‘There isn’t really that much to tell.’ Tab took a slurp of tea and after pressing a few keys one-handed, waved her mobile phone under Lottie’s nose. ‘He’s such a stupid twat, look at him.’ They all looked. ‘He wouldn’t add either of us to his friends list at first, but then I added a profile pic of two girls with their boobs out and there you go. What a dickhead.’
‘So, did he talk to Pandora?’
‘Oh yeah, best buddies. Like this.’ She crossed her fingers. ‘The best bit about Gazza, our pyromaniac, is he doesn’t know how to keep his gob shut. It’s all a big ego boost for him. He’s been boasting about the fire and putting us in our place, going on about mega-star Pandora and how she fancies the pants off him. He’s such an arsehole. No, really, he is.’ She scrolled down the posts.
‘But she didn’t actually get him to start the fire?’ Rory wasn’t that interested in looking at all the posts. He didn’t get social media, apart from Twitter, which made him laugh. He’d got plenty of friends and if he wanted to talk to them he rang them.
‘Oh no.’ Tab shook her head firmly. ‘I’m pretty sure they’d never heard of each other until after. It looks like she got in touch after she’d seen it in the paper, and she commiserated with him. He was getting all this grief from other people, who’d booked their weddings here and had them cancelled. You know, they were blaming him. I mean he was giving as good as he got, but look at it.’ She scrolled down the page so that they could see the abusive comments and the threats he’d hurled back. ‘But Pandora flattered him.’
‘Why?’
‘Elizabeth,’ she flinched and looked at Lottie guiltily, ‘and Pip reckoned she was just stirring it, she wanted him to talk to the papers about how bad the fire had been so that more of them would cancel their bookings and it would scare people off.’
‘And we wouldn’t get any new bookings.’
‘I suppose so. I think she kind of persuaded him that he’d done the right thing.’ She shrugged and turned the phone off. ‘Elizabeth reckoned that Pandora wanted to get more questions raised about the fire, to try and point the finger at you so that you didn’t get the go-ahead from the insurance company. Just before she … . Well, she asked me and Jamie the other week to see if we could find anything out, and Pip was helping. She is just so clever at this stuff.’
Lottie smiled. ‘I miss Pip. She was brilliant at digging up the dirt. Gran really missed her too …’ The smile faded, Rory squeezed her hand.
‘She, er, wanted us to see if Gazza knew any of those couples that were taking you to court too, you know, for their money back.’
‘Do it. You and Jamie. See what else you can find out. Then we’re going to work out how to turn the tables.’
* * *
‘I knew she was a conniving cow, babe. Soon as I saw her.’ Sam gave Lottie a big hug, then wriggled her way between Amanda and Tab on the sofa. ‘Squeeze up, there’s room for a little one. Oh, sorry, babe, didn’t see you there.’ She looked from Xander, who was sitting quietly in the corner, to Lottie and raised an eyebrow.
‘Don’t mind me.’ He shrugged and gave a lopsided smile.
‘It’s not your fault, though, is it, hun? You didn’t know what she was up to.’
‘No, but I knew what she was like. I should have worked it out sooner.’
‘We just thought Xander should know all the facts.’ Rory looked at Lottie, who nodded. He’d spent a lot of time with them, since Elizabeth’s death. The film had been winding down, most of the scenes that needed his expertise had been shot, but he’d been reluctant to go. Lottie understood; it was hard when you hadn’t quite worked out where home was, where you belonged.
He’d proved a dab hand at helping with the youngsters, and given Rory some tips on how to improve Joker’s fitness as well as his tendency to run through the bit when it suited him. And Tab had been glad to have some time off with Jamie. She’d even had a day out with him and met his mother, who, she told Lottie, was nothing like he’d described.
‘I thought she’d be all mousey and middle aged, with her nose buried in a book, and know lots of long words, but she’s really nice, you know. Dead pretty, with this short, spiky blond hair. She’s cool.’ Which from Tab was as good as it got.
Lottie looked around the room. They’d miss Xander when he went, and Tab would miss Jamie. It hadn’t all been bad.
‘The thing is, I didn’t just want to tell you about what Pandora has been up to, and what Gran found out. I mean I wanted you to know why there have been all those horrid reports in the newspapers.’
