Monday morning came as Monday mornings are prone to. Karen rolled over sleepily and hit the snooze button on her alarm clock. She had been awakened from a wonderful dream featuring Jude, herself and the Beacon Fell woods and she was loth to part from it. However the dream, once broken, wouldn't return and she had to make a start on the day. Idly, she wondered what Jude was doing. She had talked about an early start; would she already be out pounding the beat? She and Jude had only been together a short while, and already she was beginning to hate the police shift system. Why couldn't Jude work a nine-to-five job like normal people? In just one short weekend she had got used to waking up next to someone and, right now, she felt alone, and wanted an early morning cuddle. Still, regrets wouldn't get her to work, so she slipped out of bed, grabbed her dressing gown and went down to the kitchen to make herself breakfast.
Breakfast over, she went to the bathroom and started her morning ablutions. When she looked in the bathroom mirror, to her consternation, she saw that she was still wearing the necklace. Over the weekend it had become part of her, it was what she wore and, the previous night, in her exhausted state, she had completely forgotten about the need to remove it before going to work. Suddenly it seemed unmissable, completely obvious to all and sundry. The side featuring the ornate 'k' was hardly innocent and the other side, with its clear statement that she was Jude's property, left nothing to the imagination. Urgently she pulled it round to look at the padlock but, as on Saturday, however she looked at it, it was staying firmly shut. It would appear that it was going to remain around her neck, and she surely couldn't go to work like that. She went down to the kitchen, found her handbag and, inside that, her mobile phone. Now that the question of what Jude was doing was no longer idle speculation, she needed her to come round and unlock the necklace and the sooner the better.
"Hi honey, good morning. What's up?" Jude sounded bright and sunny as she answered the phone.
"Jude, please, you've got to come round. I... We... I'm still wearing the necklace and you've got the only key. I've got to take it off before I go to work," Karen explained breathlessly.
"Oh dear," Karen could hear the amusement in Jude's voice, "that's going to be a bit difficult."
"Jude! Please don't muck around. Please, this is important."
"I'm not mucking around. It really is going to be difficult. At this moment I'm just approaching Wigan station on my way to a training course in Hendon. I'm away for the week, didn't I tell you?"
"Jude, please, stop joking," Karen said urgently.
"Honey, I'm not joking," and, right on cue, Karen heard the Tannoy in the background, as the conductor announced the arrival of the train at Wigan station.
"What do I do?" Karen asked, close to tears.
"I'm not sure I know what to suggest," Jude replied, suddenly practical. "Look, I do understand and, if you feel you have to cut it then," Karen could hear Jude's sigh down the phone, "well, as I said, I'll understand."
"Cut it...?"
"Yeah, with pliers or some such. If you do one of the links round at the back then it shouldn't be too hard to get it fixed."
Karen was both relieved and horrified. It was easy to tell that the necklace was no cheap trinket; and here was Jude, however reluctantly, suggesting that she mutilate it. On the other hand she would at least be able to get to work.
"Thanks. Thanks Jude, I'll try not to do too much damage." Karen felt as if she could breathe again.
"See, told you I understood. So, did you sleep well?" Jude was obviously chatty.
"Like a baby. I did miss you though." Karen wasn't making this one up. It was strange how quickly she had become used to sleeping with Jude and, conversely, how alone she felt when Jude wasn't there.
"I had to catch the six thirty from Preston so it really wouldn't have worked out. You're going to have to miss me tonight as well, and every night until Friday."
"You should have told me." Karen was disappointed and couldn't keep the reprimand from her voice.
"Sorry, hun, I thought I had. Anyway I'll phone you often, starting with lunchtime today. I'm not sure when they'll let us out for lunch so it could be any time between twelve and one."
"I'll be waiting." Karen glanced at the clock. If she didn't hurry up she would be late and she had lost enough time fussing about the necklace. "Jude, I've got to go or I'll miss my bus."
"OK, just make sure you're waiting for my call later."
"Bye. I love you."
There was a silence as they both realised what Karen had just said.
"I miss you too, honey," Jude replied eventually, "bye."
And with that the call was ended.
Karen now had to bustle about to get ready as time was getting on. The first thing she had to do was to deal with the necklace. She went down to the kitchen to find the pliers in the small box of tools she kept in the cupboard under the sink. She took them back to her dressing table and sat down. Once again she turned the necklace around until the clasp was at the front and, choosing a suitable link, manoeuvred the pliers around it. The gold of the necklace sparkled in the morning sunlight streaming in through the window. It really was a fine piece of jewellery, no cheap trinket, and it was almost criminal to treat it so. More than that, it felt as if by cutting the chain she'd also be cutting a link with Jude and she surely didn't want that. She started to squeeze the pliers but she couldn't go through with it, she simply couldn't. There had to be way that she could keep it whole; if she couldn't take it off maybe she could find something to hide it, a scarf, a polo neck sweater, anything. With a sigh she put down the pliers.
