Chapter 1
ONE
DECLAN
Declan drummed his fingers on the arm of the black leather tub chair in the waiting area at Jarvis and Green, Accountancy Services.
When he glanced down at his leg, that was clad in the grey trousers of a sharp designer suit, he realised it was twitching.
He wondered why the hell he felt so nervous.
Wasn’t he a brilliant accountant, award-winning even?
Just recently he had successfully allocated money to council services that had received praise from the locals, who were now enjoying a brand-new park with their children.
Working for the council was not exactly giving him the buzz he desired, though. Declan needed the thrill of a big company in the city centre and maybe a chance to make some serious money. He had no desire to stay in his rented apartment forever.
Declan cleared his throat as he entered the room, where two people sat behind a polished wooden desk. The woman, an attractive redhead, greeted him with a smile; the dark-haired older bloke was twirling a pen around in his hand, his face expressionless.
‘Take a seat, Declan,’ said the bloke, who had not introduced himself.
Declan was asked about his various accomplishments, as the interviewers’ eyes flicked over his CV.
They asked him the usual stuff, including his future ambitions and asked him to name some of his biggest achievements to date.
That was easy for Declan, but he was distracted by the vibe in the room.
He got the feeling that the pair in front of him, especially the bloke, were just going through the motions.
Either they had someone else in mind for the job, or had decided at first glance that he was not a good fit.
The final straw was when the bloke put his feet up on a nearby chair. The redhead glanced over and shifted a little uncomfortably in her seat, before plastering a smile on her face.
Declan felt the anger rise inside him, just as the guy’s phone rang. He took the call without apologising for the interruption.
‘Have you finished with that?’ Declan gestured to his CV on the table with a snap of his fingers.
‘What, oh yes, sure,’ said the redhead, glancing across at her colleague, who ignored her.
Declan reached over and picked it up, just as the guy finished his call.
‘Thanks for your time. Well, yours anyway.’ He smiled at the woman. ‘You gave a good show of at least pretending to be interested in what I had to say. Unlike you.’ He eyeballed the bloke, who quickly removed his feet from the chair, and gave a little cough.
The bloke attempted to say something as Declan headed for the door, but the tone in Declan’s voice made him think again.
Clutching his CV, he counted to ten as he descended the lift to the reception area, where he made his way across the highly polished floor of the glass-fronted building.
He breathed deeply and pushed down his anger.
Maybe he ought to escalate a complaint to HR.
Who the hell did that guy think he was, putting his feet up like that and taking a call in the middle of an interview without a sniff of an apology?
He half expected him to pull a sandwich out of a drawer. What a tosser.
His irritation was still bubbling away, but Declan patted himself on the back for restraining himself. There was a time when he would have flattened him, no question.
Not that he ever went looking for trouble. He was easy-going by nature, but he had learnt to look after himself. He grabbed a takeaway coffee from a nearby café and decided to walk the ten minutes back to the train station, rather than take a taxi, to calm himself down.
A late morning sun finally broke through some grey clouds as he walked and, feeling warmer, he removed his suit jacket.
By the time he finally arrived at Wisteria House, he was almost in a good mood.
That was before an old lady came hurtling out of the front door and he knocked her off her feet, and into the bush in the front garden. Shit. Bugger.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked the silver-haired lady in the red jacket.
‘What? Oh, I’m fine, dear, don’t worry.’ She leapt up with a youthfulness that belied her age and smiled at him as she brushed herself down.
She was tall and elegant looking with a ready smile, and a slash of red lipstick that matched her blazer.
An attractive lady, who was the type that stood out in a crowd despite her age.
‘Are you sure?’ asked Declan, a little uncertainly.
‘Oh fine.’ She waved her hand. ‘Do you live here, then?’ she asked him.
‘Yes, first floor.’ He nodded upwards.
Now he knew she was okay he just wanted to get inside, take his tie off and grab a beer from the fridge.
