‘Mrs Bliss. I do hope you won’t mind me coming to see you. You’re new to the parish and either Peter or I always visit newcomers. May I sit down?’
Caroline found a chair, cleared it of some rags, which she hoped were not the children’s underwear, and sat herself down. Mrs Bliss remained standing.
‘How are you enjoying living in such an idyllic village as this?’ She kept her eyes firmly on Mrs Bliss as she spoke.
‘Fine. I’m sorry I can’t offer you a cup of tea, but I’ve run out of milk.’
‘I drink tea without milk.’
‘Oh, I see.’
The cottage long long ago had had its two rooms made into one so Caroline was able to watch Mrs Bliss making the tea from where she sat. She noticed how frail her movements appeared, but that the cups and saucers were fine china and had seen much better homes than this. Presently the tea arrived at her end of the room and Mrs Bliss stirred the teapot to strengthen the tea and then poured it out into the cups. Caroline was under the distinct impression the tea had been made from secondhand teabags.
‘Thank you. Just how I like it. You have children, I understand?’
Mrs Bliss’s eyes shone. ‘Yes. There’s the twins, Paul and Phil, then Della and Una’s the youngest, my baby. They’re all at school.’
‘Oh! I have twins. A boy and a girl, but they’re at secondary school now.’
‘Where do they go when they leave the village school?’
‘Well, they’ve both won places at Prince Henry’s and Lady Wortley’s and there is a big secondary school in Culworth with a school bus each day, so you’d have no problems getting them there, having no car.’
‘Good.’ A terrible listlessness came over Mrs Bliss. Caroline decided to get on with the real business of her visit.
‘Can I speak quite plainly, Mrs Bliss? Everyone calls me Caroline. What may I call you?’
‘Eleanor.’
‘Eleanor. I’ve really come to give a hand. In my car, I have a load of clothes, which used to belong to my children, and I’ve brought them for yours.’
Mrs Bliss got to her feet. Caroline lifted a hand to stop her protests. ‘No, before you get on your high horse, I want you to think of the children. Some of it is school uniform which, as you know, they are without. Please let me bring them in. There’s no room for pride when it’s to do with your children being able to hold up their heads, is there? Being the Rector’s wife, I am the soul of discretion, and I shall not tell a single person. And I won’t take no for an answer, either. Now. Can I bring them in? They’re all absolutely clean and in good repair. I wouldn’t insult you by bringing rags. Believe me. The children grew so quickly some years, some of the clothes have hardly been worn. Please?’ Caroline pleaded as best she could but her answer was a long time coming.
Mrs Bliss, her face covered by her outspread fingers, finally nodded.
‘You clear a space on the table and I’ll unload them.’
Caroline went in and out of the back door several times before the car was emptied. Eleanor Bliss was overcome. ‘Such kindness. Such kindness. I can’t believe it.’
As she laid the final armful of clothes on the pile Caroline said, ‘I’ve brought loads of dry cleaner’s coat-hangers; would you like them?’
Eleanor nodded. ‘Thank you. You’re too kind.’
When she’d brought in the coat-hangers Caroline sat down at the table again. ‘Now, tell me. How else can I help?’
‘After this? I can’t ask for anything else.’
‘Oh yes, you can. Tell me.’
‘There’s nothing.’
‘There must be something.’ Caroline looked around the cottage and her heart sank to new depths. Such dreadful poverty she hadn’t encountered in a long time. She didn’t know what to suggest. ‘Are you renting this cottage?’
Eleanor nodded.
‘From whom?’
‘Someone called . . . wait while I find the letter. Here it is, Turnham House Properties.’
‘Turnham House Properties! Who showed you round?’
‘Just a clerk, kind of. You know, smooth-talking.’
‘Have you all the utilities? Water, electricity, mains drainage, proper sanitation?’
Eleanor said, ‘Water and electricity, but as for the rest . . .’ She shrugged.
‘Leave it to me. I shall see about this.’
Eleanor shot to her feet, looking animated for the first time. ‘No! I don’t want turning out. It’s the most I can afford. If I’m evicted, it’ll be the street for us. I shan’t get anywhere as cheap as this.’
