Kate's Progress (38 page)

She found Ed in the drawing room, working on his laptop, with papers and notebooks all around it on the coffee table.

‘Hello,’ she said awkwardly.

He looked up, unsmiling. ‘You found the walking-stick, I see.’

‘Yes, thank you. Was that you?’

‘I thought it would make things easier for you,’ he said.

Easier for me to get out of here and out of your life
, Kate translated for herself.

She hobbled towards the sofa. ‘I think I could probably go home tomorrow,’ she said hesitantly.

‘I don’t think that’s wise. Jack says you have to live mostly upstairs at Little’s. And you’d have no-one around if anything happened. I think you should stay here until you’re steadier on your feet – at least a couple more days. There’s no hurry, is there?’

‘No – except that I’m running out of clothes.’

‘Someone can take you over to fetch anything you need. And Mrs B can put things in the washing machine, you know.’

‘Well – thanks,’ Kate said. ‘I will stay a bit longer, if it’s no trouble.’

‘No trouble,’ he affirmed, and remained looking at her, as if he wanted a conversation. She couldn’t think of a neutral topic.

‘I’m sorry about Addison,’ she said at last.

It was the wrong thing to say. The atmosphere seemed to chill slightly. But he said, ‘Don’t be. It was an awkward situation.’ A pause, and then, almost to himself, ‘I seemed to have raised expectations in her that I hadn’t intended to.’

This was more of a revelation than she had ever had from him, so she ventured, ‘I thought – in London … Jack said … Weren’t you close at one time?’

He seemed to hesitate over whether to answer her or not. Then he said, ‘At one time. But her firm moved her to New York, and I thought that was the end of it. That was definitely the impression she gave. I was – surprised when she turned up here, obviously thinking we were still …’

He didn’t finish, and Kate thought:
you were too much of a gentleman to tell her she was wrong so bog off
. But, for goodness’ sake, how far was he prepared to take it? Would he have ended up marrying her because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings? That was too much chivalry by a very long streak!

Perhaps he read something in her eye, because he said, faintly rueful, ‘I suppose I should have grasped the nettle. I didn’t handle it very well. But I was – feeling confused at the time. Unsettled.’

She waited, but that seemed to be the end of that revelation.
Confused and unsettled about what?
Oh well – since there seemed to be confession in the air, she felt she might as well clear something up. ‘Look, I don’t want to speak ill of the – the departed,’ she began, ‘but I just want to say, about Henna, that I didn’t tell Addison I was scared of riding her.’

‘I know,’ he said. She wasn’t sure what she had expected him to say, but it wasn’t that.

‘You know?’

‘Susie told me, when you were being seen by the doctor. She said Addison had told you
I
wanted you not to ride. I expect,’ he concluded, ‘it was a misunderstanding.’

Too much of a gentleman to slag her off, even now. Kate liked that. She’d let it remain officially a misunderstanding. Still, she had her reputation to save. ‘And I didn’t foul her at that jump.’

‘I know,’ he said again.

‘You know?

‘Henna veered in front of you. It wasn’t your fault. I was there, by the jump. I saw.’

‘I wondered how you got there so quickly,’ Kate said gratefully.

‘I was afraid she’d have trouble. Henna doesn’t like having her mouth hung on to.’

‘I know,’ Kate said in her turn.

‘Can we drop the subject now?’ he said. ‘Inquest over.’

‘Of course,’ Kate said, a little mortified to have upset him. He returned to his laptop, and she picked up Jane Austen again, since he didn’t seem to mind her being there. She still didn’t get much read. It was easier, and more pleasurable in a probing-the-mouth-ulcer kind of way, to spend the time looking at him across the room, his thick, healthy hair, his beautiful face (what would he look like if he really smiled?) his lean, strong body, the flash of his hands over the keys, the little frown of concentration between his brows. She had to look at him as much as possible, to store up fat against the winter to come.

And suddenly he looked up and caught her at it. ‘Was there something?’ he asked politely.

She knew what she had to say. It was rather blurty just to come out with it at a moment like this, but when else was she going to have his undivided attention?

‘I’m going to sell Little’s,’ she said. ‘I’m going back to London.’

‘Oh,’ he said. He didn’t like that. His eyes cooled a fraction. ‘I see,’ he said. Then, ‘I thought you liked it here.’ He sounded hurt.

