Liars All by Jo Bannister

opened it without a word.

    The only cool thing for Brodie to have done at that point was laugh lightly and turn away, leaving the pages unread. But for Brodie, cool always took second place to profit. She was a businesswoman to the tips of her well-manicured fingernails. Looking for Something? wasn’t just a way to pay the bills: it had provided her with a life worth having after John left. It had made her who she was. And she liked who she was, even if the cricket on her shoulder was embarrassed sometimes.
    She was grateful to Daniel for babysitting it. And it was true that she trusted him. But they both knew it wasn’t a business he had much talent for, and she trusted his instincts much less than she trusted her own. So she inspected the diary carefully, ignoring his unwavering gaze.
    â€˜Who’s Margaret Carson?’
    â€˜Someone who’s trying to buy back the past.’ Daniel told her about the murderous thief and the guilt of the woman who spawned him.
    Brodie frowned. ‘What does she want us to find?’
    Daniel noted that us without commenting. ‘The jewellery. The engagement ring, and a necklace belonging to the boy’s mother. They were the last things Tom Sanger gave to Jane Moss, and Mrs Carson wants to give them back.’
    â€˜Were they valuable?’
    Daniel regarded her levelly. ‘Yes. They cost a life.’
    Brodie had learnt not to rise when he took the moral high ground. ‘Financially. What were they worth in hard cash? What do we base our percentage on?’

    Daniel shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. The necklace was in the family for a generation. I suppose there’s a receipt somewhere for the engagement ring, but Mrs Carson wouldn’t know where to find it. Anyway, is that what we base our fees on? When Carson fenced the things, he’d get a fraction of their actual value.’
    With world travel and still the hope of expensive medical procedures to fund, Brodie couldn’t afford to be sentimental. ‘We base our cut on what the jewels are worth, not what a fence would give for them. Apart from anything else, it’ll be a costly business tracking them down. If Mrs Carson wants to return the jewels, how’s she planning on paying us? Or their new owner?’
    â€˜She says she’ll sell her house if she has to. And maybe, if someone bought them in good faith, he won’t want paying.’
    â€˜Yeah, right,’ said Brodie, heavily ironic. ‘I keep telling you, Daniel, most people don’t share your delicate scruples. Nobody is going to return valuable jewellery for nothing but the satisfaction of doing a good thing. They’re going to want at least what they paid.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t think this is one for us. If the police couldn’t find the jewellery, I don’t see how we can.’
    â€˜But that’s always the case,’ Daniel pointed out. ‘People only ever come to us after the usual paths have petered out. What we can do, that Jack or an insurance investigator can’t, is spend time looking. With a big organisation behind them, they have to cost their time at hundreds of pounds an hour. Even good jewellery wouldn’t be worth a week’s searching. We can do it for
a lot less than that. You know that’s so. If it wasn’t, this business couldn’t exist.’
    Brodie was watching him with her head tilted to one side like a bird’s. ‘You want to do this, don’t you?’
    â€˜I felt sorry for her,’ he nodded. ‘She feels terrible about what her son did. She wants to try to make amends. She can’t bring the boy back, or undo the damage to the girl. This is all she can think of – to restore the jewellery to its owner. It’s the only kind of peace she’s going to find. I’d like to help her, if I can.’
    â€˜They’re not lost property, though, are they?’ Brodie reminded him. ‘They were