Taking care to make sure the car was locked, she checked the address in her notebook again. This was it. A deep breath, a painted-on smile and she made her way up the steps to the buzzer to be let in.
Moments later she found herself at the door of a first-floor apartment. It was opened by a young man, dressed casually in jeans and a hooded top. His eyes suggested a lack of sleep, and he couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, but Kate resisted the temptation to judge him for that, recalling her very first solo mission when she’d met a young woman and assumed, wrongly, that her age meant she was in no position to do business.
‘I’m Kate,’ she said brightly. ‘From Piccolo Castelli.’
‘Sì.’ He opened the door wider for her and turned to go back into the apartment. Assuming it was an invitation in, she followed and closed the door softly behind her.
The front door led directly into the living space, where a TV was set slap bang at the centre of the room, two armchairs in front of it – one of them filled with another young man. He looked up, grunted at Kate and then went back to the computer game he was playing, growling at the television as he shot at a pixelated zombie.
The first man dropped into the vacant armchair and waved a hand carelessly at the room.
‘You look,’ he said.
There was a frown fighting to crease her brow, but she held onto her smile. ‘You want me to measure up? I can do that. This is the kitchen, through here?’
‘You will see,’ he said, taking up a spare controller and joining in his friend’s game.
Seeing no point in trying to engage him further, Kate took herself into the kitchen. She didn’t have anything down about this being a rented property being sold by a landlord, but perhaps it was. If the two men ‘showing’ her around now were tenants rather than the owner, it would explain their complete lack of interest in the proceedings. It would also explain the pong in the kitchen, she reflected as she walked in and the smell hit her from the pile of washing-up in the filthy sink. She wouldn’t need a call to the office to value this dump – it was worth the price of a good cleaner and not much more. She’d seen more desirable skips at the back of Manchester’s Arndale Centre.
Measuring up anyway, she then found her own way to the bedroom (not that it was difficult as, apart from the bathroom, it was the only other room in the flat), to find more squalor, and then finally rushed in and out of the bathroom as quickly as she could before the E. coli, which must have been advanced enough in this place to have grown legs, caught up with her.
‘I’ll have to go to the car to work out the price, then I’ll come and talk you through it,’ she said, as she had done with all her other valuations the week before.
‘Write,’ the first youth said, miming scribbling on a sheet of paper. ‘Give to me. That is all.’
Instead of going to the car, Kate took herself onto the landing and phoned the office, relieved to get Giselle instead of Charles, who would have made things as awkward as possible, or Shauna, because Kate didn’t want to sound as if she couldn’t or didn’t want to handle this visit, and she was fast beginning to think that she couldn’t. She could certainly think of many other things she’d rather be doing.
‘I don’t know who these two men are,’ Kate said in a low voice as she paced the landing, ‘but I don’t think they’re the owners. Anyway, they don’t seem keen on selling either way.’
‘But if we’ve got them down for a valuation we have to give them a price,’ Giselle said. ‘Let me have your details and I’ll work it out.’
Kate went over her measurements and a quick (as diplomatic as she could manage) description of the state the place was in, and Giselle gave her a figure, which she scribbled down on a compliment slip. Not wanting to go back in at all, she steeled herself and knocked at the apartment door again. It was opened by the first youth, who looked at her, then at the piece of paper in her hand, before taking it from her and shutting the door.
Kate turned away, this time her brow creased in intense puzzlement. This had to be the weirdest valuation anyone had been on, not just her. Although, she had to be thankful that they hadn’t invited her back in, because she hadn’t really wanted to go back in. She didn’t imagine for a minute that they would enlist the services of Piccolo Castelli to sell the flat and, if she was honest, that would make her very happy. It wasn’t a place she wanted to rush back to.
‘Can you stay behind for ten minutes tonight?’ Shauna said, bending over Kate’s desk and speaking low into her ear.
