by Helen Goltz
‘You will keep my secret?’ Holly asked. ‘I know it puts you in a very awkward position.’
He sat back and looked over at Astrid. ‘No, it doesn’t. We’ve spoken about this topic and Astrid knows my interest in it. I haven’t betrayed her, I am simply aware that its ownership may not lie with her family, and she has a very wealthy family.’
‘It’s not about the money, of course,’ Holly said. ‘My friend doesn’t care about financial compensation. It’s all she has of them.’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘It’s her family heirloom, no one else’s.’
Holly nodded. ‘Thank you.’
‘I’ve enjoyed meeting you. I hope maybe if I come to London, or rather your village, we might catch up?’ he asked.
‘Ah, trust me, you would have no reason to come to my village, it is very small and a little seaside town. But London, yes. It is a short drive for me. I’d love to see you play.’ She opened her handbag, and pulled a business card out of her wallet. ‘That’s me,’ Holly said.
Timo read the card: Missing Pieces – Lost, Found and Broken. ‘I’ll find you,’ he said.
She nodded and gave him a shy smile. ‘Good, I hope so.’
They waited until the taxi was well away from the hotel and then turned to each other.
‘Oh my God!’ Juliette squealed, and Holly laughed, grabbing her in a hug.
‘We did it,’ Juliette said.
‘We’ve found it! I could barely contain myself,’ Holly said, her face flushed with excitement. ‘Thank you, Juliette, thank you. I couldn’t have done it with you,’ Holly said, still holding Juliette’s hand.
‘You introduced me to the man of my dreams, so one good favour… Are you going to call Esther?’
Holly nodded. ‘Right now,’ she said, with a glance to the front seat at the driver. She noted to keep the discussion in broad terms. ‘I’ll put it on loudspeaker.’
Esther answered after two rings.
‘Esther, it’s Holly and I’ve Juliette here with me, we’re on loudspeaker.’
‘Hello, my dears. So you’ve met her?’
Holly could hear the trepidation in Esther’s voice.
‘We’ve found it, Esther.’ She heard the sharp gasp that followed.
Juliette piped in. ‘We found the brand, and we photographed it. It’s your mother’s without a doubt.’
‘Oh my,’ Esther said, ‘I can’t believe it. For years I’ve been looking. I just can’t believe it.’
‘We nearly imploded trying to act natural,’ Juliette joked and they all laughed with the tension.
‘Oh, my dear girls, all these years and you found it so easily. I never thought I’d get to see it again before I died,’ she said, her voice emotional.
‘Do you want me to email the photo to you, Esther? Or I’ll be home tomorrow if you want to come around to see it and have a cup of tea. We can start the claim phase together if you like?’
‘I’d much rather do that,’ Esther said. ‘I just can’t believe it.’
The taxi pulled into their hotel, and while Juliette pulled out her business card to pay, Holly took Esther off speaker and exited the taxi with a wave of thanks to the driver.
‘Of course, I’d love to see it through. I want to see it in your hands. Esther, it’s stunningly beautiful – everything you said and more,’ Holly said. ‘I was quite emotional seeing it.’
‘Holly, I knew from the moment you put that sign up that you were the one for the mission.’
‘It was a team effort, I’m the least of the players,’ Holly said, as Juliette joined her. ‘If you hadn’t seen the photo on her social media feed, and if Juliette didn’t have the business angle, I’d still be searching.’
‘No, you wouldn’t, you made it happen. Thank you, my dear, thank you both.’
They wrapped up their conversation and Holly hung up.
‘We have to go out tonight for dinner, Paris nightlife and real celebratory French champagne,’ Juliette said.
‘Without a doubt,’ Holly agreed. ‘Did you get much business from Astrid?’
They walked towards the lift.
‘She ordered two pieces from me that are outrageously priced. I will be employee of the year,’ Juliette joked.
Holly linked her arm through hers and they entered the lift.
‘Riding high,’ she said.
‘Best feeling ever,’ Juliette agreed.
