‘I’m not inferring anything,’ she came back at him, mirroring that fake smile. ‘I’m merely asking why you didn’t see what trouble she was in. Or maybe you did?’
Titus’s facade slipped. ‘Lilian only let me see what she wanted me to see. I had absolutely no idea of any of this. My family have advised the Dearmans for generations. We are kinfolk. Do you think I would have let this happen if I’d known?’
‘Yes, I do,’ said Emelie defiantly.
Titus’s face coloured. Anticipating a war, Lionel stood up and held out his hands, a gesture of peace.
‘Look, let’s keep the heat out of this. We have had the meeting as agreed and we are no further forward. We do not know who the new lord or lady of Wychwell is. All we do know is that we are in a mess and Lilian Dearman made plans before she died with this person to place Miss Salt in charge of the estate. We can do nothing other than give her our support and let her get on with trying to rescue the situation. Lilian trusted her and we should do the same.’
‘Who is this Miss Salt anyway?’ asked old Dr Court. They were the oldest living couple in Wychwell and the possible changes were very worrying to them. ‘I mean where has she come from?’
Titus had his suspicions but he wanted to keep that to himself for now. Until he knew for certain. Until he had checked out a few things.
‘Lilian met Marnie on the internet,’ said Cilla, merely answering the question and not expecting the uproar that followed.
Johnny Oldroyd didn’t say a word though because he’d met his girlfriend through the internet and she was brilliant. Titus, however, took that as being the best possible indicator that Marnie was a crook.
‘Lilian wasn’t a fool, Titus,’ said Lionel, keeping tight rein on his temper. ‘She was an insightful judge of character.’
‘Aye, great judge of character if she’s run off,’ huffed Una.
‘Marnie will be back, I have no doubt about that. Lilian didn’t put her faith in people lightly,’ said Lionel, adding to himself with one most blatant exception and flicking his eyes towards the odious Titus.
Herv stepped in again. ‘What you all may be not taking into consideration is that Marnie and Lilian loved each other. Lilian died in Marnie’s arms. I was there, it was terrible for her. She tried to bring Lilian back and failed.’
‘How convenient,’ tittered Kay Sweetman.
‘Please tell me you aren’t insinuating that Marnie killed Lilian,’ said David.
‘Well, if the cap fits.’
‘How dare you,’ bawled Lionel, with a growl in his voice that none of them had ever heard before. He was joined by others who thought to imply murder was too much and Kay, who’d been expecting a hail of ‘hear hears’ not jeer jeers found herself shamed into silence.
‘If I can continue,’ boomed Herv. ‘For Marnie to have this trauma and then to discover that she has been landed with a burden of responsibility she was not expecting which would bring with it all this hostility . . . well, maybe she needed some time away to sort out her head, as you might say.’
‘Well said, Herv,’ said Derek, which earned him a thump on his leg from his wife.
‘What if she puts our rent up to a thousand pounds a week?’ asked Una.
‘She can’t,’ replied Roger. ‘Surely? Can she? Titus?’
Titus cleared his throat. ‘Well, theoretically, yes she can.’
‘There are laws to stop that,’ said Ruby.
‘Because of the original charter, set up in 1538, Wychwell is not subject to general English law with regards to properties et cetera,’ explained Lionel. ‘If Miss Salt is in charge, then – with the permission of the owner – she can do as she pleases.’
‘And if we all refuse to pay?’ said Kay with a defiant twist to her lip.
David Parselow, who wasn’t a fan of the Sweetmans, was only too happy to answer her.
‘Then we’ll all be out on our arses, won’t we?’
Chapter 27
Marnie was just lifting the last box out of her car when Lionel Temple arrived at her side.
‘Here, let me take that from you. It looks heavy.’
It was the red box full of things which Gabrielle had decided were Marnie’s. She hadn’t a clue what was in it.
‘Thank you,’ said Marnie, nudging open the cottage door for him. ‘Put it anywhere for now.’
He carried it inside and placed it on the kitchen table. When he turned around, he had a wide, beaming smile on his face.
‘You came back,’ he said. ‘I knew you would.’
‘Yep,’ said Marnie. ‘I did.’
‘Tea or coffee, I’m not fussy. Plenty of milk and two sugars, please if you’re offering.’
‘I’m offering.’ Marnie put on the kettle and thought how lovely it was to be back in the cottage. It felt glad to see her again, crazy as it sounded. Warm and welcoming.
‘You look very smart,’ said Lionel, when Marnie brought two mugs of tea into the lounge. She hadn’t had a chance yet to change out of her black suit.
‘I’ve been to a funeral,’ said Marnie.
‘Not anyone close, I hope.’
‘My mother’s,’ replied Marnie, thinking that at this point a normal person would show some emotion: their voice would crack, their lip would tremble.
‘Oh, my dear girl, I’m so sorry,’ Lionel sighed heavily. ‘I presumed you’d taken some time out for yourself, not that you’d had to endure another death so soon after Lilian’s. Are you all right? Can I help you in any way?’
‘We didn’t get on,’ said Marnie, sitting in the large squashy armchair and dragging the small coffee table over so it could serve them both. ‘She always regretted adopting me. That’s not my imagination, by the way. She told me so plenty of times.’
Lionel shook his head as if stumped for words.
‘I know it’s a ridiculous thing to say, Lionel, but I was much closer to Lilian than I was to my mother. She unknotted years of shit for me.’ Then her hand shot to her mouth and she apologised for swearing.
‘Don’t,’ replied Lionel softly. ‘I’ve always believed men of God should exist in the real world of swearing, shouting, drinking and not in some lofty plain above it. If swearing offended me, I could never have had Lilian Dearman as one of my closest friends.’ He laughed, that deep, church-bell-like sound again, and it made Marnie smile.
‘I expect I’ve been the talk of the town in my absence,’ she said.
‘Of course you were. We even had a meeting about you.’ Lionel held his hand up then in an effort to allay her fears. ‘Or at least about the situation. Some people will not take too kindly to change. But you had quite a few champions around the table too.’
‘Oh?’ asked Marnie, genuinely surprised by the ‘quite a few’.
‘Emelie Tibbs. She got right under Titus’s skin. David, at the Wych Arms, myself of course. We’ve all had it too easy for too long.’ He took a long sip of tea. ‘And Herv, Lilian’s gardener. He was very vocal in your corner.’
‘Oh,’ said Marnie, trying not to look as chuffed as she felt hearing that he had stuck up for her. She hadn’t alienated him then by her abrupt behaviour after the will-reading. She was glad about that. The man must have the patience of a saint and the hide of an old rhino.