I stared at him. ‘That would be amazing.’
‘Consider it done, love. I’ll go and give him a call now.’ He grinned at me, as he pulled himself up out of his chair. ‘Oh, and I wrote in that book of yours. Just a few instructions for Kyle and that.’
‘Great,’ I said, giving the others an amused glance. ‘Thank you.’
‘It’s a good idea.’
‘It is.’
He shuffled off looking pleased with himself.
‘What else do you need?’ Joyce said. ‘Paint?’
‘I’ve got all that.’
‘And the design’s finished?’
‘It is.’
‘So you just need to get cracking.’ She clapped her hands together. ‘Get on with it then.’
‘Well, I really need to wait for the scaffolding.’
‘There must be something else you can do in the meantime,’ Val pointed out. ‘Have you found Elsie?’
‘No.’
She tutted in a way that made me feel like I’d let her down.
‘And have you heard from Finn?’
‘No.’ My heart jumped at the mention of his name and Iwanted to squirm with the guilt and sadness that thinking about him brought. ‘I really don’t think there’s anything I can do about that. I really messed it up.’
‘You should write him a message, like Elsie did for her fella,’ Joyce said.
‘I did.’
She looked chuffed.
‘But that was before I made a total arse of everything.’
‘Well, why not write him another one?’
‘He wouldn’t even see it.’
‘He would if you put it on the mural.’ Joyce looked triumphant. ‘Write it in letters six feet high. He won’t be able to miss it.’
I laughed, but it was a sad laugh. ‘I’m not sure there’s much point.’
‘How far did you get when you were trying to track down Elsie’s mystery man?’ Mr Yin asked, a frown on his face.
‘Not far. We found his name and that’s it really.’ I swallowed. ‘Finn was going to look him up. I’m at a bit of a loss now. It seems I don’t have the skills for historical research. Finn was the one who was doing it really.’
Val looked at me with her sharp eyes. ‘Maybe this could be a way for you to make things up with him?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, if you find out what happened to Elsie, you could give him that knowledge as a kind of present.’ She nodded, thinking things through. ‘Have you invited Finn to the launch?’