‘Well, that was fun,’ Astrid said, as she walked with Timo to his apartment. She drew the admiration and glances of people who recognised her as they walked along. Astrid loved that.
‘Nice ladies,’ Timo agreed. ‘What did you buy?’
‘Two gorgeous pieces, expensive but worth it.’
‘Dare I ask how much?’ Timo’s jaw dropped as Astrid revealed the price.
‘Oh my God, that would be more than the average charity fundraises in a year! And you’re going to wear them in your ears.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘You’re such a wet blanket, Timo. My family donates a lot to charity. It’s not my fault that there are poor people in the world. Do you expect me to live the same way so that they feel better?’
He smiled. ‘Of course not, I was just saying.’
‘But you take all the fun out of it. I don’t want to wear them around you now. Besides,’ she continued, getting fuelled up, ‘I work hard, so why shouldn’t I have the occasional nice thing?’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean that, really,’ Timo said, trying to diffuse the mess he had got himself into. ‘Of course you should have some rewards, and you’ll look gorgeous wearing them. I insist on seeing them on. But now I’d like to see you with just me, tonight, for dinner.’
Astrid rolled her eyes and smiled. ‘Smooth.’
Timo grinned.
They continued down the street hand in hand and not speaking. Timo wondered what they were doing together, and what an English girl in Paris was doing tonight.
Home sweet home
‘I’m home! Pleased to see me?’ Holly asked Alexander as she closed the front door behind her.
He stood, arms folded, leaning against the back of the couch, his frame empty. He grinned.
‘Strangely, yes,’ he said. ‘Can’t believe I’m saying that. I even missed you!’
‘Stop it right now!’ Holly exclaimed. ‘And to think just a few months ago when I moved in here, you couldn’t get me out of the house fast enough.’
‘The more important question is, how much did you miss me?’ Alexander asked, and Holly laughed. She didn’t answer, heading upstairs to put her bag in her room. A few minutes later she skipped back down the stairs.
‘I missed you some,’ she said.
‘Garbage. Okay, tell me everything.’
‘I’m having a wine and sitting outside to look at my garden and the waves against the rocks. Care to join me?’ she asked.
‘Sure. Pour me one and we’ll sit in my garden and catch up,’ he said, with a smirk.
‘Did you water the garden while I was gone?’ she asked, as she poured two generous glasses of white wine.
‘Of course. I’ve always been good at following orders.’ He opened the door as Holly carried the wine to their small, round, outdoor table and chairs.
‘I know I’ve only been gone a few days but it is nice being back here. I felt like I was coming home,’ she said, and breathed in the fresh salt air deeply. They clinked glasses. Holly drank. Alexander did, too, without any liquid leaving the glass.
‘We had a win,’ she said, and began to tell him everything.
Fifteen minutes later, a glass of wine almost gone, six passing neighbours waved to and a story recounted, Holly drew breath.
‘Well, full kudos to you,’ Alexander said, watching Holly with a look of pride. ‘Esther must be blown away,’
‘She was very emotional. It was a great trip,’ Holly sighed, and smiled.
Alexander looked at her. ‘Hang on, you’re not telling me everything, there’s more.’
‘Well, I did meet
a really nice French guy.’
‘Did you now?’ Alexander said, narrowing his eyes with suspicion. ‘Is there such a thing?’
‘Stop it,’ she said, reprimanding him. ‘You’d like him. He’s down to earth and he’s a musician, a violinist actually. His name is Timothée but he goes by Timo, and he visits London every now and then with his history group.’
‘He sounds wild. I’ll need to meet and approve of him.’
Holly rolled her eyes. ‘Thanks, Dad, but you’re off duty.’
‘Come on, you’ve admitted yourself you are not the best at picking men – for the love of God, you’re living with a ghost, need we say more? Besides, I met your ex-husband if you remember? Nope, I’ll need to check this guy out,’ Alexander insisted.
‘You are so overstepping your mark,’ Holly said, and shook her head.
‘Call it caring. If I brought home a nice ghost girl, wouldn’t you want to check her out?’ he joked, and Holly laughed.
