by Heidi Swain
‘I daresay it’s all still there,’ he said. ‘Overgrown and uncared for I grant you, but I bet it’s all there. The place has been through a fair few hands since the Wentworth family departed, but I can’t imagine all that much has changed really, especially outside.’
‘But it will now,’ Carole sniffed, pulling a crumpled tissue out of her cardigan pocket.
‘So, why don’t you go and have a look before it’s gone?’ said Harold, the mischief back in his eyes. ‘There’ll be no one there now, will there?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There’s a wooden gate around the far side,’ he said, pointing towards the end of the Square with his stick. ‘You could try that. You could probably climb over it if it’s locked. It’s not even as high as the wall.’
‘Harold!’ said Carole snootily. ‘That’s trespassing.’
She was right.
‘Go and have a look before it’s gone,’ Harold temptingly urged in my ear. ‘There won’t be much to see by way of flowers I grant you, but go and have a look before what’s left is lost forever.’
Chapter 12
‘I can’t believe we’re doing this,’ Carole hissed as we casually walked around the perimeter wall of Prosperous Place looking for the gate.
‘I can’t believe you’re coming with me,’ I hissed back.
Once I had decided I was going to follow Harold’s crazy instructions there had been no shaking Carole. It didn’t seem to matter what was going on, she had to be a part of it, even if it did potentially mean trouble, or in this case, possible arrest.
‘It’s here,’ I said, taking a step back. ‘This is it.’
The wooden gate was there, just as Harold had said; only now it was hidden beneath a thick tangle of clinging ivy.
‘Is it locked?’
I grabbed the handle and twisted but it wouldn’t budge, even with all my weight behind it.
‘I think so,’ I puffed, looking back over my shoulder to where Carole was making a right show of trying to look as if she wasn’t up to anything out of the ordinary. ‘Come and give me a leg up, will you?’
‘What?’
‘Come and give me a leg up,’ I said exasperatedly. ‘Help me reach the top and I’ll pull myself over.’
Pulling on her gloves so my boots wouldn’t muddy her hands, Carole hoisted me up and over the gate with a force that rather took me by surprise. I landed on the other side with a thump and took a moment to catch my breath and look about me, hoping the developers hadn’t left a guard dog or two roaming about to keep an eye on the place.
‘What can you see?’ Carole’s voice came through the gate.
‘Not much from here,’ I said. ‘It’s all too overgrown.’
I turned my attention back to the gate. It was bolted at the top and bottom and after I’d pulled away the ivy and given it a hefty tug or two it finally, reluctantly, yielded. Carole quickly slipped through the gap and between us we wedged it shut again as best we could.
In silence, and with our breath streaming ahead of us, we set off to explore. It was difficult trying to equate the colourful photographs back on Harold’s dining table with the neglected frosted jungle, but once I’d spotted the top of the ornate fountain over the thick yew hedges I began to get my bearings.
‘It’s just like Narnia, isn’t it?’ Carole whispered. ‘I had no idea anything as magnificent as this was lurking behind the walls.’
She was right. We had been exploring the icy landscape for what, thanks to the cold, felt like hours, but in reality was nowhere near as long. We had walked around what I knew had once been sweeping striped lawns; then along the furthest lengths of the walls, which had showcased the borders packed with stunning herbaceous displays, and finally through a series of smaller garden rooms which held tucked-away summerhouses, gazebos and secret corners.
‘How about this for a vegetable garden then, Carole?’ I said, as we worked our way around the back of the house and found a walled garden, half a dozen greenhouses and what would have once been a beautiful orangery.
‘Wow,’ she said, shaking her head.
It was the first time I had ever known her at a loss for words.
‘Shall we go and see if we can get inside the house?’
I don’t know what had come over me, but I was suddenly desperate to see it all, even if the venture was risky. I knew without a doubt that if the gardens were any indicator, then the house was going to be spectacular and was therefore more than happy to manipulate my neighbour’s subdued state if it meant I could use her as an accomplice to get inside.
