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afters.
    Mikey disappeared; one moment he was there, and the next he’d vanished. Rose broke a plate as she cleared the table, so Ellie sent her off to watch the telly in her own room.
    Thomas patted his stomach in thoughtful fashion. ‘The weather forecast doesn’t look good, and the furrow in your brow tells me the storms are not only outside the house. Let me help you clear up, and you can tell me all about it.’
    Ellie said, ‘I’ll clear up while you make some coffee for yourself.’ She didn’t drink coffee after four in the afternoon, but she treated herself to a piece of chocolate instead. Back in the sitting room, Ellie looked at the dirty tea cups and mugs she’d forgotten to take out to the kitchen, and pushed them aside. ‘Your day went well?’
    â€˜Fine. Yours didn’t?’
    Ellie thought of all that had happened that day. Which should she tell him about first? Diana’s latest demands, the odd request from the police, or Petra’s visit? Or perhaps the worrying interview with Hugh from Pryce House?
    Those could all wait.
    She went to retrieve the letter she’d received that morning and which she’d dumped in the waste-paper basket in her study. She said, ‘Read this. There’s many a day I’ve wished I’d never met Mrs Pryce and been landed with her appalling stepchildren. Inheriting Pryce House was one thing. It takes up a chunk of my time, but I suppose it’s better that it be turned into something useful like a hotel rather than be demolished to make way for another block of flats … but honestly; if I’d known how much trouble it was going to be to keep Edwina Pryce out of the bankruptcy court, I think I’d have declined to act.’
    â€˜Nonsense,’ said Thomas. ‘You know you’ve a flair for dealing with the oddities of life. I’ll grant you Edwina is odder than most. Have you seen my reading glasses anywhere?’
    â€˜In your top pocket?’
    The Pryce children, spoiled in infancy, had assumed they could live out a life of luxury without lifting a finger to help themselves, until at last their father said, ‘No more!’ He set each one up in business and bought them flats in a good neighbourhood. The idea was that they would take responsi-bility for themselves in future. Fat chance! They squandered the lot and asked for more.
    After Mr Pryce died, his widow, following his instructions, had tried to limit the family’s excesses with varying results. Impressed by Ellie’s handling of her charitable trust fund, the good lady had left the bulk of the estate – including her white elephant of a house – to Ellie in return for keeping the surviving members of the family out of the bankruptcy court.
    The eldest daughter, Edwina, thought she had a right to shop at Harrods although she hadn’t the income to support such a habit. As soon as she found herself in debt, she passed the bills to Ellie for payment. Ellie seethed, but paid. And paid.
    Thomas found and put on his glasses. ‘Granted that Edwina has been nothing but a pain to deal with, it was worthwhile your helping her brother, wasn’t it?’
    Edgar had been by far the best of the bunch, eventually straightening out long enough to find a job and stick to it. Unfortunately, he’d contracted cancer. Vera had been his carer. She’d loved him and nursed him without expecting anything in return. Edgar had married her, adopted Mikey and, before he died, he’d asked Ellie to look after them both. It had been Edgar’s wish that Vera should pick up on the college education she’d had to forgo when a drunken school-leaving party had left her pregnant – and on her own.
    True to form, Edwina had tried to make Vera hand over the little money which Edgar had saved and left for her. Ellie had put a stop to that, which naturally had infuriated Edwina further.
    There was a third Pryce. He had a