable to move, unable to get away.

Tom was shaking Mr Simmonds by the hand and telling him who they all were, while Sadie came round the counter to speak to Edward and Ellen. Ellen continued to hold onto Gina, and Edward was grasping her other arm so that, supposing she was thinking of getting away, she was going nowhere. In effect, they had her prisoner.

‘I thought you weren’t going to get here before she left,’ Sadie said. ‘Even I was wanting to leave, Dad went on so … He was magnificent, though. I’ve never seen him move so slowly.’

‘Thank you, thank you,’ Ellen kept saying, wiping away tears with her free hand. ‘Oh, our mum will be made up to have found Gina. She’s been that worried. We all have.’

‘There’s no need to make a stupid fuss. I was about to do a bit of business with Mr Simmonds,’ said Gina indignantly, trying to shrug off her captors. ‘Just let me go, can’t you?’

‘Come on, Gina, time to go home,’ said Tom. ‘I suppose we’d better take these things with us and hand them over to … the interested parties,’ he added quietly, collecting the dishes and necklace into Gina’s shopping bag. ‘And I’ll be sure to let those interested parties know how helpful you’ve been,’ he added to Mr Simmonds. ‘Thank you for everything you’ve done for us.’

The farm Land Rover was parked outside the shop, and Tom escorted Gina out to it and made sure she was shut safely in the back, while Edward and Ellen thanked the pawnbroker and his daughter again and promised to let them know what happened to Gina.

Ellen climbed in the back of the Land Rover and sat next to her sister. ‘Mum’s at home, love,’ she said. ‘She can’t wait to see you.’

Gina shrugged and turned away with a furious look on her face.

Gina told her story first, Dora sitting next to her on the sofa, with Ellen and Tom in the saggy old armchairs in the little sitting room that was so seldom used at Highview Cottage. Edward went home and, with a significant look at Tom, said he’d come back in a while.

Gina grew angry as she told how James Stellion had persuaded her to help him sell on the various stolen items he’d sent to her in parcels.