‘I don’t think so,’ she sniffed, her vocabulary and voice returning at the most inopportune moment. Her nose was glowing and her eyes were watering. ‘Even if the windows weren’t all boarded up, I think that really would be pushing our—’
The words had barely left her lips when our attention was caught by the light shining off an upstairs window which had just been pushed open.
‘Oh no,’ I swallowed, my heart thumping hard and fast in my chest. ‘That one’s not boarded up. That one’s wide open.’
‘Hey!’ shouted a man’s voice. ‘Can I help you?’ He didn’t sound at all happy.
‘Shit,’ I squeaked, tugging at the sleeve of Carole’s fleece. ‘I think we’d better go.’
‘I think you’re right,’ she squeaked back, pulling herself free and setting off like Usain Bolt springing out of the blocks.
For a second I stood with my mouth open and then set off to try and catch her up.
More haste, less speed, had always been one of my mother’s favoured proverbs, but I’d never really understood the wisdom behind it. That is until I came hurtling around the corner and found Carole spreadeagled across the path.
‘Carole!’ I shouted.
‘I’m all right,’ she said, pulling herself into a sitting position and brushing herself down. ‘I’m all right. I just slipped.’
I quickly helped her to her feet, keeping one ear open for the sound of approaching footsteps behind us while encouraging her to get moving again, but it was no good. She couldn’t bear to put any weight on her right foot and, given the slippery conditions, hopping was definitely not an option.
‘Just leave me,’ she said, waving me away. ‘You can make it to the gate if you leave me.’
She sounded like a wounded soldier in one of the war films my father always fell asleep watching on Sunday afternoons and I had to force myself to resist the temptation to laugh. She plonked herself back down on the gravel with a groan and, knowing I couldn’t really abandon her, I joined her to await our fate. I wasn’t going to let Harold forget about this in a hurry. In fact, if our names ended up appearing in the local press I was going to cite him as the brains behind the whole escapade.
We didn’t have to wait many seconds before the inevitable footsteps drew closer and I was just thinking about struggling back to my feet when a man with a headful of dark curls and a shocking vocabulary shot around the corner, slipped on the same patch of ice that had been my companion’s downfall and landed in a heap at my feet.
‘Fuck me!’ he shouted as he hit the deck.
The scene was so comical that we all began to laugh, even Carole.
After the worst of the giggles had died down, I held out my hand and between us, my pursuer and I pulled ourselves awkwardly to our feet.
‘Are you all right?’ I asked.
‘No,’ said Carole exasperatedly. ‘I’m cold and I’m hurt and I’m beginning to think it’s all your fault.’
I bit my lip and looked back down at my narky neighbour.
‘Sorry Carole,’ I said lightly, ‘I wasn’t asking you and besides, you said you were fine a minute ago.’
‘Well, I’m not fine now,’ she snapped back.
‘And neither am I,’ said the man, brushing the ice and frost from his jeans. ‘My ego’s taken one hell of a wallop and the bruise on my backside is going to make it impossible to sit down for at least a week.’
‘We could probably sue you,’ moaned Carole, as I carefully helped her stand upright and offered her my arm to lean on.
‘Carole!’
‘Well, we could,’ she winced.
‘Now that would be interesting,’ said the guy who I was now certain was the man I’d shared my avocado haul with before Christmas, ‘considering you’re both trespassing on private property.’
‘He does have a point,’ I reminded Carole via a sharp nudge. ‘I daresay he could probably sue us if he wanted to, and worse.’
‘I daresay I could,’ he agreed.
‘It’s Luke, isn’t it?’ I asked, just to make doubly sure.
‘That’s right,’ he grinned, ‘and you’re Kate, avocado sharer and the newest arrival in Nightingale Square.’
I was both surprised and, if the somersault my stomach performed was any sort of indicator, flattered that he had remembered. Carole simply looked astounded.
