Murder in Bloom - Libby Sarjeant Murder Mystery Series Page 12

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘Because Harry made the same suggestion. He was joking, I’m pretty sure, but it’s such a coincidence.’

  Ben sighed. ‘Yes. Pete mentioned it a few weeks back.’ He held up a hand. ‘Hear me out. He was simply saying he wondered if I wanted to carry on living at The Manor, it was nothing to do with you.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘Well, not until he said you might be happier living somewhere new to both of us.’

  ‘Ah.’ Libby turned back to the bread bin.

  ‘Do you want a drink?’ Ben came up beside her.

  ‘We’ve been drinking all day,’ said Libby. ‘I’d prefer coffee, I think.’ She filled the kettle and pushed it onto the Rayburn. ‘Come and sit down. You’d better tell me all about it.’

  ‘That’s all there is, really,’ said Ben, leading the way into the sitting room and sitting on one of the upright chairs by the table in the window. Libby frowned. This was not a good sign.

  ‘Pete suggested – what? You might like to rent it? Or do it up, like Harry said?’

  ‘Is that what Harry said?’ Ben looked interested. ‘Because that was the idea. It was fairly vague, but Pete said if I wanted my own home rather than The Manor, wouldn’t it be a good idea? Especially if you would feel happier in a home that was “ours” rather than mine or yours.’

  Libby was silent for a moment. ‘I can see his point,’ she said eventually. ‘I really would not like to live at The Manor.’

  ‘Because of my mum and dad?’

  ‘Obviously. But it also feels too big. I know you grew up there and it’s your family home, but what on earth would we do with all those rooms if – when – it becomes yours?’

  ‘It isn’t entailed, you know. I could sell it.’ Ben leant his elbows on his knees and looked at the floor. ‘And I have asked if I could move in with you permanently. Even though this house is so small.’

  ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

  ‘I mean,’ said Ben with a sigh, ‘I’m perfectly happy to continue our relationship on your terms. Just I’d prefer we were actually together as a couple.’

  Libby was silent once more. This was simply going over old ground. Slowly, she went back to the kitchen and poured hot water into a cafetière. Looking back over her shoulder to where Ben sat, still gazing at the floor, his curly grey hair just beginning to show signs of thinning, her heart squeezed within her. She turned back, assembled mugs, milk and cafetière on a tray and went back into the sitting room.

  ‘We’ve been round and round this subject over the last few days, haven’t we?’ she said, putting the tray down carefully. ‘And last night I thought we’d resolved it. We’ve both given way and reached a compromise. I agreed we should live together properly and you agreed to come here. Should we not leave it there for a while and get used to it?’

  Ben looked up and smiled. ‘But we are used to it. The only difference will be me coming here after work and not going to The Manor before work.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Libby poured coffee. ‘All your stuff will be here, though.’

  ‘Yes, and perhaps that’s another reason to think of Pete’s offer.’

  ‘How would it work, though? If you do it up, will Pete pay you for it?’

  ‘I think his idea is that I – we – live in it rent free while we do it up, then when Millie dies we buy it as sitting tenants.’

  ‘Because he can’t sell it while she’s alive.’

  Ben nodded. ‘That’s why Mum made sure about hers and Dad’s power of attorney, so I can deal with anything I need to while they’re still here.’

  ‘I thought that was how it was,’ said Libby. ‘But what about this place?’

  ‘You could hang on to it. Escape route,’ said Ben, picking up his mug.

  Libby made a face. ‘That’s not very optimistic,’ she said.

  ‘Well, we could live here while we do up Steeple Farm. You’ve been inside, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yes, when Millie gave me breakfast. It gave me the creeps a bit.’

  ‘Did it?’ Ben looked up. ‘Inside?’

  ‘No, the outside. It’s a picture-book place, but those eyes …’

  ‘Eyes?’

  Libby shivered. ‘The windows under the eaves.’

  Ben frowned. ‘I always thought they were picturesque.’

  ‘Well, I’ll have to have a proper look, won’t I,’ said Libby. ‘When can we go?’

  Ben gave her a relieved smile. ‘As soon as you like,’ he said.

  As soon as you like turned out to be Monday afternoon, when Ben had finished his not-too-onerous duties on The Manor estate. In the morning, however, after Libby had done a little desultory housework, she was determined to find out more about Cindy Dale. She had given Adam strict instructions to ring her if he had any news and given him sandwiches again in case Katie hadn’t returned from her weekend away. She switched on the computer and found a couple of local news sites. There was nothing about either murder. In desperation, she called Lewis’s number.

