‘Did I? I don’t remember that. Mind you, some of the people there are a bit....’ Gina trailed off as she was about to be rude about the estate agent then realised that Carly might be offended. ‘Sorry, what was the message?’ she said, hoping that her faux-pas wasn’t noticed.
‘They said, thank you for letting them know about the property. They were a bit surprised you had changed your mind, but they have another one which would suit your requirements.’
Gina frowned. ‘Sorry, Carly, I don’t understand.’
‘Well, it seems you have changed your mind about the property you were thinking of renting. So they have found you another one.’
‘But I didn’t tell them that. I’ve not changed my mind. I’m confused.’
Carly shrugged. ‘Sorry, I just took the message.’
‘Did you take the name of the caller?’
‘Well, no, I didn’t. They just said they were from Briggs, so I didn’t think to ask. Sorry.’
‘No, don’t worry, it’s not your fault. There seems to have been a bit of a mix-up. I’ll give them a call.’
Carly looked at her watch. ‘I think you might be too late, it’s after six, they will probably be closed.’
‘So it is. I’ll phone them tomorrow and tell them I’m still interested in the property. Goodness, how can they get so mixed up?’
‘That’s the address of the other property. They’ve made an appointment at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning.’
‘Eight? That’s a bit early, isn’t it.’
‘They have a lot of people lined up, apparently.’
‘Well, perhaps I’ll go and see it. You never know, it might be even better?’
Carly continued to pack up her things. ‘Well, have a good weekend, glad I caught you.’
‘Bye Carly, see you Monday!’ called Gina as she headed off to her office to collect the forgotten Percival folder.
Chapter 19
Will yawned as they drove across Canterbury on roads pleasantly devoid of the weekday rush hour traffic.
‘God, I’m shattered,’ he said. ‘I was looking forward to a nice lie in with you this morning.’ His masculine appearance had an even more rugged edge that morning, as there had been no time to shave off his dark stubble.
Will’s train had been delayed and he’d not arrived until after eleven the previous night. They had stayed up until after midnight, catching up on news, and sharing a bottle of wine to help them relax. Will had followed his wine with a couple of whiskies and Gina practically had to drag him out of bed that morning.
‘We can go back to bed later,’ she said. ‘I want to speak to the estate agent myself and emphasise that we haven’t changed our mind about Augustine Avenue. At least we can see them in person instead of phoning and wires getting crossed again.’
‘True,’ said Will, yawning again, ‘I’m just a lazy sod.’
‘Hardly,’ said Gina. ‘Anyway, after this we can relax and enjoy ourselves. Also, it does no harm to have a back-up in case there is a problem with the other house.’
‘It’s strange we couldn’t see it on the web,’ said Will. He was paying particular attention to the sights as they made their way through the city and out towards Downfield Close. ‘I think I’m beginning to get my bearings,’ he said. ‘The station is just down there, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, the West Station, where you arrived last night.’
‘How far is it to where we are going?’
‘Er, less than a mile,’ she replied. The satnav continued to direct them. Gina’s face looked strained, she frowned as they turned into the next road. ‘Wait a minute,’ she pulled over and stopped.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘I just want to check the slip of paper Carly gave me.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, it just seems a bit, well, not the sort of place we would be interested in. I’m sure this is mainly student accommodation around here.’
Will checked the address again. ‘Well, it’s the address on the paper. Do you think Carly made a mistake?’
Gina shrugged. ‘I don’t know. She seems efficient and she’s not made any mistakes since I’ve been at Barker and Hinds. I should have looked on street view, but I was so busy trying to finish my paperwork last night.’
‘Look, it’s a long road, we aren’t anywhere near number twenty-seven yet.’
Gina drove slowly as they checked the numbers of the houses.
‘This is it, unfortunately,’ said Will. ‘God, what a dump!’
‘There must be some mistake. I’m not living here, it’s awful!’ shouted Gina. ‘I’m going to give them such a bollocking when they arrive. Two mistakes, what a nuisance. It’s no wonder they are described as the most hated profession.’