‘Now you really do have the upper hand,’ I shivered, ‘because you know a whole lot more about me than I know about you.’
I allowed myself just one second of contact with those mesmerising eyes, but it was long enough to send the heat flooding to my cheeks. I hastily turned my attention back to keeping Carole on her feet, or should that be foot, before I made a complete fool of myself.
‘So, what are you doing here?’ both Luke and I asked at exactly the same moment before succumbing to laughter again.
‘Look,’ groaned Carole, leaning heavily on my arm and making my shoulder throb, ‘as lovely as this getting to know you moment is, my ankle isn’t feeling any less painful. I need to go home and strap on an ice pack.’
‘Shouldn’t that be a hot water bottle?’ Luke asked, his eyes briefly meeting mine again.
I quickly looked away, unsure if he was teasing Carole or offering her bona fide first-aid advice. He certainly seemed to be brimming with confidence, but given that he was potentially in the right and we were very definitely in the wrong, I supposed he had every right to say and do as he liked.
‘Right now,’ Carole barked back, ‘either would be welcome.’
‘Then in that case,’ said Luke, stepping forward and smoothly sweeping her into his arms, ‘I suppose I’d better drive you home, hadn’t I? And on the way Kate can tell me why I’ve caught you both prowling around the grounds of Prosperous Place in the near dark and without permission.’
‘You’d better drive slowly then,’ said Carole coquettishly to her Colonel Brandon-esque hero.
‘Oh and why’s that?’
‘Because the journey will be over as soon as it’s started,’ she sighed. ‘I’m a Nightingale Square resident too.’
‘Here,’ said Luke, after we had taken what I guessed was a short cut around to the side of the house, ‘reach inside my coat pocket would you, Kate, and grab my car keys?’
‘What?’
‘My car keys,’ he said. ‘Unlock the car then I can slide Carole straight on to the back seat.’
She didn’t even look embarrassed that we had heard the little sigh that had escaped her lips. She just appeared thoroughly smitten, as well she might. Mark had been right about Luke, not that I was in the market or really looking, but facts were facts.
‘Tell me, Luke,’ Carole smiled, the pain in her ankle obviously obliterated as she gazed up at his chin and I rummaged through his pockets from behind, trying not to let my fingers linger where he felt warmest. ‘Have we met before?’
‘I don’t think so,’ he said doubtfully.
‘Only you look very familiar,’ she frowned.
‘I get that a lot,’ he said. ‘I think I just have one of those faces. Have you found the keys yet, Kate?’
‘Yes!’ I said, triumphantly pulling out the fob and quickly pressing the button to unlock the car.
‘You might have to clear the back seat a little,’ he told me, his voice beginning to sound ever so slightly strained. ‘Just shove everything in there to one side.’
I did as instructed and my heart sank when my eyes fell upon a bundle of papers and a pack bearing the logo of the developers who I knew had secured the purchase of Prosperous Place. I thought back to the conversation Luke, Mark and I had had outside the bakers before the Bonfire Party and tried to rack my brains as to what he had said when we were talking about the sale.
It had been a while ago, but from what I could remember he had told Mark he definitely hadn’t set his sights on Prosperous Place when he’d discovered he’d missed out on my little house; but then he’d disappeared within the next ten seconds, and why else would he have one of the development packs in his car if he wasn’t a part of it?
‘All sorted?’
‘Yes,’ I said, covering the paperwork with a jacket so Carole wouldn’t catch sight of it. ‘Here you go.’
Once she was carefully deposited in the back I climbed into the passenger seat and waited while Luke ran back to the house, presumably to lock it.
‘I think he must be one of them,’ came Carole’s voice from between the seats.
‘One of who?’
‘The developers of course,’ she said, her voice adopting a tone which suggested she thought I was an idiot for not working it out for myself. ‘Why else would he have access to the house?’
I swallowed but didn’t say anything. I had no desire to blot Luke’s copybook until I had all the evidence. But what more evidence did I need? His credentials had been spread across the plush interior of his posh car.
