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Thea suddenly felt uncomfortable under their gaze. ‘What is it?’
‘I’m telling you,’ said Edward, ‘This is Henry’s van, and Dickens was … is … his cat.’
Thea furrowed her brow, thinking of something her niece had said when she’d bunked off drama class and discovered them in the bookshop. She’d held up Dickens and thought she recognised the cat from an old childhood photo of Thea and her sister. Thea had dismissed that comment; didn’t all black and white cats look alike? Although for the life of her, she could not remember the cat’s name.
Edward was still over-excited at seeing the van, and wouldn’t let it go. He ran back up to Thea. ‘There is no doubt in my mind that this van belongs to Henry.’
‘And I told you, it’s Callum’s.’
‘Who?’ he said again. ‘Oh, never mind that. Look, there’s one sure-fire way to know. Just look inside. You’ll find you and your sisters initials carved on the wooden seat under the seat cushion. I’ll never forget you girls doing that. Henry was quite displeased that you’d defaced his van, even though you’d been very thoughtful and did it where no one would really notice.
‘I am not looking for initials carved anywhere,’ said Thea.
Jack and Beth exchanged a glance before Beth said, ‘You don’t have to. I can categorically say, without a doubt, this is Henry’s van.’
Thea did a double-take. ‘I’m sorry, are you seriously having a joke over all this right now?’
Beth put her hand on Thea’s arm. ‘This is no joke. You really didn’t read Mabel’s letters, did you?’
‘I told you I didn’t.’
‘You should have. So, nobody told you and your sister?’
‘Told us what?’
‘About Henry. Your father.’
‘I don’t understand …’
Beth offered her a reassuring smile. ‘You will. Come with us.’
Thea backed away. ‘I’m not going back to Aldeburgh with you.’
‘Who said anything about Aldeburgh?’ Beth replied. ‘We’re going to Scotland, and we want you to come with us.’
Thea frowned. ‘First, Callum wanted me to come with him to Scotland, now you guys. I don’t want to see him.’
‘All right. Well, if you don’t want to see Callum, what about seeing your father instead?’
‘My father?’ Thea looked from Beth to Jack. They were nodding their heads.
‘Wait. Are you saying … he’s still alive?’
‘I knew it! I just knew it!’ Edward slapped his knee and did a little happy dance right there in the street.
Thea said, ‘Is that where he is – in Scotland?’
‘Yes.’
Edward said, ‘I’m coming too. He’s my best friend. I want to see him.’
‘But how did you find him?’ Thea was having a hard time taking all this in. ‘How do you even know about my father?’
‘Thea, have you got some chocolate biscuits?’ interrupted Fergus, looking out of the window of the camper van.
‘Oh, er … sure. Wait right there, I’ll go and fetch some.’
Thea dived back into her flat, grabbed her coat and bag, and then remembered the dog. ‘Oh, crumbs. Winston!’ She flung open the kitchen door. Winston had just scoffed his breakfast. She caught him with his jaws around a kitchen cupboard door handle, trying to get at the biscuits. The clever dog knew where they were stored. Thea had had to put child locks on her kitchen doors.