‘If I’m on the case, you most certainly won’t be turned out, believe me. You must have signed a lease, surely?’
‘No, not really.’
‘Right.’ Caroline stood up. ‘Leave this with me. Don’t worry about being turned out, you won’t be. I’ll see to that. I have good friends in the right places, so you can rest assured. Now, you enjoy sorting through those clothes I’ve brought. Good afternoon, Eleanor, take care. I shall be back.’ Caroline held out her hand and grasped Mrs Bliss’s hand to shake it. She could have been holding a bunch of dry twigs so thin and helpless was the handshake she received. She was quietly starving to death, Caroline was sure.
Full of terrible suspicions, Caroline ground her Volvo into gear and charged off to Turnham Malpas as fast as the winding, hilly lane would allow. Turnham House Properties. She’d give him Turnham House Properties! She’d always known Craddock Fitch was a sly . . . beggar. And Kate had married him! Kate! Did she know that her own husband was such a dastardly landlord? I bet she doesn’t, thought Caroline. On the other hand, if she does, I’ll have them both roasted alive! She was so furious about what she’d learned that she almost bumped into Gilbert Johns on a narrow piece of road where two cars couldn’t pass. She reversed into a gateway and waited for him to drive by.
He rolled down his car window and shouted, ‘You’re in a hurry. Is there a fire?’
Caroline had to laugh. He was such a sweetheart. ‘No, just angry. Been doing some parish visiting.’
‘Take care, Caroline. I wouldn’t fancy my chances if I had to scrape you up off the road. Peter would have my head on a pike outside the church as an example to all. Bye.’
Caroline drove more slowly after that, chanelling her anger into more constructive thought. She arrived home only just in time for the twins coming in from the school coach. They drank their tea and ate their toast with her at the kitchen table. ‘Did the little Blisses like the clothes, Mum?’ asked Alex.
‘They were at school when I called, but I hope they will.’
‘You didn’t give them my blue shorts, did you? I didn’t think to mention when we left this morning,’ Beth asked.
‘No, nor the red shorts and shirt you liked so much, Alex.’
‘Good.’ He then began a long story about school that day and she listened patiently. Any other day she would have been greatly interested, but today her mind was still seething with the knowledge that Craddock Fitch owned Mrs Bliss’s house. How dare he, with his vast fortune, rent it to a human being in such a state? It wasn’t fit for a dog.
Beth, eager to tell her adventures that day, kicked Alex’s leg. ‘Let me have a turn.’
‘Ow! That hurt! I haven’t finished yet.’
‘Well, be quick.’
‘So it ended with Tim telling the truth and we all got off.’
Caroline nodded her agreement. ‘Good, I’m glad. I don’t approve of telling fibs.’
‘But I only did it to save a friend.’
‘I know but you see . . .’ The kitchen door opened and there stood Peter. ‘Peter! How lovely! Just in time for a cup of tea.’
Caroline needed the long, loving smile he gave her and the kiss he planted on her forehead. He’d have the answer, she knew for certain.
Beth told him her story about school while sitting on his knee and feeding him pieces of a biscuit she’d chosen for him. ‘Are we to take it then,’ he asked, ‘that you l
ike your school or shall we ask for you to go back to the school here in the village?’
She gave him a thump on his arm. ‘Of course not, Daddy, we’re much too old. In any case, I love Lady Wortley’s.’
‘Good. I’m glad.’ He tipped her off his knee. ‘Now, I think Mummy is needing a word with me.’
‘I haven’t finished my tea yet.’
‘Well, finish it and then off you go, I think she has a secret to tell me. Only for grown-ups.’ Peter grinned as he said this, knowing how she would react.
‘Daddy! That’s mean! I’m going to stay.’ Beth folded her arms and pressed her lips firmly together.
Caroline told her it was parish business, so she drank down the last of her tea and she and Alex left to start their homework. They were both resigned to parish business sometimes taking priority over their needs, and anyway, it was usually incredibly boring.
‘So? What’s upset you today?’
