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“Why did no one tell me? Was she all alone?”
“I don’t think anyone realised she had any family. She had a large network of friends, mainly from church and the WI. They took it upon themselves to look after her in her last few months.”
Church? WI? A vague memory of a hunched old lady with a down-turned mouth flitted through Kate’s mind. She couldn’t reconcile the image with a woman who had a large network of friends.
“Can you tear yourself away from the garden to have a look upstairs?”
“Lead the way.”
The pair scrambled back through the thick undergrowth and by the time they made it to the yard, Bob had sticky weed clinging to his suit and Kate had several tears in her jeans thanks to all the brambles. The house was even more oppressive after the excitement of the garden, and Kate took a deep breath before climbing the stairs.
The upstairs rooms were spacious, yet they contained the same awful carpet and wallpaper as downstairs. At the front of the house was a double bedroom, with another behind it. A bathroom came off the second bedroom. The suite was peach. Dirty, cracked tiles covered the floor and the tiles around the bath were covered in mould.
“No shower, but it would be easy enough to fit one, I imagine.”
“I think I’ve seen enough,” said Kate. “Shall we head back to your office and finish off the paperwork?”
“We could, but I’d say you’ve had quite a shock. How about we go somewhere where they serve something stronger than Sarah’s dishwater coffee?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Stepping out onto the street, both Kate and Bob blinked in the late summer sunlight. It was yet another reminder of how dingy the house was. Bob set off along the street, Kate trotting beside him to keep up. He pointed across the road .
“Don’t have far to walk to your local.”
“That’s a definite bonus.”
“Right, come on, the kind of decisions you’re facing require strong liquour.”
Kate laughed and followed Bob across the road and into the pub.
CHAPTER THREE
“SO,” SAID BOB, placing a pint of Tribute and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc down on the table. “What are you going to do?”
“Drink my wine and wait to wake up from this bizarre dream?”
Bob laughed and took a sip of his pint. “But seriously, I guess you have a life up in Bath that would be hard to leave. Will you do the house up, or put it on the market as it is?”
Kate tried not to look at the foamy moustache lying above Bob’s lip. She swilled the wine around in her glass, wondering if the titchy flat she could barely afford, Flo and Maddie, her only friends, and an ex who lived around the corner were worth sticking around for.
“Sorry,” said Bob, taking her hesitancy for indecision. “It’s a big thing to take on. I didn’t mean to pry or push you in any way.”
“No, no, it’s not that. I was just thinking about my life back in Bath. I’m not sure there’s much keeping me there anymore.”
“No partner?”
“No… well, yes… not really.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“It is.” Kate thought about Alex, in the house she once shared with him. Would Jess be there now, sitting in Kate’s chair, drinking tea from Kate’s mug? Perhaps if she answered Alex’s calls, she could find out, but she wasn’t ready to speak to him yet. “You know what? I’m going to keep it. Come on, sell Bodmin to me before I can change my mind.”
“Crikey, that’s a challenge if ever I heard one. You know the town’s reputation?”
“Yep. But that can’t be the full story.”
“No, you’re right, of course. There are loads of great things about the town and its surroundings. I sometimes think it’s good it has such a bad reputation, it keeps the town real, you know? We’re never overrun with tourists like other parts of Cornwall. There’s a real, stable community here.”
