Chapter Fifteen
Otto tapped the pencil on her teeth; today’s crossword seemed particularly tricky. Every time she tried to focus on the letters her mind just skittered away. Palestrina was playing on her turntable, but despite its serenity, it didn’t seem to be getting through to her. It was simply beyond her tolerance levels; she was going to have to find a way to talk to the new mistress that didn’t involve her flouncing off. It had been four days since she had arrived and turned the castle upside down. The girl was ridiculously rude, selfish and thin skinned. Welcome to the family. Otto took a deep breath and resolved to do nothing until she had completed her crossword and then she would tackle the issue head on, but not now. Not until she had calmed down.
She picked up her pencil once more and was surprised then furious when her door swung open and Lady Clementine breezed in, coming to an abrupt halt.
‘Oh, sorry. I’d have knocked.’ Otto said nothing as she watched the girl’s apology trail off as she looked around the room. A delighted smile played across her face as she took in the various objects around the room and then something hard flashed across her face.
‘Is this how you’ve been paying the staff? By selling off the family treasures. Is that how you’ve been living all these years?’
This issue had been bugging Clem for days. How was Otto able to afford to pay all the staff? Now, as she looked at all these exquisite antiques and paintings, she wondered if she had found the solution. The inventory that the solicitor had provided was sorely lacking and had only run to a couple of pages. Big ticket items for purposes of insurance only. Who knows what minor treasures had been overlooked. And who had drawn up the inventory anyway? The housekeeper?
Had Otto been younger, she’d have jumped up and slapped the girl’s cold expression off her face, but age had made her more reflective, plus her days of ‘jumping up’ were long behind her. In an attempt to get her emotions under control, she went to take a sip of coffee but noticed how much her hand was shaking, so merely laced them in her lap and looked Clem in the eyes.
‘I have never sold a single item in this castle. I have my own source of income and used that to take care of the staff. As I have already explained to you.’
‘So all this stuff is yours?’
‘Almost none of it. But I see no issue with me furnishing my rooms with pieces from around the castle. No one else was making use of them or having the pleasure of their sight. If you wish them returned, I shall have the staff relocate them accordingly tomorrow.’
Clem sighed and looked around. She had jumped the gun and was feeling bad again. What was it about this woman that instantly rose her hackles? ‘No, leave it, they look good like this.’
‘Very well. But I resent the implication that I am a thief and that I don’t care for this property.’
‘I never implied that!’
‘It is hard to find another interpretation for my selling things that don’t belong to me.’
The irony of her indignation was not lost on Otto, but now was not the time to reflect on her youth.
Clem decided that she would take a conciliatory path. Or at least try.
‘If, if you had sold them, you would still have done it for the staff which is a good thing, but still not something that we could allow to continue.’
‘But I haven’t. As I just said, I run this castle impeccably—’ Otto pursed her lips as Lady Clementine cut her off.
‘Ha! I don’t think so.’ Why was the woman so combative? Clem had tried to offer an olive branch; this old biddy slapped it away and was now bragging about what a great job she had done. ‘All morning I have been inspecting this castle and found signs of neglect everywhere. In one set of attic rooms I found a window had broken. I think its clasp must have become loose in the wind and then the frame just swung and banged until the glass shattered. It’s clearly been a while. The rain has been coming in for months; there are dried leaves scattered around the floor, mould is growing on the bare mattress and it looks like birds have set up a nest in there.
‘It took me a while to work out where it was from the outside and, looking up, you couldn’t see the window itself, but on the ground underneath all the weeds I found some broken glass. Either a routine inspection of the grounds or the rooms would have revealed this.’
Otto was shocked but the girl ploughed on. ‘But it’s not just that, is it? Looking out of attic windows, I could see the gulleys were full of weeds, and when I walked out onto the battlements, I could see more general wear and tear.’
Clem continued, counting off the problems on her fingertips. Everywhere she had looked she had found another nail in the coffin, but with each door she had opened she had fallen a little bit more in love with the shabby, neglected castle.
‘Inside, the electrics are clearly a joke and everywhere is covered in cobwebs, and not just the rooms that have been closed off. The castle is a right mess.’
Otto glared at Clem but she had no reply. Over the years she had decided to close down some of the wings. It was inefficient to heat and clean rooms that no one used. She would inspect them weekly, but as she got older she had to acknowledge that those weekly inspections had dwindled, but surely she hadn’t left it quite so long?
‘Look, I’ve written a list and a floor plan of each room I’ve covered so far. Maybe you can help tell me if I’ve missed anything?’
Clem stepped forward and placed the sheet of paper in front of Otto. Otto picked up the paper and frowned.
‘Good grief!’ Otto picked up Clem’s work and waved it at her dismissively. ‘Your handwriting is atrocious. How am I supposed to be able to read that? What sort of finishing school did you go to?’
Clem had never been a gifted student and had been written off years ago by her teachers. How she had hated the constant disappointment she’d had to endure from her teachers. On discovering that she was Ariana’s sister, they were excited and enthusiastic to welcome her into their class. Within the term they would delicately suggest she dropped down a class so that she would feel more comfortable. This termly descent would persist until she was down in the remedial classes. She could talk and listen just fine, but no one cared about that; she could draw and create beautifully, but that was irrelevant.