‘Isn’t that traffic wardens?’
‘I don’t fucking care,’ said Gina. ‘I could give someone a slap!’
‘Well, don’t take it out on me,’ joked her husband. ‘I could be in the land of Nod. Wake me up when they arrive.’ He slid down in his seat and closed his eyes.
It was now after 8 a.m., and there was no sign of any estate agent. Gina took out her phone and phoned the office but nobody from Briggs answered. She checked their website for their opening hours which were stated as 9 a.m. on Saturdays. Gina felt a horrible creeping sensation as if her skin was crawling with insects. Something definitely felt awry.
‘Ahhh!’ shouted Will, as his body jerked. ‘Oh, where am I?’ he asked. ‘I must have dropped off.’
‘Will, I think there’s been a mistake or not really a mistake. I think we’ve been set up.’
‘Set up? What do you mean?’
‘I mean someone is playing tricks on us.’
‘Well, it’s not very funny. Have you phoned Brights, or whatever they are called?’
‘Briggs. Yes, they aren’t open. I didn’t think to check last night. I was so tired and there’s been so much going on, then the confusion about us having changed our mind, my mind is overloaded.’ Gina began to cry.
‘Hey, darling, it’s not that bad. We’ll go back to the flat, and then walk into town and speak to them at the office. These sort of mix-ups happen all the time. We can get some breakfast in town! That will be nice.’
Gina blew her nose. ‘Yes, that will be nice, but you don’t understand. I think someone is taking it out on me. I’m being targeted.’
‘Targeted? Gina, you aren’t making sense.’
‘I know. It’s because I’ve not told you what’s been happening. There have been other things.’
‘Gina! What’s been happening? Tell me!’ Will had turned around in his seat and was now facing her. He held her hands. ‘I want to know what has been going on.’
‘I don’t know what it is really. I’ve had a couple of odd things in the post. It might be someone from the inquiry.’
‘Let’s swap seats, I’ll drive. We are going to go home, make some coffee and then you can explain. I am not having you intimidated. We are going to sort all this out.’
Gina duly complied and Will started the car. He entered their home address in the satnav and they set off. After their disagreement the other night, he had hoped they were back on a more even keel and this weekend would be a couple of days of reconciliation. Now it was as if the rug had been pulled from beneath their feet. He sincerely hoped this was a slight hitch along the way and not a portent of even worse times ahead.
**
Tom returned from his run to find Trish sitting out in the garden having a coffee and a croissant.
‘Oh, hi, there’s some coffee left, want some?’
‘No thanks, I’ll get some water.’
He returned with a large glass which he drained almost in one gulp.
‘That’s better.’ He stretched. ‘I had a good run this morning. Went out along the river towards Chartham. I love that route. There were some swans swimming along, and I saw a couple of rabbits hopping along the path.’
He looked at the table and frowned. ‘What�
�s that?’
‘Oh, it’s a new gadget, it helps me monitor my stress levels.’
‘Really? How does it work?’
‘Well, you hold it here, between your thumb and finger and it links to an app on my phone. See?’
‘Yes, I see, then what do you do?’
‘Well, you can change your breathing and check how your stress levels reduce. I found that I wasn’t aware of how I was over-breathing and that makes things worse.’
Tom seemed unimpressed.
‘Was it expensive?’
‘Not hugely.’
‘Which means?’
‘Tom, I don’t ask you how much your new trainers cost! I don’t have to explain how I spend my money.’
‘Sorry. I hope it works. I didn’t mean to seem negative.’
‘Well, I could take up my old habit? Would you prefer that?’
‘You know I wouldn’t. Besides, I guess a twenty a day habit is expensive.’
‘Exactly. Look, whilst I’m building up my medication I think it will help. It takes a while for anti-depressants to reach their full effectiveness.’
