Chapter Twenty
In the end, Miranda asked quietly, ‘Why would my great-aunt need to bully or blackmail local people?’
‘The most common reason there is, I should think: money. I gather that rents were put up from time to time on some of the cottages Miss Westerby owned or so-called fines were imposed for alleged damage to the buildings. She and Selma were very clever at doing that only to people who were desperate to stay in this village and could squeeze out a little more rent money to pay her for the privilege of renting one of her houses.’
‘Surely my great-aunt didn’t need to extort money from people?’
Col shrugged. ‘The older people from the village tell me that she inherited young and there wasn’t a lot of money that came with the property. There was a need for it then. As the years passed, she wasn’t slow to kick out the folk who didn’t do as she wanted and then she gradually re-rented their homes to other meeker folk at higher rates. It’s always been known that she was money-hungry and could never have enough of it.’
‘I’m not like that.’
‘No, you don’t seem at all that sort of person. But I’m intending to keep a closer watch on the Parnhams from now on.’ Col hesitated as if unsure whether to continue.
Miranda said it for him, and spoke more sharply than her usual tone. ‘Well, you won’t find me continuing to charge ridiculously high rents. I’m going to review them all and reduce any I consider unfair.’
‘I didn’t think you’d be the sort to take unfair amounts of money from people. You’ll excuse me saying so but one has only to look at your face to realise you’re a wizzywig sort of person.’
She looked at him in surprise. ‘What does that mean?’
He grinned. ‘It’s short for “what you see is what you get”.’
‘Oh, that. I never tied the two concepts together. How can you be sure of that where I’m concerned? You’ve only just met me.’
Even Libby was smiling now.
Ryan spoke more gently. ‘You have one of those utterly honest and transparent faces, Miranda. I bet you find it hard to tell lies at all.’
She went a bit pink and admitted, ‘Well, yes. I do hate telling lies. People have done that to me, twisted the truth around and it can hurt, but I try not to do it to others.’
Libby put an arm round her shoulders and gave her a quick hug. ‘Don’t be embarrassed. It’s an excellent character trait.’
‘Well, after what you’ve said, I intend to conduct a review of the rents as soon as it can be arranged and if those on any of my houses are thought to be unfairly high, I shall reduce them immediately.’
‘Good for you. There are laws about what you can and can’t do as a landlord nowadays but they haven’t always kept Selma Parnham toeing the line. She was apparently good at finding ways round rules and regulations. So well done you if you can manage to do that. And if you don’t mind, I’ll let it be known casually that I’ve met you and trust you. That should make things a little easier for you with the locals to start off with but they’ll watch and pass judgement on you themselves as well. There are some canny folk living round here.’
‘Thanks. I’d be grateful for any help in settling in.’ She stared into space for a moment or two, then added, almost as if talking to herself, ‘I’ve had experience of being bullied and been helpless to do anything about it, and it was usually done by my great-aunt or on her orders. I’d never, ever do that sort of thing to anyone else, believe me.’
Her three companions all nodded and looked at her sympathetically.
After a few moments, Col broke the silence. ‘Well, I’m responsible for law and order in the area including all the Fairford villages and nearby farms, so I’ll be available if you need help with the Parnhams or anyone else.’
‘I’ll remember that. Although I must admit that I’m still finding these villages rather confusing.’
Ryan smiled at her sympathetically. ‘I’d have had trouble working it all out at first if it hadn’t been spelt out for me by one of my customers. Let me do the same for you. Fairford Magna is the largest by far, Lesser Fairford is the next in size, but a lot smaller, and your own Fairford Parva is the smallest by a long way with just an uneven scattering of houses in the village, the big house that you own and a few small farms nearby. And yet, they all stay stubbornly together as a group from other local government areas, which can cause some confusion at times.’
‘I see.’
Col gave her a wry glance. ‘The chap who dealt with this area retired from the police force recently and doesn’t seem to have put as much effort into keeping as careful an eye on people like the Parnhams during the last few years as he maybe should have done, which is probably why Selma and her mistress got away with some rather nasty ways of treating people.’
He hesitated, then added, ‘By the way, if you get any more would-be intruders, I can get here in just under ten minutes from my base in Fairford Magna. And if you do ever need urgent help, Ms Westerby, make a call rather than an ordinary phone call, and ask for me personally. Then don’t open your door to anyone until I get here, especially a stranger.’
‘You can call me as well and I can get to you far more quickly,’ Ryan said. ‘Actually, I think I’m your closest neighbour and I can run across your grounds in a couple of minutes at most if I’m at home.’
She was startled, looking from one to the other in shock, and Libby looked to be feeling similarly surprised.
‘But there are two of us here and surely this was an isolated incident? That woman knows now that I shan’t hand over the box, so we aren’t likely to need help again that badly, surely?’ Miranda asked. ‘I mean, what is there in it that can possibly attract anyone else to try to steal it?’
Col took over again. ‘I don’t know but it’s always useful to be prepared for the worst, don’t you think? What if either of you are home alone and working outside at the other end of the garden? How will you get help then?’
She gaped at him, astonished at the way he wasn’t letting this drop.
