Chapter 24

At night in Coopers Chase, Elizabeth tests her memory using her appointments diary. Two weeks earlier she wrote a question asking for the registration number of Gwen Talbot’s daughter-in-law’s new car, and she correctly recalls it as JL17 BCH. The success reassures Elizabeth because the daily questions are her private early-warning system against cognitive decline.

Elizabeth reflects on how fear of memory loss haunts Coopers Chase. Small lapses can seem harmless, but every forgotten name or muddled errand carries the threat of becoming someone who can no longer take part in trips, games, or the Thursday Murder Club.

Elizabeth then turns to Stephen, who is sitting in the living room. Earlier that day, Stephen had worried that Emily was getting too thin and should visit more often, but Elizabeth reveals that Emily was not Stephen’s daughter; Stephen has no children, and Emily was Stephen’s first wife, who died nearly twenty-five years ago. Stephen, once a distinguished expert in Middle-Eastern art, is now in serious decline.

Elizabeth makes tea and thinks about how carefully she is managing Stephen’s condition. She reads his locked-away writing, which often repeats newspaper passages or returns to Emily, and she accepts that Stephen will no longer travel to London for work or research. Elizabeth is sedating Stephen with temazepam and keeping him at home for as long as possible, knowing that a fall, illness, or doctor’s visit will eventually expose the situation.

As Elizabeth prepares for PC Donna De Freitas and Donna’s DCI to visit, Elizabeth considers how to trade the information she and Joyce obtained in London for information from the police. Elizabeth then writes a new diary question based on what Joanna and Cornelius found in Ian Ventham’s records: how much money Ian made from Tony Curran’s death. The answer is £12.25 million.