Abi's Neighbour

by Jenny Kane

  Cass was so astonished that Dora chuckled again. ‘There’s no reason to be so shocked. Stan coming along has turned my rather dull life around, but he doesn’t need much looking after, and if I don’t keep my brain moving I quickly get bored.’

  ‘Hence the poker?’

  ‘Hence the poker, bridge, crosswords, and all the other games. You have given me the best puzzle to work out that I’ve had in years. Not only was it good to be challenged again, but I had the added bonus of knowing that I was doing it to help someone I care for. It’s been a privilege.’

  ‘You’ve only know me two minutes.’ Cass felt mildly overcome, and this time put her hand out to hold Dora’s. ‘I don’t deserve all this.’

  ‘Cass, you are hardly the first woman I’ve come across who’s been naive in the name of love. No one deserves to be taken advantage of.’

  Pausing for a moment, Cass took a deep breath and asked the question she wasn’t sure she wanted an answer to. ‘Dan said Crystal was behind all this because she has designs on Justin herself. Is that right?’

  Keeping back the full extent of Crystal’s betrayal, so not to hurt Cass further, Dora said, ‘I’m afraid so.’

  ‘So was this Justin’s plan all along? To have a few years indulging in my bedroom services, reel me in like some sort of willing fish, then let me fall in love with him, while he worked out how to take advantage of my business?’

  ‘I don’t think so, dear. If you think about it, Justin didn’t make any money out of destroying your agency. No one did; it was the destruction of all you’d worked for that was the only aim here. I am sure it was to make you look like a failed businesswoman. It was, and I quote, “To take Ms Henley-Pinkerton down a peg or two.”’

  Nausea rose in Cass’s throat. ‘Who said that?’

  ‘Crystal.’

  ‘How do you know? What have you done, Dora?’

  ‘I called in a few favours from some friends from the past. I used a few of the contacts Abi has in London, and found out a few useful pieces of information thanks to old-fashioned groundwork and the wonders of modern technology.’

  ‘Modern technology?’

  ‘Mobile phones are virtually bugging devices if you know how to use them properly these days.’

  ‘Oh my God! You didn’t bug Justin?’

  ‘No, but I arranged for a listening-in on a conversation with Crystal. Best for you to know as little about that as possible!’

  Cass was stunned. ‘But you could get into so much trouble.’

  Dora smiled. ‘I’m an old woman, who on earth is going to bother about me? And to be honest, can you see Justin, Crystal, or Jacinta admitting to anyone that they’d been outsmarted by an octogenarian?’

  ‘Do all three of them know then?’

  ‘To my knowledge none of them know about my investigation.’

  Her forehead crinkled in confusion, Cass said, ‘Can you start from the beginning, Dora? I’m not totally sure what you did, or what’s been going on. Is Jacinta involved in this, or is it just Crystal? And for that matter, is Justin the innocent bystander – in a business sense – just as he claimed?’

  Dora was thoughtful. ‘I think we’ll have to persuade that man to come down here. You need to ask him that, face to face. You have to see his expression, to read his eyes while he tells you what’s going on. Until then, until you actually see his face, you’re always going to have that voice at the back of your head asking if he did love you or not. The other stuff isn’t so important, is it?’

  ‘It isn’t. It ought to be, but I hate the idea that he tricked me into loving him more than his jealous women taking my business.’

  ‘So,’ Dora pointed at the mobile phone that Cass had placed in front of her on the table, ‘call him. You have to get this sorted before you can restart your life.’

  ‘What will I say?’ Her hard, professional mode completely deserted her as the prospect of discovering the truth edged closer. ‘Now I know he cheated on me as well, I’m not sure I’ll be able to see him without throttling him.’

  ‘You will say that you want to see him because you’d like to clear the air. You will not let on that you know about Crystal’s involvement. That is going to be your leverage.’

  ‘It is?’

  ‘You make that phone call, and then I’ll explain everything.’

  ‘Are you totally insane, Maxwell Pendale?’

  Max grunted. ‘Took you longer to get here and shout at me than I thought it would.’

  ‘I’m pregnant, everything takes longer.’

  ‘Already?’

