Daniel took the record from her hand. ‘You think this is what they’re after?’
‘Maybe. It’s the only thing in the shop that has something to do with him. Why would Matilda have this if he didn’t marry her?’ Fern’s heart began to race. ‘What if it was a business decision?’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘What if this vinyl is worth something?’
‘It’s not going to be worth the sum of money that the anonymous buyer is wanting for this place.’
Fern heard what Daniel was saying but something about the record felt important.
‘Let’s find out,’ Fern said. ‘That can’t be too difficult.’
Daniel rummaged through the drawers until he found an old brass-handled magnifying glass and one of Matilda’s battered collector’s guides,Vinyl Worth Collecting: Rare First Pressings. He turned the record over carefully. There, on the back of the sleeve, almost hidden in the fine print, was a small code:SBR001.
‘South Bank Records. First release,’ Daniel muttered. He flipped it over and carefully eased the disc from its sleeve.
Fern watched closely as he tilted the vinyl under the light then peered through the magnifying glass. ‘No warping. Just a couple of surface scuffs. Pretty damn clean,’ he said before flipping to the page in the book on Nathaniel Loring. ‘All right, let’s see what we’ve got.’ He squinted at the fine print.
‘First pressing, near mint condition,’ he read aloud. ‘Verifiable provenance, £45,000 to £75,000. Higher at auction.’
Fern’s pulse quickened. ‘Itisworth something then?’
‘But not the cost of this building,’ Daniel said, his voice a little flat.
‘It’s still a hell of a lot of money. Check the dead wax,’ Fern said, her voice tight.
Daniel leaned in closer with a magnifying glass, turning the vinyl carefully in his hands. He inspected the matrix numbers near the centre label:SBR001-A1andSBR001-B1.
‘First pressing, both sides,’ he confirmed.
But Fern’s attention was fixed elsewhere. She looked at the inscription on the record’s label, the tiny script etched there. It was faint, almost indecipherable unless you were looking for it, but she knew it was there. She bent closer to the label and read aloud, ‘M, For everything I owe you, N.’
Daniel frowned. ‘What does that mean? It sounds like a transaction.’
‘Not a gift,’ Fern murmured, running her fingers over the words. ‘Maybe a payment or a debt. Maybe it was something to do with why the wedding was called off?’
Daniel stared at her, his brow furrowing. ‘Possibly. But it still doesn’t explainwhythe wedding was called off.’
‘That is the question. We need to keep this safe.’
‘There’s a safe at the back of the shop until we decide what we are doing with it.’
After the vinyl was locked safely away, Daniel asked, ‘What are you thinking is our next move?’
‘I know you said start with Alistair, but I’m thinking we pay Dorothy another visit instead, and we tell her it’s Matilda’s dress and that we know she went to college with her brother, but we don’t say anything about the vinyl.’
Daniel nodded. ‘If you give me two minutes, I know of a vinyl expert. I can give him a ring and arrange an appointment, let him take a look.’
‘Sounds like a plan.’
* * *
Ten minutes later they were sitting opposite Dorothy in her conservatory, a steaming pot of tea on the table in front of them.
‘We have news about the dress,’ Fern began. ‘We met with Eliza Valentine and she spoke so fondly of you, even shared how you helped her secure her very first shop in Sea’s End.’
‘She was a lovely friend and went on to be a huge success.’
