Chapter Forty-Six
One year later
Dee admired the sparkling diamond on her left hand as she picked up the ringing telephone.
‘Hunter-Brown Agency, how can I help you?’
‘Hello?’ squawked a distressed voice. ‘I want to hire a detective.’
‘That can be arranged,’ said Dee, in a soothing tone. ‘Let me take some details.’ She opened a new client page on the computer. ‘Who do you wish the agency to investigate?’
‘My boyfriend,’ sobbed the woman. ‘I think he’s having an affair.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ murmured Dee. Harry had told her that engaging sympathetically with clients was extremely important. ‘Would you like an initial consultation?’
‘Yes,’ sniffed the woman.
‘Okay. Let me jot down some brief details for Mr Hunter-Brown. Let’s start with your name.’
‘Emma Emmerson,’ said the woman.
Dee’s brow puckered. Whoever had called their daughter “Emma Emmerson” must have been friends with Peter Piper who had picked all those peppers. She began to enter the name on the computer, but stopped as a jumbo-sized penny rattled through her brain. No! It couldn’t be. Could it?
‘And…er…the name of your boyfriend?’
‘Josh,’ sobbed Emma. ‘Josh Coventry.’
***
Chrissie admired the sparkling diamond on her left hand as she stood behind the bar of The Beagle and Bugle. It had been with some reluctance that she’d left Hood, Mann & Derek, but the place hadn’t been the same without her besties by her side, pounding away at their respective keyboards. Apart from anything else, Jack had been desperate for a full-time manager who didn’t have super sticky fingers around the cash till when his back was turned. There had been a rather nasty showdown with Katie after Jack had caught her “borrowing” two hundred pounds from the restaurant’s lunchtime takings.
The job worked perfectly for Chrissie, and it meant Jack could flit between his two other pubs. It was hard work, but she loved it. And she loved Jack even more.
‘There’s only two conditions,’ Jack had said on her first day at The Beagle and Bugle.
‘What’s that? Chrissie had asked.
‘Firstly, you must promise not to drink all my gin and tonic.’
Jack had never let Chrissie forget her “tit bipsy” gaffe when she’d consumed enough G & T to open an off-licence. Chrissie had rolled her eyes. ‘Okay, I promise. And what’s the second condition?’
‘The second condition,’ Jack had said, dropping down on one knee, ‘is you have to marry your boss.’
***
Amber admired the sparkling diamond on her left hand as she stood outside the school gates waiting for Danny. From the moment she’d met him, Amber had fallen madly in love with the little boy. She would never, even if the moon turned blue, understand how his biological mother had opted to cut herself off. Nonetheless, Amber had silently thanked Nina for giving her this beautiful little boy who looked like an angel and loved her right back. A little while ago Danny had asked, with wide hopeful eyes, if he could call Amber his own special made-up name. He’d explained it was a cross between “Amber” and “Mummy”. Would she be his “Ammy”? And Amber had picked him up and hugged him tight, so he didn’t see the tears in her eyes.
‘Of course I’ll be your Ammy,’ she’d whispered.
And now, as Amber caught sight of Danny in a sea of happy children that were pouring out of the school building, she couldn’t help but smile. His hair was sticking up all over the place, mini rucksack bouncing on his back, as he headed towards the school gate. A wet painting was visible in one of his small hands. He spotted her and his face split into a banana-wide grin as he rushed towards her.
‘Look what I did for you, Ammy,’ he beamed, thrusting the damp picture at her and flinging his arms around her hips.
As they walked home together, Amber’s heart squeezed with joy. Her little boy was holding her hand, and growing inside her was another little boy. She had so much to look forward to, including her forthcoming marriage to Steve. Her fiancé loved to tease her and sing, “Here comes the bride, all fat and wide.”
‘And who’s fault is that?’ she’d quipped in mock annoyance.
‘Mine,’ Steve had said proudly. ‘My beautiful bride-to-be is up the duff. I’m over the moon, and love you so much!’ And then he’d whisked her off to their giant double bed to prove it.
Amber didn’t think she’d ever been so happy.
***
Madam Rosa had a trio of women sitting in the waiting area of her hallway. None of them knew each other, but Madam Rosa knew exactly who they were.
The elegant woman sitting rigidly on the first chair had once been known as Cougar Kate. She’d married a much younger man and, in the beginning, hoped to have his babies. But no babies had been forthcoming, and the fledgling marriage was in deep trouble – as were her finances.
The blonde female slumped on the second chair was called Emma. She was living with a two-timing window-cleaner who had recently started a relationship with a customer. This had come about after the window-cleaner had sloshed soapy water all over the bathroom window of a sultry brunette. She’d been languishing in her foaming bath giving him the come-on. It had been debatable whether it had been the window or the window-cleaner who had been in the greatest lather.
A much older lady with peroxide-blonde hair was weeping silently as she sat on the third chair. Her name was Mandy. She’d stupidly fallen for a toy boy who had pushed both her credit cards and patience to the limit.
All three women wanted to know what the future held. Madam Rosa smiled mysteriously as she cuddled Merlin, her silent black cat. She would tell each of them their future, and she would do it very accurately. Because she was the woman who knew everything.
THE END