  ‘Yes!’ Beth hadn’t been to Max’s flat for several months, but she was sure that the last time she’d been it hadn’t looked like a box storage area. ‘You’ve packed up?’

  ‘On the button as ever.’ Max brandished the kettle in her direction. ‘If you’ve come to tell me off then I’d like a cup of tea. You?’

  ‘Please. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to tell you off. What the hell are you playing at? Abi is crushed. I caught her deciding how she is going to tell Stan that she is selling the house.’

  Max flushed, his freckles suddenly standing out even more than they normally did. ‘You’re not serious?’

  ‘Deadly. If you don’t feel comfortable in Abi’s House, then her solution is to sell up and find a house together with you.’

  Max was already fishing out his mobile phone as he said, ‘But I love Abi’s House.’

  ‘Then why did you tell Abi you felt like a lodger?’

  ‘I didn’t! That’s what she said. I needed to sort furniture and stuff.’ Forgetting all about making tea, Max rang Abi’s number, speaking to Beth as he did so. ‘I love Abi to pieces. I’ve been doing all this for her.’ He gestured around the flat, which had all the hallmarks of a place that was about to be vacated. ‘I’ve been up half the night packing and sorting what to sell and what to take over to the house. Damn, she isn’t answering.’

  ‘If she’s at home, but not in the garden, then she won’t have a signal will she.’ Beth sat down with a tired sigh. ‘Be careful you don’t screw this up, Max. Abi has grown up a lot since we first met her. She isn’t going to be a doormat like she was with Luke, no matter how much she loves you.’

  A flash of panic crossed Max’s face. ‘I thought she’d still be at the gallery.’ Throwing his keys at Beth, Max came to a decision. ‘Could you lock up for me? I want to get to Abi’s House before she does anything stupid.’

  ‘If I can have a kip on your sofa first, then you’ve got a deal.’

  Cass couldn’t prevent her hands from shaking, and hated it.

  Passing her a small glass of wine, Dora said, ‘Mr Smythe is coming then?’

  ‘Yes. Tomorrow apparently. Although I won’t truly accept it until I see him standing right in front of me.’ Taking a sip of her drink, Cass closed her eyes, letting the darkness soothe her for a second before opening them again. ‘It feels so strange to think that, after all these years, Justin has no idea that I’ve rearranged my life without him.’

  ‘That young man has no idea about a lot of things. You’re going to have to be strong tomorrow. I know you are a very controlled and capable woman, Cass, but just in case Justin doesn’t take to hearing you speak the truths that he didn’t want you to know – or, in fact, that you know more than he does – then I’d like Dan to be hidden upstairs while you talk. That way, if you want help, he can be there in seconds.’

  With the mention of Dan’s name, Cass took hold of herself. ‘Thank you, Dora, but no. I’ll see if maybe Max and Abi will be around. Dan has done enough for me already. He’s supposed to be here for the residents.’

  Not probing as to why Cass didn’t want Dan there, especially as she was convinced she knew the reason why anyway, Dora agreed. ‘Fair enough.’

  Cass swallowed. ‘What if Justin decides that my house is his after all? I know that Donald said it’s mine, but Justin still paid for it. He only put it in my name as if it was a gift to avoid tax.�
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  ‘Therefore the house was a gift. It is yours. Justin can make all the fuss he wants, but that won’t change anything on that front. He’s a lawyer, he knows that.’

  ‘Right.’ Cass took a bigger drink for her glass. ‘You’d better tell me the rest. It’s time we turned this into a proper campaign meeting.’

  ‘Abi?’

  ‘Hello, Max.’ Abi didn’t get up from the rocking chair next to her bedroom drawing desk. ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’

  Max’s heart sank as he took in her closed-off posture. He’d been so determined to surprise her, to make Abi happy by dashing off to his flat to get sorted so he could pick which things to move in here with her. He hadn’t thought that by not explaining himself he wasn’t surprising Abi, but upsetting her. And worse, by planting seeds of doubt within her.

  Unsure of what to do, fishing round for something to say, Max asked, ‘Where’s Sadie?’

  ‘At Stan’s. I’m going to pick her up later.’

