‘What did he say?’ Mavis whispered.
Evie noticed Zac, sitting on the other side of the room. He looked uncomfortable, and Evie wondered whether he was still unsure of his standing with the rest of the residents. She caught his eye and smiled.
‘Just stop the flim-flam and tell us what’s going on,’ came a familiar voice from the back row. Evie turned around and saw Bob Peacock shaking his fist, his face almost as red as his hair.
‘Probably worried he’s not going to get his thirteen pieces of silver,’ Mavis said, loud enough for the Peacock clan to hear. Freda glowered at her, and Evie pulled her gran around to face the front.
Councillor Martin was also pretty red in the face now, trying to field a barrage of questions. He consulted again with the round-headed man on his left, then stood up and held out his hands for quiet.
‘Okay, okay. Let’s have some order, please. I have been advised that due to the extraordinary nature of today’s proceedings, I am at liberty to give a short statement of explanation.’
He paused for another sip of water, and Evie saw Michael jerk up his head and take a quick sweep of the room behind him. If he noticed Evie he kept it hidden well. She began to chew on a fingernail, while by her side Mavis was explaining the new turn of events to Frank. She made it sound even more confusing than it already was, which was no small achievement.
Councillor Martin had everyone’s attention now, so when he spoke again he did so sitting down. The room had become uncomfortably hot, and Evie was beginning to wish they weren’t sitting quite so close to Stig after all.
‘This morning,’ Councillor Martin said, ‘Bristol City Council received a counter offer for the land at Cupid’s Way. Mr Roy McAllister of McAllisters Enterprises is claiming,’ – the councillor coughed sharply into his fist – ‘“unfair advantage” in the tabled application from Dynamite Construction Incorporated, and is seeking to purchase the land under section five alpha zero of the relevant regulations regarding hostile purchases.’
‘What is he talking about?’ Mavis pleaded, but Evie shushed her with a frown. The councillor continued.
‘Mr McAllister is already in possession of four units in the aforementioned site known as Cupid’s Way, and therefore claims control of exactly one third of the voting rights for the sale.’
He paused to allow the raised voices to settle back down, not looking up, not meeting anyone’s eyes. The man with the glasses rapped on the table with his knuckles.
‘Councillor Martin will not be answering questions from the floor,’ he said, ‘and if these disturbances continue this public session will be cleared immediately.’
That got people quietened down fairly swiftly, but the low muttering continued.
Then Michael stood up. Evie could sense the tension radiating from him. Mr Glasses gestured to him to sit down, but Councillor Martin stayed his hand.
‘Mr Andrews, I imagine you want to counter this new offer, and there will be a time and a place for that. Now, I’m afraid, is not it.’
All eyes were on Michael, except for those eyes belonging to the residents of Cupid’s Way, most of which were on Evie. She forced herself to keep staring forward, her gaze fixed on the back of Michael’s well-cut jacket. She saw his shoulders move out and down an inch, as though preparing himself for a fight, but when he spoke his voice was calm and matter-of-fact.
‘Dynamite Construction have already informed this office that they also have control of four units in the matter of Cupid’s Way, so we appear to be in a deadlocked situation.’
‘Four units?’ Frank leaned over to look at Evie. ‘How the hell did that happen?’
‘Figure it out,’ Mavis said, swivelling in her seat to glare at the Peacocks, who were looking, at this new turn of events, decidedly uncomfortable. ‘Seems they’ve already agreed to sell their three houses to the enemy. But who’s given Dynamite the fourth one?’ she mused, her eyes travelling along the rows of astonished faces.
‘They already own Sandy Beaumont’s old place, don’t you remember? Evie wheedled that out of Mr Andrews ages ago.’
Evie gave her granddad a grateful smile – it was nice to have some of her efforts acknowledged, especially now. She kept her voice low and said, ‘If McAllisters do buy Cupid’s Way, then Michael’s the least of our worries.’ Bob would have to make a new deal with a new enemy, and they’d all be back to square one.
