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Gina had quickly updated Will on her recent mysterious items of mail, and he had stomped around the flat, shouting and swearing whilst his wife tried to compose herself. Having vented his feelings, he went back to her, and they hugged in silence for a few minutes.
‘Will, you are overreacting! It’s just two anonymous items, a card and a notebook. Hardly sinister!’
‘Yes, but together with the phone call to the estate agent, it seems to be part of someone’s campaign!’
‘Well, we can say that now but how was I to know from the first two innocuous incidents?’
Will sighed. He sat down and rubbed his hands over his forehead, then over his short-cropped salt and pepper hair. ‘Yes, you are right, but I just feel you have been keeping things from me. That’s what touched a nerve.’
I just didn’t want to worry you,’ she explained. ‘I know how much you’ve had on your plate recently. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s not you that needs to be sorry, it’s this sick fuck who is playing games with you. Who do you reckon is the most likely?’
‘Well, I’ve no idea really. Obviously in my career, I might have upset people in the past and clearly, I’ve questioned witnesses quite rigorously, but I can’t suggest anyone in particular.’
‘Well, they are going to regret it, whoever it is when I’ve finished with them.’
‘I think we need to stay calm. It’s not so serious, not really. It’s not as if I’ve been attacked or threatened. Some people have their cars damaged, things like that. I know I had that nail in my tyre but...’ Gina’s voice trailed off, realising she hadn’t told Will about this.
‘What nail?’
‘It doesn’t matter! I could have picked that up anywhere. We need to get things in perspective.’
‘No, I know, it’s just, God, I’m furious!’ Will looked at his watch. ‘Look, it’s after nine now, we need to get along to the estate agent and see what they have to say.’
‘I’ll just pop to the loo and slap some makeup on,’ said Gina, ‘I look a fright.’
‘No you don’t.’
Will waited alone with his thoughts, his hand straying to touch an old scar over his right eyebrow, the result of a car accident before airbags had been invented. So far their weekend was turning into a disaster. His delayed train and now this puzzle which had led them on a wasted visit to a dump of a house.
‘Right, ready,’ she said. Her confidence had returned, and together they were on a mission.
The estate agent was about a ten-minute walk from their apartment, and the early morning empty streets allowed them to walk unimpeded, as it was too early for most of the tourists and shoppers. Will reached for her hand as they walked along, her husband’s large physique contrasting markedly with Gina’s small, compact frame. This simple affectionate gesture of his confirmed to her that she was forgiven, they were a team rather than opponents.
Will opened the door and allowed his wife to enter the estate agent’s office, which held one couple in the throes of a discussion. An assistant looked up from her laptop and stood to greet them.
‘Good morning, how can I help? I’m Leila.’
‘It’s Mr and Mrs Overton, we were planning to rent the house in Augustine Avenue, but there seems to have been a bit of a mix-up,’ said Gina.
‘Take a seat,’ said the assistant, who looked to be in her mid-twenties. Gina noticed she had prominent eyebrows embellished with dark pencil, which seemed to be the trend at the moment and she had a small tattoo on the inside of her wrist.
‘Now, what seems to be the problem?’
Gina explained the message she’d received via Carly yesterday regarding the property and Leila listened without interrupting the story and jotted some notes on her pad.
‘Let me look on the system.’ She clicked away and read the information on the screen.
Gina and Will sat expectantly waiting for a pronouncement.
‘I see it’s Steve that you’ve been dealing with, but unfortunately, he’s not in today. Let me see if I can catch him at home. I won’t be a minute.’
Gina exchanged glances with Will who had remained silent throughout the discourse. He picked at a thread which was poking out of the seam of his chinos. He gave it a firm tug, and the thread gave up its battle, and Will pocketed the offending article, rather than discarding it on the carpet. They could hear a discussion filtering in from a room in the back, and then the assistant walked back into the front of the office, saying, ‘OK, thanks, Steve, I’ll tell them. Bye, see you Monday.’
She smiled and sat back down at her desk, placing her hands flat in front of her.
‘So, Steve took a call yesterday afternoon, about 4 o’clock and the lady, that is yourself,’ she nodded with her head, ‘you said that you had changed your mind about Augustine Avenue. He said he was sorry but not to worry and he hoped to find something else suitable for you.’
The girl opened her hands as if to say, ‘that’s it,’ and waited for the Overtons to speak.
‘I don’t understand. I didn’t phone you. Someone must have pretended to be me. I think someone is playing games.’
‘Well, we can only act on information we receive. Sorry.’
‘Didn’t you think to phone me back to check?’
‘Well, why should we? We can’t phone everyone back who phones us, it would take all our time. Oh, and Steve said, that you said, I mean whoever it was who phoned said, that in future you wanted us to phone your office and not your mobile. They read out the number of your office which matched the one we had on file.’
Gina sighed and pulled a face. ‘It doesn’t matter, it’s not your fault. Anyway, we are here to tell you that we still want to rent Augustine Avenue.’
‘Let me get the file.’
Will raised his eyes heavenwards. ‘What a mess,’ he whispered.
