Country Plot (42 page)

She waited, but he didn't say any more, and seemed, in fact, lost in his own thoughts, so she went past him to go out and fetch in the rest of the dirty things.

As she reached the door, he said, ‘Did Caroline really try to kill you? Hit and run?'

She froze. Surely Caroline hadn't said anything on the subject? Or was she so mad and so sure of herself she felt she could even boast of that to her infatuated lover? But how it would hurt him if he thought he had loved someone capable of that!

‘I didn't see the car,' she said. ‘It was all too quick. But I'm sure it wasn't intentional. Just bad driving, I guess.'

‘Yes,' he said. ‘That must be what it was.'

The following Saturday Nicky Pearson arrived promptly in her rather beat-up old Peugeot 205. Jenna and Kitty went out on to the turnaround to meet her. She stepped out of the car, and opened the back door to let out her dogs: two miniature dachshunds. ‘Maisie and Molly,' she said.

Watch and Barney approached with interest. The dachs took one look at them and flopped to the ground, rolling on their backs and wriggling their bottoms in humble greeting.

‘It's all right,' Kitty said, ‘they're very dog-friendly.' In a matter of moments the dachs were up and frisking around, with Barney and Watch following them, intrigued, trying to get a nose to these fast-moving strangers. ‘Why don't you just let them have fun while we go inside?'

‘Is it safe?' Nicky asked, looking doubtfully around at the wide open spaces.

‘There's chicken wire round the whole perimeter – more to keep the neighbourhood dogs out than my chaps in,' Kitty said, ‘so they can't get lost. Barney will look after them. He always wanted to be a mother. I expect they'd enjoy a run.'

‘I'm sure they will,' Nicky said. ‘I don't think they've ever seen so much space in their whole lives.'

Kitty and Jenna conducted her round the house and she raved over the ceramics. ‘I've never seen such a collection. And some pieces must be quite valuable.'

‘I made a start cataloguing them,' Jenna said, when they retired to the conservatory for coffee, ‘but I don't really know the subject. You're welcome to my notes, such as they are, as a starting point.'

‘What we want,' Kitty said, ‘is for you to choose enough items to fill the cabinets – we'll show you those when you've had your coffee. I leave the choice completely up to you, because I know less than Jenna about it. Just make an attractive display for the visitors.'

‘And, of course, they'll need notes for the room sheets, and labels. I can do those, if you tell me what to put on them.'

Nicky said that it made more sense for her to do the notes than to have to tell Jenna what to write. ‘And I can print the labels at work – we have the right card and printer for it there. I say, this shortbread is delicious.'

‘Home-made,' Jenna said. ‘Have another piece.'

‘Oh, look at those dogs!' Kitty said with a smile in her voice, as they frisked up, panting, from their first long run around. Watch sloshed up water from the big bowl that stood just outside on the terrace, and Barney flopped on his back while the dachs jumped on him, in a fine reversal of roles. ‘I think they're friends.'

They showed Nicky the cabinets, which Bill had finished restoring, and had moved into position in the housekeeper's room – soon to be the China Room. ‘Oh, lots of space,' she said. ‘I'm glad, because I'm going to want to choose a lot of things. And with several cabinets we can group things nicely.'

‘It's very good of you to do this for us,' Kitty said.

‘Not at all. I'm going to enjoy it. Really! I'm not just being polite.'

‘Then, could I ask you another favour? Could you pick out a few pieces for the drawing room and dining room? Jenna will show you the spaces we'd like to fill.'

‘I'd be happy to,' Nicky said. ‘It's so exciting to be in on the start of something like this. I've so often gone round houses and wondered about who chose what to go where.' She smiled. ‘And generally disagreed with the choice, I have to say!'

It was Nicky who, on seeing the dining room for the first time, suggested the table should be laid as if for a formal dinner. ‘If you have some nice china for it. It looks rather bare as it is, and people do like seeing how other people lived.'

Jenna said, ‘That's a good idea. Like “dressing” a house when you want to sell it?'