The Dynamite CEO surveyed the room again, his eyes slipping over Evie as though she were invisible. He retook his seat after a short exchange with Councillor Martin.
Mavis sat up a little straighter as a powerfully built man with blonde hair got to his feet. He had a short, thick neck, as though his head had been squashed down into it, and arms the diameter of most people’s legs. The councillor’s eyes narrowed when the man introduced himself as Roy McAllister and began to address the spectators.
‘We want to reassure concerned parties that McAllisters intend to honour the spirit of the existing plans for the medical centre.’ The man’s tone was confident as he surveyed the wary faces in front of him. He reminded Evie of someone, but she couldn’t put her finger on who.
She logged his use of the word “spirit”, wondering what exactly that meant.
‘McAllisters don’t want the additional land for housing – that was part of the council’s deal with Dynamite Construction. We will be saving the council a lot of money – an important consideration in these difficult times.’
‘This isn’t the right time for this, Mr McAllister,’ Councillor Martin reminded him.
‘The medical centre will still be built,’ Roy McAllister said, ploughing on regardless. ‘But only on half of the available land.’
Half of it? Evie blinked, trying to form an image in her mind of what that might look like. Did he mean knock down one of the two rows, leaving the other facing out into nothing? Into a wilderness of concrete and metal and glass? It was too awful to contemplate.
She looked around to gauge the reactions. Most of the faces mirrored her own shock, but on the other side of the room Zac was nodding, his mouth set in an expression of approval. Evie did a double-take. He caught her eye and quickly turned his mouth down at the corners, shaking his head.
‘And what about the rest of the street?’ a man shouted. ‘What’s going to happen to that?’
‘The other half of the land will be used to extend McAllister Enterprises’ current headquarters,’ Roy McAllister said. ‘The two sites will be built simultaneously, saving both time and money.’
‘No! You can’t do that.’ The cries of refusal came from all sides, and Evie was sure she heard Zac’s voice among them. Noting the horror on his face, she sent him a look of reassurance. It wasn’t over till it was over.
‘Better the devil you know,’ someone called out. No prizes for guessing who that was, Evie thought, gripping Mavis’s hand to stop her launching into another attack on the Peacocks.
‘I will not have this meeting turned into a public spectacle,’ Councillor Martin shrilled. ‘I want this room cleared immediately.’
Now that dissent had broken out, there was no chance of the council members imposing any kind of order. Looking like a man who’d been given a Get Out of Jail Free card, Councillor Martin gathered together a few disparate sheets of paper and raced from the room without a backwards glance. Regarding each other with bemused expressions, the other members of the planning committee followed suit.
Michael stayed seated. Evie tried to look away, but he was like a magnet to her. She wondered what he would do next. As she watched, he began to search the crowd with his eyes. Her skin tingled with expectation – he must be looking for her. But as his gaze skimmed over her for a second time, Evie realised she wasn’t the source of his interest. She turned her head to follow his line of vision. He was watching Roy McAllister. The man moved through the crowd like a bull, his head lowered and his elbows pumping. As he passed by the still seated Zac, he nodded. It was the briefest of movements, so brief
that if Michael hadn’t been watching them closely, and if Evie hadn’t been so focused on Michael, she wouldn’t have noticed at all. Zac didn’t register the man in any way, he merely carried on staring into space. He looked stunned, like he’d just been given the worst possible news. Evie felt for him. This meeting was supposed to bring some kind of clarity. Instead there was just more confusion.
Zac lifted his head and looked in Michael’s direction, noticing with a jolt the other man’s eyes fixed upon him. Evie turned her head from one to the other and back again. Their mutual gaze was locked, their faces expressionless. For a second or two they stayed like this, then Michael broke the standoff, turning his mouth into a sneer and moving his head slowly from side to side. His expression was one of utter disgust. Evie frowned. What was that about? Surely Michael wasn’t still holding a grudge against Zac for the Roman artefacts debacle? Or for his imagined relationship with Evie?
