When I walk around your garden, it always looks so alive with all the colourful flowers, particularly that large red rhododendron bush,’ Claire said.
‘Ken the gardener does all the hard work; I just add the finishing touches, but this year it has all been good. Lots of sun and lots of rain,’ Jennie replied.
‘Someday soon, if I again live in Arrow Hall, I’ll have all the wide spaces around the house landscaped just as they used to be. There was not much room for flowers, but the dried-out moat is still there, and I have plans to keep it green, make it look like a well-kept lawn.’
‘How’s it going with Rick?’
Claire sighed and looked to the ground.
‘I have growing uncertainty where Rick wants to go with Arrow Hall. He’s disappeared to New Zealand, and I can see a rocky time ahead not only with unrest on the site. A few bust-ups coming along which won’t help build the place.’
‘Don’t let your dream stop. It’s an important historical site, too good to leave in ruins,’ Jennie said.
Claire had just spent a couple of hours with Jennie at her large house in Newbury. Walking round the large, lush gardens left Claire wishing she could stay longer. The mud and dirt, and shouting, on the building site was not an attractive place to return to. By the time Claire said goodbye to Jennie, she felt the stark contrast of the two places.
Driving back to Rick’s flat, her journey slow with bunched traffic as she entered the outskirts of London, was not the easiest of times to take an unexpected call from Rick in New Zealand.
‘I’m in a hurry. Just about to catch a flight to South Island. I’m meeting an agent. But give me a quick update on the money you’re spending at Arrow Hall.’
‘Rick. I’m stuck in traffic; it’s just not moving. The road report is saying a bomb scare at Marble Arch. And you sound very far away. Can I call you back in half an hour?’
‘No. Five minutes and I’m on the flight.’
‘James is making mistakes on what he tells me of the money he’s spending. All you need to know today is we’ll easily go over top of the budget and plus a bit.’
‘What’s wrong with James?’
‘You said he was aggressive and that’s an understatement. He is stirring up trouble, and if he doesn’t stop bawling at everybody on the site, somebody’s going to land a fist on his face and then bury him in the mud that’s surrounding the place.’
‘Have you taken him off-site for a drink yet? Sit him down; tell him what you think.’
‘Yes, we’ll have a drink when I’m ready. And that’ll be after I’ve had some serious words with him.’
There was a pause as Claire was now stuck behind a large, intimidating lorry with all the other lanes moving except hers.
‘You are going to be back in time for Wimbledon? Just a week away, I’m looking forward to it.’
‘I’ll let you know in a couple of days. But if I can’t get back, you take one of your friends with you for a strawberry and cream tea.’
‘Rick, that sounds flippant, and I don’t think you’re taking me seriously.’
‘I’m just telling you how it is, so go and enjoy Wimbledon and then tell me how it was.’
‘Your thoughts are always somewhere else, and you’ve lost interest in Arrow Hall.’
‘It’s your project – I thought you were really up for it. And that’s why I left you to do it.’
‘Yes, but it’s your money. Your man James is running out of control, and I don’t think you want to live in a country house anymore, do you?’
‘I’ve got a lot on at the moment; I’m taking one step at a time. But you’re getting ahead of yourself.’
Rick’s voice went silent for a few seconds. This was no place to be having a serious call from Rick; she was about to tell him that when he spoke again.
‘Ah, sorry, got to end now, we’re boarding. But keep your grip on the cash and get an update for me on how the money’s running. Send me an email with some figures, can’t you?’
Inching forward in the traffic very slowly, Claire flicked her phone off. Her hand gripped the steering wheel; Rick’s dismissive call had increased her tenseness. And she could hear the noises rumbling around Arrow Hall – they were getting louder, like a jungle drum shouting out there was something underhand, hidden.
Tomorrow, Claire would see that James could squirm away from the mud no more.