‘Exactly. Let the visitors see it's not just a museum. It's nice to leave a book or two around in the drawing room, too, and perhaps some music open on the piano.'

‘I can see you're going to be a great help,' Jenna said approvingly.

They had seen nothing of Xander in the week since the Great Revelation. He had been busy, Jenna supposed, with sorting out the detail of the agreement with Beale and Sullivan, policing its implementation – and finalizing matters with Caroline. A notice had appeared in the papers on Thursday.

So that's that, Jenna thought. She passed it silently to Kitty at the breakfast table.

‘It doesn't look good for him,' Kitty said, ‘after a similar announcement with Stephanie. It will make him look inconstant.'

‘I don't know why people put engagements in the paper in the first place,' Jenna said.

‘Usually it's the bride's mother who insists on that particular tradition,' Kitty said. Then she sighed. ‘I wonder when we'll see him again. I do hope he doesn't go and hide himself away.'

‘He did say he wanted to help us with the opening.'

‘Did he? We must make a point of making him indispensable. Give him lots to do.'

‘There
is
lots to do,' Jenna pointed out. ‘We could even have done with Harry.'

But Harry, after half-heartedly helping Bill move things around on Monday, had gone home on Tuesday. ‘It's
my
flat,' he said defiantly, even though it wasn't really. ‘And I'll have to face Dad some time.' He hadn't reappeared, so Jenna assumed that Roger Beale hadn't turned him out on the street, at least.

Things were looking promising for the launch party. Acceptances were running at nearly a hundred per cent. The MP for the south of the county, Nick Easter, had rung Kitty personally to say he would be coming. Then he added, ‘I believe you had something to do with the fact that Derek Sullivan will not be standing at the election after all.'

‘Me? Not at all,' Kitty said, flustered. ‘I knew nothing about it until it was over.'

He chuckled. ‘Don't worry, I shan't spread any rumours. But everyone ought to be grateful to you: Sullivan's a worm, and he wouldn't have been a credit to the House.'

‘Do you know who's replacing him?' she plucked up courage to ask.

‘The constituency party's chosen Harriet Hale, I believe.'

‘I don't know her. What's she like?'

‘Mostly harmless,' he said. ‘She's a bit of a party drone. But I don't think she'll get in anyway. It's not natural Labour country. Ronnie Farebrother only held the seat for all those years because he was a farmer and a leading light of the NFU. They were betting everything on Sullivan because he was a local celebrity, but now he's out of the frame, it's blown the election wide open, so you can imagine how grateful
we
are to you.'

‘Not to me,' Kitty said firmly.

‘Understood. But I wondered if your godson has ever thought of standing?'

‘Alexander? I don't think it has ever crossed his mind,' Kitty said in surprise.

‘Perhaps you might persuade him to let it,' he said. ‘He's just the sort of man we need – local, personable, intelligent, and with a reputation for probity.'

‘He's the most honest man I know,' Kitty said.

‘That's what I mean. He might well crack the north of the county for us. Something to think about?'

‘You must speak to him yourself,' Kitty said firmly. ‘I couldn't possibly answer for him.'

‘I will. Perhaps at the party. And thank you again for the opportunity.'

Jenna was intrigued when Kitty relayed this conversation. ‘Xander in Parliament? He'd certainly look good in those interviews on the green outside. Most politicians aren't much to look at.'

Kitty looked shocked. ‘That is not what people are elected for – their looks!'

‘I know – I was teasing.' She thought that he would probably hate all the back-scratching – and stabbing – that went on in Parliament, if one believed the newspapers. On the other hand, it would mean he would be in London a lot more often, and she might therefore see him sometimes. The thought that in a couple of weeks' time she would be going away, never to see him again, was clouding the otherwise perfect pleasure she was getting from this job for Kitty.

All the arrangements were going well. Gloria Buckminster was proving invaluable. She had not only recruited a pool of room stewards and drawn up a rota for the first month, she had got extra volunteers for the opening gala and was well on the way to having the tea done and dusted.