Zac’s face reddened and he jumped to his feet, pushing back his chair with a clatter of metal as he headed for the door. Michael turned away, still shaking his head. Evie stayed where she was, even after Mavis and Frank had left the room. When Michael walked past her, so close she could have reached out and grabbed him by the arm, Evie didn’t flinch. She kept her eyes trained ahead, on the back of the seat in front. She heard his footsteps stop behind her and she heard him sigh.
‘It’ll be worse for your lot if McAllisters get their hands on Cupid’s Way,’ he said. ‘You do realise that, don’t you?’
Evie didn’t turn around. She thought again about that day in his office and realised that her anger hadn’t abated one bit. Knowing that its intensity was only equal to the intensity of her feelings for him did nothing to assuage it. She looked down at her hands, surprised to find them shaking.
‘Evie ...’ He sighed again, but this time it was tinged with impatience. ‘Roy McAllister will knock down Cupid’s Way and build a great big extension to his offices. He’ll build a second-class medical centre to the barest minimum of standards. He won’t give the residents a fair deal at all, not like we’re offering. And he won’t have the resources to re-home them, or to offer above market value for their houses, won’t–’
‘Re-home them?’ Evie couldn’t hold it in any longer. Her head snapped around, turning her hair into whips that lashed against her cheek. ‘You make them sound like unwanted pets. You’ve had this attitude right from the start, and that’s what makes me sick to my stomach. At least McAllisters are upfront about what they want to do.’
‘Are they really?’ His tone was flat, and Evie saw that his face retained the same sneer he’d given Zac moments ago. ‘Well, I guess you’d know more about that than me.’
‘What does that even mean?’ Evie said, standing. ‘You talk in riddles, Michael. It’s all just words with you, isn’t it? Words that don’t mean anything. You talk about us having some kind of connection, but then you’re willing to go ahead and pull the homes out from under my own grandparents’ feet, talking about how it’s in their interests when really it’s only in your interests. And now you’re all riled up because someone else wants to do exactly what you wanted to do ...’ She jerked back, the thought only just occurring to her. ‘Oh, I get it. This chat, the fact that you’re even talking to me right now, is all about trying to get me to convince the others to sell to you, isn’t it? You’ve got competition with an equal stake in the street now, so you need more leverage, and I’m the perfect person to help you get it. Actually, I’m not a person in your eyes at all, am I? I’m a resource. A resource to be exploited.’
She didn’t need any other confirmation of his intentions than the way his lips narrowed and his eyes slid away from hers. She shook her head. ‘You said you expected better of me, Michael. Well, I expected better of you. I thought you were a decent man, despite what Dynamite are trying to do to Cupid’s Way. I guess I got that wrong, along with everything else.’
His reaction was not what she had expected. There was no denial, no angry comeback or disarming comment. Instead, Michael stepped forward and kissed her. He slid his hands up from her neck to her ears, holding her head gently while he pressed his lips against hers. Cupped by his palms, Evie could only hear the pounding of her heart and the whooshing of her blood in her head. His lips became more insistent, even as she tried to pull away. She laid her hands flat upon his chest, feeling her way up from his tensed stomach, and pushed. For a moment there was nothing but blackness and swirling and heads locked together, then he let her go and Evie tipped back under the force of her own efforts.
She steadied herself on the back of a chair, then turned to face him with flashing eyes. As she opened her mouth to speak, Michael placed his finger upon her lips. She thrashed his hand away, feeling the pain in her wrist as bone struck bone. He smiled.
‘No words, Evie. No more talk. Just actions.’
And then he was gone and she was alone in the council’s meeting room, facing a wall of windows where the sun had disappeared behind a dark and merciless cloud.
Chapter 22
By the time Evie recovered her composure and exited the building, she expected to find only Frank and Mavis waiting for her. Instead, the paved area outside the council offices was entirely taken over by Cupid’s Way residents, and their raised voices reached Evie’s ears long before her eyes registered the spectacle.