‘Tomorrow’s litter-tray lining, love. What?’ Billy raised an eyebrow, ‘well, we used to say today’s headlines, tomorrow’s fish-and-chip paper, but you lot don’t have chips these days, do you? A bit of deep-fat frying never did me any harm, mind you.’
Tiggy patted his tummy and giggled. ‘Of course not, love.’
‘Er, yes.’ Lottie glared at her father, and tried to remember what she was saying. ‘Well, yes, I wanted you to know that she was behind all those photos, and all those reports about wedding cancellations. She’d made sure that a couple of reporters offered those girls money for their stories, and they didn’t have a story unless they could say we’d been unfair.’
‘You mean all them distressed brides saying you wouldn’t give them their deposits back, all that nastiness, that was her doing?’ Sam frowned.
‘It looks like it, and then she’d stirred things up to try and stop the bookings for next year. That was why,’ she looked at Sam again, ‘she was snooping, she wanted pictures of the damage inside so she could say how bad it still was and how we’d never re-open. But anyway, what I’m really getting to is what Gran wanted.’ She took a deep breath and clutched Rory’s hand a bit tighter. ‘The last time we talked,’ she mustn’t cry, this was good, not sad, ‘she told me not to rush into anything and we’ve just found out why. She knew that the insurance company had nearly finished looking into things and she was sure we’d be okay.’ She took a deep breath. ‘We’ve just heard that the police have formally charged that man with arson and we’ve got the go-ahead from the insurance company, they’re going to pay out, so we really don’t have to sell. If we can stop people cancelling their weddings and get more bookings as quickly as possible then we should be able to scrape by.’ She crossed her fingers out of sight. ‘The bank should extend the loan if I can make a good enough case.’
‘Bloody hell, I’ll drink to that, love.’ Billy raised an imaginary glass. ‘If we don’t all die of thirst first.’ He winked.
‘Oh babe, that’s smashing. Aww, isn’t it brill? Lady E was so clever,’ Sam sighed.
‘Not that we ever would have sold, that is.’
Lottie looked gratefully at Rory. ‘Gran said we should make use of everything that’s happened, you know, use the filming to kick-start things again, make it bigger and better. That’s why she agreed to the filming in the first place, to get us some publicity for when we re-opened.’
‘Crafty mare.’ Billy shook his head.
‘I just, er, wanted everybody to know, and maybe help.’
‘Of course we’ll help, babe, won’t we, Mand? Can we have them topless waiters this time? You know, make it a bit more flash than the opening bash we had last time.’
Lottie tried not to roll her eyes. ‘We’re going to have a wrap party for the film, and make as big a thing of that as we can, so, er, maybe you can help plan it.’
‘Fab. Oh wow, it will be amazing, babe, I promise.’ Sam clapped her hands, and then delved into her massive tote bag for her notepad.
‘I mean you don’t have to all help, and you can go to the pub now if you want,’ she looked at Billy.
‘Carry on, love. But obviously not for too long.’ Everybody laughed.
‘Amanda’s the one who’s brilliant at planning, so …’
‘We have to do this in the way Elizabeth intended.’ Amanda blushed as she mentioned Elizabeth’s name, and looked at Lottie in silent apology.
‘We need a massive press release as soon as we have a launch day, and then we have to use everything connected to the film to our advantage, the good,’ she glanced at Lottie, ‘and the bad. I think that was her plan, wasn’t it, Lottie?’
Lottie nodded. It wasn’t until she’d had a long chat to Amanda that she realised just how much effort Elizabeth had put into supporting her, saving the business.
‘And we can use those ridiculous pictures of Pandora clinging to a horse, can’t we?’ They all looked at Tab, who gazed at the ceiling, a look of innocence on her face.
‘What pictures?’
‘Well somebody might have, er, taken a couple of snaps before they joined in the rescue.’
Xander chuckled. ‘She will roast you alive and set the solicitors on you, I’m sure there’ll be a clause about no photos of the set.’
‘But it wasn’t the set, was it? And you weren’t filming at the time. I was an innocent bystander, a fan, capturing the moment.’ She grinned at Jamie. ‘I’m a massive fan.’