‘I’d love to meet the ghost girl but just to welcome her, not to approve. I accept that you are all grown up and can make those choices for yourself,’ Holly preached.
‘Then clearly you aren’t as worried about my welfare as I am about yours,’ he said, looking like he’d had his nose put out of joint.
‘That’s probably because you’re dead,’ Holly said. ‘There’s not much more can happen, really.’
‘Technicality, really.’
Holly swapped glasses with him and proceeded to drink Alexander’s wine, that had not disappeared at all despite him having at least half a dozen sips.
‘It’s good to be home, though, with you,’ Holly said, conceding she liked him.
‘Of course it is,’ he said, and smiled.
It was 9 am. Holly had been up early, had her beach run, showered and the office was open for business. It was a lovely morning – there was a crispness in the air and sunshine coming through the window in prisms of light.
Holly was expecting Esther later this morning. She opened Esther’s file, updated it and closed it thirty minutes later. Then she opened Alexander’s file and noticed some papers were out of order.
‘Sergeant? Front and centre, please,’ she called, and he appeared beside her, startling her.
She placed her heart on her hand. ‘Must you always do that?’
‘I must. Besides, you summoned me,’ he said. ‘What’s up?’
‘Did you go through this file?’ she asked.
‘Yes. I’m the client, I can go through anything.’ He saw her expression. ‘Can’t I?’
‘Well, technically yes, I suppose, but you hire me to find out information so you should let me present it.’
‘Okay, I’ll take that on board, Ma’am,’ he said, standing straight and saluting.
She gave him a smirk. ‘What did you do with it?’
‘Nothing. I didn’t remove anything,’ he said, and sank into a chair opposite her.
‘What did you do with the information you found in the file?’ Holly broke down her question.
‘Oh, that,’ he said, and smiled, thinking she would be impressed by his initiative. ‘I went and visited the Staff-Sergeant.’
‘What!’ she almost screamed. ‘Alexander, tell me you’re not serious?’
Alexander had learnt in his living years that this reaction meant he’d best tread lightly. ‘Okay, I’m a little serious, I might have just dropped in.’
‘Oh my God!’ Holly crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him. ‘Why bother with me? Why didn’t you just go and do the job yourself?’
‘I didn’t have his address, I needed you to find it.’
‘You know I was planning on talking to him. He invited me to come and see him,’ Holly said.
Alexander frowned. ‘Okay, back up here.’ He sat down on the chair next to her desk. ‘I’m clearly missing something but why are you freaking out about this? I didn’t appear to him.’
‘Oh,’ Holly said, ‘why didn’t you say that? That’s cool then.’ She calmed down.
‘Is it?’ he asked, not sure.
‘Yeah, that’s fine. I just thought you blew it.’
‘Me?’ He scoffed. ‘Not likely.’ He saw the sceptical look she gave him.
‘Oh no.’ Her face turned deadly serious.
Alexander frowned and debated disappearing but thought better of it. ‘What have I done now?’ he asked.
‘Tell me you didn’t go through Meg’s file, too?’ She looked around her desk.
‘No,’ he assured her. ‘I couldn’t find it.’
Holly remembered she’d locked it away for that very reason. She glanced up at him.
‘Ah, I forgot I was one step ahead of you,’ she said, giving him one of her best smirks.
‘Can’t believe I’m being drilled and outsmarted by a five-foot, bossy pipsqueak,’ he said, rising.
‘I’m actually 165 centimetres tall – we’ve gone to metric, you know?’ she said, with another smirk. ‘So, back to Andy. What exactly did you do when you were at his place?’
‘I just sat on the couch next to him and put some subliminal thoughts in his head to make him think about me,’ Alexander said, ‘but he didn’t reveal anything.’
Holly pushed away from the desk and stood up. She walked to the front of the room and paced along the windows, looking out at the sea and rock cliffs.
‘Hmm, I didn’t know you could do that subliminal thing. Did you make me subliminally take on this job?’
