Harold turned a horrible red. Quinn almost felt sorry for him.
‘The point is, Hay changes. Business is business. We need a place to display history, and we need an information centre. Quinn’s shop is part of the deal.’
‘A deal I haven’t signed or agreed to.’
‘You don’t have to when the castle wants their chapel back,’ Harold fumed, turning wide eyes on Quinn.
‘But I don’t understand why they want it back now.’
‘I convinced them it was a good idea,’ Harold said to the room. ‘You lot have to agree with me. Why refurb and open the castle and not get back its full heritage with the chapel?’
Quinn, shaking, though determined to stand his ground, got to his feet. He looked down at Harold and his thinning hair. ‘When you got the contract, Harold, I asked you if my shop would be safe. What did you say?’
‘That doesn’t matter.’
‘What he said was the shop would still continue to run, untouched, and I had nothing to worry about,’ Quinn said to the room. Everyone was glaring at Harold, some people even shaking their heads, and Deb had to hold June back. ‘Harold has owned my shop for years. He helped turn it around into something habitable again. Now, he wants to give it back to the castle and chuck me out on the street.’
‘Business is business.’
‘Yes, it is,’ Quinn said. ‘And we’re all businessowners here. And we’re fighting the man.’
The room applauded, and Quinn was pleased to see Harold speechless. Noah reached the front of the stage, and this time two people had to hold back DebandJune.
‘I think you’ll find you’re not welcome here, sir,’ Noah said to Harold, with an ease that made Harold gasp.
‘An eviction notice is an eviction notice, Quinn,’ Harold said. ‘I think you forget that shop is mine.’
‘Can’t you sell it to Quinn instead?’ Daniel asked.
‘I’m leasing it to the castle, not selling,’ Harold said. ‘And there is no way Quinn could raise enough money to buy me out.’
Quinn pinched between his nose as a headache took hold.
‘Please, sir, if you would leave, we would appreciate that,’ Noah said, and Harold, realising he didn’t have the support of the room, stomped out in a rage.
ChapterTwenty-Four
The crowd poured out of the room, and Quinn and Ivy tidied up after them, throwing away finished drinks, food wrappers, and even a wet tissue. Quinn, holding it with the tip of his fingers, and wondering why anyone might have used a tissue, dropped it into the bin in the kitchen. He tidied away the jars of coffee that someone had found and put a box of Tetley tea bags back in the cupboard.
He turned to leave the kitchen and screamed, seeing a figure cast in shadows in the doorway.
‘Woah, woah.’
A light came on, that horrible offensive fluorescent lighting, the type that made your skin look like melting wax, and Noah was no longer a demon coming to suck him into the underworld, but a demon who came to suck…
Stop it.
‘I preferred you with the lights off.’
‘I’ve been told that before,’ Noah said, then he cleared his throat. ‘Tonight went well.’
‘Blew me away,’ Quinn said. ‘So many people turned up. And they all care. They all want to help. Now we just have to make sure they turn up.’
‘Why wouldn’t they when I’m involved?’ Noah grinned.
‘I’ll throw a wet tissue at you.’
‘A wet tissue?’