  ‘We could both go.’

  ‘If you want.’

  Frustration rising inside him, Max snapped, ‘Abi, please. I am trying to tell you something.’

  Doing her best to fight the anxious knot in her chest, Abi said, ‘Go on then.’

  Kneeling down in front of her, Max took her tiny hands in his. ‘I know I went about it the wrong way, and frankly cocked it right up, but the reason I disappeared wasn’t because I was leaving you. Quite the reverse.’

  ‘The reverse is moving in, and you told me you didn’t want to live here.’

  ‘No I didn’t, you daft woman. I told you that I wasn’t sure my stuff would fit in here. I went home to sort my stuff out and pack it all up.’

  ‘Then why the hell didn’t you tell me that?’

  ‘It was supposed to be a surprise.’

  ‘It was more of a shock.’ Abi squeezed his hands. ‘Talk to me, Max. If you want me to sell up so we can buy a home together, then I will.’

  ‘Now listen to me, Abi Carter. No way would I ever ask you to leave this house. Got it?’

  Relief spread across Abi’s face as Max put a finger over her lips so he could finish what he wanted to say without interruption.

  ‘I went home to say goodbye to the flat, I suppose. It doesn’t even feel like home there any more. This is where I want to be. I don’t clean out people’s sheds on a whim you know, lass. That space is mine!’

  Laughing now, Abi threw herself onto Max’s lap. ‘Are you sure? I want you to be happy here.’

  ‘I am happy. I’m very happy, but every now and then I get scared it’ll all go away. Is that OK?’

  ‘So do I. But it won’t go away, will it, Max?’

  ‘No, love. It isn’t ever going to go away.’ Max put a hand into his large dungaree pocket. ‘Here. What do you think?’

  Abi found herself faced with a list of rented flats. ‘Why are you looking at flats to rent?’

  ‘Wake up, Abi! I was thinking of renting mine out rather than selling it. We could have a steady extra income to pay for any future little Pendales’ university fees. We’d rent to someone local, not one of those awful incomers…’

  ‘Maxwell, I am one of those awful incomers!’

  ‘Ummm.’ The rest of Max’s answer was muffled as he picked Abi up and threw her onto the bed. ‘Truly dreadful…’

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Cass wasn’t sure she recognised the woman looking back at her from the bathroom mirror.

  Her hair had begun to grow out of the bob style she’d treated herself to on her very first trip to Truro, although it still framed her face with featherlike wisps. Justin had never seen her with short hair. Nor had he seen her without varnish on her fingernails or make-up on her face.

  Lifting her hands to her face to inspect them more closely, Cass took in her blunted nails. Her skin wasn’t quite as soft as it had been either. Sanding furniture had taken its toll. Only a few weeks ago she’d have been horrified by this, but now she felt a long-forgotten sense of achievement. Every scratch on her previously flawless skin meant she’d done something worthwhile. She was creating – not only a work of art out of a piece of old furniture, but a new life for herself. A life that didn’t revolve around a man.

  Still slim and undeniably angular, her frame appeared softer in her T-shirt, jeans, and trainers, rather than a crisp white shirt, business suit, and high heels. She had put weight on, and her curves, which had been little more than token gestures before, were certainly more defined. Cass was struck with the idea that Justin might not recognise her when he finally arrived.

  The muscles in her shoulders tensed. He would be getting into Penzance railway station in twenty minutes. Cass knew that if she didn’t do this alone her pride would be even more dented than it was already, but that didn’t stop her wishing she’d asked Dan to be there to hold her hand. It was reassuring to know that Max and Abi had agreed to sit in their garden while Justin was there, so that if she needed reinforcements, then all she had to do was shout over the wall.

  Shoving a stray hair from her fringe into place, Cass tried to channel her inner businesswoman. She had no illusions. Much of her current situation was her own fault; she’d allowed the wool to be pulled over her eyes, and she’d been so caught up in herself, her agency, and her lover that she had closed herself off to the rest of the world around her.

  She had been unbelievably lucky that the house Justin had pushed upon her happened to be next door to such good people. No one in London would have offered to miss work so that they could be around to support her.