As well as peruse the job vacancies once more.
At least he still had a job, even though it was less than exciting these days.
He was still surprised by the rudeness of the guy at the interview but was determined not to dwell on it.
‘I see. Oh, where are my manners,’ said the elegant lady. ‘I am Alice. I moved into the garden flat last week.’
‘Declan.’ He shook the hand she had extended.
‘Nice to meet you, Declan. And may I say, you look very smart. Have you been somewhere nice?’ she asked him brightly.
Bloody hell, was he ever going to get inside?
‘A job interview. I don’t think it went too well, though,’ he said, which was most definitely an understatement, with a shrug.
‘Oh dear. Would you like to have a drink and tell me about it?’ she asked.
‘I thought you were on your way out?’ He frowned. He wasn’t in the habit of making small talk and drinking tea with the neighbours.
‘That can wait. It is far more important to get to know my new neighbours, I think. Come on.’
She gestured for him to go inside, and, to Declan’s surprise, he found himself following Alice into her ground-floor flat.
He glanced around the neat as a pin lounge, the tastefully furnished room dominated by a large brown leather sofa with velvet embossed cushions.
The wooden dining table and chairs at the far end of the room looked expensive.
Mahogany maybe? As Alice disappeared into the kitchen, he expected to hear a kettle boiling, but to his surprise, she returned with a bottle of single malt and two tumblers with ice.
‘I will join you. It’s no fun drinking alone.’ She winked.
As Declan sipped his smooth as silk malt – the lady certainly had taste – he found himself telling her all about his disastrous job interview.
‘Oh dear. What a dreadful man.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m afraid the world is full of them these days.’
‘You’re not wrong there,’ agreed Declan. He had met enough of them.
‘What was the role?’ she asked good-naturedly.
‘An accountant post at Jarvis and Green,’ he told her.
‘Ah, so you’re an accountant? Interesting.’
‘Not that interesting at times, although I do enjoy it, and I’m bloody good at it,’ he stated proudly.
He apologised then for swearing, feeling a bit like he was sitting in front of his gran.
Declan would never forget the pride he felt when he passed his exams and was tempted to take his certificates to his old school and wave them in front of his teacher, who had told him he would never amount to anything.
Apparently, the old codger was still teaching there, counting down the days to his retirement, no doubt still churning out the same old lessons in the jaded tone he had all those years ago.
It was a terrible school. No wonder the kids played up.
They were tolerated rather than nurtured at the school on the wrong side of town, the pupils bored and unchallenged.
In a way, though, his teacher’s remark had spurred him on to prove him wrong.
Okay, he had to do a bit of growing up first and attend a night school to get some qualifications, but against all the odds he did it.
‘So, if you’re so good at what you do,’ said Alice, ‘why don’t you work for yourself? Then you wouldn’t have to endure any more humiliating interviews, although you would be unlucky to encounter another man as rude as that.’ She shook her head.
‘Set up by myself?’
‘Yes, why not. If you are as good as you say you are.’ She took a sip of her whisky.
‘Erm. Well, I don’t have an office for a start, and I know what you’re probably thinking, I could work from home, which I did consider but that doesn’t create the right impression, does it? Not if I want to attract some decent clients.’
‘I see. Well, I might be able to help you there.’ Alice looked thoughtful as she sipped her drink.
‘Help me, how?’ The old lady had his attention now.
‘I own some office space in Liverpool Road. Do you know it?’ she asked.
‘I do, yeah.’
Liverpool Road was a popular area with offices, restaurants and fashionable coffee shops popping up more frequently these days. It would be beyond his wildest dreams to have an office space in that location.
‘So, what do you think? Would you like to look at the office? There is a desk there already. We could go tomorrow if you like?’ Alice offered.
‘I will be in work, but maybe afterwards?’ He could hardly take in what was happening. Why would this woman who he had known for all of five minutes be so generous towards him?
