Chapter 15

I came downstairs to my office at eight o' clock on Monday morning to the smell of freshly made coffee. I was not late, I usually started work at this time, but having Tina in at this time was unusual.

"Morning, Boss. I thought you would come back to the Pub yesterday."

"Sorry, Tinkerbell. I decided to drive back here, so I could duck out of the thumbscrews and your interrogation."

"You only postponed it." She replied grimly and pointed to my chair. "Sit! I have loaded your coffee with pentothal so I want a complete confession and miss nothing out."

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything. Tell me about Bella's father for a start, are you engaged to Bella for second, and everything."

"He's a good bloke. He's in a wheelchair and very easy to get on with. No, I am not engaged to Bella, although I think her father believes that that will happen, except nobody is asking me what I think. Oh! And I have some more work for you. He's asked if we could take on the management of his rented land. That is it."

"Why is he in a wheelchair?"

"In his words. The horse stopped, he didn't. He's paraplegic, paralysed from the waist down."

"Oh, the poor man."

I could see her filing items in her mind, then another question popped up. "No mother around?"

"No. Bella's mother died when she was eight."

"Why do I have to put you through the mangle?" Tina complained. "That's the sort of information that I need." She then went off to another tack. "How was your dinner with Bella on Saturday night?"

"Very good and very interesting."

"Go on."

"We went to Bon Vivant. Only it isn't a restaurant it's a private house owned by Emma and Gerry. They are excellent chefs and they only open as a restaurant when they don't have any outside catering, which is their main business. Bella is quite good friends with them and suggested and they have agreed to cater for us at the Dower House when we have this celebratory dinner."

Tina threw her hands up. "Now you tell me. Boss getting information out of you is like squeezing a dry lemon."

"I haven't seen you since early Saturday evening."

That was a fact, but Tina like most women do not deal with facts. Once she had decided to ignore that detail she returned to the Saturday evening. "And after the meal?"

"After the meal we sat and chatted with Emma and Gerry and they gave me some advice about equipment for the kitchen. They will come up to look over the Dower House at some time, so perhaps you should alert Aleksy. By the way, Gerry is really Geraldine!"

Seeing the understanding coming to her and the facial signs of that understanding was interesting. "You mean they are Le..."

"Yep."

"And Bella is good friends with them?"

"It would appear so." I was teasing Tina.

"Does Bella... ?"

"No."

Tina nodded and returned to the nub of her earlier question. "So, after the meal?"

"I took Bella home and thanked her for her company that night."

"Detail of thanking her please?"

"A kiss."

"Tongues or just lips."

"A gentleman cannot answer such a question."

"Who says you are a gentleman?"

I changed the topic much to Tina's chagrin. "I didn't have much time to look at the house. How is Aleksy getting on?"

"He's happy about it. He reckons about six weeks and it will be done."

"Good. I'll go up there next weekend and have a look."

"Aleksy will be pleased about that. He's always worrying that it is costing you so much money and is afraid you won't like it."

"I'll try and re-assure him next weekend. I suppose I shall have to look at furnishings now."

"If I were you, Daniel. I would ask Bella to look at that for you."

"Why?" I asked knowing how Tina would answer.

"It seems that she will be moving in, either as live-in lover or wife. Either way she will be the mistress of the house, and it should be furnished to her taste. After all your ideas are usually rubbish."

"Thank you for that Teresa."

Furnishing the house would be a logistic problem and I needed to find out where I could get all I needed at one hit. Chad, I was certain could steer me in the right direction. He welcomed me and immediately put the kettle on to make coffee. Before I could bring up the reason for calling he quizzed me about the arrangements of the Dower House. His face fell quite a few inches as I told him what I had in mind. "You're doing it the wrong way round, Daniel. If you had talked me before launching yourself in this madcap caper I would had advised you to do it differently. However it's not too late to get it right. I would have advised you to list the house as your corporate headquarters, with you renting an apartment within the house. All of your outlay on restoring the property could then be set against your company's profits as necessary expenditure, reducing your corporation tax. It would help if you use the property occasionally for business functions. The rent you pay to yourself has to be at market value, else the revenue people will look deeper. In later years if further work has to be done again it can be set against your liability. If you ever cease trading you can buy the property back from the business for a song.

I was suitably chastened and I liked the idea. "Thanks, Chad. I will do as you suggest."

"Good." He smiled wickedly. "And I won't even charge you for the advice."

"May I get to the reason I am here in the first place?" I enquired.

"Of course."

"Do you have any dealings with a wholesaler of furniture and carpets etcetera? I will need a boat-load of good quality stuff."

"Hmm. Yes." He took a post-it note and wrote. "Call these people, ask for Greg. I am sure he will be able to help you. Will you need a lot?"

"Yes I think I will. A dining table and chairs for at least twelve in comfort. Probably something like six settees and the same number of easy chairs. Four beds at least, all doubles, occasional tables, the list will go on."

"Well Greg will be very happy to see you. I'll phone him and tell him you will call."

Before I left I mentioned that I would be hosting a dinner to celebrate my new corporate house. And that I would like for he and Lily to attend. He was guarded in his reply. "Who else will be there?"

"Tina and her intended, Aleksy. Actually Aleksy is the builder who has done the restoration. My neighbour, Andrew Swinson and his daughter Annabel, who has asked me to become his land agent, and of course you and Lily."