by Ivan B
George grinned.
“They are when they’re cold.”
Josie rolled her eyes and wandered off down the library. George whispered.
“Will it take her long?”
Mary nodded.
“It will take her forever, once she starts looking she finds an interesting book and…”
He nodded and Mary raised an eyebrow.
“So what brings you here?”
He put his trilby hat on the desk and sat down in Josie’s chair.
“All hell has broken loose. Our Mr Jamerson decided to go coin hunting, got himself drunk and spilled the beans on what he was looking for; since then the bank has been inundated with queries about 1952 gold guineas.”
Mary smiled and leant back.
“Storm in a teacup as far as the bank is concerned surely?”
“Would be if some back-bench politician hadn’t asked our Governor about it at a luncheon last Thursday. He hates being put on the spot about things he doesn’t know and is having the drains up.”
Mary sighed.
“So you’ve come to see me.”
George smiled and his wrinkled face took on a wistful look.
“I’m on holiday with my in-laws at Shingle street, locals are having great fun teasing all the metal-detector folks, so far they’ve found nearly filled a skip with small lumps of old metal, but not one single coin, not even a bent ha’penny.”
He leant forward, I came to warn you that the Bank has made a formal request to your Council for the return of all the coins it had, or it wants recompense. I rather get the feeling that our Governor thinks that the coins were never lost, merely forgotten.”
George smiled again.
“And m’dear your coin is as near mint as it can be.”
He suddenly stood up and looked out of the window saying wistfully.
“And I’m taking early retirement when I get back, it would be rather nice to solve this mystery, or at least see the coins.”
Mary wondered if she could really trust him, he turned round.
“I haven’t told them your name, in all the mêlée nobody’s bothered to ask.”
Mary laughed.
“So how did you track me down? It was my home address I gave you?”
He grinned.
“You are rather notorious, never seen so many web-sites with references to one person, must have been a hell of an accident.”
She made a decision and gave him a nod.
“Come back at three-thirty.”
He looked surprised.
“You’ve got them here!”
Mary laughed at his expression.
“I’ve not got them stored in a hollowed out book if that’s what you think; you come back at three-thirty and I’ll show you something, that’s all I’m saying for the moment.”
He stood up.
“Tell me one thing, will our Mr Jamerson get there first?”
“Where is he?”
“Him, and seemingly a million others, are on the shingle spit between Orfordness and Aldeburgh.”
Mary sniffed.
“He’s not even close.”
George smiled picked up his hat, raised it to her and walked out. She began to scheme; the coins weren’t hers, but maybe there’d be some leverage in them.
At precisely eleven Mary telephoned John’s daughter Joanna, she answered almost immediately. They changed a few pleasantries and Mary got down to business. “I’ve got two boxes to send you and I’m getting them air-freighted to Brisbane, is that OK?”
Joanna was silent followed by a soft reply.
“No need for air-freight then Mary, send them by sea.”
Mary responded gently.
“It’s the least I can do.”
She heard Joanna take a deep breath.
“Actually Mary there is something else you could do, but if you refuse I’ll understand. Could I send you dad’s ashes for you to sprinkle on mum’s grave? I know it’s a lot to ask, but it would mean so much to us.”
Mary closed her eyes and swallowed back the lump in her throat.
“Of course I will, it’ll be a privilege.”
Joanna was silent for a bit and then said.
“Norman’s sorted out the lease form for you.”
Mary was surprised at the speed.
“Already? I thought you’d have to wait for the coroner’s verdict, I wasn’t trying to push you.”
“We know that Mary. Coroner gave us his verdict, death by natural causes, yesterday. Dad gave us a copy of his will years ago and we showed it to our solicitors, who spoke with dad’s solicitor in Eastburgh and they agreed to be joint executors. There’s no need for probate as dad’s assets were way below the threshold and in any case the lease transfer is outside of dad’s finances. So the solicitor’s have signed the form on our behalf and sent it back to the council, you should have a copy in the post. I’m afraid, however, that we’ve had to up the price for the business; for some reason that’s totally beyond me you have to pay £1.05. Apparently there’s something magical about a guinea in English law, you should get the formal papers for the business some time next week.”
Mary exhaled, she hadn’t realised that she’d been holding her breath.
“That’s all rather faster than I expected.”
Joanna made a huffing sound.
“I told them that I didn’t want this all dragging out and I don’t need the hassle.”
Mary suddenly remembered the prime reason for the call.
“Have you got the funeral arranged yet?”
“Monday, midday our time.”
Mary wished her well and put the phone down, she realised that her hand was trembling, but whether that was out of apprehension about spreading John’s ashes or nervousness about the business transfer she couldn’t decide.
Lunch-time Mary and Robert took Josie up to the flat and sat in the lounge while she looked around by herself. Mary sat herself back in the armchair and sighed.
“How did it go this morning?”
Robert grinned like an ape with a banana.
