‘I did want to talk to them about the fence,’ May said. ‘I know it’s not our fence, but they won’t stop going on about it.’
‘That woman won’t leave us alone,’ Phyllis added. ‘She was around this morning – making threats.’
‘The swimming pool!’ Felicity insisted. ‘We have to stop them. You have no idea. It will be awful!’
Adam held up a hand for silence. ‘My friends,’ he began, ‘I feel terrible about all this. After all, I was the one who sold them Riverview Lodge in the first place. It certainly wasn’t my intention, but I was the one who brought all this trouble into our lives. Even now, I ask myself if I should have asked more questions when I met them, or perhaps explained things better.’
He paused, his face full of regret.
‘I met both the Kenworthys,’ he continued, ‘and it never occurred to me that they would be so . . . complicated. They seemed very pleasant to deal with, although it’s true that Giles Kenworthy did behave badly. I’ve made no secret of the fact that he reduced his offer one day before exchanging, knowing that I’d have no choice but to go along with it. But then, he’s a financier. I assumed that’s how these people behaved – and to be fair, quite a few issues had shown up in the survey. I would have sold the house to someone else if I could have, but there were no other serious buyers.’
‘Nobody blames you,’ Teri said. Her face challenged anyone in the room to disagree.
‘The question is . . . what are we going to do? What can we do?’
‘Maybe we should give them a taste of their own medicine,’ Tom Beresford suggested. ‘Let’s see how they feel when they find their own cars barricaded in.’
‘We could have a few parties of our own,’ Gemma added. ‘Blast music at them in the middle of the night and litter their front drive with champagne bottles the next day, like they do. I think Tom’s right. We’ve all been far too polite about this.’
‘Could I have a drop more vodka?’ Phyllis asked. ‘But this time without the mango juice?’
Andrew Pennington had stepped forward. He was a quiet man, but he had a way of commanding a room that came from years spent in court. He waited for everyone to stop talking. Then he began.
‘If I may advise you,’ he said, ‘the one thing we shouldn’t do is engage in a war of attrition. The sort of neighbourhood disputes that we have been experiencing are terribly common, I’m afraid, and they have a nasty way of escalating. It’s always better to discuss things in a civilised manner.’
‘We can’t do that if they don’t show up,’ Roderick Browne pointed out.
‘We can write to them. I’d be happy to draft a letter setting out our concerns.’
‘What makes you think they’ll even read it?’ Gemma asked.
‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. But in the meantime, we must take things one step at a time – and whatever we do, we must remain within the law. We should record everything that happens from this moment on. Tom, if the drive is blocked, make a note of the time, and if Giles Kenworthy is offensive to you, try to record it on your iPhone. The same when they have parties or allow their bottles to litter the close.’
‘What about their children?’ May asked. ‘I don’t like the way they go whizzing around on their skateboards. One of them nearly crashed into me the other day.’
‘I called out to him and he gave me the finger,’ Phyllis said.
‘Language, dear!’
‘Well, he did.’
‘There is a code of conduct that we all signed when we moved into the close,’ Andrew Pennington reminded them. ‘It precludes ball games and the use of bicycles, although I’m not sure if there is any mention of skateboards.’
‘And cricket!’ Gemma added. ‘They whack the ball around like nobody’s business. They almost hit Kylie once. What if it had been one of the girls? It could have been a nasty accident.’
‘They need to move that bloody camper van,’ Tom Beresford said. ‘Surely they can’t just leave it sitting there the whole year round.’ He turned to Andrew Pennington. ‘Can’t we sue them or something?’
‘There’s very little we can do,’ the barrister replied, regretfully. ‘I suppose we could write to them and threaten them with legal action, but once you start hiring outside lawyers that can become an extremely expensive proposition – and there can be no doubt that Mr Kenworthy will have deeper pockets than any of us. Are you sure you want to take him on?’
‘What about the swimming pool?’ Felicity demanded, struggling to express the anger she felt. It was the third time she had raised the subject.
Her husband immediately took her side. ‘It may not be so important to the rest of you,’ Roderick said, ‘but it’s going right underneath Fee’s window.’ He looked to Andrew Pennington. ‘We must be able to stop it.’
‘Well, as I said, the council hasn’t given permission yet and there’s every chance that they’ll refuse.’
‘It will ruin my view!’
‘Unfortunately, the loss of a view is never a consideration in planning law,’ Andrew continued. ‘However, there are plenty of other objections we can legitimately make. Noise is one. It will most certainly affect the character of the close. This is a conservation area and the threat to the environment, from chlorine and other chemicals, must be relevant. They may decide to cut down trees—’
‘They already cut down my two yews and no one paid a blind bit of notice,’ Adam remarked.
‘Well, we’ll need to see the architectural plans. What is this changing facility they’re hoping to build? If it blocks a significant amount of daylight for Roderick and Felicity, that’s definitely grounds for dismissal.’
‘The pool could be dangerous for Ellery!’ Phyllis blurted out the words as if the thought had just occurred to her. Suddenly, she was the centre of attention. ‘He goes into the Kenworthys’ garden sometimes. He doesn’t do any harm. He just likes sniffing around. If there’s a swimming pool there, he could fall in.’
‘You might like to put that in your letter,’ Andrew said kindly. ‘It’s another consideration, and the more the merrier. We should all write letters to the council,’ he went on, ‘setting out our objections. And it would be a good idea if these were coordinated. Again, I’ll be happy to help. But it’s essential that we’re restrained. It won’t do any good being vindictive.’
There was a pause while everyone took this in.
‘So that’s it, then?’ Roderick said. ‘We write letters – and we wait.’
‘That’s my advice, yes.’ Andrew took a sip of his gin and tonic as if to signal that he had said enough.
‘I agree absolutely,’ May said. ‘There’s absolutely no point getting into a fight with this man, and I’m certainly not interested in hiring lawyers. I say we just ignore him and hope he goes away. That’s the only way to treat bullies. Pretend they’re not there!’
‘I agree with May.’ Phyllis tried a wobbly smile. ‘Live and let live. That’s what I say. But since we’re all here, why don’t we have another drink?’
The party, if that’s what it was, continued for another thirty minutes, but the Kenworthys’ non-appearance had made the whole thing pointless. Adam Strauss, supported by May Winslow and Andrew Pennington, tried to keep everyone’s spirits up, but the evening quickly fizzled out. Roderick and Felicity Browne were the first to leave and the others drifted away soon after, leaving the bao buns and the custard tarts uneaten on the refectory table.
It would be another six weeks before death came to Riverview Close and everyone who had attended the party would find their lives turned upside down. And throughout the police investigation, with its mutual suspicion and alternative truths, there was one thing on which they would all agree.