  ‘Libby.’

  ‘Yes. Hi, Lewis. Just wanted to know how you were.’ Libby squirmed. She was being unwarrantably nosy, and Lewis didn’t exactly sound friendly.

  ‘I’m fine. As a matter of fact, I’ve got someone with me just now –’

  ‘Cindy?’ breathed Libby.

  ‘Yes. Adam was going to ring you.’

  ‘To tell me?’

  ‘Ye-es,’ he said slowly.

  ‘Right.’ Libby cheered up. ‘I gave Ad sandwiches again in case Katie hadn’t come back, but I can’t bring any more today. I’m going out.’

  ‘Yes, Katie’s back. You can’t come out?’

  ‘Did you want me to?’

  ‘Adam will ring you,’ said Lewis briskly. ‘Got to go now, Lib.’

  Libby switched off and sat back in her chair. So what was that all about? Was Lewis warning her off? Bit of a cheek after having invited her into the case. Or did he still want help? Was that why Adam was going to ring her?

  A few moments later the phone rang.

  ‘Ma, it’s me. Lewis asked me to call.’

  ‘Yes?’ Libby wasn’t going to say she’d been hassling Lewis.

  ‘That Cindy Dale’s here and Lewis doesn’t know what to do with her.’

  ‘Has he told the police?’

  ‘Oh, yes. And they’ve been to talk to her. Trouble is, she’s staying here. I don’t think Katie’s best pleased, and Lewis certainly isn’t.’

  ‘So why did he want you to call me?’

  ‘Motherly advice.’ Libby could tell he was grinning.

  ‘Is he going to get me up to speed?’

  ‘Yes, but not while Cindy’s around. Could we take him to Harry’s tonight?’

  ‘It’s Monday – he’s not open.’

  ‘Oh, bugger. What else can you suggest?’

  ‘I can’t come over this afternoon, even if I had the car. Ben and I are going out.’ She hadn’t said anything to Adam about Steeple Farm.

  ‘OK. Could he come over tonight to the house? Would Ben mind?’

  ‘Not sure,’ said Libby, thinking furiously. ‘Let me have a word with him and I’ll get back to you.’

  Before she could lose her nerve, she punched in Ben’s mobile number, hoping he wasn’t at that moment up to his thighs in farmyard mud.

  ‘Lib? What’s up?’

  ‘Are you busy?’

  ‘Not dreadfully. Looking at the tenants’ milk quotas. Why?’

  ‘You know Lewis Osbourne-Walker works for house makeover programmes?’

  ‘Ye-es.’

  ‘And he was a professional before that?’

  ‘I didn’t, but it follows.’

  ‘I wondered if we might ask him to have a look at Steeple Farm?’

  There was a short silence, then Ben burst out laughing. ‘OK, OK,’ he said. ‘It’s the naffest excuse I’ve heard, but OK.’

  ‘Really?’ Libby was stunned. ‘You don’t mind?’

 
‘If it means you’re going to look more favourably on the Steeple Farm project, of course I don’t mind. We’re going at two-ish, aren’t we? So ask him to come over at half past.’

  ‘This afternoon?’ she squeaked.

  ‘I thought that was what you wanted.’

  ‘Well, yes, but –’

  ‘That’s all right, then. I’ll see you at lunchtime.’

  Libby sat back in her chair, still astonished. Shaking her head, she hit Adam’s number on speed dial and waited for him to pick up.

  ‘Ma?’

  ‘Ask Lewis if he can come to Steeple Farm this afternoon at half past two. Tell him it’s a bona fide house job.’

  ‘Eh? Isn’t that where Mad Millie lived?’

  ‘It is. Peter needs it done up.’ Libby crossed her fingers. That was what she would tell Lewis, too.

  ‘Really? You’re not bamming?’

  ‘No, it’s true. Ben and I will be there. Do you know where it is to give him directions?’

  ‘He can look up the postcode and use the satnav,’ said Adam. ‘Can I come with him?’

  ‘You’ll be working.’

  ‘Not much to do now I’ve mapped out the parterre. Not until Mog comes back. If Lewis says yes, can I?’

