Page 4 of The Secret Christmas Library
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, you know when phone companies promise you ninety-nine per cent coverage? Well, I live in that very special one per cent.’
‘Aren’t they making home phones digital soon, too?’
‘So they say,’ he said gloomily. ‘I had to 1471 you.’
‘Huh?’
‘It’s what they did in the old days, to see who’d rung . . . maybe I’ll have to go back to handwritten letters.’
‘I bet you wouldn’t mind that,’ said Mirren, then could have bitten her tongue at how rude that sounded.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked, reasonably.
‘Oh,’ said Mirren, recovering quite quickly, ‘because you’re looking for a book finder. So you sound like a . . . a pen-and-paper kind of a person.’
‘Oh, yes!’ His laugh was easy. ‘So I am. Anyway. Yes. Hi. So, I need a book found. And according to this plaque I saw in the British Museum, you’re the person to get in touch with.’
‘Why can’t you find it yourself?’ said Mirren.
‘Well, that’s definitely a hard sell,’ said Jamie. ‘I thought we’d just negotiate a price.’
Mirren was quiet for a minute, then said, ‘Where do you think it is?’
‘It’s in my house.’
‘Are you being funny?’
‘Sadly not,’ said Jamie.
‘Are you just a massive weirdo who gets their rocks off by approaching strange women?’
He laughed. ‘In theBritish Museum?’
‘True,’ said Mirren. ‘That is more of a London Library thing.’
‘Look. I have a really big house. And there’s a book in it somewhere, left by my grandfather – I think – but I can’t track it down.’
‘You think?’
‘It’s referred to. In his . . . notes.’ He sounded rather shifty.
Mirren couldn’t help it. She felt a lurch of excitement inside. The adventure she had yearned for; the change to the daily routine. And books, of course; anything to do with books. She tried to keep the curiosity out of her voice.
‘What’s the book?’
‘Ah, yeah. Well.’
‘What??’
‘I don’t know.’
‘So you need me to find a book in your house but you don’t know what it’s called or where it is.’
‘That’s very much about the size of it.’
‘And you are where . . .?’
