Chapter 65
SIXTY-FIVE
She got home even more demoralised. All her charging around the country had achieved precisely nothing.
And, while it was great that the father of Martina’s baby had been found, which would hopefully lead to some kind of justice being done for her, it seemed it wouldn’t help Matt and Kate in their fight against Jamie for Trade Cottage after all.
‘But I did discover that he’s an even bigger sleazeball than we thought,’ she told Matt. She relayed her conversation with Tessa, and her realisation that it was time to start talking to Will about relationships.
Matt nodded. ‘I was thinking the same thing.’
The sound of their son’s voice floated down the corridor. ‘Round the back! Two of them behind the building! Take them out!’
‘Though, right now,’ Matt added, ‘he does seem a lot more interested in killing people than sex.’
‘Fortnite?’
Matt nodded. ‘I’ve set it up in the small sitting room. I’ve been checking in on him – it all seems OK.’
‘And Tilly?’
‘Outside, getting Fresco his hay net.’
She nodded, reassured. ‘You know, it’s funny to think of them – Tessa and Jamie – living in these same four walls as us.
Like ghosts, almost. Trade Cottage is a bit like one of those medieval manuscripts that got scraped down and reused, but which still bears the imprint of the previous writing if you look hard enough. ’
‘Or an old musical instrument,’ Matt suggested. ‘They say violins are changed by the people who’ve played them down the centuries. Maybe houses are the same.’
‘And it’s true the other way round, too, isn’t it?
’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Trade Cottage is still such a huge part of who its former occupants are today. Jamie believing he’s entitled to whatever he wants in life, Tessa living off the land.
’ Something else occurred to her. ‘You know, I wonder if some of Jamie’s obsession with getting this place back isn’t to do with Guy.
Guy inherited his house, after all. Perhaps, by reclaiming Trade Cottage, Jamie can feel he’s still almost his equal.
When the truth is, he’s just a failed banker with a grudge against women and too much money to throw at lawyers. ’
Alerted by Matt’s sigh, she added, ‘Is there any news about that?’
Reluctantly, he nodded. ‘Anwar was hoping the judicial review might get thrown out at the application stage. But, unfortunately, they’ve been given the green light. We’ll need to start spending big on legal fees soon.’
She put her hand on his arm and squeezed. Then she added, ‘Incidentally . . . When Jamie was ranting at me the other day, he said something about how I’d killed his father.’
‘And?’
‘Then he looked at the children and said, “an eye for an eye”. I wonder if he meant . . . he should kill you.’
Matt said reassuringly, ‘I’m sure he was just trying to scare you.’
She sighed. ‘Well, he’s succeeded. The way he looked at the kids . . . And those poison-pen letters are getting more and more deranged. Be careful, won’t you?’
Matt nodded. ‘Of course. But you too, yes? And make sure you put that threat of Jamie’s in the log, along with everything else.’