“Excellent. Two local auction houses are prepared to value the furniture and sell it without commission if the money goes straight to the hospice. The charity shop for the hospice will come tomorrow and clean out everything else that they think they can sell.” His grin got worse.
“And I managed to get the rep for The Simple Elevator Corporation to come and have a look in the stairwell. We’re in luck, he’s priced a single person lift in the stairwell of the cinema across the road a couple of months ago. Thanks to 1950s building standards, and the mirror image design of the street, is exactly the same size as ours. They can just get a wheelchair lift in, apparently the space is almost too narrow. It also has a fold-down chair, so you won’t even have to stand.”
Mary gave him a sideways look.
“Why would I want to sit? It’s only two floors.”
Robert looked slightly ruffled.
“Well it’s a narrow space and the technologies got to be reliable and the lift-motors are on the small side to keep the weight down; apparently it will take four minutes to do the two floors, more if you’ve got a load of shopping.”
He leant forward.
“But they are the best at this sort of thing, it can be hand-cranked if necessary and it will descend without power.”
Mary held her hand up.
“Sold to the lady with a gammy leg.”
Josie reappeared and went into the dining room as Robert said.
“And the best news is that it can be constructed and installed from their standard parts bin, so they could, if we place an order now, have it in within a fortnight.”
Mary sat up.
“Then they must be desperate for work, knock them down on price.”
A look of horror crossed Robert’s face.
“Desperate for work! You’ve got to be joking.”
“Then how come they can do it so fast?”
Robert nodded to the Cinem
a.
“They’ll have a team over the road.”
Mary sighed.
“Go on then, order it.”
Robert did his feet shuffle.
“Well actually…”
Mary burst out laughing as Josie came out of the dining room.
“Which is my bedroom?”
Mary pointed.
“The one with one white wall and no furniture.”
She hopped from foot to foot.
“But you can see the sea from there, I could lie in bed and see the sea!”
Robert, ever the architect, smiled tolerantly.
“Not when you’re in bed as you wouldn’t be high enough.”
Josie gave a wicked smile.
“I would be if I had a bed like Nell, she’s got a bed with a ladder and underneath she’s got a cupboard and a chest of drawers.”
Robert tried diversionary tactics.
“I bet Aruna’s got a bed like yours.”
Josie tossed her head.
“She’s got a bed that slides under her settee.”
Mary burst out laughing.
“Give in Robert.”
He rolled his eyes.
“OK, but I get to choose the bed.”
Josie gave him an alluring smile.
“You get them from the Unusual Bed Shop at Felburgh, we could all go.”
Robert changed tack.
“What do you think of the flat?”
“Nice,” she said. “But it needs a woman’s touch.”
Mary got back downstairs to be passed an envelope by Bill. She opened it and found a copy of the lease transfer form, she looked at Bill. He shrugged.
“Young girl delivered it, said it wasn’t worth the postage as they’re almost next door.”
Mary went to her desk and phoned the solicitor’s to thank them, she was put through to Old Mr Brown. He listened to her thanks and then chuckled.
“We’re not always slow you know, mostly we spend our time waiting for other people to act. We also hand-delivered the form to the Council as my brother had to go to their property department as we had another client’s case to discuss with them.”
Mary relaxed, that meant when she went to argue the appeal the following day the lease was in her name.
“Well thanks anyway, when do you want my guinea for the business?”
“Pop in and see us next Wednesday and we should be able to finalise things as long as your solicitors agree.”
Mary burst out laughing.
“You are my solicitors!”
He chuckled.
“I’m not handling your side of this, my son is and believe me he’s out to prove that he’s leaving no stone unturned.”
Mary grinned at the concept of Old Mr Brown and his sallow face son arguing over the contract.
“See you Wednesday, and you know I’m paying the legal fees for this.”
“So Joanna said, you’ll get the bill in due course.”
Mary put the phone down and looked around for Josie, she spotted her sitting cross legged on the floor with her nose in Desert Adventure; she left her to it.
At three-thirty precisely George came up the escalator and Mary walked over to meet him, stopping on the way to ask Manju to keep an eye on Josie for her. She smiled at George.
“Follow me.”
They went out into the stairwell and Mary turned to him.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to let me hang on to you, I don’t like this staircase at all. Once they’d got to the top she led him down the corridor to a waiting Robert, who had carefully marked a cross on the wall and then drawn the outline of a door-frame. Mary made the introductions and Robert handed George a sledge hammer.
“Aim for the cross. There’s a breeze block wall here with a plaster skim, but I think they used a dry mortar, so a few good swings and we should have it down.”
He turned to look at Mary.
“You’re sure about this?”
She nodded.
“I’m not walking along that parapet again.”
George gave her a quizzical look and she relented; slightly.
“There’s a sealed room behind here, you can only get into it via a hatch in the ceiling, or in through the window.”