‘How do you know I’m upset?’
Peter smiled. ‘I can tell. We haven’t been married – how long is it? – nineteen years without me knowing when something is bothering you. Is it really parish business?’
‘Not strictly. Kate asked me to take clothes to the new Bliss children, they’re desperately poor, so I did and I was appalled at the conditions in which they are living. Even more so when I learned that Turnham House Properties own their cottage. Simone’s old cottage. You know?’
‘I didn’t know Craddock Fitch owned property in Little Derehams.’
‘Well, he does, if you can call it that. A hen hut would be better to live in than that dump. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has been done to it since Simone died, and you know what it was like then.’
‘I knew he was trying to buy houses in Turnham Malpas some years ago, but I didn’t know about Little Derehams. Why doesn’t she find somewhere better?’
‘I don’t know what the rent is but obviously she’s there because it’s dirt cheap and it’s the most she can afford. Heard of the poverty trap? Well, she’s in it.’
‘What will you do about it?’
‘That was what I was going to ask you.’
‘Ah!’ Peter drank his tea while he thought. ‘Does Kate know he owns it?’
‘I don’t know. If she does, I’m surprised she goes along with it.’
‘Quite possibly she doesn’t. Business is business et cetera, and he keeps it separate from his private life. After all, they haven’t been married long, have they?’
‘No, so quite possibly she doesn’t know.’
‘I’ll go see for myself tomorrow morning. Parish priest calling on newcomers, you know.’
‘Thank you. But when you’ve seen her and the house, you’ll agree something has to be done. In fact, I could alert Social Services; they’ll get the wheels in motion.’
‘What wheels?’
‘Making Craddock Fitch bring the house up to scratch.’
‘I imagine he employs an agent. Perhaps he isn’t aware of the situation.’
‘If he isn’t then he should be. It’s criminal.’
‘But if he brought it up to scratch, as you call it, then quite rightly he’d want to ask for more rent and she can’t afford any more you say?’
Caroline shook her head.
‘Four children?’
‘Yes. And they’ve been driven to stealing to keep food on the table. She’s stolen meat from the Store several times.’
‘What’s Jimbo done about it?’
‘Nothing, he knows she’s desperate, but it can’t go on, obviously.’
‘I’ll go round in the morning. The poor woman must be out of her mind with worry.’
‘She is. You’ll hate what you see.’
Peter did hate it. The condition of the house and the state of Mrs Bliss’s health were both dreadful. He went straight from Little Derehams to the school to see Kate.
It was lunchtime and the children were all out playing. The dinner ladies were clearing the hall and Maggie Dobbs was keeping a weather eye on them to make sure they cleaned the floor too.
‘Rector! Good afternoon. Nice to see you. Mrs Fitch is in her office.’
‘Thanks, Mrs Dobbs. How are you? I haven’t seen you of late.’
‘Oh! Been around, you know. Busy as usual.’
‘Good. I’m glad to see you’re making friends. You had quite a bunch of them calling the other night.’
A light in Maggie’s brain flashed on. ‘Oh! Yes, plenty of comings and goings at my house, for sure. Best to keep busy.’
‘Exactly. See you again soon.’
So help me! thought Maggie. He’d noticed the meetings. And as the nights became lighter as the summer approached, they would be even more noticeable. Those bright blue eyes of his saw far too much. She’d have to be careful.
Peter knocked and walked into Kate’s office. She got to her feet to shake hands. ‘What a lovely surprise, Rector. Can I help in any way?’
‘Have I caught you when you’re busy? I can always—’
‘Sit down. Please. Now, how may I help?’
‘I’m just back from visiting in Little Derehams.’
There wasn’t so much as a flicker of any recognition in Kate’s eyes.
‘Been to see Mrs Bliss as she’s new to the parish.’
Still no other reaction, except sorrow.