‘I’m going to ask him,’ said Carole.
‘No,’ I quickly countered. ‘Don’t do that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well, it’s none of our business for a start and . . .’
‘And what?’
‘And we might end up wanting to keep him onside if he is part of the development. Don’t forget he might be one of the people who has the final say when it comes to deciding whether or not we can start growing on the green.’
‘Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,’ she said, patting my shoulder. ‘You ask him then.’
‘Why should I ask him?’
‘Because you’re young and pretty and you’ve met him before, so it won’t sound as intrusive coming from you.’
‘Honestly, Carole,’ I groaned.
‘And you were the one who agreed to take on running the greenspace project. Finding us a site is down to you now, isn’t it? You need to go out of your way to make a friend of him, Kate.’
‘Look out,’ I said, catching sight of Luke in the wing mirror. ‘He’s coming back.’
There was barely time for any sort of conversation let alone an explanation of what we had been up to before we were back in the Square and Luke was helping Carole hobble to her front door.
‘I would ask you in,’ she said as Graham came rushing along the hall to see what all the fuss was about, ‘but I really need to get this ankle elevated.’
‘What’s gone on here then?’ Graham demanded.
He sounded far from impressed to find his wife in the arms of another man on his own doorstep.
‘Be quiet, Graham,’ Carole said warningly. ‘I’ll explain in a minute.’
‘It’s fine,’ said Luke, backing away. ‘I understand, Carole, and I’m sure Kate here will be happy to explain to me why I caught the pair of you breaking and entering.’
‘You caught the pair of them doing what?’ shouted Graham, turning puce.
‘That’s a wonderful idea,’ said Carole, nodding meaningfully over Luke’s shoulder at me. ‘Kate will explain everything, won’t you, my dear?’
Chapter 13
‘So, how are you settling in?’ Luke called through from the sitting room to the kitchen where I was taking some time out to collect my thoughts, on the pretence of making us tea.
‘I think I’ve been here long enough to consider myself completely settled,’ I called back.
&
nbsp; It had been almost three months since my moving date and I was well used to the rattles from the plumbing and the kindness of my neighbours now.
‘You like it here then,’ he said, his voice suddenly closer.
I looked up from where I was fiddling about with mugs and spoons to find him leaning comfortably against the doorframe.
‘Yes,’ I said, clearing my throat. ‘Yes, I do, very much.’
‘Do you live alone?’
‘Yes,’ I said, feeling warmer. ‘Do you always ask so many questions?’
He shrugged and began to unravel his scarf and I reminded myself that until I had worked out if he was friend or foe I needed to keep him onside; otherwise Carole would be wearing my guts for garters before I knew it.
‘I’m on my own too,’ he said sadly. ‘I don’t much like it though.’
‘Why not?’ I asked as I poured the water and stirred.
‘Do you always ask so many questions?’ he mimicked.
I passed him a mug and began rifling through cupboards for the packet of dark chocolate digestives I knew I had stashed away in case of a low moment.
‘Would you like me to put a match to your fire?’
‘Sorry?’
It was a simple enough question, but somehow he managed to make it ooze innuendo and I couldn’t help thinking about Carole and her obviously burning loins further along the Square.
‘I noticed the fire in the front room is laid,’ he said innocently. ‘Do you want me to get it going for you?’
‘Yes, all right,’ I swallowed, thinking it was an odd request for a guest to make in a stranger’s house. ‘I’ll be through in a minute.’
‘You can’t beat a real fire,’ he said enthusiastically, disappearing back along the hall.
By the time I had found the biscuits, he had the fire roaring up the chimney and had settled himself in my armchair next to it. I sat on the sofa with my legs curled under me and watched him staring intently at the licking flames. He looked distracted, a frown knitting his brow as he concentrated on something I couldn’t see.
‘Are you all right?’ I asked, when the silence became too loud to ignore.
