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‘What was she doing up there?’ Freya asked. ‘She never goes up there.’
‘I think she was packing stuff up?’
Jeffrey rolled his eyes, recalling that she’d offered to go up there and do some packing, and he’d stupidly agreed. He frowned. How was he to know she’d come across the box? It was his own fault; he knew he should have tossed it and its contents years earlier.
‘So, she didn’t say anything before she left?’ Freya asked.
Theo shrugged. ‘No, she didn’t, although …’ he looked at them both sheepishly as he stepped forward. ‘She said to give you this.’ Theo extended an arm at Jeffrey, proffering the handwritten note in his hand.
Jeffrey took the folded piece of paper. ‘What’s this?’
Theo shrugged. ‘Before she left in a taxi—’
‘A taxi?’ repeated Freya, looking at Theo. ‘She left in a taxi?’
He shrugged again. ‘How do I know? Although it was a bit … odd.’
Freya cocked her head to one side. ‘Odd – how?’
‘Well, it looked to me like Mrs B was going on a little holiday?’
Jeffrey looked up as he unfolded the note. ‘What on earth makes you think that?’
‘The suitcases.’
‘Suitcases?’
‘She asked me to help her carry them downstairs and leave them in the porch. I notice they’re gone, so I presume they went with her.’
Jeff and Freya looked at him, stunned.
‘Oh, and I think she took her pets.’
‘What?!’
Theo turned to Freya. ‘Do you think she overheard …?’
‘Shut up, Theo.’
Jeffrey looked at them both. ‘Overheard what?’
Freya bit her lower lip. ‘I was sort of having a conversation upstairs about maybe that you might have difficulty finding a rental with … well … pets.’
Jeffrey sighed. ‘So, you suggested she should get rid of them?’
‘Well, not in so many words, but we were talking about them …’
Jeffrey was still standing in front of his desk with the box behind him.
Theo said, ‘We were having that conversation standing upstairs in the hall. I think she might have been up there and heard every word.’
‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Freya. ‘Do you think that’s why she’s gone?’
Jeffrey was thinking about the box. He wanted to think that it was the reason, and that her leaving had nothing to do with what she’d discovered in the loft, but he doubted it. ‘Look, she did suggest she wanted to get away for a few days. I kind of poo-pooed that idea.’ He wished he hadn’t. He’d have liked a break, too. ‘Let’s see what she’s put in the note. She’s probably gone to stay with Jane.’
Theo glanced at Jeffrey. ‘Who’s Jane?’
‘Her best friend,’ said Freya. ‘But, Dad, she’s on holiday in Thailand at the moment – don’t you remember? It’s her sixtieth, and she’s on a cruise. Somehow I don’t think Mum’s flying to Thailand to join her.’