The memories came flooding back and reminded her of a time when she was a kid struggling to keep up with her classmates. Every single time she had been derided by teachers for her appalling writing, every time she got an F for her homework. Teachers would call her stupid, lazy, wilful, thick. She would shout back and be sent to yet another detention. Everything came flooding back, as this old woman flapped Clem’s work in front of her, and she lost her temper.
‘You keep mistaking me for David’s daughter. Is the dementia kicking in?’ snapped Clem, who then spoke slowly and loudly. ‘I’m Elizabeth’s daughter and I didn’t go to finishing school.’
‘Or any other sort of school by the look of your letters.’
Clem snatched the paper back out of Otto’s hand, making the woman recoil sharply.
‘Okay, don’t help but I am still running a visual inspection of every room in the property.’
‘Oh and I suppose you are here to demand I let you see my rooms?’ Miss Farano now looked every bit as angry as Clem, reacting to the sudden escalation of emotions.
Clem smiled tightly, and without waiting for an invitation she walked past Otto and opened the first door onto a small bathroom. Her temper was now driving her and she barely took in any details as she made a point of opening and closing doors. The last door opened onto a small bedroom. This room was a marked contrast to the others. The walls were painted white and bare of any paintings or hangings. The single wooden framed bed was made with plain white linen and a small bedside table stood beside it. At the far end stood another door but when she opened it Clem saw nothing but clothes.
As she returned to the room Otto was now on her feet.
‘Is that all?’
‘No. There’s a door along this corridor that’s locked and I don’t seem to have a key for it. Do you?’
‘No. It leads to the attics. There is nothing up there.’
‘Except maybe more broken windows and birds’ nests?’
‘It is directly above my rooms. I think I would have noticed.’
‘Yeah right,’ said Clem rolling her eyes. ‘Okay, I’ll have to find another way to check that. I’m going to carry on my inspection at some point. Please can you show me all the paperwork for this place? Staff rotas, bills, expenses and the like. Thank you.’
***
Clem walked out the room and down the hallway and then leant against one of the walls shaking. That had gone very badly indeed. The woman was horrific but that didn’t excuse her own monstrous behaviour. She already wanted to go back and apologise for her appalling manners, but she was still so angry about being mocked for her efforts. She knew that right now she was a mess. She wanted to act like an adult, but instead she kept behaving like an embarrassed and unhappy little girl. The best thing she could do right now was walk away.
Patting the wall, she took a shaky breath of air.
‘Don’t worry, old girl. I’ll think of something. Maybe I can just brick her and Nick in together?’
Feeling sick from the encounter with Miss Farano she continued exploring the castle and prayed that she discovered no further problems with the property. Along what she considered to be an old servants’ wing she found a locked door and spent a few minutes trying various keys until one turned in the lock and she opened the door. The room was pitch black and she patted the wall until she found the light switch.
In front of her was a large windowless storage room running the length of three normal rooms. The whole room was lined in panels of wood and given the slight smell, Clem was prepared to guess that the wood was cedar. She couldn’t see much of the floorboards as the entire space was filled with large wicker baskets and more excitingly, hundreds of rolls of fabric. The baskets were the easiest to access and Clem threw open the first lid and gazed in amazement at a bunch of very old clothes. Given the brocade on the first sleeve she picked up she was confident that the garment was vintage if not antique. She bobbed down for a closer inspection of the fastenings when the lightbulb flickered and with a little phut went out plunging her back into darkness.
Stepping back to the door Clem retreated into the corridor. She had just found Aladdin’s Cave and the lights had gone out. She knew what she had to do but she wasn’t looking forward to it. However, nothing was going to stop her from exploring that room, not even her own pride.
Clem stood outside of Miss Farano’s rooms and knocked. Then she knocked again. Then she called out. Then she knocked again. Eventually the door handle turned and Clem took a step backwards. Miss Farano stood in the doorway not inviting Clem in, which, thought Clem, was hardly surprising. She took a deep breath.
‘I apologise. My behaviour was rude and brattish. I allowed my emotions to overwhelm me and I acted without thinking. Again I apologise.’
She paused to see if Miss Farano wanted to apologise for calling her names as well but that apparently wasn’t going to happen.
‘I owe you this apology and I would probably have done it tomorrow after I had calmed down but I need your help.’
Miss Farano arched her eyebrow but remained silent.
‘I’ve found a room full of fabrics, but the lightbulbs have blown. I’d like to replace the bulbs but I don’t know where they are stored yet, plus I’m worried that I might accidentally blow all the circuits again.’
Clem looked at Miss Farano waiting to see if she would respond but the silence continued. She wasn’t going to apologise again. She had been in the wrong but she wasn’t about to grovel.
‘Can you help? Please.’
Clem watched as Miss Farano considered her request and just at the point that Clem could feel her temper rising again, the housekeeper nodded her head.
‘No one has been in that storeroom for decades, I’m not surprised the bulbs blew. I doubt if replacing the bulbs will cause any knock-on problems. If you follow me I will show you where the bulbs are kept.’
Clem followed the older woman as they made their way downstairs in silence. As they reached the pantry on the ground floor, Miss Farano bent down and pulled out a box. As she did so she suddenly spoke.
‘I also apologise.’
Clem wasn’t sure she heard her properly. Surely this dismissive, angry woman hadn’t just apologised to her.
‘Sorry what did you say?’
Miss Farano handed her a small box of lightbulbs. ‘I am not in the habit of repeating myself, now these should do. If there’s nothing else?’
Clem decided to quit whilst she was ahead and thanking the housekeeper for her help she headed off in search of treasure.