‘I do know,’ says Joyce. Elizabeth still paces, listening to Donna. It occurs to Joyce that this whole thing could have been done over the phone, but Elizabeth had decided to come in person. Why was that? Is she rediscovering the thrill of the chase maybe? Good for her if she is.
Joyce looks around again. ‘What a lot of cats you have, Jasper? Which is your favourite?’
‘Favourite?’ asks Jasper. ‘I can’t bear them.’
‘I see,’ says Joyce.
‘I got one for Christmas once from an aunt,’ says Jasper. ‘And you know how over-enthusiastic one gets when one receives a disappointing present?’
Joyce nods. ‘Joanna bought me a water purifier and the grinning almost killed me.’
‘Every Christmas and every birthday since, they’d come,’ says Jasper. ‘Oh, he’ll love this, old Jasper. This is just the thing for Jasper. My wife found the whole thing a hoot, started encouraging them. It was funny, I admit that.’
‘But why still have them all on display?’ Joyce asks.
‘You never know when people are going to come round, do you?’ says Jasper. ‘And if they don’t see their present on display, what would they think?’
Elizabeth finishes her call. ‘Come on, Joyce, work to do. Has Paul got back to us about Holly Lewis?’
Joyce looks at Jasper. He is trying to hide his disappointment that his visitors are leaving.
‘I don’t suppose you could make us a cup of tea, Jasper?’
‘No time, Joyce,’ says Elizabeth.
‘I’m afraid I don’t have any tea,’ says Jasper.
‘Not to worry,’ says Joyce.
‘Or teacups.’
‘Perhaps you should buy a couple of mugs?’ Joyce says. ‘And keep some PG Tips in the cupboard?’
Jasper nods. ‘Where would I buy mugs though?’
‘I saw a lovely charity shop on the high street,’ says Joyce. ‘Near the station. A British Heart Foundation.’
Jasper grimaces, as if this might be beyond him. Joyce hugs him, and feels his initial resistance soften as she does so.
‘We’ll see you soon, Jasper,’ says Joyce.
Jasper nods. ‘Maybe if you find the bomb, you could bring it with you? I’d really like to get my screwdriver in there and have a poke around.’
Joyce looks at Jasper’s tracksuit trousers, sagging and old. She looks at his eyes, pale and watery, glad of the company and sad to see it go.
Joyce knows then that she will be coming back to see Jasper again one day, and she will make sure Elizabeth will be coming too.
How many men like Jasper sit behind beige front doors in quiet bungalows, not knowing how to dress or what to eat or where to go? Wanting above all else not to be a nuisance? Joyce wishes she could save them all.
19
‘And I can still do sit-ups,’ says Ibrahim, topping up his glass of wine at the contemporary upscale restaurant at Coopers Chase. ‘I still have both the muscle mass and the flexibility.’
‘I see,’ says Holly.
There is nothing Ibrahim likes better than somebody new to talk to, but Holly Lewis is not proving the easiest customer. But she has just been summoned to dinner by four pensioners, so perhaps that’s understandable.
Elizabeth brought him up to speed before the dinner. Nick Silver had information. Somebody planted a bomb under his car and then Nick disappeared. The lady opposite them, Holly Lewis, is Nick’s business partner, though even Elizabeth is currently hazy as to exactly what their business might be. Storage. A very profitable business all round. People always needed storage, didn’t they? Ibrahim currently has some pots he’s not sure what to do with, for example.
Also, if Elizabeth is to be believed, Holly Lewis is one of three main suspects in the attempted murder of Nick Silver, so it’s possible he is making small talk with a psychopath.
Not for the first time.
‘You are very kind to come and see us, Holly,’ says Joyce.
‘I don’t know if it’s kindness,’ says Holly. ‘I want to find Nick. I thought perhaps you could help.’
‘Even so,’ says Joyce, ‘I baked you some brownies to say thank you.’
Joyce hands over a Tupperware box. Ibrahim notes that the box looks quite heavy.
‘They’re a bit dense, I’m afraid,’ says Joyce. ‘But I didn’t have a lot of warning you were coming, and I accidentally overdid it with the flour.’
Holly nods a thank you, and puts the brownies in her bag, Ibrahim noting the handle of the bag straining on the chair as they land.
‘Are you Joyce?’ Holly asks.
‘For my sins,’ says Joyce.
‘Joanna’s mum?’ Holly asks.
‘Yes,’ says Joyce. ‘I mean, more than just Joanna’s mum, a woman in my own right, but, yes. Are you friends?’
‘No,’ says Holly. ‘I know her by reputation.’
‘All good I hope!’ says Joyce.
Holly doesn’t reply.
‘Of course strength training is important too,’ says Ibrahim. ‘May I pour you a glass of white, Ron?’
‘Not this evening, thanks,’ says Ron. ‘Wedding headache.’
‘It really was a terrific wedding, Holly,’ says Ibrahim. ‘I’m so sorry you couldn’t come.’
‘Work,’ says Holly. ‘And once you’ve been to one wedding –’
‘You’re not married, Holly?’ Joyce asks.
‘Am I wearing a ring?’ asks Holly.
‘Well, no,’ says Joyce. ‘But Joanna says not everybody wears a ring, so I didn’t want to assume.’
‘Is Joanna wearing a ring?’ Holly asks.
‘She is,’ says Joyce.
‘I’ll bet,’ says Holly. ‘Good for her.’
Ibrahim is not sure he remembers the last time that Joyce met someone she was unable to charm.
‘No kids, Holly?’ Ron asks.
‘They’re not compulsory,’ says Holly.
‘Don’t blame you,’ says Ron.
‘Haven’t met the right man, perhaps?’ says Ibrahim.
‘Something like that,’ says Holly. She turns to Elizabeth. ‘They said you can help me find Nick?’
‘Yes, if you can help us, I think we can help you,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Nick tells me you work in “cold storage”, and I can’t quite get to the bottom of it. In my line of work “cold storage” was where you kept corpses until it was politically expedient to return them to their mother country, but I’m guessing that’s not what you do?’
Holly stops eating her broccoli tart for a moment. ‘No, that’s not what we do. We work for companies, individuals, and we look after the security of their computers or their files. Anything they want kept secret.’
‘Ah,’ says Ibrahim. ‘That’s what I suspected. Online security, firewalls, the cloud. I have read around the issue.’
‘The exact opposite,’ says Holly.
‘Yes, yes,’ says Ibrahim. ‘I thought as much, the exact opposite. Three hundred and sixty degrees.’
‘What do you mean, the exact opposite?’ asks Elizabeth.
‘We’ve all got so used to security being online,’ says Holly. ‘Financial details, corporate secrets, crypto trades, all hidden behind walls.’
‘Crypto is Bitcoin,’ says Joyce, tucking into her shepherd’s pie. ‘You mustn’t tell Joanna, but I lost fourteen thousand pounds.’
‘I don’t really know Joanna,’ says Holly. ‘I told you.’
‘Oh, she’s terrific,’ says Ibrahim.
Holly ignores him and continues her train of thought. ‘But at the very, very top level of security, because of hackers –’
‘Computer hackers,’ says Ibrahim, nodding wisely.
‘Companies and individuals turn to “cold storage”. Whatever secrets they want to keep, they never go near any sort of connected computer. Instead they use companies like us, and they store their documents, more usually their hard drives, with us. We physically lock them up.’