Flower Girls

Chapter 13 - The Necklace

Matthew was up to something.

After eighteen years of essentially ignoring me, he had started walking past me in the corridor with a smirk. It wasn't a friendly smile, it was a smile that told me he knew something I didn't. I started to worry he might have found out about Jade, but she assured me she had been careful. She couldn't see any way he could know about her abilities.

That was good, because I suspected if he found out, he would try to take her from me.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that Matthew was up to something. He was acting too strangely for me to ignore it. I decided to discuss it with Jade again over dinner.

"What do you think we should do?" asked Jade as she speared her carrot with her fork and pushed it into her mouth.

"I don't know," I mused. "There must be some way of getting into his lab and finding out what's going on."

"How about with a key?" asked Jade.

"We don't have a key," I pointed out.

"No, we don't yet," Jade smiled. "But all the security guards know and trust me, I think I might be able to persuade them I left something inside the lab. We could slip in and have a look? Even if they say we can't, it must at least be worth trying?"

I couldn't see the harm in trying either, so I agreed that we'd go to the lab and talk to the security guards. After all, I'd worked at the lab for nearly twenty years, so it's not like I was a stranger either.

The sun was setting as we pulled up to the laboratory. We parked in our usual spot and went to the security hut.

"Hi," waved Jade to Tom, who was on duty tonight.

The burly man smiled and waved back at her. He had been here longer than I had, but he still looked like he could take down someone twenty years younger than him if he needed to.

"Jade, my love," he said affectionately. "Caroline," he nodded to me. "Why are you here? It's a bit late for working isn't it?"

"Yeah, I've been an idiot and left my purse inside the lab," replied Jade. "I want to take Mum out to dinner, but I need my money. I can't let her pay for me again! I was tidying up the eastern block earlier, so I guess it's in there. Do you mind if I have a look?"

Tom rolled his eyes.

"You know I'm not supposed to," he said. "But given that it's you two, and I know you, it should be fine. Go on."

Tom handed Jade the set of silver keys and she gave him a wide smile.

"Thank you so much, Tom," she said, as she pulled me towards the doors that would lead us into the main building.

"Just hand them back to me on your way out," he called as he returned to his desk in the hut.

I hadn't often been in here at this time in the evening before. I knew some people worked late but it was silent tonight, making the corridors seem eerie. The only sound was the sound of our quiet footsteps as we made our way towards Matthew's lab.

Jade opened the door and stepped inside.

There was no sign of Matthew, thank goodness, but the lab was messier than I'd ever seen it. Papers were laid out everywhere and the bins were full of scrunched up paperwork.

"When was the last time you tidied up in here?" I asked my daughter, knowing it was part of her job.

"Matthew hasn't let anyone in here for weeks," she replied.