Chapter 43

Although he was trying to hide it, Dad was not so happy. I wondered what had happened in their meeting.

“It will take a few days to set up,” said Mum. “We’ll have to make sure we have appropriate documentation and insurance.”

“How long are you taking for your break?” I asked. “Is it okay for me to miss the extra time off school? And what about your job? Will taking time off be a problem?”

“In answer to your latter questions,” answered Mum, “Richard Masson agrees that the Italians have behaved reprehensibly and has already given me the tacit go-ahead to do whatever is necessary to help you get the coin back, provided I stay within the law. However I’ll have to spend some time in work before we go to make a clean handover of all the cases I’m currently working on that can’t wait until we’re back.

“I expect the drive there and back to take at least a week,” Mum continued, “so say up to a fortnight in total. The school says you’re still doing okay but, if the worst comes to the worst, we can arrange for you to have extra tuition over the summer holidays.”

Our family wasn’t poor but we’d never seemed flush with cash before. I wondered where the money was coming from, especially with all the legal costs I had to have accrued. But now didn’t feel like an appropriate time to ask.

“You should take my car,” volunteered Dad. “You’ll be driving a long way and it’s a lot better at mile-gobbling than yours.”

“I appreciate the offer, but my car is less ostentatious and less likely to be noticed by the police. And yours has a speed trap detector, which is illegal on the continent.” Mum won the argument again.

“You’re the expert,” conceded Dad, although without rancour. “You’re welcome to use me to bounce ideas off, but you have more experience than me so I’m probably not going to be able to contribute much. I’m going to check my work e-mail because I haven’t had a chance today. Call me if you need me.”

After Dad left the room, we started planning the details. “Will you go through the Channel Tunnel?” asked Janey wistfully.

“No,” said Mum. “We won’t arrive at or leave from French ports because they’re amongst the first places the authorities will check if they suspect our involvement. I intend to take the ferry to Holland and return via Santander in Spain. Once we’re off the ferry in the Schengen Zone, if we avoid toll roads the only footprint we might leave, other than CCTV footage, is when paying for petrol, food and overnight stops.”

“You sound like you’ve done this before,” I observed.

“I’ve driven in Europe before so I’m familiar with driving on the wrong side of the road, and I can probably remember enough of the languages we’ll encounter to get by. I think your Dad was keen to go with you, but he’s got a lot on his plate at work for the next few weeks. My experience with driving on the wrong side of the road and my superior language skills were the deciding factors.”

With the help of Janey and me, Mum worked on a list of things to do or get before we left. Mum said she and I would have to do some clothes shopping too, because Summer was fast approaching and it would likely be a lot warmer in Italy than at home. Janey took that as another cause for affront.

We were still working on the to do list when Dad reappeared with a broad smile on his face. “There’s been a company-wide e-mail notification that my Regional HR Manager, Calvin Jennings, has taken immediate early retirement. I suspect pressure from the police or the company might have had something to do with it.”