I laughed. ‘I know. I’ve got the message.’
Ally laughed too. ‘Rebecca has a big birthday coming up and I know Katie wants the others to don their bonnets and do something special for her. That could maybe take care of the “finding an old friend” part of the programme, and if the party they plan is anything like ones they’ve had in the past, it will be a hoot. Their celebrations are legendary.’
‘They sound perfect for the programme. Do you have clips of their performances?’
‘Some. I also have a lot of the original correspondence if you’d like to see it. I think that writing with a pseudo-name allowed them to express many things they maybe wouldn’t have been able to say otherwise. I also have photos of some of the hilarious outfits they wore for various birthdays.’
I felt a rush of adrenalin. I couldn’t wait to tell Gary. He’d fall over himself to get them to sign up for the programme, as would I. But I decided to play it cool. Ally wanted this to help promote The Bonnets of Bath book as much as I wanted it, and I had an idea of how I could make it work for both of us.
‘I will put The Bonnets on the short list,’ I said.
‘Short list?’
‘We have a few possibilities. I’d have to put The Bonnets to the team.’
I saw that Ally’s face had dropped.
‘Unless …’
‘Unless what?’ asked Ally.
‘Unless you agree to take part in programme six and the search for Mitch.’
Ally narrowed her eyes. ‘Sneaky.’
‘No more than you wanting your group put forward in order to promote their book.’
‘Always the TV producer,’ said Ally.
I shrugged and grinned, just as she had minutes earlier. I put out my hand. ‘Deal?’
She let out a deep breath then shook. ‘Deal.’ I felt a sensation of warmth at the beginning of our renewed bond and thought that a good rule to remember is that it’s never too late to reconnect with those who mean something to you.
‘It will be an adventure, Ally, and maybe just what you need at this point in your life.’
Ally nodded. ‘Maybe. I know Michael wouldn’t want me moping.’
‘So all we have to do now is find Mitch.’
‘Any more leads?’
‘Jo said she’d look into records to try and trace Mitch’s family and see if they’re still in Manchester or indeed the UK. Er … and Jo and I are going to see a psychic detective to see if they can shed any light.’
‘A what?’
‘Psychic detective. Too late. You shook on the deal. Jo’s going to come with me.’
Ally rolled her eyes. ‘Ever thought of just getting a normal detective to help? Someone who specializes in finding missing people.’
‘And ruin all the fun? Want to come with us?’
Ally laughed. ‘No way. I won’t come and see the psychic but … I might take you up on your offer to come and stay with you. Here, every room, every surface is a reminder of Michael. He was such a presence in this house and now such an absence.’
‘I’d love to have you,’ I said. ‘How about we do a trip up north? Revisit some of our old haunts and see if there are any clues about Mitch while we’re there.’
‘I’d be up for that. Since we’ve been talking about her so much, Mitch has been on my mind a lot these last few days. I mean, look at us three, you, Jo and me. So many changes in our lives since we were those young girls in Manchester. I’d love to know her story.’
‘Me too.’
Chapter Nineteen
Mitch
Summer 1974
It was about a month after I’d learnt that Jack had died that I came across the Rainbow Children. A sweet-faced man – wearing a red bandana wrapped around wavy dark hair, dressed in jeans and an orange-coloured kaftan – handed me a leaflet in Portobello Road. I was coming out of The Seventh Star, a shop that sold incense, vegetarian food and hippie clothing. I’d got a job working there four days a week with Fi’s flatmate Lesley, and Fi worked there too on Saturdays to help subsidize her student grant. It reminded me of On the Eighth Day, a shop back home in Manchester where I used to hang out with Ally, Jo and Sara when we were in the sixth form.
The outside of The Seventh Star was painted in psychedelic colours and the shop assistants were unlike anywhere else, Woodstock wannabes drawn to the hippie style of dress and way of life. You could wear what you like and we did – the men wore their hair long and dressed in jeans and T-shirts, the women in colourful Eastern-style clothing; apart from Fi, who wore her hair short and went around in shapeless dungarees. Lesley, with her big blue eyes and fine blonde hair, wore flowing lace or velvet dresses from the many vintage stalls in the area. We all had a lot of admirers, but since learning about what had happened to Jack, I wasn’t interested in men. No one I met came anywhere near him, and that part of me seemed to have shut down. I was still nursing my broken heart and trying to cope with the loss of Sara Rose as well; she was constantly on my mind. I daily questioned where she was, how she would be coping with her new family, what she might look like day by day as she grew. Most importantly, was she happy? I worked long hours, always eager to do overtime, anything to distract from the emptiness I felt inside.
The top floor of the shop was where the clothes were sold and was my territory. It smelt of patchouli and sandalwood oil. The middle floor sold herbs and spices and was pungent with their scent, the ground floor, where the café was situated, of garlic and