  He sounds like a ten-year-old again, thought Libby, with a sharp stab of nostalgia. ‘Yes, of course, if Lewis doesn’t mind. How’s Katie, by the way?’

  ‘Fine. Well, a bit down about Tony, ’cos Lewis told you she knew him, didn’t he? Not well, but he got her the job with me. Otherwise she’s OK. Not happy about this Cindy, though.’

  ‘No, you said. What’s she like? Cindy?’

  ‘Odd,’ said Adam. ‘I dunno what I expected, but she definitely isn’t it.’

  ‘Tell me later,’ said Libby.

  ‘We both will,’ said Adam, obviously now in high spirits. ‘See ya.’

  Libby called Ben back to tell him the good news, then called Fran to give her an update.

  ‘By the way,’ said Fran when she finished exclaiming over Libby’s news, ‘that hotel had a wedding cancellation, including celebrant, on the third week in June. We’ve taken it.’

  ‘My God!’ said Libby, winded. ‘That’s only a few weeks away. How –’

  ‘Will we do it?’ Fran laughed. ‘Not much to do. We’re going to ring or email everyone this afternoon, then make sure we can get the outfits ready in time. That’s about it.’

  ‘Have you booked Ben and me into the hotel itself?’

  ‘We’ve taken all the rooms, so yes. Are you going to be together?’

  ‘I told you.’ Libby felt herself blushing again. ‘We’ve sorted it out.’

  ‘Not marriage, though,’ said Fran.

  ‘Not marriage, no. Not yet anyway,’ said Libby, surprising herself.

  ‘Well! So there’s hope?’

  ‘Don’t know,’ said Libby. ‘We’ll see.’ She took a deep breath. ‘So. Is Guy excited? Are you excited?’

  ‘Yes to both questions.’ Fran certainly sounded as though she was fizzing. ‘I’m sure this is the way to do it – quickly, with no long waits while everything gets boring.’

  ‘I think you’re right,’ said Libby. ‘How’s Sophie? And your three?’

  ‘I’ve already called Jeremy. He wasn’t overjoyed as it was still only four o’clock New York time, but he’s coming over. With the girlfriend.’

  ‘Coo! You’ve never met her, have you?’

  ‘No. I haven’t told the girls yet, because I know they’ll both moan at me and call me selfish.’

  ‘Then tell them they’re the selfish ones and hang up,’ said Libby.

  ‘I might well do that,’ said Fran, which made Libby raise her eyebrows. ‘Sophie’s just thrilled about the whole thing, and is likely to outshine everybody.’

  ‘That’s good. Is she giving her dad away?’

  Fran laughed again. ‘No, but I suppose she could be his “best woman”, couldn’t she? You were for Pete and Harry.’

  ‘Excellent idea,’ crowed Libby. ‘See? All organised. Now I’d better go and get Ben’s lunch before we go and see Steeple Farm.’

  ‘Good luck,’ said Fran.

  I’ll need it, thought Libby, and she went into the kitchen.

  Chapter Seventeen

  STEEPLE FARM WAS AT the other end of the village. The lane turned right from the main Nethergate road and wound up between high banks until, as Libby had thought before, they could have been miles from civilisation. No traffic noise reached them, apart from the sound of a distant tractor. Libby looked up at the house and realised that the two dormer windows with eyebrows of thatch no longer looked like evil eyes.

  Ben opened the heavy oak door onto the anachronistic hallway, with its thick red carpet, walls painted cream, gilt touches in the wall lights, switches and chain-store picture frames. A teak telephone table, complete with cushioned seat and space for directories, stood by the stairs. They exchanged rueful glances.

  ‘This hall is flagged, isn’t it?’ asked Libby. ‘She didn’t have it pulled up?’

  ‘No. It’s still in the kitchen, too, underneath the vinyl.’ Ben pulled a face and led the way into the pale wood and stainless steel kitchen Libby remembered so well.

  ‘Is the larder still here?’ asked Libby, opening the door to what once would have been a boot room. Still was, with old coats and rubber boots forlornly abandoned years ago, by the looks of it.

  ‘Over here.’ Ben opened a door. ‘She seems to have kept it as a junk store.’

  ‘There must be other places in the house more suitable,’ said Libby. ‘I’ve always wanted a larder.’

  ‘So you’re thinking of it favourably?’ Ben closed the door and took her by the shoulders.