  ‘Or maybe they would have, if I’d taken the trouble to make real friends…’

  Cass picked up her lipstick, and then put it down again. ‘No. No mask today.’

  The sweeping look of disbelief that Justin gave Cass as she opened the front door confirmed for her that, should they have met for the first time that day, he wouldn’t have given her so much as a second glance.

  Determined to remain fully in control of the coming conversation, and not to let how much he’d hurt her show, she greeted her ex-lover formally. ‘If you’d like to head down the hall to the kitchen, Justin, we’ll talk in there.’

  ‘In the kitchen?’

  ‘You were expecting me to have found the time to build a study over the past few weeks, perhaps?’ Cass followed him down the short corridor and into the kitchen. Then, as agreed with Max and Abi, she opened the back door;: the signal which would tell her neighbours that Justin had arrived.

  ‘Please, sit down.’ Cass gestured to the pine chair opposite her. ‘I’ve made tea. Would you like one?’

  ‘Not particularly.’ Justin’s frown seemed to be growing more furrowed in front of her eyes, and Cass found herself wondering if he had always had so many lines on his forehead, or if they’d developed since her departure from London. Dan doesn’t have that many. The thought of Dan increased Cass’s determination to stay strong – at least on the outside. Even if nothing ever happened between them, she still wanted Dan to be proud of her.

  Keeping the knowledge that she was aware of Crystal’s designs on Justin to herself, precisely as Dora had advised, Cass began, ‘I have no interest in going over old ground, Justin. I merely require answers for my own peace of mind, so I can do right by my ex-employees, and move on, by myself, with no questions hanging over me.’

  ‘Move on? By yourself? Cassandra, what are you talking about?’ Justin laid his briefcase on the table before him and clicked it open. ‘We’re a couple, and we had a deal. You are here to do up this property, before we rent it out as a holiday let.’

  ‘Please, Justin, it’s Cass now. Cassandra has gone.’ Clenching her hands together in her lap, together, hoping her surprise at his opening gambit of total denial didn’t show in her eyes. ‘A deal which started with you telling me, when we were in London, that you had rented this house. Then, on arrival, I discovered that in reality you had purchased the property outright, putting the deeds in my name.’

  �
�For tax reasons, and to keep it away from Jacinta, so she couldn’t claim it back when we got divorced.’

  Now Cass was truly thrown. ‘But you aren’t intending to divorce her. I don’t think you ever were.’

  ‘What?’ Justin’s voice rose into a shout, but he quickly pulled himself together. Getting up and moving around the table, Justin stood behind Cass; draping his arms around her shoulders, just as he’d used to when she was sat at her old study desk.

  Trying not to stiffen, Cass was taken aback at how wrong it felt to allow him to touch her now. How could I have been planning a life with this man?

  ‘Please sit back down, Justin.’

  ‘Oh, come on! I haven’t seen you in weeks. I was expecting far less boardroom and a lot more bedroom.’

  ‘Excuse me?’ Cass could feel the disbelief in her voice. ‘You have got to be kidding me? You didn’t honestly think you could seduce your way out of this, did you?’

  Banging back onto his seat like a truculent teenager, Justin pulled some documents out of his briefcase. ‘You aren’t still maintaining that I am behind ruining the agency? That is so childish! I lost money on that.’

  ‘Childish?’ Cass could feel her hackles rising, and had to bite down hard on the expletives that were forming in her throat, forcing herself to remember what Dora had told her to say.

  ‘Whatever has got into you? And why do you look so homespun? Would you like me to take you up to Bristol for a makeover?’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’ Cass scraped her chair back and stood up, her hands on her hips, indignation fuelling every word she uttered. ‘First of all, I am perfectly happy with the way I look, thank you very much, and second, if I wanted a makeover of any sort, I’d decide, and I wouldn’t have to go further than the village!’

  ‘My God; you’ve changed fast. And not for the better.’

  ‘Of course I’ve bloody well changed! Have you any idea what it’s been like? You sent me here to update a house under false pretences, my business has been destroyed, and because I rented out my flat in London, I can’t go back unless I were to live in a hotel. I had to adapt or sink.