‘You really do have a very low opinion of him, don’t you?’
‘I just know what Mum said to me when we were gardening together one day. She reckoned she was content with her life because he didn’t make too many demands on her. As long as she provided meals at the right times and entertained his boring friends, she let him do as he liked.’
‘You got pretty close to her at times, didn’t you? I suppose it’s the mother-daughter thing. I suppose I did get fairly close, but it was almost too late.’
Julia stared at him. This was the nearest he had come to talking about their mother’s end. She waited, hoping he’d say more but he looked away from her.
‘Let’s go and eat.’ The subject was closed.
The trio of workers left at the cottage seemed to have done an excellent job. The carpets, though still rather damp, had all been cleaned and the walls were free of the stains. The whole place smelt of cleaning fluids and disinfectant. They were packing up their elderly car when Julia and Ryan returned. The rubbish had all been cleared after their three trips to the dump. The place looked almost habitable again.
‘We’ve left the windows open to help with the drying out,’ Gwen told them. ‘Are you staying here tonight? Only we haven’t made the beds up. Weren’t sure what sheets to use and there aren’t any mattresses yet either. And the washing machine seems to be leaking.’
‘Yes, thanks. We’ve got someone coming to look at it. It’s full of wet washing.’
‘I took it out and hung it outside. There’s a clothes line round the side so I’ve left it there to dry off a bit. Di’n’t rinse it nor nuffink. Think it’s all as good as I can get it. Will you settle up now or shall I call in the office for the money in the week?’
‘I’ll pay you now,’ Ryan offered. Julia looked at him gratefully. She’d never been short of cash in her life and this time she didn’t have Daddy there to ask for a top-up.
When the cleaners had driven away, brother and sister went inside to look round.
‘They’ve done a good job. Thanks for rescuing me yet again. I’ll pay you back when I get some cash.’
‘Don’t worry about it. We’d better close the windows when we leave and hope it dries on its own. Leave the washing outside. If it gets trashed, too bad. You can wash it again properly, when the washer gets fixed. Look, are you really sure you’ll be all right here on your own?’
‘Course I will. Stop being a worry-wart. Now, you can drive me back to the hotel and then you’d better get on your way. I’ll leave my clothes in my car for yet another night. Better than putting them in the damp atmosphere here. Now, we’d better reset the alarm. What numbers shall we use?’
They decided on a random selection and keyed them in.
Half an hour later, she clung to her brother.
‘Thank you so much for coming down. I hope Dad isn’t too hard on you. I really needed you here and I don’t think I could have coped on my own. I’ll miss you. Hope you’ll come again soon for a peaceful weekend.’
‘I’ll try. Somehow, I suspect our times of peaceful weekends are about to disappear for good. Bye, love. Take care of everything, especially yourself. I’ll text you later.’
So, you got it all clean and tidy again, did you?
Bet you’ve put a different code in that alarm system too and I bet I can soon find it. Sort of thing I’m good at.
And you brought in far fewer new boxes this time. Tut tut. It’s almost as if you knew nothing would be safe here for long. I might just leave everything be for today. I’m quite tired after all my previous efforts.
Expect you’ll be at the hotel tonight and probably want to move back tomorrow. I do hope so, dear girl. I’ve got so many lovely ideas to try out. You won’t rely on being here for long, will you now? I hope not, as I really don’t want any more blood on my hands.
I never intended to kill the old bat. She just got in the way but whatever I had to do, it worked. The other sister couldn’t stand it any longer. Just as you won’t be able to stick it out on your own.
I’m not supposed to harm you though, Julia Renton. Just scare the living daylights out of you.
We always get what we want in the end, my bosses and me.
Chapter Eleven
It seemed strange to Julia to be getting up and going to work at a set time. It was possibly the first time in her life she’d been forced to keep to office hours. Her recent job as camp chef on the safari had been relatively laid back, the hours depending largely on the day’s activities which varied from a five o’clock start to ten o’clock on the rest days.
That had all been very different. Now she had a regular job with potentially, regular hours. She cleared her room at the hotel first, packing even more things into her already full car. She didn’t want to pay for another night’s stay and hoped the suspended credit card didn’t kick in too early in the day.
Lucy was sitting at her desk, looking decidedly grumpy. Her response to Julia’s cheery good morning was distinctly unenthusiastic.
‘I could’ve done with at least another month here. Wasn’t planning on finishing till much nearer the wedding. How am I going to afford all those extras I’ve ordered for the reception?’ She looked dreamy and slightly out of it. If it wasn’t so early in the morning, she might have thought Lucy’d taken something. Or maybe she was hung over?
‘I’m sorry. I had no idea it was going to be a problem. Bryce seemed to think you wanted to leave.’
‘Not yet. I suppose I’ll have to look for something casual for a couple of weeks. Unless my Wayne picks up something extra.’
‘Wayne’s your fiancé?’
‘Yer. He’s good to me. Likes to spoil me when he can but things are a bit tight round here, lately. Still, hopefully, we’ll get our own place in a few months. Staying with my parents till we do. Saving up, you know.’
