be hers and the arrangements awaiting her agreement for the way it would be set up. She signed pages and pages of legal documents in a daze, not even bothering to read most of the details.
The lawyer escorted her to the door of the chambers and shook her hand.
‘Congratulations, Miss Carter. You are a very lucky young woman.’
The breeze from the river had lifted, the leaves on the trees dotted geometrically along the Inns of Court barely fluttered now, and the whole world felt unreal to Aurelia.
She retraced her steps to the train station, moving in a daze through the busy London streets and crossed into the City. On the corner of Bishopsgate, she felt a pang of hunger in her stomach and stopped at one of the fruit stalls that dotted the street and picked up a punnet of strawberries. As she did so, she once again felt someone’s eyes on her, drilling into the back of her neck. She abruptly turned round, submerged by that unsettling if illogical feeling she was being followed or watched. But there was nothing she could focus on. She bit into one of the plump red fruits, still observing the passers-by with uncommon attention. This was real life, not a thriller, no one could be following her, surely. Why would they?
She tucked the remainder of the berries into her handbag and walked down the steps into the train station.
Her train to the coast was already on the platform and half empty. Aurelia settled in and reviewed the morning in her mind in an attempt to make sense of it all. There was an announcement on the Tannoy, the carriage’s doors closed and the train rumbled off. She glanced through the window and noticed the dark silhouette of a man standing at the entrance to the platform, receding in the distance with every passing second.
Aurelia looked away distractedly, and hunted through her purse for a tissue. The tips of her fingers were still red, stained with the juice from her strawberry.
Aurelia began to spend more and more time walking along the estuary. She had not yet told her godparents of her new wealth. Perhaps it was her way of clinging to the past, knowing that change was now inevitable. Siv often joined her, and it became their regular Sunday-afternoon jaunt. They would walk along the waterfront to Old Leigh and stop for fish and chips and an ice cream in a cone and sit together looking out at the white sails that dotted the gentle waves and the thread of smoke that bloomed into the sky from the Canvey oil refinery across the water.
They talked about the future, but never with any particular certainty. The topic often turned to Aurelia’s trust fund, and what she might do with it. Siv tossed possibilities into the air at random like a juggler.
‘You could buy a zoo,’ she said. ‘And become a lion tamer. Or a big yacht,’ she added, ‘and we could sail to Madagascar. I’ll be your first mate, of course.’
Aurelia paused with her chip halfway to her mouth and pursed her lips, considering these fantastic new suggestions, never quite sure whether her friend was being serious.
‘I’m not allowed the money, though, until I finish my education.’
‘You’re allowed to spend some of it on your education, right?’
‘Yes, that’s what the lawyer said. Part of it is for university and then once I’ve finished that, I’m allowed the rest, to do what I like with.’
‘Well then. You’ll have to have an extra extravagant education. The School of Rock? Space Camp? Why not somewhere abroad?’
Aurelia shrugged. ‘I suppose so. I like it here, though. I’d miss the sea.’
Siv sighed. ‘The money is wasted on you,’ she said. ‘You couldn’t care less, could you?’
‘Well, what would you do with it?’
‘Circus school. There’s one in America. But, even if I could afford it, my parents would never let me. They want me to do something practical. My mum thinks I should be a nurse.’
Aurelia snorted. ‘You’d make the worst nurse in the world. Ginger could be a nurse. He
The lawyer escorted her to the door of the chambers and shook her hand.
‘Congratulations, Miss Carter. You are a very lucky young woman.’
The breeze from the river had lifted, the leaves on the trees dotted geometrically along the Inns of Court barely fluttered now, and the whole world felt unreal to Aurelia.
She retraced her steps to the train station, moving in a daze through the busy London streets and crossed into the City. On the corner of Bishopsgate, she felt a pang of hunger in her stomach and stopped at one of the fruit stalls that dotted the street and picked up a punnet of strawberries. As she did so, she once again felt someone’s eyes on her, drilling into the back of her neck. She abruptly turned round, submerged by that unsettling if illogical feeling she was being followed or watched. But there was nothing she could focus on. She bit into one of the plump red fruits, still observing the passers-by with uncommon attention. This was real life, not a thriller, no one could be following her, surely. Why would they?
She tucked the remainder of the berries into her handbag and walked down the steps into the train station.
Her train to the coast was already on the platform and half empty. Aurelia settled in and reviewed the morning in her mind in an attempt to make sense of it all. There was an announcement on the Tannoy, the carriage’s doors closed and the train rumbled off. She glanced through the window and noticed the dark silhouette of a man standing at the entrance to the platform, receding in the distance with every passing second.
Aurelia looked away distractedly, and hunted through her purse for a tissue. The tips of her fingers were still red, stained with the juice from her strawberry.
Aurelia began to spend more and more time walking along the estuary. She had not yet told her godparents of her new wealth. Perhaps it was her way of clinging to the past, knowing that change was now inevitable. Siv often joined her, and it became their regular Sunday-afternoon jaunt. They would walk along the waterfront to Old Leigh and stop for fish and chips and an ice cream in a cone and sit together looking out at the white sails that dotted the gentle waves and the thread of smoke that bloomed into the sky from the Canvey oil refinery across the water.
They talked about the future, but never with any particular certainty. The topic often turned to Aurelia’s trust fund, and what she might do with it. Siv tossed possibilities into the air at random like a juggler.
‘You could buy a zoo,’ she said. ‘And become a lion tamer. Or a big yacht,’ she added, ‘and we could sail to Madagascar. I’ll be your first mate, of course.’
Aurelia paused with her chip halfway to her mouth and pursed her lips, considering these fantastic new suggestions, never quite sure whether her friend was being serious.
‘I’m not allowed the money, though, until I finish my education.’
‘You’re allowed to spend some of it on your education, right?’
‘Yes, that’s what the lawyer said. Part of it is for university and then once I’ve finished that, I’m allowed the rest, to do what I like with.’
‘Well then. You’ll have to have an extra extravagant education. The School of Rock? Space Camp? Why not somewhere abroad?’
Aurelia shrugged. ‘I suppose so. I like it here, though. I’d miss the sea.’
Siv sighed. ‘The money is wasted on you,’ she said. ‘You couldn’t care less, could you?’
‘Well, what would you do with it?’
‘Circus school. There’s one in America. But, even if I could afford it, my parents would never let me. They want me to do something practical. My mum thinks I should be a nurse.’
Aurelia snorted. ‘You’d make the worst nurse in the world. Ginger could be a nurse. He
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