Kate spun around, surprised to find her there. She’d snuck up so quickly and Kate had been so engrossed in what she was doing that she hadn’t heard her approach. There had been a lot of work waiting on her desk on return from her strange viewing, and she was trying valiantly to catch up. ‘You need me to work over?’
‘I need to talk to you.’
‘Um. . . OK.’ There was more than a little of the see me after class about it, and although she’d agreed straightaway, the request had rattled her.
Shauna gave a terse nod and then went back to her desk. Kate glanced up at the clock. It was late anyway, and although they tended not to have a set-in-stone closing time, most of them packed up around five unless there was something in particular they needed to finish. Shauna herself often stayed much later, but it was her business and it was understood that was her prerogative. Kate didn’t suppose she’d have to wait too much longer to find out what her boss wanted, but her concentration was shot now and though she messed around, ostensibly tying up loose ends, the final few minutes of the day were such a waste she might as well have not been there at all.
Shauna locked the door once she’d seen everyone out and turned to Kate. She looked pained, and not at all like the determined, steely Shauna that had been chastising Charles that morning.
‘Is everything OK?’ Kate asked, certain that it wasn’t.
‘I feel certain there’s been some sort of mix-up – at least, I want to believe that. Kate, tell me I haven’t gravely misjudged you.’
‘I don’t understand—’
‘We got a call from the apartment on Via del Francese an hour or so after you’d visited today.’
‘The valuation?’
‘Yes. They’ve accused you of stealing some money from the bedroom. They said they’d let you assess the flat alone, assuming that they could trust you to do that, but when they went to get some money later, a hundred euros was gone from a bedside cabinet. It’s a very serious accusation, and as such, I have to take it seriously.’
‘Well, yes, you would but. . .’ Kate stared at her. Surely she didn’t believe this? ‘You can’t possibly think it had anything to do with me?’
‘I don’t,’ Shauna said. ‘At least, my gut tells me so. But the accusation has been made and I can’t just ignore it.’
‘But I didn’t steal anything!’ Kate replied, a sense of panic bubbling up inside her, threatening to snatch away any logic. ‘Why would I do that? A hundred euros? Would that be worth losing a job that you know full well I’m absolutely desperate for? I worked two weeks for free to get this job!’
‘I know that. The problem is that I have to be seen to do something about it.’
‘Are they going to the police?’
‘I’ve asked them not to.’
‘Shauna, you should have seen that place. They must be dodgy, be running some kind of racket or something. If anyone was worried about being robbed it was me not them!’
‘I have only their word against yours. And I have to protect my business, my reputation and my other employees. Something like this could cause a lot of damage, and times are hard enough as it is. An estate agent. . . a client must be able to trust us completely if they’re to let us into their homes—’
‘But they can! I haven’t done anything!’
‘I really want to believe you, and deep down I think I do. That’s not the issue; the issue is what might come of this.’
‘So tell me what I can do. You want
me to go and see them? Reimburse them?’
‘And make it look like an admission of guilt? Perhaps not such a good idea.’
‘I could give the money to you to take to them? You could say that you’re just trying to set things straight. I could work in the office here with Nonna and not go out to homes. Nobody would be any the wiser.’
‘Everyone would be wiser. I’m afraid Charles took the call.’
Kate’s eyes narrowed. Suddenly it all made perfect sense. The slighted, jealous Charles. Had this complaint really come in, or had Charles made it all up? Did he know the youths who had been in the flat; set something up with them? If not, then it was the most incredible coincidence. He’d had a roasting from Shauna about his performance, and Kate already knew that he’d had it in for her, some vague and unfounded fear that she was out to usurp him clouding his judgement. The more she settled in and got on at Piccolo Castelli, the more he seemed to dislike her, and he’d made no secret of that in the last week or so.
‘And what exactly did Charles say?’
‘Simply what I’ve told you.’
‘And you believe him?’