‘That’s tough. I suppose it’s difficult round here, property being so high-priced. I heard Cornwall is one of the most expensive paces to live. Does Wayne work locally?’
‘Yer. He’s a builder by trade but only doing casual lately. Not the work about there once was. Not as if we can just walk into a place of our own. Nothing to inherit from my family.’ She gave a pointed glance at Julia. Obviously, she was aware that Julia and Ryan had inherited their cottage. ‘Well, I suppose I’d better show you how things work round here. That’s what I’m here for. Sooner we get things sorted, sooner I can sit back and leave it all to you.’
For the next hour, Julia concentrated on Lucy’s explanation of how the booking system worked for the holiday lets and sorting out the bank details. It was straightforward and seemed simple and fool proof.
‘What about the property development side of things?’ she asked.
‘Bryce handles all that himself. Doesn’t want me knowing about all his private goings-on. I just add them to the list when they’re up for lets.’
‘So you don’t do any accounting as such?’
‘Course not. I’m no bleedin’ bookkeeper. I enter the deposits on that chart I showed you and send out reminders when the balance is due. Mostly I answer the phone and fend off people coming into the office.’
‘I remember.’ She smiled at the girl’s use of “fend off”.
‘Bit of a doddle really. Reckon someone like you’ll be bored within a week. I have my ways of coping wiv it.’ She gave a smile that was slightly suggestive and rather odd.
Julia frowned but then managed to smile again.
‘I think I’m going to be doing a more varied role for him. He wanted me to see how this end of things worked for now. I don’t quite know what he has in mind.’
‘Don’t you? Really? I reckon you’ll soon find out. Got wandering hands he has. When I told my Wayne about him he was angry. Nearly came to sort him out but I said I’d deal with it. Didn’t want to lose me job, did I?’
‘I see. And you’ve not had any problems since then? With Bryce, I mean?’
‘Nah. Made it clear where I stoo
d. Wayne was glad ’cos he didn’t want me to lose my job either. Relies on me a lot he does. But that’s what it’s all about, innit?’
‘I suppose so.’
Julia reflected that Bryce had always treated her very politely and she was unconcerned about any unwanted advances from the man. She could deal with that. She didn’t dislike him in any way. He was good looking and seemed to know his way around but she had no intention at this time of allowing him to get any closer to her than a working arrangement. All the same, it was good to have this warning.
‘Right, well you’d better show me the filing system. I’m happy that the computing side won’t be a problem but I need to see the rest.’
‘You can do computing stuff can you? Technical stuff like websites and that?’
‘Well, yes. Fairly basic ones that is. But there’s already a website isn’t there?’ Lucy nodded. ‘I haven’t looked at it yet. My laptop was stolen along with most of my other stuff.’
‘I heard about that. Not very nice. You got straight again?’
‘More or less. We had Bryce’s cleaners in yesterday.’
‘Yer. Gwen told me. We were at school together – well, she was a couple of years ahead of me – but I know her very well. You even had Terry and Demelza there as well, didn’t you?’
‘They did a good job. I’m moving back there later. I’ve replaced the basics and shall leave it at that. Nothing expensive till these thieves have been caught.’
Lucy gave a snort. Clearly she thought there was little chance of that happening.
The rest of the morning was spent looking through files and folders and learning how everything worked. Bryce came in at lunchtime and seemed pleased to see the two women working well together.
‘Can you get me some sandwiches, Lucy? You know what I like. Take it out of petty cash. And get something for Julia too.’ He caught the look she threw at him. ‘OK, you can get some for yourself as well.’
‘Thanks very much,’ Julia said.
‘Not a regular habit of mine but we may as well start on the right footing. After you’ve eaten, come into my office and we’ll discuss a few of the things you might take over for me. Oh and you can make the coffee while Lucy’s out. I like it strong and black. Two sugars.’
‘Right. I’ll remember that. How do you like it, Lucy? I’ll make some for you at the same time.’
‘Oh, cheers. Milk and one sugar. I’ll have to get the milk, though. I’ll bring it back with me. Your job, as from next Monday.’
By the end of her day, Julia was confident that it was all very easy and the job would certainly fill the gap until she decided what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Her emotions were still jangling after the upheaval of moving to Cornwall with all the stresses that had brought. She still felt vulnerable and worried about the future of the cottage. She knew she was being victimised for some reason but didn’t know why. Leaving the home where she had spent most of her life had been upsetting enough and Crofters was the next best thing to a home that she’d ever known. Even that had been spoiled now. Had she made an error in running away as she had done?
She still blamed her father for her mother’s terrible demise. If he had been a more loving, better husband, she might not have ended her life the way she did. Could it have been such a dreadful illness that she really felt she had to take her own life? Or was there something more to it all? She still suspected her father had something to do with it, more than had been admitted.
