Polly led her into the kitchen. The children had all dispersed and I could hear them in the living room with the TV on loudly. George was cleaning himself in the kitchen when we walked in with Amber.
‘Hello?’ Franceska said.
‘This is Amber,’ Polly said, as Amber pulled off her hat and glasses. She was very slim with dark hair, pretty but not all over-done like Andrea.
‘You were in the cafe yesterday?’ Polly narrowed her eyes. Amber nodded.
‘Hi,’ Claire said. ‘Sit down.’ She held her hand out and Amber shook it.
‘Look, I came to apologise.’ She sounded a bit nervous. ‘God, if Andrea knew I was here, she’d kill me. Anyway, I don’t like the way she’s treating you all, and the kids. Ben loved spending time with your boys yesterday and I told him that he is to play with them and not take any noticeof the Gold children.’
‘Gold children?’ Polly asked. She sat down opposite Amber.
‘Their surname, Gold.’
‘Oh, I didn’t know, but it’s appropriate, for the way that woman acts,’ Polly quipped.
‘What is it with her anyway?’ Claire asked.
‘I’m not sure. Andrea had always been at the centre of village life, or she has been since she moved here. When Savannah was a baby she organised baby and mum groups, she was so supportive, friendly, bringing people together, sorting out a social life for us bored mums, and then when the kids started school she threw herself into the PTA,’ Amber explained. ‘She’s always been at the heart of Lynstow, organising parties and celebrations, she has a bookclub, she’s always hosting at her house, and very generous with it. Her husband is successful, you see. But in the last six or so months she has changed, and she’s been different … She acts as if everything is great when we ask her, but her husband hasn’t been seen for ages — apparently he’s travelling for business. Anyway, recently she’s become obsessed with this house. I have no idea why or why she’s changed so much.’
‘Just because her husband’s rich, it doesn’t give her the right to act like she owns the place,’ Claire said.
‘Quite, but I really think there’s more to it than this.’ Amber shuddered.
‘But what?’ Franceska looked terrified.
‘I wish I knew. She says everything is perfect but clearly from her behaviour towards you guys it’s not.’
‘She’s been pretty horrid to us,’ Franceska said.
‘I know but, well, as I said, she’s been at the heart of this village for so long, we just, well, we just don’t want to fall out. If she needs us, which we think she does, we want to be there for her, but well, we also don’t approve of how she’s behaved towards you.’
‘Why does she want this cottage so much?’ Polly asked.
‘That I don’t know. I was asking Kate, the other woman you saw us with yesterday, and she’s just as flummoxed. Andrea’s behaviour has got worse lately, she is becoming a middle-aged mean girl.’
‘You’re kidding?’ Claire was amazed.
‘I wish.’
‘I still don’t understand why she wants this place so much though,’ Polly said.
‘I wish I knew. She told us she is going to get it, and she spouts all this stuff about how awful it is for out-of-towners to move into the village for the odd weekend and holiday, but I don’t buy it myself.’
‘Neither do we,’ Polly concurred.
‘Look, if she knew I was here she’d be furious, but I wanted you to know I am on your side and if there is anything I can do to help, well, short of standing up to Andrea, I will.’
‘You know, that’s nice of you, and we do appreciate it. Also we won’t tell Andrea.’ Claire reached out and touched Amber’s hand.
Later, after she’d gone, the builders arrived and the women all got ready to take the children out to the beach again. Polly picked me up and gave me a stroke.
‘That woman needs bringing down a peg or a million, Alfie,’ she said, looking me in the eyes. I blinked my agreement. And I was just the cat to do it.
I needed a plan but was at a loss to what to do. I had George to contend with too; he was pining for Chanel, insisting on sitting under the hedge, and I think Chanel was wise to him because she was avoiding it. He glimpsed her from afar but there was nothing he could do. I tried to reason with him but he was a kitten and therefore reason wasn’t one of the most effective tools. While he sulked, lying on the living room window seat, I went upstairs. The builders had made great progress, and the bathroom would be going in soon. Then the floors would be done and the kids could move while they then started on the next floor. It was all working out quite efficiently, as Polly had so cleverly devised. However, when I reached the top floor, I heard a commotion.
‘What the hell?’ Colin was saying, looking at a hole in the ceiling of one of the rooms.
‘It looks as if there’s a hole in the roof,’ Liam, the builder I’d seen with Andrea, said. ‘I’m guessing the whole roof is unstable,’ he added. Pete and Mark, the other two builders, looked confused.
‘No, it’s not, I did the roof myself a couple of months ago, and it was fine. The tiles were all secure and none were broken. There’s been no storm, nothing to cause this. This isn’t right,’ he said, staring at Liam.
‘Look, boss, it looks as if the hole’s been made from the inside,’ Pete pointed out, as he stood on top of the ladder, where there was a hole in the ceiling, fairly small but clear. Pete scooted down the ladder and Colin climbed up.
‘Pete’s right. OK, Liam, Mark, did one of you do this?’ he asked staring at them. ‘It’s gone right through, which means a couple of tiles need replacing, as well as the ceiling repairing. It’s a lot of unnecessary work and Polly is going to go mad.’ He was red-faced as the boys shook their heads. But seeing the look on Liam’s face, I immediately knew it was him. He had somehow done this! I meowed loudly and scratched him on the leg.
‘Ow, blooming cat,’ he yelled. They all looked at me. I sat down and started cleaning my paws innocently.
‘Liam, was this you?’ Colin pushed. Liam turned red and started denying it but he wasn’t a great liar. Honestly, it was written all over his face.
‘It was an accident,’ he mumbled. ‘I well, I–I’m sorry,’ he blustered.
‘How do you accidentally put a hole in the roof?’ Colin asked. Liam shrugged. I thought that if my suspicions were right — and they seemed so — and Andrea had put him up to this, she could have picked someone a bit more efficient at sabotage. ‘Right, well this is going to set us back so, Liam, you’ll be working overtime for no extra money. Pete, keep a close rein on him while I go and sort the tiles out. If you don’t buck up your ideas, then you’ll be out of a job, Liam.’
‘Sorry,’ Liam mumbled and I felt pleased with myself. I had sorted that one out. Although I had a bad feeling it was the first of many.
I told George what happened but he was so lovesick he barely registered what I was saying. Or so I thought.
‘If I keep a close eye on Chanel, I might be able to find out what her owner is up to,’ he pointed out. I was impressed. I hadn’t thought of that, but he was right. Kill two birds with one paw so to speak. We would have to stalk Chanel, and that would keep my boy happy as well as hopefully give us more of an idea what was actually going on. And at the same time I could keep an eye on Andrea.
We stopped in the front garden to look at our families all playing on the beach. They seemed to be playing a running game up and down the sand dunes and I was pleased to see the local children were playing with them again. As we headed under the hedge next door I saw that the car normally parked there was gone, and there was no sign of life. So we started to look around. The house, as far as we could see, was empty but it was a big house so I couldn’t be sure.
‘Come on,’ I said to George. We headed to the back, where again, all was quiet. They had a bigger back garden than us, which was lawned like the front. There was a playhouse and I thought it was a shame they weren’t nicer children as Summer and Martha would have loved to play in that. Anyway,we found the cat flap in the back door and George and I looked at each other before sneaking in. I know it wasn’t exactly right, but hey, we were on a mission.