She had had modest success in the past with her cottage pie and summer pudding, so she decided to stick with what she felt comfortable doing. She made sure she bought everything fresh that morning. Upon her return to the manor, she stuffed the supermarket bags into one of the huge fridges and rushed up to Roger’s office. Upon arrival, she was greeted effusively by Jasper. Roger was bent over an old book and barely looked up.
‘Sorry I am late, Roger. I had a few things to do.’ She did not want to tell him what she had bought for dinner. He waved dismissively and launched predictably into the Middle Ages.
‘Fontaine-lès-Dijon. I really must go there and see if there is anything left of Bernard’s home.’
For a moment, Linda wondered what it would be like if he were to invite her to accompany him. The idea of a few nights with him in a French hotel sent shivers up her spine. Her eyes became quite dreamy for a second or two until he turned the page and added, ‘You could hold the fort here for a few days, couldn’t you?’
Linda nodded, her expression giving nothing away. She had long ago come to terms with taking second place to a long-dead saint. Ruefully, she turned her attention to the post. She began slicing the envelopes open and passing them across to him. As he opened them and read the contents, she allowed herself a few seconds to study him, unobserved. He was looking very relaxed and fit. His early morning runs through the grounds with Jasper had brought a bit more colour to his cheeks and he looked all the better for it. His hair was getting long, and she knew he would soon get it cut. She always thought that it suited him longer though. It fell over his forehead and ears in an unruly brown mop, the sides just beginning to show a few grey flecks. She felt the urge to reach out and tidy it for him with her hand. As ever, she resisted the temptation.
There was a tap on the door. She looked up to see Duggie, a broad smile on his face. She reflected that he had been looking very happy for a good long while now. Tina and he made a good couple. A glance to her right reinforced her feeling that Roger and she would make an even better couple. Her thoughts sped on to the evening to come. The rigours of church twice every Sunday throughout her adolescence had suppressed any religious inclinations she might have developed. Nevertheless, she offered up a silent prayer for the success of her soirée.
Jasper, seeing his friend, sprang up and trotted over to him, tail wagging. Linda nodded approvingly. She reflected that only a couple of weeks previously, it would have been a full-blooded assault, albeit with the most amiable of intentions. Inevitably, dog and man would have ended up rolling on the floor. Now Jasper’s greetings were much more restrained. Progress indeed.
‘Roger, would you have a few moments for me to run through possible logos with you? I think that the image of the club is so important.’ Roger nodded and waved him to a seat.
Roger indicated to Linda to sit down with them. ‘I would be grateful for your advice, Linda. You are so much better at these things than I am.’ She happily agreed, pleased to be involved.
Duggie produced a number of pieces of artwork, some variations on the acronym formed by the initial letters of Toplingham Country Club, and some more abstract. After seeing them all, they both readily decided in favour of Duggie’s stated preference. This consisted of a silhouette of the house, with the two huge cedars of Lebanon in front. Duggie was keen to add a strapline below. They agreed upon Leisure in Luxury. He was clearly delighted at their endorsement.
‘Anticipating your approval of my proposals, I took the liberty of asking the marketing consultants to put together a couple of specimen membership cards. What do you think?’ They leant forward to view the flashy gold and green cards, complete with hi-tech hologram and, surprisingly, the photo of Roger on one, and Linda on the other.
‘How splendid.’ Roger was impressed, as was Linda, right up to the moment when she saw that the card bearing her photograph was not in the name of Linda Reid, but Linda Dalby. With a masterly piece of iron self-control, she managed to avoid blushing bright red. This resolve lasted for all of a couple of seconds till Roger, too, noticed. He blushed like a traffic light. At that point she joined him in third-degree embarrassment.
Duggie suddenly realised he was late for an appointment. Sweeping the documents into his case, he mouthed an excuse, and disappeared out of the door. He left them, as he later reported to Tina, like a pair of prize lobsters on the slab.
After his departure, there was a long silence as they composed themselves.
‘How do you feel about lobster?’
Linda was the first to take a desperate stab at conversation. In an attempt to change the subject, she hit on her scheduled menu for that evening. She soon discovered that cottage pie was going to be the best option, without a shadow of a doubt.
‘Never been able to try the things. I suffer from an allergy to prawns. As the lobster looks like the biggest prawn of all, I have always given them a wide berth. Anyway, that business of chucking them into boiling water always did seem so cruel.’
Both of them were glad to get back to everyday matters. He managed to look up and meet her eye. ‘Why do you ask? Is that what you were thinking of giving me tonight?’
Linda smiled broadly and replied. ‘No, it was just a suggestion from a friend.’
She picked up the rest of that morning’s post. She leafed through the letters before handing him a formal-looking white envelope with the words Strictly Personal, Private and Confidential across the front. Roger opened the envelope to find it was from Mr Heslop, the solicitor.
His meeting with Heslop some weeks previously had afforded him a fascinating insight into the life of his uncle. Heslop, himself well into his sixties, had acted for McKinnon Marine for many years and had known his uncle well. Roger listened in fascination to the tale of this self-made millionaire. His rise from modest beginnings to vast riches had been the stuff of fiction.
Eustace had been obliged to leave university at the end of his first term after wounding a fellow student in a duel. Considering that this would have been well into the nineteen thirties, duelling demonstrated an appreciation of history to which Roger had immediately warmed. In the years leading up to the Second World War, he had travelled the world in the Merchant Navy. Gradually, he worked his way up the ladder. He borrowed heavily, bought a boat, and set up his own shipping line. He was joined by George Jennings some years later. The war made multi-millionaires of them both, and their shares had continued to grow and grow.
In the nineteen nineties, when both were already old men, a scandal had burst upon the company. It was discovered that old Jennings had been filtering money out of the company and into various private accounts. This had been going on unchecked for decades. Chased out of the company by the legal team, he was finally brought to trial for tax evasion. ‘Like Al Capone,’ as Heslop had put it. As a result, he spent a number of years in prison, in spite of his advanced age.
During his time in jail, he produced a steady stream of hate mail, all aimed at Eustace. He delivered enough threats to have himself thrown straight back into prison after release. However, Eustace chose not to press charges against him. Eustace himself, in his final years, was no longer in a fit state to read the letters, let alone respond to them. The death of Jennings not long before Eustace himself, hopefully, ended the affair. Roger had returned to Toplingham reassured, but this new letter indicated that, unfortunately, all was not well after all.
He glanced at the letter in his hands, expecting a bill for the London meeting. Instead, he was surprised to read the following:
I regret to have to inform you of an annoying development. I am in receipt of a letter indicating in no uncertain terms that the descendants of George Jennings intend to seek redress from the descendants of Eustace McKinnon for the suffering caused to George Jennings and the loss of his share in the company, which they feel is still rightfully his.
This is, of course, complete nonsense. I will be happy to reply, on your behalf, to this gentleman, Kevin Jennings, who claims to be the son and heir of Jennings Senior. I would advise