“There!” We turn the corner and Sadie nods at a set of French doors on the second-floor level. They’re ajar, and open onto a terrace with steps up to it from the garden. I won’t need to clamber up the ivy after all. I’m almost disappointed.
“Keep guard!” I mutter to Sadie. I creep toward the steps, slip off my wedges, and run up them silently. Cautiously, I approach the ajar French doors-and catch my breath.
There it is.
It’s lying on a dressing table, just inside the room. A long double row of beads in shimmering yellow glass, with the most exquisite carved dragonfly, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and studded with rhinestones. It’s Sadie’s necklace. Iridescent and magical, just as she described it, although it’s longer than I imagined and a few of the beads are a little battered.
As I gaze at it, I feel overcome by emotion. After all this time. After all the hunting, the hoping; after secretly wondering if it even existed anymore… here it is. Only a few feet away from me. I could practically lean over and touch it without even entering the room.
“It’s… stunning.” I turn back to Sadie, my voice a little choked. “It’s absolutely the most beautiful thing I’ve ever-”
“Get it!” She’s whirling her arms in frustration, her beads jangling. “Stop talking! Get it!”
“OK, OK!”
I swing the French doors open, take a tentative step inside, and am just reaching toward the necklace, when I hear footsteps approaching the room. In what seems like a nanosecond, the door is thrown open. Shit. Someone’s coming in.
In panic, I reverse onto the terrace and duck to one side.
“What are you doing?” demands Sadie from below. “Get the necklace!”
“Someone’s in there! I’ll wait ’til they’ve gone!”
In an instant, Sadie is up on the terrace and poking her head through the glass into the room.
“It’s a maid.” She glares at me. “You should have grabbed it!”
“I’ll get it in a minute when she’s gone! Don’t stress! Just keep a lookout!”
I back right against the wall, praying that the maid or whoever she is doesn’t decide to come out on the terrace for a breath of fresh air and madly thinking of excuses if she does.
Suddenly my heart jumps as the French doors start moving-but they’re not opening. They close with a firm clunk . The next thing I hear is the click of a key being turned.
Oh no.
Oh no, oh no.
“She’s locked you out!” Sadie darts into the room, then out again. “Now she’s gone! You’re stuck! You’re stuck!”
I rattle the French doors, but they’re well and firmly locked.
“You idiot!” Sadie is beside herself with fury. “You absolute fool! Why didn’t you just grab it?”
“I was about to!” I retort defensively. “You should have gone to check if anyone was coming!”
“Well, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know !”
There’s silence as we face each other, panting slightly.
“I need to put my shoes on,” I say at last. I head down the steps and slip on my wedges. Above, Sadie is still darting in and out of the room in frustration, as though she can’t bear to relinquish her necklace. At last she gives up and joins me on the grass. For a few moments neither of us meets the other’s eye.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t quicker at grabbing it,” I mumble at last.
“Well,” says Sadie, clearly making a supreme effort. “I suppose it wasn’t completely your fault.”
“Let’s go around the house. We may be able to slip in somewhere. Go inside and see if the coast is clear.”
As Sadie disappears, I creep cautiously over the grass and start moving along the wall of the house. I’m making slow progress, because every time I pass a window I duck down and crawl on my stomach. Although that won’t exactly help if one of the security guards comes along-
“There you are!” Sadie pops out of the wall beside me. “Guess what?”
“Jesus!” I clasp my chest. “What?”
“It’s your uncle! I’ve been watching him! He’s just been to his safe in his bedroom. He looked in it, but he couldn’t find what he wanted. Then he banged it shut and started shouting for Diamanté. The girl. Odd name.” She wrinkles her nose.
“My cousin.” I nod. “Another of your great-nieces.”
“She was in the kitchen. He said he needed a private word and sent all the staff away. Then he demanded, had she been going in his safe and taking things? Then he said an old necklace was missing and did she know anything about it?”
“Oh my God.” I stare back at her. “Oh my God! What did she say?”
“She said no, but he didn’t believe her.”
“Maybe she’s lying.” My mind is working overtime. “Maybe that’s her bedroom, where the necklace was.”
“Exactly! So we have to get it now, before he realizes where it is and locks it away again. There’s no one around. All the staff have got out of the way. We can go through the house.”
I haven’t got time to think about whether this is a good idea or not. My heart pumping, I follow Sadie to a side door and in through a laundry room as big as my whole flat. She beckons me through a pair of swing doors, down a passage, then holds up a hand as we reach the hall, her eyes widening warily. I can hear Uncle Bill shouting, his voice increasing in volume.