‘Innocent, my arse,’ Billy guffawed.
‘Well, I er, hope you don’t mind, but I started to compile a file.’ Amanda plucked a folder from her tote bag. ‘Elizabeth suggested it …’ She looked apologetically at Lottie again.
Lottie gave a wry smile. ‘She really was amazing, wasn’t she?’ Her words were little more than a whisper. ‘I had no idea she was doing all this for me.’
‘She loved you, Lottie, and she was keen that we all pull together and support you. She knew just how big an undertaking Tipping House is.’ She frowned. ‘You don’t mind, do you? She only talked to me and Dominic because we’re family.’
Lottie blinked back the tears. ‘You’re all wonderful, I don’t deserve …’
‘Nonsense.’ Billy waved brusquely at the folder. ‘Carry on, Mandy love. Anybody going to pass some beers round? I’m spitting feathers here. Can’t plot an uprising with a dry throat.’
There was a general shuffling around while Rory and Jamie took drink orders, then Amanda cleared her throat again.
‘I’ve got cuttings here of all the articles and interviews about the film, and Pandora, and,’ she glanced up from under her eyelashes at Xander, ‘Xander, if you don’t mind? There’s some super photos and some of all the crowds that came to watch. I’ve even got some video footage of Tab and the dogs when they, er, galloped across and nearly flattened Seb, and some of little Roxy and Rupert at the village show. In fact, there’s some rather funny clips from the show and I haven’t a clue who took them. Elizabeth thought it might be rather fun to set up a YouTube channel?’
‘I just hope the film isn’t a flop. Aren’t we rather putting all our eggs in one basket?’
‘It won’t be a flop.’ Amanda shut her folder decisively. ‘It’s already garnering plenty of attention.’ She smiled. ‘Pip has way better contacts than even Pandora does, you should see what some of the reviewers are saying – and they’ve only seen the rushes.’
Chapter 31
Pandora put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes as a black Jaguar F-type purred its way along the driveway and glided smoothly to a halt in front of the stone steps leading up to Tipping House, scarcely scattering a single gravel stone.
A very pretty, petite woman slid gracefully out of the car. She stood up and straightened her skirt before propping her sunglasses on her sleek brown bob and gazing up at the house, which the afternoon sunlight had warmed until it had a delicious golden honeycomb glow.
‘Jamie, Jamie!’ Jamie sighed and abandoned the cables he’d been tidying. ‘Get that,’ she gestured, ‘moved.’
Jamie wasn’t sure if she was referring to the woman or the car. It was hard to tell with Pandora. ‘But we’ve finished filming for the day, I thought I heard Seb say …’
‘I don’t care what you heard Seb say.’ She glared as the woman reached back into the car and withdrew a leather portfolio case, before closing the car door with a reassuringly expensive clunk. ‘We pay to use this place all day. Seeing as you’re such good friends with her, you can tell Lottie …’
‘You can tell her yourself.’ There had been days recently when Jamie had started to wonder what the hell had ever made him think working for Pandora was a good idea, especially now he knew she’d used him just like she used everyone else.
He had just been another pawn in Pandora’s game. Even the scriptwriter had been kicked out of her bed now he’d outlived his usefulness.
He watched as Lottie ran down the steps, the dogs at her heels, and then wrapped her arms round her visitor. A wide, welcoming smile on her open face.
Some people were just nice, he concluded, and others weren’t.
Lottie faltered when she realised that Jamie and Pandora were watching.
‘Everything okay?’
‘Actually no.’ He could almost hear Pandora sharpening her claws. ‘You can’t leave that car there, it needs moving.’
‘Oh, I thought you’d finished for the day, Seb said—’
‘We have.’ Jamie looped the end through the cable and dropped it onto the pile.
‘Well, er, that’s good, then. This is Anna. She’s one of Amanda’s friends. She’s starting work on the renovation. Isn’t it exciting?’
‘You’ve got the go-ahead from the insurance company? That’s brilliant, Lottie.’ Jamie, who already knew that they’d finally had the all-clear to start repairs decided to spell it out for Pandora’s benefit. It was like watching the paint drain out of a bucket. Despite a good layer of make-up and the benefits of an all-over fake tan, Pandora visibly paled. He couldn’t help embellish. ‘I bet you can’t wait to get the wedding business going again. Sam said they were,’ he paused, ‘awesome.’