She drove along the lane back to the cottage with her car stuffed full of the possessions she had collected only a few days ago. It seemed a lifetime since her drive back to Buckinghamshire. After the last attack, she was wondering how sensible it was to leave anything at all in the cottage. Previously she had only ever left her cheaper summer clothes. Now she had brought her better things down. There were many designer brands that she hoped were going to last a long time … at least until she was able to buy the sort of new things she was accustomed to. With the new financial restrictions imposed by her once-generous father, her mother’s legacy was to be used for cottage expenses and would not last forever. It was partly Ryan’s as well but he had told her to use what she needed. She planned only to spend the money on things like bills for the cottage and repairs that may become necessary. Was this how normal people had to live? Counting the cost of every pound they spent? She was about to learn.
Everything on the outside seemed to be in order at Crofters. Nervously she pushed the door open wondering if she was about to find some new scene of destruction awaiting her. All was well. Apart from the smell of carpet shampoo, it looked immaculate. She flung open as many windows as possible and began the long chore of unloading her clothes from the car. By the time everything had been hung in her wardrobe, she felt exhausted. And hungry.
She remembered that she hadn’t been shopping so there was nothing at all to eat in the house. She couldn’t face the thought of a supermarket at this time and the village shop would mean another encounter with Myrtle who would expect all the details of the latest goings on. The answer was probably a packet of fish and chips from the shop in the village. She shut all the windows, set the alarm and went to her car. It was something they had never needed to bother with before when it was for short periods of time. Now she daren’t take any risks.
Julia drove back along the lane and, seeing the village shop was fairly full and Myrtle fully occupied, decided to buy a few things. Coffee was essential, as was something for breakfast the next day. She could cope with a short bout of rather public sympathy but not a long conversation. Lovely though the shopkeeper was, Julia didn’t want to talk. Undoubtedly, the events in her little colony at the edge of the village were still a major talking point. She picked her minimal supplies and collected the fish and chips before driving home.
It seemed a long evening. Perhaps her idea of managing without a television had not been such a good idea. She listed to her iPod and mooched about. She dialled Ryan’s phone but it was voicemail only. She left a message asking him to call her but he must have been out.
She could always go out herself but where would she go? In the summer months there were plenty of people she knew who’d be staying in the area but now, the social life of the pub would be confined to one or two locals and Jim the landlord for her only company. She could guess the main topic of any conversation at present.
She felt irritable, if not a little jumpy. She went and switched the alarm on. If anyone tried to open as much as one window catch, it would scream out to the night. She peered through the window and noticed that as usual, there wasn’t a single light showing from any of the other houses nearby. She felt very alone and wondered if there was anyone to respond, even if the alarm sounded. Maybe she needed the sort that connected to the telephone company. But they’d never had a landline connection at the cottage. It had been a thing their mother felt about living there. Nobody could contact them in the days before mobile phones. It had always worked well and meant that their father was cut off from his perpetual business worries for a few days. It had worked well until the ubiquitous mobile phones had taken over the world.
She went to bed early, wondering if this was to be her way of life from now on. Out of the frying pan and all that. It wasn’t her father controlling her now, but instead finances and fear of what was happening dominated her thoughts. She tried to sleep but instead lay awake, listening to every sound outside the cottage. The slightly muffled roar of the sea, usually a comfort, seemed to serve only to mask anything else that might be going on. She had to admit, she was scared silly and her brave words about not letting anyone drive her out of this place, somewhere she loved with a passion … seemed like nothing more than brave folly.
‘Grit your teeth and get used to it,’ she said out loud. ‘Your choice. You live with it.’
With dark rings under eyes and a blistering headache, she arrived at the office early the next day. She sat outside in her car as she waited for someone to arrive. P
erhaps she could ask to be given a key so that this situation wouldn’t arise again.
‘You trying to show me up or summat?’ Lucy said, knocking on the window of Julia’s parked car.
‘I was ready early so I thought I might as well come along. I should have walked but I’d really rather see where my car is parked. I can’t trust anything anymore along our lane.’
‘You haven’t had something else go wrong have you?’
‘Not really but it’s all made me very nervous. Anyway, I presume you have a key to the office?’
‘Yep. You can take it if you want. Better ask his lordship first but it makes sense. I did think I might be taking a sickie tomorrow, anyway. Sorry – shouldn’t say that, you being such a friend of his.’
‘I’m not really.’
‘Well, he took you out to dinner. Never done that for me. And he bought lunch yesterday. Think that’s another first.’
‘How did you know about the dinner?’
‘Who d’ya think booked the table? You’ll have to get used to doing everything for him bar wiping his bum.’
‘For Heaven’s sake. Ghastly thought.’
‘Well, it feels like he’s totally helpless at times.’
‘He seems pretty clued up to me.’
‘Just the impression he likes to give. Right, well, I’ll let you get things going. Boot up the computer and everything. Make sure you know how it all works. Oh, and the answering machine needs to be looked at first thing. Make sure we haven’t got a message from you know who with a list of urgent jobs to be done, and then there’s checking on any bookings that may have come in.’
‘Sounds easy enough.’
‘I fancy a coffee. You want one?’
‘Sounds good. I’ll start on the phone messages while you make it.’
There were several messages waiting. Two people asking about bookings. A message about the alarm in one of the holiday homes, and three requests for brochures.
Dangerous Secrets Page 10