Shauna’s expression hardened, from one of sympathy and pain for Kate’s plight to one of displeasure. ‘Are you saying I shouldn’t? Are you saying it’s a lie? Something that Charles would concoct?’
‘No, I. . .’ Kate’s argument tailed off. How could she say any of this without making things look worse for her? Accusing a colleague of setting her up was bad enough, but this was serious stuff, and the colleague in question, though not Shauna’s most reliable employee, was one who’d worked for her for years, one she knew well, liked and trusted. If Kate had been looking at it from the other angle, she’d have sided with the known quantity over the unknown every time.
‘I just wonder if he’s somehow mistaken the meaning of the call,’ she added lamely.
‘He’s not that stupid,’ Shauna said. ‘Besides, I spoke to the clients myself and I can confirm that what Charles told me is true.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Kate ground her teeth, distracted by the screech of a horn outside on the road. If Charles had been here now, she’d have given him a slow round of applause. She had to hand it to him – as stitch-ups went, this was first rate. She turned back to Shauna. ‘Where does that leave us?’
‘As much as it pains me – and it does – I think you know where it leaves us.’ Shauna paused. ‘I have to let you go, Kate.’
She nodded. ‘I thought as much. Will the police be involved?’
‘The owner of the apartment is willing to forgo police involvement if I replace the stolen money and I fire you. I wouldn’t recommend arguing with that, if I’m honest, because I think you’ll find, under the circumstances, it’s a pretty lenient deal.’
Kate reached under her desk and pulled out her handbag. ‘I don’t have enough cash to give it all. . .’ she began, counting what notes were in her purse onto the desk, but Shauna scooped them up and handed them back.
‘It’s sorted. Nobody can prove it was you and what you said before was right – I know you wouldn’t have risked this for a measly hundred euros. But I have to be seen to be doing the right thing by the client. You understand that, don’t you?’
Kate nodded. What else could she do? Shauna was backed into a corner in the same way she was. ‘I’d feel better if I tried to give you something towards the cost.’
‘The business can stand it, but you can’t.’
‘So you don’t want me tomorrow?’
Shauna raised her eyebrows. Kate knew it was a stupid thing to say; she simply didn’t have anything else.
‘No, of course not. I’ll clear my stuff from the desk and go now, if that’s OK.’
‘It’s probably for the best.’
Five minutes later Kate was standing on the street outside Piccolo Castelli as Shauna locked the door, unemployed again.
Chapter Seventeen
There were many tourist attractions that Kate still hadn’t managed to see, despite how long she’d now been in Rome. Perhaps this was because her relationship with the city was now different as a resident, and she’d felt she ought to be using her time for more productive activities than wandering around museums and gardens. But Alessandro, once he’d seen how upset she was over her sacking from Piccolo Castelli, and in a bid to get her to loosen up and spill the whole story (which she’d told him at least a dozen times she didn’t really want to talk about) had insisted she accompany him out to get some air. Having reluctantly agreed, she now found herself walking the gardens of Villa Borghese, hand in hand with him, and she had to admit that she did feel better for being out. In the flat she had been given too much time to mope, and she hadn’t yet felt ready to talk to her sisters or anyone else about what had happened. It helped that the Borghese gardens were stunning and serene, with elegant statues, a tree-lined lake where the branches of the largest dipped into the crystal waters, immaculate, symmetrical landscaping and water features with glittering sprays that cast mini rainbows in the sunlit air. Because it was winter and early in the day, despite being mild, the gardens were near deserted, and Kate felt free to talk candidly. It was strange how being away from her apartment had somehow relaxed the way she felt about admitting the whole sorry episode to him, something that she hadn’t wanted to do before simply because of the shame she felt about it. The old saying of no smoke without fire had come to mind, and, stupid as it was, she couldn’t shake the notion. She had nothing to hide and had committed no crime, and yet she felt guilt in the accusation alone, and she couldn’t help but worry that Alessandro might, somewhere in the back of his mind, question her innocence too. But he had been patient, and he had listened gravely as she told him everything, and when she finally finished, he paused for a long time, mulling the information over, before he finally spoke.
