Page 24 of Old Girls Behaving Badly

Dorothy wasn’t at all surprised to learn that Leonard had stables in the grounds of Walstone Hall. It wouldn’t have come as a huge shock to find he had a theme park hiding in a grove somewhere too. He had everything, it seemed, but not a special person to share it with. Dorothy wondered about that as she and Gina took a slow walk through the kitchen garden towards the stables.

‘He’s never been married, you know,’ Dorothy said, nodding towards Leonard who was striding ahead of them with the others scurrying in his wake.

‘He’d have to find someone to tolerate him, perhaps he hasn’t yet,’ Gina said.

‘I can see you’re on board with my way of thinking; good girl,’ Dorothy said, with a grin. ‘The thing is he can be quite charming when you first meet him. Philip was very taken with him at the start. You might not think so now with all his showboating and bluster, but when he was younger, or even now, when you take away all of this, he can capture you. I’ve fallen for it in the past, I don’t mind saying.’

‘Dorothy, you’re very close to complimenting him,’ Gina said.

‘Please don’t misunderstand – the fault lies with me for being taken in and anyway, it’s been many years now that I’ve considered him the most deceitful man I’ve ever met.’

‘How did Caroline and Toby meet?’ Gina asked.

‘At a party, at my house, actually,’ Dorothy said. ‘It was our sixty-fifth wedding anniversary, a couple of years ago, and Philip arranged a group of our friends and family to come. We had a lovely time, with wonderful food, music and were able to spread out into the garden, the weather was so nice.’

‘Your house would be a fabulous place for a party,’ Gina agreed.

‘We have had many parties over the years; we’ve been very lucky,’ Dorothy said as they turned onto a lane leading to the stables. Even though the others were out of sight now, the distinctive scent of hay, leather and manure reached her and told her they were heading in the right direction. ‘Leonard turned up out of the blue with Caroline. We thought we’d finally shaken him off, but he arrived uninvited with his niece in tow and a magnum of the finest champagne in his hand. He said he was passing and wanted to congratulate us both, that Caroline was staying with him for a week and she wanted to accompany him.’

‘So, an unlikely Norfolk to Hampton drive-by?’ Gina said.

‘Yes, exactly. Philip and I hadn’t discussed with anyone how irritating Leonard had become at that point. I think Philip was a bit embarrassed to have lost a couple of art pieces at auction to Leonard’s outbidding and didn’t want to talk about it, so everyone still thought of him as Philip’s old mentee, his trusted ex-partner. Well, Toby and Caroline hit it off and became inseparable, pretty much straight away. Then it was only a month after, that the art competition started. I did wonder if someone at that party mentioned it to Leonard and once he knew Philip was involved, he decided to enter it himself. It does seem such a shame that Caroline was with him that day. I can’t see another time when Toby would have met her. I mean, she is lovely and they are so well suited, but we will forever have to be associated with Leonard Price.’

‘Have you thought about the repercussions of him being found guilty, the ripples through the family?’ Gina said, her voice suddenly so low and controlled that Dorothy turned to her in surprise. ‘It can have devastating consequences.’

‘Are you saying that I should let a criminal go unchecked so we can all continue to play happy families?’

‘Absolutely not. I’m just saying, prepare yourself for the inevitable fallout.’

Gina looked so stony-faced all of a sudden that Dorothy wanted to find out what was behind that expression and what had motivated her to ask the question, but they were at the stables and in earshot of the others, so she stored it away to ask later.

‘Ready to saddle up, ladies?’ Leonard asked in a bright and cheerful voice, which made Dorothy grind her teeth.

‘Dorothy isn’t riding and as her companion I will stay with her, and I think we’re going to take a walk in your lovely garden,’ Gina said.

‘Well, you’re missing out,’ he said, bluntly.

‘Our loss, then,’ Gina replied and walked past him into the stables.

Leonard was standing with Paul and they began discussing who was to have which horse. Paul was dressed simply in jeans and a navy T-shirt with a pair of old trainers on his feet, but Leonard had full-on riding gear. He looked like someone who was about to go on a hunt with white riding jodhpurs and a long-tailed red jacket. Dorothy wondered if he knew he looked ridiculous, but judging by the way he conducted himself, she imagined he was actually very happy with his appearance. She bit down on her tongue to stop herself from telling him and followed Gina.

The smell of hay and hoof oil, of leather and horses hit her more intensely as she walked inside the stables. The building was huge with space for several horses, but most of the animals were tied up outside their stalls while stable hands tacked them up. Gina had walked across to a chestnut mare and asked if it was okay to stroke it. The young lad looked up at her from where he was buckling up the saddle.

‘Yeah, she’s very friendly,’ he said and Dorothy watched as Gina extended her arm cautiously until she made contact with the horse’s soft nose.

‘Such beautiful, gentle creatures,’ she said and the stable lad laughed.

‘She is gentle, but she’s called Lawnmower.’

‘Lawnmower?’ Dorothy said, thinking that this horse deserved a more fitting name for her majestic frame.

‘Yeah, because with the wrong rider, she’ll spend the whole time with her head down munching the grass.’

‘Ah, she needs a firm hand then. Maybe Juliet could handle her,’ Gina said, as Juliet herself walked their way. ‘Think we may have the horse for you.’

Juliet ran her hand along Lawnmower’s side and then patted her.

‘I think we’ll get along fine,’ she said.