Alexander looked truly offended. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! The thought never crossed my mind. But it’s not a bad idea,’ he said, reflecting on it. ‘I guess I could have done that if you refused.’ He stopped talking, to see her glaring at him. ‘Shame I said that out loud,’ he said.
‘Yeah, real shame. Tell me exactly what happened with Andy.’ She returned and sat down at her desk.
‘I suggested he think about me. After he poured himself a glass of red, he opened an album full of photos from our days as soldiers. Eventually, he flicked through to a shot of him and me, and he said something about me being a silly bastard, and that was it.’
‘That was it? That’s pretty lame.’
‘Yeah, well, subliminal doesn’t guarantee results and there was no-one there for him to talk to, or he might have spilled the beans. So you see, you will be useful, after all.’
‘Goody,’ she said, and gave him a smile.
He shook his head at her. ‘You’re developing a smart-ass attitude, Miss.’
‘Yes, I picked it up from you. And it’s Ms to you,’ Holly said. A movement caught her eye and she glanced out to see Esther coming up the path. ‘Ah, my next client.’
She moved to the door to greet Esther as Alexander returned to his frame.
Visiting hours
Holly felt she could safely boast that she was the only person to have ever driven down the motorway with a ghost beside her, navigating.
She glanced over at Alexander.
‘What?’ he asked. ‘We’re on track.’ He consulted the map on his lap.
‘I don’t doubt that for a minute,’ she said, ‘but we can always use the Navman if needed.’
‘That pompous twat,’ he said.
Holly laughed. ‘I happen to find that refined voice telling me where to go, very sexy.’
‘I can do that if you need me to, just let me know,’ he assured her. ‘I miss driving.’
‘I get that,’ Holly said. ‘I love driving – the freedom of just getting on the road and going. Being in charge, playing your own music… I’m always amazed you can be in a whole new town or city in a matter of hours.’
Alexander agreed. ‘And the pleasure of driving a good car, there’s nothing like it.’
She shook her head. ‘You know, it’s so weird. If anyone had said to me this time last year that I’d be driving down the motorway with a ghost to check out why he died, I would have had them committed.’
Alexander smiled. ‘Yeah, you’re so lucky you came to stay
at Findlater House.
She rolled her eyes and smiled. But she agreed with him. It was amazing how her life had changed since coming to Findlater House. It was so rewarding to finish Esther’s case today. Earlier, they had sat and filled in the forms for lodgement with the national agency who, with the law behind them, would now approach Astrid and her family for the surrender of the Tender Heart. They had emailed the files and the photo showing the brand, and then Holly had printed out a copy to mail and a copy for Esther. She just hoped the process would not take too long and Esther would be holding her mother’s necklace again very soon.
Esther had invited her to dinner that weekend which she had accepted happily; especially as Luke was going to London this time to see Juliette, and Holly wouldn’t have her staying over. She glanced at Alexander again. If and when he found out what happened to him and why Meghan never returned to Findlater House, would he disappear for good? It would be weird not having him around now. She’d come to like him, probably too much, she thought. But meeting Timo was exciting and maybe, just maybe, that might lead to something, despite their living in different countries.
It started raining and within a few seconds it was coming down hard. The wipers were working overtime. Holly flicked the lights on and slowed down. Not a good omen, she thought; definitely not a good omen for what lay ahead.
Alexander got them safely to Andy Davies’s retirement village. The rain had stopped and everything looked fresher for it.
‘Well, this is nice,’ Holly said, looking at the gated and treed surrounds. It was private and secure and through the gates they could see elderly people sitting in the gardens, alone or with company.
‘You’re so polite and nice,’ Alexander said. ‘I think it’s awful.’
Holly laughed out loud. ‘Yeah, well it might be awful for you and me, but if we were in our late seventies like Andy, we might think it’s grand.’
‘I am in my late seventies,’ Alexander reminded Holly. ‘I’m just well preserved.’
‘Yeah, well, death will do that to you,’ Holly teased him. She parked under the shade of a large tree in the car park and they alighted – Alexander did so without opening his door.