‘I know, sorry, I didn’t mean to seem critical.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Anyway, you’ve got your birthday coming up soon. Think about what you’d like to do. We could go away for a few days. I don’t mean abroad, somewhere not too far. Suffolk, Norfolk? Anywhere you fancy.’
‘I will, thanks. At least by then, I’ll have lasted longer than my Dad did. Fifty-two. It was no age really.’
‘Oh, no, don’t say that. He was so young, it must have been a shock for you to lose him when you were only a teenager. Do you think that might be causing you extra stress?’
Trish shrugged. ‘No idea. Possibly but it’s a long time ago. It wasn’t a pleasant relationship, but he did work hard. That was one thing in his favour, perhaps his only redeeming quality.’
Tom sighed. He felt so sad that Trish had suffered such a painful childhood. ‘Didn’t you say it was the stress of his promotion that caused his heart attack?’
‘Most likely, although he developed the arrhythmia before that, and don’t forget medicine has moved on a lot since those days. He would probably have survived nowadays. They have more drugs available to treat things like that.’
‘Well, that’s true. I don’t think people realise just how far medicine has developed. Anyway, what do you fancy doing today?’
‘Nothing too strenuous, I’ve increased my dose today so I might feel a bit sleepy. Can you drive me to Waitrose?’
‘Sure, no problem. I’ve got a bit of work to do this afternoon, but we could watch a film this evening? What do you think?’
‘Sounds good. You go and take a shower, and I’ll get my stuff together. We can get another coffee at Waitrose, as we are entitled to a free one!’
Trish had considered keeping her recent purchase a secret from Tom but had decided to grasp the nettle and tell him. Somehow it felt better this way. She didn’t want to start having secrets in their relationship.
Chapter 20
Gina had quickly updated Will on her recent mysterious items of mail, and he had stomped around the flat, shouting and swearing whilst his wife tried to compose herself. Having vented his feelings, he went back to her, and they hugged in silence for a few minutes.
‘Will, you are overreacting! It’s just two anonymous items, a card and a notebook. Hardly sinister!’
‘Yes, but together with the phone call to the estate agent, it seems to be part of someone’s campaign!’
‘Well, we can say that now but how was I to know from the first two innocuous incidents?’
Will sighed. He sat down and rubbed his hands over his forehead, then over his short-cropped salt and pepper hair. ‘Yes, you are right, but I just feel you have been keeping things from me. That’s what touched a nerve.’
I just didn’t want to worry you,’ she explained. ‘I know how much you’ve had on your plate recently. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s not you that needs to be sorry, it’s this sick fuck who is playing games with you. Who do you reckon is the most likely?’
‘Well, I’ve no idea really. Obviously in my career, I might have upset people in the past and clearly, I’ve questioned witnesses quite rigorously, but I can’t suggest anyone in particular.’
‘Well, they are going to regret it, whoever it is when I’ve finished with them.’
‘I think we need to stay calm. It’s not so serious, not really. It’s not as if I’ve been attacked or threatened. Some people have their cars damaged, things like that. I know I had that nail in my tyre but...’ Gina’s voice trailed off, realising she hadn’t told Will about this.
‘What nail?’
‘It doesn’t matter! I could have picked that up anywhere. We need to get things in perspective.’
‘No, I know, it’s just, God, I’m furious!’ Will looked at his watch. ‘Look, it’s after nine now, we need to get along to the estate agent and see what they have to say.’
‘I’ll just pop to the loo and slap some makeup on,’ said Gina, ‘I look a fright.’
‘No you don’t.’
Will waited alone with his thoughts, his hand straying to touch an old scar over his right eyebrow, the result of a car accident before airbags had been invented. So far their weekend was turning into a disaster. His delayed train and now this puzzle which had led them on a wasted visit to a dump of a house.
‘Right, ready,’ she said. Her confidence had returned, and together they were on a mission.
