Page 32 of Old Girls Behaving Badly

How was it that my daughter always managed to turn our roles around? Alice had been trying to mother me since she was a teenager. I mentioned it to Chris once, but he’d rolled his eyes at me.

‘Alice doesn’t mother you, she smothers you,’ he’d said.

I met Dorothy and Juliet at five-thirty in the folly, as we’d planned. Juliet looked wired and I realised I was going to have to damp down her emotion and underplay what was needed.

‘So, what’s the plan then?’ Juliet asked, her eyes alight.

‘Firstly, can you be cool? This won’t work if you’re going to look excited all the time.’

Juliet gave me a long hard stare.

‘Have you met me? I’m a teenager. I can do cool, aloof, pissed off and bored as hell. Pick which one you want.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Fair enough.’

‘But you do have a plan?’ she asked.

‘Your grandmother would like us to find a painting she feels may be hidden in this house.’

‘The painting the thief stole from Grandpa, you mean, the ugly little one of the sea.’

‘I wouldn’t call it ugly; it’s quite a pretty watercolour.’

‘And you should know, being an expert.’

‘That’s another thing that won’t get mentioned,’ I said, expecting Juliet to question this.

‘Noted,’ was actually her quick reply. ‘So you are acknowledging that you think Leonard stole the painting?’

‘We can’t know for sure, and it wasn’t actually him in Dorothy’s house that night,’ I said.

‘I couldn’t have been,’ Dorothy said. ‘I’d know his overpowering aftershave anywhere.’

Juliet giggled and I smiled, thankful to Dorothy for lightening the moment.

‘We were wondering if you could accompany me when I search. It gives me more of an excuse to be wandering around the house,’ I said.

‘But, it doesn’t really. I’m not Leonard’s family, but I am a teenager and a nosy one, so me wandering around the house and poking about wouldn’t really be a problem.’

‘It would be a problem for me, though,’ Dorothy said. ‘We don’t really know what Leonard’s state of mind is.’

‘Freakish and weird, I’d say.’

‘He is certainly an oddity, but let’s keep on topic. We have only a few days to find the painting and if you know any hiding places in this house that you’ve already stumbled across then please let us know,’ I said.

‘But this house is huge, and you’re talking about a small painting that could be anywhere. It could be in a box, down the back of a sofa, stuffed up a chimney.’

I couldn’t disagree with Juliet’s logic, but Dorothy had other ideas.

‘I think he’s the sort of man who would have it hanging somewhere, but not obviously so. It was much coveted by him and I doubt he’d box it up somewhere. Where’s the victory in that?’

‘So maybe a sliding bookcase, or a hidden panel?’ Juliet suggested.

‘Quite possibly,’ Dorothy said.

‘I’ve only had a cursory look in the main rooms so far, and haven’t come up with much, but I do want a closer look at that mirror in the hallway. The main and most important thing is that we don’t alert Leonard to what we are doing. If he finds out it will all be over, because he will move the painting and then it probably will be put in a box or stuffed down the back of a sofa, never to see the light of day again,’ I said.

‘Okay, leave it with me and I’ll have a think about it. I’ll have a plan,’ Juliet said.