‘You should perhaps carry a mobile phone with you at all times when you leave the house, even if you’re still on your own land.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really. This house is very isolated, which is the main reason I’m bothering to go on emphasising your need to keep safety in mind at all times. If the Parnhams decide to hang around this area and continue trying to get hold of this box, you could be in trouble. They’d probably find it easy to get away afterwards too because they know the area well and you don’t know it at all yet.’
‘I will remember that,’ she said quietly. Where her great-aunt was concerned, she was definitely wary about traps having been laid for her, only she didn’t feel she knew these men well enough to confide in them about some of her past interactions with the old woman. It occurred to her now that her great-aunt might have set up the Parnhams to cause ongoing problems for her – especially if it benefitted Phyllis’s dear friend Selma. Her great-aunt and her so-called housekeeper sounded to have got on so well that it was more as if they were the ones who were related.
Miranda realised both men were waiting for her to speak, as if needing to make sure she had taken their advice and comments to heart. ‘I’ll definitely heed your warnings and take great care how I do things.’
‘So will I,’ Libby said. ‘There are two of us here, don’t forget.’
Both men nodded and then Ryan changed the subject. ‘Just for your general information about shopping and so on, Fairford Magna is still classified as a village but it’s big enough to have its own supermarket and a few other shops of various types. Lesser Fairford is so close to it that it only has a market but that’s well patronised. It’s been taking place on Friday mornings for several hundred years. Fairford Parva is further away from the others and has only a single village shop. The owners are well liked locally and they’re extremely obliging about getting things in that their customers purchase regularly, so they’re keeping their heads above water financially.’
‘Good. I like village shops,’ Libby said.
Miranda nodded agreement. ‘This sounds like an interesting group of villages, much nicer to live in than a big city.’
‘It’s interesting in several ways,’ Col said. ‘There are a few listed historical buildings round here and some parts of other buildings. Your cellars are among those listed. The western end of them is several hundred years old, possibly Elizabethan, it’s thought, though it’s been closed off for safety reasons for as long as most people remember. There are other parts of the cellars that are quite old and interesting, but not as unusual as the oldest cellars, apparently.’
She looked at him in surprise. ‘Why did no one mention that to me?’
Ryan took over. ‘Miss Westerby disliked strangers coming into her cellars at all apparently, let alone tramping about taking photos, so she refused to allow anyone to enter them unless she invited them. Which she didn’t. But you may wish to change that once you’ve settled in. The local historical society would love to check the oldest cellars out for you, find out whether they’re safe and what has been hidden away from the public. They’d also make sure for you that she hasn’t damaged anything in them.’
‘Would she have done that, damaged a piece of history?’
‘I’ve heard people say they wouldn’t have put anything past her, including murder, not when it was concerned with her family and her inheritance at any rate. And she sounds to have been obsessed with making money.’ He smiled. ‘Don’t look so anxious. I don’t think she was bad enough to commit murder.’
‘Well, once I’m settled in here, people will be welcome to visit the cellars if they’re interested in how people lived in the past,’ Miranda said, ‘and I hope somebody from the historical society will be able to show me what’s important about those cellars first. Personally, I think historical sites are well worth preserving and their attractions should be shared with others. I like the idea of owning an old building or two.’
Col beamed at her. ‘I’ve just joined the historical society. You don’t mind if I pass that information on to the president about people soon being able to visit the cellars again? She’ll be thrilled. Joyce knows this area far better than I do because she’s lived here all her life.’
‘I don’t mind at all. And I shall look forward to meeting her too and picking her brain, historically speaking.’
‘She’ll be happy to share her knowledge.’ He went on explaining the general situation as it had recently been explained to him. ‘Selma Parnham isn’t liked in any of the villages so I doubt she’d be able to get lodgings or rent a house near here but unfortunately, or so most people think, she and her brother inherited a run-down little cottage on the far side of Fairford Magna from an elderly cousin years ago so we’ve never been able to stop them living in the district. At least their cottage isn’t here in Fairford Parva.’
Miranda studied the two men, liking them both. Well, what woman wouldn’t? Each was quite tall, not good looking but clean-cut and healthy, and they had charming smiles. She was a sucker for smiles, felt they said more than anything about people’s nature, especially when you first met them. She realised they were both staring at her and waiting so she said what she was thinking. ‘I can’t thank you two enough for your help today and I’m sure Libby feels the same.’
Her friend nodded vigorously.
‘You’re welcome.’
She looked from one man to the other and asked abruptly, ‘What on earth have I walked into here?’
‘Who knows?’ Ryan asked. ‘We could look at what’s in that box of papers, if you like. Perhaps they’ll tell you more about the background to Miss Westerby and her housekeeper’s efforts. That woman was very keen to get hold of the box, after all.’
‘I’m sorry I can’t tell you much more,’ Col said. ‘I usually get to know the people in my area of responsibility, but I’m afraid I’ve not been posted here for long enough to be aware of all the subtleties of what’s going on behind the scenes as well as I’d like, so looking at the papers may show us all more about the situation.’
‘And I’ve only lived here for a few weeks,’ Ryan added. ‘But both you ladies can be sure that either of us will do whatever we can to help you at any time and if ever you feel threatened in future, you should contact us immediately.’
‘Thanks. We shan’t hesitate to ask if we need your help.’