‘Well, you tell me,’ Bob Peacock was saying, squaring up to Frank, barely reaching the taller man’s chest. ‘You tell me how come McAllisters own four houses on Cupid’s Way? Seems like someone’s been doing a deal of their own. More than one someone,’ he added, whirling around with his fists clenched and glaring at the other residents.
‘We haven’t sold out to anyone,’ Mavis cried, pushing Bob out of the way. ‘Not like you.’
‘I did what was right for my family,’ Bob shouted. ‘My dad’s old as the hills and needs somewhere safe to retire to.’
‘Rolo would never sell if he had any say in it.’ Frank pulled Mavis to his side and hugged her close. ‘I hope you haven’t signed anything yet, Bob. Who knows what’s going to happen now McAllisters have got involved.’
‘Well, someone’s done a deal with them, that’s for sure.’ Sarah spoke softly, her eyes trained on Tim. ‘And it would be better if they just owned up to it right now. Don’t you think?’
Tim looked like he’d been slapped. ‘You think it was me? I’d never do that. And I didn’t even know McAllisters were interested until just now.’
‘You’ve been talking about selling, though,’ she said, and every eye turned accusingly to Tim. He threw his hands into the air.
‘Okay, I talked about it. Talked, that’s all. And only because that’s what intelligent people do, right?’ He glanced around, his eyes sending a desperate plea for someone to help him out. ‘They think about things, talk about them, weigh them up. But I haven’t sold my house to anyone.’
‘Yet,’ Sarah said with a sigh, turning away.
‘Mate, that’s low,’ Zac told him. ‘And the whole time you’ve been doing that research and all?’ He gave a sad shake of his head.
‘You can bloody talk,’ Sarah said, rounding on him. ‘Your stupid stunt played right into the hands of the planners, making us look like a bunch of lying idiots.’
Evie hurried over and laid her hand on her friend’s arm. ‘Look, this isn’t going to get us anywhere. We shouldn’t be doing this in public.’
‘She’s right.’ Cissy and Pip, who had been so quiet Evie had forgotten they had their own stake in the street, albeit as renters, stepped forward now and joined her. When Cissy spoke her voice wobbled. ‘This is just horrible. I’ve never seen you guys like this before – you’re usually all so lovely to each other, so caring. But lately it’s changed. Cupid’s Way has changed. All this arguing and fighting, suspicions everywhere. I hate it.’
She burst into tears and flung herself into Pip’s arms. He glared at them as though each person had physically slapped his delicate wife and brought
this on by their own hands.
As well he might, thought Evie. She was just about to voice her own concerns when Eloise lifted her head from a whispered conference with her dad. She said,
‘It’s a funny coincidence that all this has happened since Evie came to stay with us. And her being pally with Mr Andrews and all …’ She let her sentence tail off, but it was clear where she’d intended it to go.
Evie felt her cheeks grow hot with anger. She turned to Eloise, incredulous.
‘I can’t believe you would even think something like that, let alone say it. Why would you say that?’
But as she saw Eloise’s flushed face turn briefly in Zac’s direction, Evie thought she knew. Zac’s constant attention to Evie, his arm around her the day of the archaeologist’s visit, his proximity right now. Eloise was jealous. It made Evie want to laugh out loud, and it made her want to cry with frustration.
‘You did have a bit of a thing with him,’ Freda Peacock said, backing up her daughter.
‘And you’ve got all these connections, being an architect and all,’ Bob put in. ‘Maybe you know Roy McAllister as well. Maybe you know more about his deal on those four houses than you’re letting on.’
Evie was spluttering out a heated denial when Stig spoke up. As before, she was surprised at the cultured tone of his voice. Even now, with all eyes upon him, the old man maintained the upper-class air of mild boredom as he said,
‘I’m afraid Evie isn’t the serpent in our midst. That honour lies at another’s door.’
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