‘Maybe they were a bit jealous she’d been promoted?’
‘I heard Mr Reynolds and Donna having a real row about her working here. I don’t think he liked the way she dressed and flirted with the VIPs.’
‘Was it just flirting?’
He hesitated before answering. ‘I really don’t know. I try to mind my own business, but I didn’t like her for personal reasons. She’d park her car here in the yard and tell me to give it a wash, and to keep an eye out for the traffic wardens. She must have had Christ knows how many tickets and would blame me. I only got one pair of eyes and can’t stand out here until six p.m. every day.’
A large rubbish truck began to back into the small yard, Curtis jumped into action, gesturing for it to move slowly towards him. Realizing she needed to get a move on, Anna left him to get on with his work.
Chapter Nine
Anna drove down a narrow lane flanked on either side by hedgerows and fields of rapeseed with blazing-yellow flowers that brightened up the countryside. It was such a contrast to central London, with its exhaust fumes and stop-start traffic, and she could feel herself beginning to relax. At first, she thought the satnav had directed her to the wrong location until she saw Dewar’s car parked up on the nearside of the road. Anna pulled up behind her and looking out of the window saw a set of large decorative wrought-iron gates tipped with spikes. A plaque on one of the gate pillars read LYNNE HOUSE and below it was a CCTV intercom system and lockable mailbox built into the stonework. On the other side of the gates there was a long tree-lined gravel driveway that rose gradually upwards to an imposing Georgian manor house. Anna got out of her car and approached Dewar, who was still in her car.
‘Some place, isn’t it. I may as well leave my car out here and go in with you.’
‘We’re a bit early. It’s only five-thirty.’
‘I’m sure they won’t mind,’ Anna said, going over to the intercom as Dewar pulled up in front of the gates. Anna held her warrant card up to the camera, the gates slowly cranked open and they drove up the long gravel drive to the house. Once out of the car, they stopped to take in the breathtaking view across the front of the house down to a large lake and surrounding woodland.
‘It’s not just a house, it’s a country estate!’ Anna breathed.
‘Wonder how much it’s worth,’ Dewar remarked.
‘In this area, with all the land… millions!’
‘Those cars are worth a few bucks as well,’ Dewar said, drawing Anna’s attention to a four-bay detached garage. There were three cars parked in front and a man in his mid-fifties was washing one of them.
‘That’s the new Bentley Mulsanne he’s cleaning. Costs over a quarter of a million. The others are a Maybach 62 and a Mercedes McLaren 722. They’re not far off a million put together.’
‘Didn’t have you down as a petrolhead, Jessie.’
‘It’s not just boys with toys. My dad was a head mechanic on the Indy-car-race circuit and then he opened his own repair shop. Used to help out whenever I could.’
Anna nodded in approval at Dewar’s skills.
The front door was opened by a stocky middle-aged grey-haired woman. In broken English with an eastern European accent, she said that she was Katrina the housekeeper and Mrs Lynne had asked that they make themselves comfortable in the library. Katrina escorted them through the vast entrance to the library, giving them little time to take in the large marble-floored hall with its T-shaped stairwell, emerald green carpet and oak banisters. Katrina asked if they would like a drink and they both said water would be fine.
In contrast to the hall, the library was much brighter as natural light streamed through the multi-paned sash windows. Oriental rugs covered parts of the polished wooden floor and there were two red leather armchairs, a matching sofa and small coffee table in the middle of the room. The two end walls were covered by elegantly ornamented bookshelves that had been positioned to avoid the direct sunlight. The shelves nearly touched the high ceiling and contained hundreds of old and new books.
‘The rooms like something out of Sherlock Holmes,’ Anna remarked, taking a couple of steps up the library ladder to view the books.
‘Olde-worlde isn’t my kind of thing. Don’t mind a bit of art but those two paintings either side of the fireplace don’t go with the room,’ Dewar said.
Anna turned to where the agent was pointing. One picture with a black background was of three sepia-coloured, very old and haggard-looking women. Two were in the foreground of the picture standing side by side, one leaning from behind on the shoulder of the other, their heads turned towards each other as if engaged in whispered conversation. Dressed in head-scarves and shawls they looked similar, as if sisters. The third woman was in the background with only her face showing, floating like an eerie shadow while watching the two women in front.
The other painting was different: light, colourful and vibrant, it depicted a dreamlike scene with blue skies and wispy clouds. There were also three women in it but they were young, curvaceous and sensual. Two floated like angels above the third, who was lying on her side upon a stone table.
‘I think they are meant to contrast each other. You think they might be originals?’ Anna wondered.
‘Original crap more like,’ Dewar said.
‘Do you think the old women in that picture on the left are beggar women or witches?’ Anna asked.
‘I think one’s a psychopath and the other’s Spider-Woman. The one at the back with the duster is obviously the cleaner,’ Dewar said.
‘What on earth are you talking about?’ Anna asked, looking closer at the picture. ‘Oh, I see what you mean.’ She laughed as she noticed that the woman in the background was holding a bundle of sheep’s wool on what appeared to be a cone-shaped spindle. One of the women in the foreground of the painting had in her hands a pair of shears while the other woman held two strands of fine thread. The strands did indeed look like silk from a spider’s web.
Anna was about to examine the picture more closely when Katrina came into the room carrying a silver tray with litre plastic bottles of both still and sparkling mineral water, crystal glasses, a bucket of ice and lemon slices in a bowl.
‘Have you worked here long, Katrina?’ Dewar asked.
‘My husband Dawid and I been here a few months now.’
‘What’s he do?’
‘He Mrs Lynne’s driver and look after nice cars.’
‘Was that him outside washing the “nice cars”?’ Dewar asked.
‘Yes. He always wash them at end of day. Clean and ready for tomorrow.’
‘Will Mrs Lynne be with us shortly?’ Anna asked.
‘I no know, she busy in greenhouse.’
‘I noticed there are a lot of books on horticulture and botany,’ Anna said. ‘Plants,’ she added, noticing Katrina’s confused expression.
‘She love her plants and no like to be disturb when working in greenhouse.’
Dewar suddenly stood up.
‘Well, we are here on official police business and have had a long day. If you’d show us to the greenhouse we’ll disturb her for you.’
‘I’m not sure if good thing…’
‘Well I am,’ Dewar said bluntly, and raised her hand in an ushering motion for Katrina to show them the way.
The woman led them from the library, through a pantry-style kitchen and out to the rear of the house. The view was even more spectacular than from the front, overlooking further woodland and fields. The vast lawn was the size of a football pitch and had diagonal lines of freshly cut grass, the scent of which filled the air like a perfume. At the far end, on the left of the garden, there was an enormous Victorian-style greenhouse with a domed roof.