‘Renovation? Go-ahead?’ The words came out staccato, rapid gunfire.
‘Anna helped us out when we first set the business up. You should see what she did to the place. She’s amazing.’ Lottie linked her arm through the other girl’s.
‘Amazing.’ Pandora stared, then gathered herself together. Jamie could have sworn she actually grew an inch as the tone of her voice froze over. ‘Well I do hope you’re not going to ask us to stop filming.’
Sam appeared in the doorway, ‘Oh we won’t be any bother at all, babe. It’s all inside, isn’t it?’ She clapped her hands. ‘I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do, Anna. I bet it’s going to be so tasteful.’
Pandora ground a heel into the lawn and Jamie cringed.
‘Oh no, of course not. If you need to film just carry on. We’re making a start, then once you’ve gone it’ll be all go. It’s fab, isn’t it?’ Lottie beamed, and looked happier than Jamie had seen her in months. She’d lost weight, but she still looked huggable. Something you could never accuse Pandora of. ‘I can’t believe it’s finally all over and the insurance company have given the go-ahead.’
‘Fab.’ Pandora looked from Lottie to Sam, then raised an eyebrow when she saw Tab in the doorway. ‘I see you’ve got the cavalry with you.’
‘We’re all in this together. Oh actually, while you’re here, there’s something I wanted to say …’ Lottie shoved a hand in her pocket, then tried the other one, returned to the first and triumphantly pulled out a piece of paper. ‘I wanted to talk to you about this.’ She waved the letter between them. ‘This is from you, isn’t it? It’s from an estate agent acting on behalf of a buyer. My solicitor sent it. It is you isn’t it? You were trying to buy my house.’
‘So?’ Pandora shrugged. ‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’ She looked Lottie up and down. ‘I was going to keep it as a nice surprise for you, but who cares? What if it is me? It isn’t against the law. And I’m not trying to buy your house, dear,’ she folded her arms, ‘I am buying it. All this talk about renovation is a little late, although of
course I might still lease it back to you. Look at it this way, I’m doing you a favour. Let’s face it, you really are hard up, aren’t you? How on earth would you keep this place going on your own? Just look at you. If we hadn’t come along and filmed here you’d have been in a right mess.’ She took a step closer. ‘Some people don’t know a stroke of luck when they see it. I’m successful, and when your lease expires I can make it into something, rip up all those disgusting moth-eaten rugs and brighten the place up instead of living in the past. I really don’t know what your problem is.’ She sniffed. ‘I’m sure you’ll be much happier in a place that’s more within,’ she paused, ‘your means. What do you need? A few stables, a field or two?’ She glared at Anna. ‘The money we’ve paid you for filming won’t go far, you know. This woman,’ she waved a dismissive hand, ‘would sell you a few overpriced soft furnishings and you’d be broke again.’
‘Oh well, I am really grateful that you came and filmed here. I mean it’s been super, hasn’t it? But I don’t think you understand.’
Sam grinned. ‘It’s been fab. I just loved those little polo horses and I can’t wait to see my Roxy in the film,’ she gave Pandora a warning look, ‘like Seb said she would be.’
‘Oh be quiet, you stupid woman.’ Pandora glared at Sam then switched her attention back to Lottie. ‘It’s you that doesn’t understand.’
‘Tipping House isn’t for sale. It never has been. You aren’t buying it and I don’t know where you got that idea from. I don’t care if it’s got moth-eaten rugs and, for your information, I like living in the past.’
Pandora gave a short laugh. ‘How sweet. Well I’m sorry, but I think you’ll find it’s too late to back out. Your solicitors have agreed to sell, I’ve arranged a deposit, so sadly you can rent from me or you’ll have to take your moths elsewhere.’
Lottie shook her head. ‘No, Pandora. It’s not me who’s leaving. As soon as the insurance company contacted us, the solicitors were instructed to stop negotiations.’ She shrugged. ‘We’re not interested. We’ve not accepted any deposit and we didn’t sign the contract.’
Country Rivals Page 37