It was the last thing she wanted. ‘I do!’ she said quickly. ‘I love it! I always thought the Bursford area was the most beautiful place on earth. And I’ve been so happy here – at The Hall, I mean. You’ve all been so kind to me.’

‘But?’

‘I can’t trespass on your hospitality for ever,’ she said wretchedly. ‘I have to – well, get on with my life, I suppose. Go back to my job, all that sort of thing.’

‘Of course,’ he said, blankly. ‘I should have realized. This has just been a holiday from reality for you.’

She didn’t know how to answer that. She wanted to say this place was more real than any other to her, and that it was also the promised land and therefore, since she could not have him, since the promise would never be fulfilled, the ultimate in fantasy.
Way
too much information. You simply can’t tell a man who has shown no interest in you that you have fallen in love with him. She appreciated all of a sudden Harry’s courage in speaking up to Camilla.

Miserably, she pushed all those things down, and went on to the next point. ‘What I wanted to say was that when I go, I want to sell Little’s back to you – to the estate.’

His attention sharpened. He surveyed her with interest and, it seemed, some kind of caution, as you would look at a snake that might or might not be poisonous. ‘Why?’ he asked abruptly.

‘Because it should never have been sold to me. You are trying so hard to keep the estate intact, and I know it upset you to have part of it sold away. So I want you to have it back. I’d
give
it to you if I could, but I’m afraid I really need the money.’

‘I wouldn’t let you give it to me,’ he said.

Too proud to accept a gift from the likes of me?
Kate wondered. She ploughed on, ‘I don’t want to make a profit. I would like to sell it back to you for what I paid for it, plus what I’ve spent on it so far. I think that would be fair.’

‘Extremely fair,’ he said. Still there was nothing coming back from him.

‘I wouldn’t like to sell it to a stranger,’ she tried.

He lifted his hand slightly, as if to stop her saying any more. He frowned in thought. ‘Things are in a state of flux at the moment,’ he said. ‘You know about Camilla’s news?’

‘She told you?’

‘Harry rang me.’

‘It’s wonderful,’ Kate said cautiously. Surely he must be glad about
that
if nothing else.

‘I’m very happy for her. I think he’ll make her very happy. But it will mean an upheaval in the household, and of course there are legal implications. And I’m in the middle of a – a financial review. Will you hold off for a day or two? Shelve your offer to sell me Little’s? And not make that offer to anyone else?’

‘If you wish,’ she said. ‘In any case, I wouldn’t think of offering it to anyone else until you’d decided.’

‘Please,’ he said, ‘promise me.’

‘I promise,’ she said, a little hurt. Didn’t he trust her? She went back, rather ostentatiously, to her book, and heard him rattling the keys again. After a little while he stood up, closed the laptop, collected up his papers, and went out.

Kate felt things had not gone well, and that his opinion of her had suffered. She had disappointed him in some way, though she didn’t know how. She turned pages, but didn’t read a thing.

Mrs B stuck her head round the door and asked if she wanted some tea, and she said yes, gratefully, and hoped that when it came she could get a spot of conversation with it. She was pining for some friendly human contact.

Before the tea arrived, however, her attention was drawn to the sound of raised voices outside, on the gravel area in front of the house. She got her stick and hobbled over to the window, to see Phil Kingdon’s large shiny Range Rover parked in the entrance, blocking the drive, and Phil himself standing beside it, apparently involved in a row with Ed. There was fast talking going on, though she couldn’t hear the actual words. Phil was making gestures, and jabbing his finger at Ed. Ed was standing straight, at his stiffest and coldest. Phil was getting red in the face. He walked away a few steps, and rapidly back, into the fray again, waving his hands.

Now Ed said something that gave him pause. He stared, and when he began talking again, he seemed to be blustering. He was on the wrong foot – now Ed had the upper hand. Kate wanted to cheer. Now Ed was talking, his face thrust towards Phil menacingly, and Phil was listening in silence, as if he very much didn’t like what he was hearing. Then he stalked away, jumped into his Range Rover, did a violent three-point turn, and roared away, pulling out into the road without even looking.

