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That’s a good question, thought Thea, considering that her sister was laid up in hospital with a broken leg. She presumed the caller had no clue about her accident.
She played along, thinking that perhaps this was her sister’s new job, selling second-hand books. It wouldn’t exactly make her a millionaire, but she guessed every little helped, especially if Jenna had a lot of books to sell.
Thea frowned. She’d just hoovered around her sister’s house and hadn’t found any books, apart from some dog-eared paperbacks she’d read in the past and some hardback bestsellers she’d been bought as birthday and Christmas presents.
Thea thought again of her mum’s things stored in the garage. She’d been through those boxes just to tidy them up and there hadn’t been any particularly interesting books there either – certainly none that would fetch ten pounds from a strange caller masking their identity.
Thea really wanted to end the call, but she decided that she owed it to her sister to collect the money, even if it was only a tenner. The problem was that she had no clue what book they were talking about. Thea didn’t want to lose the sale, but she had to stall the buyer. She was going to see her sister that afternoon. Jenna could tell her where it was.
Thea was still interested to know which book the caller was referring to, in case she did come across it. ‘Can you remind me which book we’re talking about? I’ve got other books on the go that I’m selling,’ Thea wished she’d just told the person on the end of the line the truth from the off – that she wasn’t Jenna.
‘You’ve got other interested parties? I didn’t think that was the case.’
Thea frowned. That wasn’t what she’d said.
‘You want more money?’
‘No, no. That’s not what I meant.’
‘So, it’s agreed. 10k.’
Thea frowned. She hadn’t heard that synthesised voice right, surely. ‘Did you just say tenthousandpounds?’
‘Well, I’m glad we’re in agreement. I will organise the drop and text you.’
‘The drop?’
‘Yes, like before.’
‘Like before?’ Thea raised her eyebrows.
‘I’ll leave the money in a bag by the shop door. You collect the money and deposit the book in the bag. I’ll be watching, so I’ll know if you take the money and don’t leave the item.’
‘When will that be?’ Thea couldn’t believe she was acting as though she was going to go along with this. Ten thousand pounds for a book. As an archivist, she knew this person was either a collector, or working on someone else’s behalf. And the only books that fetched that sort of money, serious money, were rare, highly collectable books that normally surfaced at auctions, sold by a collector or a museum.
An auction could be quite the event, with a lot of bidders, and the best way to achieve the highest financial return from the sale. The fact that they were doing this under the radar, rather than in an official capacity through an auction house, meant only one thing: the book’s provenance was dubious – to say the least. Thea swallowed. If the provenance of the item was shady, meaning the previous owners were not clear, the chances were that it was stolen, or had been at some point in the past. That meant that if it ever resurfaced officially, the parties handling it could be arrested.
Thea swallowed again, realising she could have no part in this. She didn’t want to get into trouble with the law; she couldn’t, not even for her sister.But if I don’t follow through, the buyer knows my sister’s phone number.It didn’t mean they knew where she lived, though. But they knew her name, so there was always that possibility.
Thea shook her head. If Jenna wanted the money, then she’d have to deal with the buyer herself, broken leg or not. Besides, she had no idea where the drop was; the caller had mentioned something about a shop. She couldn’t very well ask him to remind her where it was, otherwise he really would get suspicious. Thea couldn’t believe her sister was handling stolen books. Did she even realise what she was getting herself into?
Thea started to wonder where her sister had even found a rare collectable book, and how she would even know one when she saw one. She’d gone to university for the nightlife, and to put off going to work for three more years, and had barely scraped a pass in her degree. She had never been into anything like that.
As soon as Thea ended the call, she rushed out of the kitchen, followed by Winston, who was still following her around like a lost puppy. Thea stopped at the door to the garage at the bottom of the garden. She looked at the dog. ‘Stay.’
Winston sat down on his rump.
Thea smiled at him. ‘Good boy.’
As soon as she opened the door, Winston lost his manners and barged past her, running straight up to the plastic storage box containing his food.
Thea sighed. Perhaps he’d thought she was holding the door open for him. That was when she realised she’d forgotten to give the dog his breakfast.
She walked up to the plastic storage box and scooped out some more dog biscuits, hoping she wasn’t giving the dog too much, causing him to be sick all over the kitchen floor or something from being overfed.
She started to go through her mum’s boxes one more time. She hadn’t paid much attention to what was inside. There were ornaments and some paperwork, but there were also a few books she hadn’t bothered to get out and look at the first time around; she’d just been intent on rearranging the contents so they were neat and tidy before re-sealing the boxes.
Thea felt a little guilty for going through her mum’s things, even though she had helped her pack them up in the first place. She’d tried to remember what she’d helped her pack back at the flat in London, but she couldn’t. It had been months earlier, and in that time she’d met Miles and been in the whirlwind of a relationship she had assumed was going to change her life.