‘Her house is a disgrace. It wouldn’t matter if she was the most industrious housewife, which she isn’t because she’s so depressed, she couldn’t make it look good. Leaking windows, slates off the roof and that all-pervading smell is a faulty septic tank, I’m sure. The gas fire she has must be fifty years old by the looks of it and never serviced, I imagine. There are no proper bathing facilitites apart from the old kitchen sink, the lavatory is outside the back door and should have been condemned around nineteen forty. She doesn’t even have a proper shorthold lease, so, in theory, she could be thrown out at any time. But what was worse was the letter heading of the landlord.’
‘What could be worse than what you’ve just described?’
‘So you’ve no idea, then?’
‘No idea. What about? I haven’t been to see her.’
Peter took in a big breath and said, ‘Her landlord is a company called Turnham House Properties.’
If Peter had struck her she couldn’t have been more shocked. ‘You mean Craddock owns it?’
Peter nodded.
‘I’d no idea.’
‘What other explanation can there be? One must assume so, when Turnham House Properties is the name at the head of the paper.’
‘One must.’ Kate was gripping the edge of her desk so tightly her knuckles were white, and beads of sweat were appearing on her forehead. ‘My God! I’d no idea.’
‘I thought not. Can I leave it with you?’
‘You certainly can.’
Peter didn’t give Craddock Fitch much of a future if Kate’s fury was anything to go by.
Chapter 6
‘Craddock, I need some answers, although you may not like what I have to say.’
Craddock blew smoke from his cigar into the air, drew his ashtray closer and then said indulgently, as though he had no cares in the world, ‘Fire away, my dear.’
‘Peter came to see me this afternoon.’
Craddock sat upright. ‘Was he in one of his campaigning modes? He’s difficult to resist when he is. He gets those blue eyes of his looking straight into your soul and you’ve said yes before he even opens his mouth.’
‘Oh, he opened his mouth all right.’ Kate outlined their conversation, and concluded by saying, ‘But the headed notepaper gave him the surprise of his life.’
‘Oh?’
‘You don’t know?’
Craddock shook his head, took another pull on his cigar and was just expelling it when Kate said, ‘Turnham House Properties.’ She waited but he merely shook some ash from his cigar.
‘Well?’
‘If it said Turnham House Properties then it must belong to me
, mustn’t it? It’s a subsidiary of the main company.’
‘Why be so secretive? How many houses do you own in Little Derehams?’
‘Almost all, a notable exception being Keepers Cottage where Louise and Gilbert Johns live.’
‘You bought them one by one, you mean?’
Craddock Fitch nodded. ‘I wanted to do that in Turnham Malpas but got thwarted at every turn – you know what they can be like, cussed – and the only one I managed to buy was the one Grandmama Charter-Plackett lives in.’
‘I see.’
‘They belong to you too.’
‘Me?’ Kate’s eyebrows shot up. ‘To me?’
‘We are married and what I own you own.’
‘You mean everything?’
‘Every damn bit of my empire.’
‘Halves?’
‘Halves.’ Craddock smiled at her with all the love in the world in his smile.
‘But I haven’t signed anything.’
‘All in the pipeline. Complicated, and my solicitors didn’t want me to do it, in fact they warned me against it, putting forward arguments I can’t repeat to you. But I insisted. So they’ve dilly-dallied, till I put a rocket up their backsides a week ago.’
‘But I’ve given you nothing.’
‘You’ve nothing to give.’
‘I know, but—’
‘My dear Kate, either one marries or one doesn’t, and in my view we’re equal partners in everything.’
‘You’re saying I’m a wealthy woman?’
Craddock nodded.
‘But I want you to know, here and now, I didn’t marry you for that.’
He blew a kiss to her and grinned. ‘I know that. When I married first time round I’d no money to give to the cat, never mind my wife. Well, now I have, so there you are.’
‘So until I sign the papers it’s not mine?’
‘No, but it soon will be.’
‘I’m flabbergasted.’ Kate got up and poured herself another drink. ‘Want one?’
‘Not finished this yet.’ He admired her slender figure as she stood by the drinks table and couldn’t quite believe he’d captured such a wonderful creature. She was that very desirable commodity, a beautiful woman with a lively brain, and he blessed the day they married.
Intrigue in the Village (Turnham Malpas 10) Page 8