Even as he disappeared, Jack’s dark blue Jaguar pulled in, parked, and Jack got out, staring back over his shoulder, then put the question to Ed that Kate had no difficulty in guessing. ‘What’s wrong with Phil?’

There was long, low and urgent talk from Ed, which seemed to fill Jack with surprise and consternation. At one point he looked over towards the house and Kate instinctively flinched back, though there was no reason she shouldn’t be looking out. And after some more talk, questions from Jack and answers from Ed, Jack got back in his car and drove away, in the other direction from the one Phil had taken.

Ed turned and walked back towards the house. He looked across and Kate thought he had seen her. She hobbled back to the sofa, and in a moment he came in.

‘Did you hear?’ he asked her abruptly.

‘I heard raised voices so I looked out to see what was happening, but I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying,’ she explained, a little nervously. She didn’t want him to think she was a congenital eavesdropper.

He seemed to sigh, and his shoulders looked heavy, as though the world was pressing down on them.

‘It concerns you,’ he said. ‘Some of it, at least.’ He thought for a moment, his brows drawn in a frown. ‘I think I’d better tell you everything, but I must ask you to keep it to yourself for now. Absolute discretion. Can I trust you?’

‘Yes,’ she said, and meant so much more than he had asked.

He sat down opposite her, gathered his thoughts, and said, ‘You may remember I said to you once that the estate ought to be doing better than it was.’

‘I remember,’ she said.

‘I’ve been looking into the books of the estate and the factory. I really should have been much more hands-on than I have been lately, but with my firm in London taking up my time – and then, of course, I trusted Phil Kingdon. Jack’s nominally in charge of the factory, but I’ve always been realistic about how much he really knows, or notices, about the day-to-day running.’

‘You’ve found something wrong?’ she asked, to help him along.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’ve found serious anomalies. Money going missing. Profits misstated, expenses double entered. I think – this is why I have to ask you to keep it to yourself – that there may be criminal action taken.’

‘Against—?’

He met her eyes, and saw she had guessed. ‘Yes, against Phil Kingdon. Did you know something?’

She shook her head. ‘Sheerest woman’s instinct – I just didn’t like him.’

‘Camilla did,’ he said tiredly.

‘No, she didn’t,’ Kate said quickly. ‘She just found him useful.’

‘Very useful,’ Ed said. ‘You may have heard she sold several pictures out of the house to give herself more pocket money. In fact, she sold them to Phil, or through him. He told her he’d find a buyer, but of course a large part of the funds went into his pocket. One of the things I’ve been doing on the computer is tracing them so I could match what was paid for them and what she ended up with. There is a large discrepancy.’

‘Oh dear,’ Kate said. ‘But I’m sure she didn’t know – I mean, she’s not in league with him or anything. She
really
doesn’t like him.’

‘I believe you,’ Ed said. ‘I might not have yesterday, but today – the woman who values Harry Mainwaring properly can’t be all bad.’

‘I’m glad you think so,’ Kate said. ‘But you said it concerned me?’

‘It was Phil who suggested to Camilla she sell Little’s to get hold of some more cash.’

‘Yes, she told me,’ Kate said. ‘She said he was annoyed that she sold it on the market, that he’d meant her to sell it to him.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘But this went a little further than him taking a slice of the price. Which is why, once he found you’d bought it, he was so anxious to get you out.’

‘So it was him at the bottom of those incidents!’ Kate exclaimed. ‘But why did he want to get hold of Little’s? It’s not much of a cottage. Unless it was the five acres? But I can’t think what use those would be.’

Ed looked grim. ‘You come very neatly to the point. Those five acres are right in the middle of Lar Common, and the only flat part of it.’

‘I did notice that.’

‘Ideal for the erection of wind turbines,’ Ed concluded.

Kate looked aghast. ‘Wind turbines?’ She stared, visualizing it. ‘But that would be a monstrous eyesore! In a place like that? It would simply ruin the place.’

‘Quite, and Phil knew I would never agree to it. Hence the urgency of getting Camilla to sell it to him. He’d met up with Tony Rylance – who, I’ve discovered from my Google searches, is very much involved in developing wind farms – and talked with him about viable sites. The money involved would have come in quite handy. You could get five turbines on that piece of land, which would mean an income for the landowner of around two hundred thousand pounds a year.’

‘Two h—?’ Kate was flabbergasted.