The estate agent was about a ten-minute walk from their apartment, and the early morning empty streets allowed them to walk unimpeded, as it was too early for most of the tourists and shoppers. Will reached for her hand as they walked along, her husband’s large physique contrasting markedly with Gina’s small, compact frame. This simple affectionate gesture of his confirmed to her that she was forgiven, they were a team rather than opponents.
Will opened the door and allowed his wife to enter the estate agent’s office, which held one couple in the throes of a discussion. An assistant looked up from her laptop and stood to greet them.
‘Good morning, how can I help? I’m Leila.’
‘It’s Mr and Mrs Overton, we were planning to rent the house in Augustine Avenue, but there seems to have been a bit of a mix-up,’ said Gina.
‘Take a seat,’ said the assistant, who looked to be in her mid-twenties. Gina noticed she had prominent eyebrows embellished with dark pencil, which seemed to be the trend at the moment and she had a small tattoo on the inside of her wrist.
‘Now, what seems to be the problem?’
Gina explained the message she’d received via Carly yesterday regarding the property and Leila listened without interrupting the story and jotted some notes on her pad.
‘Let me look on the system.’ She clicked away and read the information on the screen.
Gina and Will sat expectantly waiting for a pronouncement.
‘I see it’s Steve that you’ve been dealing with, but unfortunately, he’s not in today. Let me see if I can catch him at home. I won’t be a minute.’
Gina exchanged glances with Will who had remained silent throughout the discourse. He picked at a thread which was poking out of the seam of his chinos. He gave it a firm tug, and the thread gave up its battle, and Will pocketed the offending article, rather than discarding it on the carpet. They could hear a discussion filtering in from a room in the back, and then the assistant walked back into the front of the office, saying, ‘OK, thanks, Steve, I’ll tell them. Bye, see you Monday.’
She smiled and sat back down at her desk, placing her hands flat in front of her.
‘So, Steve took a call yesterday afternoon, about 4 o’clock and the lady, that is yourself,’ she nodded with her head, ‘you said that you had changed your mind about Augustine Avenue. He said he was sorry but not to worry and he hoped to find something else suitable for you.’
The girl opened h
er hands as if to say, ‘that’s it,’ and waited for the Overtons to speak.
‘I don’t understand. I didn’t phone you. Someone must have pretended to be me. I think someone is playing games.’
‘Well, we can only act on information we receive. Sorry.’
‘Didn’t you think to phone me back to check?’
‘Well, why should we? We can’t phone everyone back who phones us, it would take all our time. Oh, and Steve said, that you said, I mean whoever it was who phoned said, that in future you wanted us to phone your office and not your mobile. They read out the number of your office which matched the one we had on file.’
Gina sighed and pulled a face. ‘It doesn’t matter, it’s not your fault. Anyway, we are here to tell you that we still want to rent Augustine Avenue.’
‘Let me get the file.’
Will raised his eyes heavenwards. ‘What a mess,’ he whispered.
Leila flicked through the folder, then tapped on her laptop and scanned some pages.
‘I’m afraid that property is now let. We signed the papers yesterday afternoon after you changed your mind, well, after we thought you had changed your mind....’ Her voice trailed off as it was an embarrassing situation for all parties. ‘It’s a very popular area and in fact, the couple who have secured it offered more than you did. I’m very sorry.’
‘But we had an agreement! I was going to come and sign the papers today. You had no right!’ Gina was shouting now, and the other couple stopped their transaction and looked around.
‘Gina, love, there’s nothing we can do. It’s not their fault. We’ve missed out on it.’
‘But someone must have impersonated me! It’s not fair. It’s fraud, that’s what it is!’ Gina stood and started to pace around. She looked like a caged animal, and her face was flushed. She fumbled in her bag for her e-cigarette, then replaced it as she realised she shouldn’t vape in the office. ‘Wait a minute. Do you have the number of the person who called?’
‘Well, possibly but the call would have come through to the office. I’m not sure which phone and the desk phones don’t store every number, only the last twenty. We get so many calls each day.’
A Form of Justice Page 11