Page 8 of The Impossible Fortune

‘You left it where it was? There is a live bomb still attached to your car?’

‘I had a wedding to go to,’ says Nick, motioning over his shoulder.

Elizabeth nods. ‘And if it should go off sometime today – bombs do, you know – you’ll be fine with it killing one of your neighbours?’

‘I live on Hampton Road,’ says Nick.

Elizabeth understands. Big houses, big grounds. If thebomb were to go off, the worst that would happen is that someone complained about the noise.

‘And also,’ says Nick, ‘you don’t know my neighbours.’

‘Tell me your story,’ says Elizabeth. ‘And then we’ll worry about the unexploded bomb.’

Nick starts to speak, but his brain stops him. He’s nervous, which excites Elizabeth a little. Nervous ofwhom?

Elizabeth sits completely still, and waits. It can take a while, but, if you are still long enough, they come to you. Fitful babies, zooming kittens, men with secrets. With nothing to bounce off, their nervous energy eventually seems ridiculous to them, and across they trot.

‘We told only two people,’ says Nick.

‘Told only two people what?’ Elizabeth asks.

Nick puffs out his cheeks and looks over both shoulders.

‘Tell me everything,’ says Elizabeth. ‘But be quick: life is short. No offence intended.’

‘It started at uni,’ says Nick. ‘Paul and I had a –’

‘No,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Don’t start there. Start this week.’

‘To really understand –’ says Nick.

‘No,’ says Elizabeth, a little firmer this time. You sometimes have to be firm with amateurs. She had learned that with Joyce, though Joyce could pass for a professional these days. ‘Start with the headline and we can work backwards if I’m interested. You have ten words, or I’m returning to the party. Eventually they will play a song I recognize.’

‘I’m out of my depth,’ says Nick.

‘That’s five words already,’ says Elizabeth, getting up.

Nick places a hand on her sleeve. ‘They want something we have.’

‘Well, that’s better,’ says Elizabeth, sitting down again. It turns out she didn’t die with Stephen. She lives. She closes her eyes in silent apology to her husband. I’m still here, darling. Still here, while you are gone. I suspect I should just make the best of it.

‘What is it that you have? That you told only two people about?’

‘A code,’ says Nick. ‘A six-digit code. I have one, and my business partner has one.’

‘Business partner’s name?’ Elizabeth asks.

‘Holly,’ says Nick. ‘Holly Lewis.’

‘And people might want these codes that the two of you have?’

‘They would be very valuable, yep,’ says Nick. ‘Like,veryvaluable.’

‘And where is your code?’ Elizabeth asks.

‘In my head,’ says Nick.

‘Nowhere else?’