Leila flicked through the folder, then tapped on her laptop and scanned some pages.
‘I’m afraid that property is now let. We signed the papers yesterday afternoon after you changed your mind, well, after we thought you had changed your mind....’ Her voice trailed off as it was an embarrassing situation for all parties. ‘It’s a very popular area and in fact, the couple who have secured it offered more than you did. I’m very sorry.’
‘But we had an agreement! I was going to come and sign the papers today. You had no right!’ Gina was shouting now, and the other couple stopped their transaction and looked around.
‘Gina, love, there’s nothing we can do. It’s not their fault. We’ve missed out on it.’
‘But someone must have impersonated me! It’s not fair. It’s fraud, that’s what it is!’ Gina stood and started to pace around. She looked like a caged animal, and her face was flushed. She fumbled in her bag for her e-cigarette, then replaced it as she realised she shouldn’t vape in the office. ‘Wait a minute. Do you have the number of the person who called?’
‘Well, possibly but the call would have come through to the office. I’m not sure which phone and the desk phones don’t store every number, only the last twenty. We get so many calls each day.’
‘Can’t you check?’
‘But we don’t know exactly what time the call came through.’
‘Gina, I think we need to move on, it’s just wasting time,’ suggested Will.
His wife sighed. Her jaw was clamped firmly shut in an expression of annoyance. She realised she was acting like a police officer requesting that phone records should be checked. She joined her husband at Leila’s desk and slumped down heavily in the chair, in an act of resigned acceptance. She was still furious, and her heart was beating ferociously in her chest.
‘Let me see whether anything new has come into the office in the last day or so,’ said Leila, tactfully. She clicked away, then smiled. ‘I’ll just print this off.’
She handed over a couple of sheets, and Will held them so they both could read the details.
‘This house only came to our attention yesterday. Bridleway Gardens is a very nice area. It’s four bedrooms, finished to a very high standard, and I’m sure you’ll like it.’
Gina looked at the details. ‘It’s a bit more than we wanted to pay as we’re still paying a mortgage on our house in Manchester. Also, we don’t need four bedrooms.’
Leila looked around. ‘Perhaps you could come into the back office, and we can have a word,’ she whispered.
The trio decamped to another room.
‘I shouldn’t really say this, so please don’t repeat it to anyone,’ said Leila, keeping her voice down, ‘but the couple really need to rent this out sooner rather than later. I’m sure they will take an offer on the price on the sheet. I suggest offering two hundred pounds less. But you didn’t hear that from me,’ she winked.
**
‘It’s Sue,’ said Tom, as he handed his wife the cordless phone.
‘Hi,’ said Trish. ‘How are you?’
‘Well, a bit better thanks, apart from being completely bald. I’m hoping it will start to grow back soon.’
‘Oh, Sue, I’m so sorry but has the treatment been successful?’
‘As far as they can tell. Let’s hope after this session, I’ll get a break from it for a while. Anyway, enough of me, how’s life treating you? Still working too hard I bet?’
‘I’m not working at the moment, I’ve not been so good actually.’
‘Oh, no, what’ wrong?’
‘It’s nothing physical, I had a sort of funny turn the other week. It set me back a bit, so I’ve got to take things easy for a while. I’m back on some medication, so I hope I’ll soon be back to my usual self.’
‘Well, as you are free, do you fancy meeting up for coffee? We’ve not seen each other for ages. Have a proper chat?’
‘That would be great! Shall I meet you in town, or you could come here if you want?’
‘Town would be best. I’ve got a few things to do tomorrow, and I’m not driving at the moment. What about eleven on Monday? Or earlier if you want?’
‘Eleven will be fine. Shall we meet in Fenwick, the cafe is big there so we should get a table?’
‘Sounds great. I’ll be wearing a scarf, so I hope you will recognise me.’
‘Of course, I will. See you then,’ said Trish and disconnected.
Their friendship had started at school, and they’d remained in touch on and off for years. For a while, they didn’t see each other very often but when Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, Trish had been in touch more regularly. It was the least she could do, and it was an opportunity to help her friend come to terms with her illness and develop some coping strategies. She had been so sad to hear that her cancer had recently returned. Fortunately, the prognosis had been encouraging. Despite the huge toll on her, physically and mentally, she had remained incredibly strong throughout.
‘How is she?’ asked Tom.
‘I’m meeting her on Monday for coffee. She’s almost finished her latest session of chemo, I feel so sorry for her.’
‘It’s dreadful. Give her my love, won’t you.’
‘Of course.’
‘Trish? You won’t take on too much, will you? I mean, don’t offer to help her with counselling if she asks, not on a regular basis.’
‘It’s just a coffee.’
‘Yes, but what if you think she’s a bit, well, not coping.’
‘I think she is coping. Anyway, I’ll find out.’
‘But you understand my concern, don’t you. This break from work is for you to get yourself back on track.’
‘Tom, I wish you could trust me a bit more. Please, I am not going to trigger another attack. You can rest assured that I am taking control of my life.’
‘OK,’ replied her husband, trying to inject some positivity into his voice, yet unconvinced that his wife was as resilient as she was trying to appear.