  ‘Maybe,’ said Libby cautiously. ‘It’ll take a lot of thinking through.’

  Ben nodded, satisfied, and let her go. They spent the next half hour wandering through the house and exclaiming, usually at the gross excesses of Millie’s taste.

  ‘I can’t believe she gave birth to Peter and James,’ said Ben, gazing up at a particularly hideous lampshade. ‘Were they changelings, do you suppose?’

  ‘She told me she’d done all this after their father died. I suppose they took after him.’

  ‘I don’t remember him that well. He was quiet and adored Millie, I know that much.’

  A shout floated up to them through the open casement window and Libby leant out under the thatch. Lewis and Adam stared up at her.

  ‘Door’s open,’ she called back. ‘Come in and we’ll be down.’

  ‘I haven’t said anything about the possibility of us moving here,’ she whispered to Ben as they went towards the stairs. ‘Just that Peter wants it done up.’

  Ben raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

  ‘Cor!’ said Lewis, wandering through the downstairs. ‘Great house, pissin’ awful décor.’

  Libby laughed. ‘It’s Ben’s aunt you’re talking about here,’ she said. ‘Come and meet him.’

  Lewis and Ben shook hands warily as Adam burst through from the back of the house.

  ‘This is a great place, Ma,’ he said. ‘Masses of room. You should live here.’

  Libby opened her mouth and shut it again, shooting a warning look at Ben, who smirked.

  ‘So have a wander round, Lewis, and then tell us what you’d do with it,’ she continued. ‘Shall we have a look round outside, Ad?’

  She, Ben and Adam went out through the boot room and into the overgrown garden, beyond which was what looked like a paddock.

  ‘It used to be a farm, didn’t it?’ she asked, leaning her arms on the five-bar gate into the paddock. ‘Did they sell the rest off?’

  ‘Let,’ said Ben. ‘They still have a tenant farmer, like we do at The Manor. If we put the land up for sale some developer would leap in and apply for planning permission.’

  ‘They wouldn’t get it, surely?’ said Libby, shocked.

  Ben shrugged. ‘They might, although at the moment no one would buy or develop it wi
th the economic situation as it is.’

  ‘Huge bloody garage,’ said Adam coming round the side of the house and brushing off cobwebs. ‘Part of it’s set up as a workshop.’

  ‘Is it unlocked?’ said Ben in surprise.

  ‘Yeah. Well, I got in. Doesn’t seem to be much in there to pinch.’

  Ben went off to investigate and Adam joined his mother at the gate.

  ‘This is exactly the sort of place where I wanted to live when I was a child,’ said Libby dreamily. ‘Put a pony in that paddock and I’d have been in heaven.’

  Adam looked at her with his head on one side. ‘And you’d still like to, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Well, yes,’ said Libby, with a nervous laugh. ‘I mean, who wouldn’t.’

  ‘I just wondered why you and Ben were here instead of Pete,’ said Adam.

  ‘Because of asking Lewis, of course,’ said Libby, looking at him with wide eyes.

  ‘Oh, right.’ Adam nodded and looked across the paddock to the stand of trees beyond.

  Libby frowned at him suspiciously and turned to go back in the house. She found Lewis and Ben sitting at the kitchen table discussing floors.

  ‘What do you think, Lewis?’ she said, sitting down.

  ‘It’s a great house, and in terrific condition. Little bit of damp here and there, but whoever looked after it before all this bloody tat –’ he waved a dismissive hand ‘– knew what they were doing. Just needs a cosmetic overhaul, except in here, of course. I reckon they’ve wrecked a good bit of the original room putting this lot in.’ He looked round and shook his head. ‘You wouldn’t credit it, would you?’

  ‘The original fittings went to the owner’s son,’ said Ben. ‘He’s got the dresser and the Aga, and the big kitchen table.’

  ‘Lucky bugger. Is he the one who wants this place put back to rights?’

  Ben nodded. ‘Do you want to take it on?’

  Lewis looked uncomfortable. ‘I don’t really do this sort of stuff these days,’ he said. Then he grinned. ‘But I could be project manager, if you like. I reckon I’ll have the time for a bit, won’t I? My show will be on hold until I’m in the clear, and we aren’t due to start filming anyway for another couple of months. What do you think?’

  ‘Sounds good,’ said Ben slowly, ‘but I’ll have to talk to Peter, obviously.’