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‘Good boy! But first I’ve got something to do.’ Thea took a seat on the sofa and phoned Edward’s home number. He wouldn’t be at work yet. He answered on the second ring.
Thea sat bolt upright when she heard that synthesised voice on the end of the line. She tentatively said, ‘Edward – is that you?’
She heard a funny sound, like Edward was fiddling with his phone, then his normal voice saying, ‘Ah – hello, Thea. I think there was some interference on the line a moment ago.’
Thea sat back on the sofa and narrowed her eyes. A few minutes later, she’d persuaded Edward to come round to her flat for a conversation about the synthesised voice. That wasn’t all she intended to talk to him about. She didn’t mention her mum’s open boxes stored in Jenna’s garage, and a package, in the shape of a book, that he’d arranged to buy from Jenna, who’d found it in her dad’s bookshop. That was all going to wait until she could speak to him in person.
She also didn’t mention the missing things from the archive that Gracie had discovered. She was saving that until he arrived too.
Thea sat on the sofa, waiting for Edward to turn up. She didn’t have to wait long. She opened her flat door and Edward slunk in, glancing at her sheepishly.
Uncharacteristically, Winston growled.
Thea looked at Winston in surprise.
Edward nervously side-stepped the dog. ‘Do you mind shutting him in the kitchen? He’s making me nervous.’
Thea looked at the dog and imagined that the feeling was mutual. She gave Winston breakfast and patted him on the head before she walked out of the kitchen and closed the door. In the lounge, she found Edward pacing up and down. He stopped and turned around when she walked in.
Thea folded her arms. ‘Do you want to tell me what is going on?’
‘No, not really.’
Thea waited. ‘That wasn’t really a question, Edward.’
Edward breathed a huge sigh and flopped down on the sofa. ‘I’ve been a very bad boy.’
He spent the best part of the next fifteen minutes telling her everything, most of it spent pacing up and down. Eventually, he stopped by the lounge window overlooking the street outside. He looked at her sitting on the sofa. ‘Aren’t you going to say something?’
Thea regarded him for a long moment, still taking in what he’d just told him. She hadn’t expected that what he’d been up to had been going on for decades. Thea slowly shook her head from side to side. ‘Oh, Edward – why did you do it?’
It turned out that he’d been stealing rare books, papers and artefacts from the museum – the very things that had been entrusted into his care as a senior archivist.The worst part was that he’d dragged her father into it, enlisting his help to sell the stolen items.
‘Did my dad know he was handling stolen items from museums and libraries?’
‘Of course not.But I couldn’t sell the items myself, because of my position; it would be too suspicious.’
‘And you might be caught,’ said Thea.
‘Yes, more than likely.’
‘But my dad could have been caught out? Didn’t you think of that?’
‘Yes, but he was renumerated very well.’
‘That’s not the point, Edward. He obviously didn’t know what he was being renumerated very well for. You didn’t give him the option to make that choice, to take that risk.’
‘When he disappeared, I thought he’d been caught by the police, like a sting or something. I knew he travelled around the country selling them to wealthy collectors. I trawled the newspapers and watched the news on television avidly, but there was nothing about a man and a yellow camper … van.’ Edward furrowed his brow. He had his back to Thea, looking out of the window.
‘You weren’t worried about my father.’
‘I was. Of course I was,’ said Edward, still looking out of the window.
‘I bet you were more worried that if he got caught, they would trace the items back to you.’
‘There was always that possibility,’ said Edward, moving the net curtain aside.
Thea glared at him. ‘Some friend you are.’Thea slowly shook her head from side to side. ‘Oh, Edward, why did you do it?You love your job. You are dedicated, conscientious. This isn’t you. I know it isn’t.’
