Jane Actually

seat at the table.
    Melody was not finished, however. She leaned in close to the woman and asked, “Do you know how much damage …”
    “Enough, Melody,” Jane said. “Enough.”
    Mary put a hand on Melody’s shoulder and gently moved her away from the woman.
    “No, I don’t think we’re quite done,” Stephen said. “What did you mean earlier, that events beyond your control would make it public?”
    But Alice said nothing and Stephen asked again, “Dr Davis? What did you mean?”
    “Uh, she meant the sale of the journal,” Courtney said. “Sotheby’s was going to announce tomorrow … its discovery … a teaser before they announce it’s for sale.”
    “Then maybe you ought to tell them it’s a fake,” Stephen said. “What about the letter?”
    “Like she said, with the British Library. Mrs Westerby … the old lady who owns it … she was going to give it to the library and sell the journal. I guess now she’ll just sell …”
    “If you would be so kind, Mr Blake, please tell her I will buy it,” Jane said. “If she is a descendant of the Gorrell family …”
    “Yes, of course. Right.” He gathered up the photos and put them back in his messenger bag. “Well then, best we are off, Dr Davis.”
    He helped her to stand and then turned to address the others. “I’ll notify Sotheby’s. I’m sorry … about the trouble. I thought …”
    “I thought it was genuine,” Alice said, “because it served my purpose. Yes Court, we should go.”

Falling on his sword
Stephen begs forgiveness
    “P lease Mary, I had no idea what she was up to, you’ve got to believe me.”
    Mary tried to ignore him as she collected the terminal from the middle of the table and disconnected the speakers. The only people left in the room were herself, Stephen and presumably Jane.
    “I haven’t talked to her for two weeks. Hell, I didn’t even know about this … showdown until I got a phone call from Austen telling me to come to this meeting.”
    “Jane called you?” she asked, not looking at Stephen while she searched for her earbuds.
    “Yes … which is pretty weird. There’s something about talking to a dead person over the phone that’s unsettling.”
    Mary finally found the earbuds in her bag and inserted them.
    “They prefer to be called disembodied,” Mary said, but not very loudly.
    “Do not be tiresome, Mary,” Jane told her. “And let the poor man explain himself.”
    “We have that BBC film crew coming up to the room in thirty minutes and I have to get ready,” Mary silently said to Jane.
    “That’s not as important as you talking to Stephen now. Hear him out.”
    “Very well,” Mary said out loud. “So you’re telling me you had no idea Dr Davis wanted to accuse Jane during her breakout session?”
    She shoved back one of the chairs around the conference table.
    “No. I mean yes, I had no idea.”
    “And you had no idea she had it in for Jane?” She shoved back another chair while Stephen followed her.
    “OK, that I knew. I mean that’s why I called you, when you were in Seattle.”
    “And before that, you didn’t know? You didn’t know when we met in Chicago, for instance?” She moved another chair but Stephen stopped following her.
    “Uh … well, yes I knew that … she asked me to look into … um …”
    Mary turned back to face him. “Spit it out,” she said, and shoved another chair against the table. He jumped back at the sound.
    “Well like I said earlier, she wanted me to find out how Austen claimed her identity. That’s why I started looking through the Chawton inventory, to see if there was some letter or memento that’d been overlooked. It was a long shot, but once I got started, well it was fun. And that’s how I knew about the missing inventory list … you know, the thing that cast doubt on the journal.” He wanted to add, “The thing that made my advisor look stupid and put a fork in my academic career.”
    She looked back at him as he said the last, the pleading in his voice unmistakable.
    “Oh, yes, although I’m not really sure I understand. Why ‘good riddance to bad rubbish?’”
    “It’s a mystery to me as well, but it might have something to do with that SOE.”
    “What’s that mean?”
    “I think it means Special Operations Executive. During the war, it was a top-secret department that played tricks against the Nazis. They did all sorts of propaganda and assassinations and blew things up, and they also had to be really good