‘It’s a date. Shall we leave here about six o’clock?’ suggested Alice as she finished her drink.
‘Great. Is the rent much, though? I already have the rent on the apartment here,’ Declan reminded her.
‘When I said I might be able to help you out, I meant exactly that. There will be no charge. Obviously if you become very successful, you might like to buy me a small gift.’ Alice smiled at him, nodding towards the bottle of whisky on the small table beside her.
‘It’s a deal. But why are you doing this? You barely know me.’ Declan thought it all sounded a bit too good to be true.
‘You are my neighbour, and we are meant to help each other out, aren’t we? Love thy neighbour.’ She smiled again. ‘If more people did that, the world would not have half as many problems.’
That was true enough. He thought of the tales his mother would tell him about her childhood and how everyone helped each other out.
Clothes and toys would be passed around the neighbourhood so that no one went without.
A lady who worked at the toilet roll factory would barter biscuits with the lady who worked at Jacob’s, all purchased for pennies at the staff shop.
There was no such thing as a food bank back then, she had told him.
‘Fair enough. And if that’s the case, I would be happy to return the favour, if you ever need anything,’ he offered, although he had no idea what that might be.
‘As it happens, there is.’ She swirled the remains of her whisky around in her glass.
‘Go on.’
‘You could come to a dinner party on Friday evening,’ she said to his surprise. ‘I am making my coq au vin, which is quite delicious, if I say so myself,’ she declared. ‘I haven’t decided on dessert, although I imagine it will be banoffee pie or an Eton mess. Do you have a particular preference?’
Declan thought of the Eton mess he’d eaten after his Sunday carvery at the local pub with a few of the lads after football.
‘That’s a tough one. I like them both. I’d say the Eton mess just edges it, though.’
‘Wonderful. I’ll make both.’
‘Make them? You know you can buy fancy desserts from Waitrose.’ Declan grinned. Alice seemed like the type of person who would shop at Waitrose.
‘Yes, but it’s a little bit of a trek to the nearest one in Formby and I do enjoy cooking. Although, I may buy the meringue for the Eton mess but don’t tell anyone.’ She smiled.
What Declan didn’t know was that Alice had stopped driving her car a couple of years ago as her long-distance vision was not quite what it was, but she was proud she had been able to drive well into her eighties.
She could hardly believe she was ninety-one years old and other people found it hard to believe too.
She still did her morning stretches, a habit from her dancing days, and could still almost touch her toes.
A dinner party. Declan hated those things.
He preferred the local pub with a few mates, especially at the weekend.
He had been single for longer than he cared to remember, but his life was full enough right now, and he was relishing the freedom.
Alice’s food did sound good, though, and she had just offered him some office space, after all.
‘I have invited the other two tenants in the building who both live alone, I believe. I thought it would be a lovely way to get acquainted with my new neighbours. In fact, I have posted you an invitation too.’ She smiled.
She had only been here a short time, yet she seemed to know that the other tenants were also living alone.
Declan was beginning to think she was a nosey old bugger.
He wasn’t sure he wanted someone poking their nose into his business.
He preferred to keep himself to himself, apart from those in his carefully selected circle.
‘Oh. Um, sure, okay then, thanks,’ he said after a long pause. If it would make the old dear happy, then why not? He had no plans this coming Friday.
It occurred to him that he didn’t really know the other occupants of the flats, apart from the occasional nod if they crossed paths.
Did anyone really know their neighbours these days?
He had noticed the pretty woman with the kid opposite him, though, who always seemed to be in a hurry.
Perhaps this dinner party was a good idea after all.
Maybe it was time to let his guard down a little.
‘Lovely. I will see you tomorrow then after work to view the office premises,’ she said, standing to indicate he could leave. ‘See what you think.’
He thanked Alice and felt a mellow feeling as he headed to his upstairs flat. Inside, he picked up the red envelope and opened the dinner invitation.