‘I will see Shauna. I will speak to her—’ he began, but Kate held up a hand to stop him.
‘Please. It will only make things worse.’
‘But this is not fair. You have committed no crime.’
‘I know, but I don’t need police involvement and that’s what I’ll get by trying to put things straight.’
‘So you are happy to be falsely accused?’
Kate pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Of course not. I just don’t see what else I can do. I feel as if my right to be in Italy is tenuous enough, and something like this might draw attention from the wrong sort of people. And this way, at least I can bury the whole incident and move on – try to get work elsewhere without a conviction or doubts of innocence following me. Shauna has said she won’t mention it in any reference I might need. It’s a bitter pill, but I’ll just have to swallow it.’
‘I cannot swallow it. My nature will not allow me to see injustice such as this, and not when it is against the woman I love.’
‘It’s because you love me that I hope you’ll go against your nature, just this once, and let it go. I don’t want to think about it and I don’t want to deal with it, because if I do, I might just fall apart and I need all my strength and positivity to pick myself up and start again. I need your strength and positivity too.’ She gave a wan smile. ‘Not directly, but I seem to recall you promising me once that your strength was mine to take if ever I needed it.’
‘Always,’ he said, halting on the shingle path to take her into his arms and hold her close. ‘It pains me to see you treated so badly.’
She shrugged as she pulled away. ‘Charles played a blinder.’
‘A blinder?’
‘He played the game cleverly, and he won. He wanted me out as soon as I started to perform well, to protect his own job, and he must have thought all his birthdays had come at once when the phone call accusing me came in. I get that, but what I still can’t understand is why the client did it. I mean, did some money go missing and they assumed it was me? Or did the men deliberately lie, in which case, what reason could they possibly have had? I’ve never met them, I have
no idea who they are and I don’t see how they can know who I am. It makes no sense at all.’
‘Perhaps they are friends of this Charles?’
‘You mean they plotted it together?’ Kate mused on this for a moment as they began to walk again. It wasn’t the first time the idea had crossed her mind, but she’d dismissed it as a ridiculous notion. It was certainly a lot of trouble to go to, even if Charles did want her out, and there must have been less convoluted ways. But now, with Alessandro drawing the same conclusion too, she had to consider it again. The apartment had been something very different from the sort of property she’d visited before – which had usually been in affluent areas or with much more respectable owners. They were young too – perhaps Charles’s age. Could he have cooked up such a plan? It seemed so unlikely, and yet it was the only answer that made any sense. And perhaps it was much easier to do that than she’d thought. All it took was a couple of mates with a flat willing to make a threat that Shauna couldn’t ignore. She’d only just employed Kate, who was still on her probation period, and it was easier to lose her at this point than go through a potentially damaging legal process just to protect her, even if she did believe Kate was innocent.
‘I should investigate this Charles,’ Alessandro said thoughtfully.
When Kate had said she wanted to put it all behind her and move on, she’d been certain that was the best thing. But while it was the best thing for her, it was clear Alessandro wouldn’t be able to forget it so easily. Perhaps it would help him understand things if she indulged him, let him do this one thing. She was certain he wouldn’t find anything out of the ordinary about Charles – at least nothing criminal – so what was the harm? It was a case of sour grapes that had got out of hand, and when Alessandro realised there was nothing legal they could do about it, he would agree with Kate that they had to chalk it up to experience and move on with their lives. One thing was for sure, she’d be a lot more cautious in her dealings with people in the future. She’d never been stitched up in this way, had never imagined a scenario in which it would happen, and it had shaken her to her very core. The landscape of the world had shifted, friendships and acquaintances would have to be re-evaluated, and she had to wonder just who she could trust now.
A Wedding in Italy: A feel good summer holiday romance (From Italy with Love Book 2) Page 24