‘Mad Enderby's getting us strawberries from her supplier – free – and she's going to let us have her own cream. She says opening Holtby House will improve passing trade, and her supplier apparently agrees. I've got ten local ladies who will come in and make sandwiches early on the morning, and come back in the afternoon to serve. Paulson's in Wenchester are donating the sandwich loaves, and Tealson's Foods four dozen sausage rolls. Now, large cakes I've got organized, some from people in the village, and Paulson's are giving a dozen of their Swiss rolls, but I need promises for small cakes. I'm working on Betty's Tea Rooms in Belminster and the Copper Kettle in Wenchester, but that will probably only raise two dozen each – mustn't over-milk the cow you know. And scones to go with the strawberries and cream: commercial ones are
so
disappointing, so I'd like them home-made.'

‘Nicky Pearson's mum wants to help in some way. And my sister is a superb cook,' Jenna said. ‘I'm sure she'll do some scones.'

‘See if you can get her to promise two dozen. We'll probably need six dozen at least. I'm going to work on Mrs Phillips – she used to make scones for the cricket tea and they were as light as a feather. If all else fails I can fall back on my sister, but it's a problem getting them here. Where does your sister live?'

‘In London, but she won't mind delivering. She'll want to come to the opening: it was partly her idea.'

‘Invite her, dear! Don't leave it to chance. And she can help serve the teas while she's here. Get the Pearson person too. Get them involved in the beginning and you can call on them down the line if you need them. Now, I want to talk to you about car parking – and what your arrangements will be if it rains.'

Gloria Buckminster could be exhausting, but Jenna was glad to know there was someone effective she could leave Kitty with when she went.

Harry phoned the following week. ‘Hey, Red!' he said, but he sounded a little more subdued than previously.

‘Hello, stranger.'

‘Sorry I didn't phone before,' he said. ‘It's been a bit hairy.'

‘I imagine so.'

‘I thought Dad was going to burst a blood vessel. He yelled at me for an hour solid, stamping around the room like a bull in a china shop.'

‘I don't envy you.'

‘Well, it wasn't nice. I thought I was going to cry at one point – when he asked what my mother would think if she was alive. But then I suppose he thought about the bedroom camera and decided she wouldn't have approved of that, so he sort of calmed down and went thoughtful. That's when I thought he was going to disown me – never darken my door again, sort of thing.'

‘I assumed he would,' Jenna said. ‘We half expected you back here with a suitcase.'

‘Probably would have been if it weren't that I'm the only son. And to tell you the truth, I don't think he really
likes
Caroline much. I mean, he'll use her like he uses everyone, but he said something about how “that's the worst of women, always bring their emotions into it when it should be a matter of business”, which I think was a reference to Caro falling for old Derek Sullivan, which wasn't part of the plan. Anyway, he suddenly decided I was a chip off the old block, and he even chuckled a bit that I'd managed to find the second camera loop.'

‘So he didn't throw you out?'

‘No, he said from now on I was working for him and him only, and if I ever pulled another stunt like that he'd kill me,' Harry said, a little dolefully.

‘But, look, you don't have to do what he says,' Jenna said. ‘You're over eighteen, and he won't
actually
kill you. And you don't want to get mixed up in his shady schemes and end up in jail, do you?'

‘I said that to him, but he told me he's learned his lesson, and he's going straight from now on. He promised Xander the same thing – said the shock had been therapeutic, and he realized how close to the wind he'd been sailing.'

‘Do you believe him?' Jenna said doubtfully.

‘Well,' Harry said simply, ‘old Xander's got the film and the statement to hold over Dad's head if he does stray from the straight and narrow.'

‘I don't think Xander was meaning to spend the rest of his life monitoring your father's actions.'

‘I know. Look, Red, all you can do is hope, right? I hope Dad's going to go straight. And I'm going to watch my back, make sure I don't get pulled into anything dodgy. What else can I do?'

Break out and go your own way
, she thought, but she didn't say it. ‘So what job is he going to give you? The same as you've been doing?'