She nodded and stepped back. Robert gave the wall a mighty thwack, followed by George. Ten thwacks later and a hole appeared; within ten minutes they had created a space big enough to walk through. Robert cleared enough debris to one side to let Mary walk in and the two men followed. Robert opened the window and they sat for a few seconds waiting for the dust to clear. Mary turned to George.
“That green cabinet, open the bottom drawer. He bent down and opened the drawer, his face took on a look of pure ecstasy. He crouched down, took a chamois leather glove out of his pocket and picked up a coin. He extracted an eyeglass from another pocket and studied the face of the guinea, then he turned it over and studied the back, finally he scrutinised the edge. He stood up and faced Mary.
“I said to you more than ten and I’d start thinking forgery. I’d stake my reputation on these, they’re genuine all right”
He sat on the edge of the desk.
“Reckon you’ve got four hundred there, possible more.”
Robert looked in the drawer.
“Two layers at two hundred makes four hundred.”
George smiled.
“Legend had it that each bunker was issued with between 400 and 410 depending on the size of the area they were meant to cover.”
He carefully lifted off the top tray and pointed.
“See bottom layer has an extra three coins down the middle.” He picked one of the coins out of the centre of the bottom tray and dropped it in the vacant space left by Mary’s coin. Mary leaned forward and whispered.
“Take one. Tomorrow I’m going to tell the council, can’t do much else really, they’re not mine in the first place.”
George, after a moment’s hesitation picked another coin out of the centre, he looked at Mary.
“You can never sell them you know, least not in our lifetime.”
Mary nodded.
“I’ve figured that out for myself.”
He gazed at the coin in his hand.
“You know I’ve worked for the bank for forty-three years and never, ever, done anything illegal. Not sure I should start now.”
Robert chuckled.
“What’s illegal, apparently you’re taking a coin that doesn’t exist?”
He took a soft leather pouch from his pocket and slipped the coin into it.
“For my grandchildren,” he murmured.
He placed the tray back.
“How many are you going to turn in?”
Mary smiled.
“Four hundred, or rather to be exact three-hundred and ninety nine plus one in my hand. You and Mr Jamerson know that I had one at the bank, every body would be suspicious if I didn’t hand that one back..”
George grinned and handed over two plastic pouches.
“Put them in these, perspiration can play havoc over time.”
George put his head on one side.
“What are you going to do with your two?”
Mary grinned sheepishly.
“Hang onto the one I’ve got, it’s a sort of talisman to me now. The other is going to my solicitors to go to my future daughter, don’t worry, I won’t say where I got it, just what it is.”
She smiled at him.
“And you?”
George sighed a sigh of contentment.
“I’ll just pop it in my coin collection, or rather my son’s coin collection. I gave it to him ten years ago to avoid death duties, but he died first.” He suddenly smiled.
“But I have a grand-daughter, one day I hope she’ll come across it and think of me.”
He stood up to go and held his hand out to Mary.
“Thanks lass, you’ve made an old man happy.”
He took a step towards the door and halted.
“What are y
ou going to do with this lot?”
Robert smiled.
“We have plans.”
George sauntered off and Mary gave Robert a curious look.
“We have plans?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“I was thinking of your office safe.”
She laughed.
“What office safe?”
He looked distraught.
“Where do you keep your money, please don’t tell me in a cardboard box under your bed.”
She giggled like a child.
“You should see your face! Of course I’ve got a safe, it’s in the basement and I’ve just made Serena do the banking, so it’s virtually empty.”
She paused.
“I know we discussed it, but are you sure you don’t want a coin?”
He shook his head.
“Just the one for Josie.”
Mary arrived home slightly late to find her mother standing in the hall, she relaxed on Mary’s entrance.
“Am I glad to see you, Jenny rang about five minutes ago, she’ll be here in a moment to drop off my things from the holiday, she didn’t sound in a good mood.”
Helen turned round and started to walk to the lounge.
“She knows all about your engagement, she’s been speaking to Daniel.”
Mary caught her up and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Does she know yet that you’re calling in the loan?”
Helen smiled.
“No, with any luck the letter from my solicitor is waiting on her doorstep as we speak.”
“Then why did you want me here?”
Helen tossed her head.
“Safety in numbers.”
Mary went to the kitchen to start dinner and Jenny was soon knocking on the door. Mary opened it and Jenny heaved a large suitcase into the hall. Mary suppressed a smile, Jenny had the complexion of a ripe tomato.
“See you caught the sun.”
Jenny gave her a malevolent look.
“Wretched boys swapped my suntan screen for cold cream and I never noticed, I feel like I’ve been fried in oil.”
Mary indicated the kitchen.
“Drink?”
“Something cold and non-alcoholic.”
Mary opened a can of sparkling lime juice and passed it over to Jenny. She gave an unfriendly smile.
“Here you’ve got engaged, and he’s got a kid.”
Mary tries her best.
“His name is Robert and hers is Josie.”