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Shay blinked heavily in astonishment at that revelation. She’d taken over her mother’s finances two years ago and every penny was fully accounted for from then on, so this must have happened before that.
‘She’s had a lot from me up front until I finally said no more,’ Roberta continued, ‘and my new will takes that into account. I kept track of it all and I know she’ll be expecting half of what I leave as well and that won’t happen, because it wouldn’t be fair to you. It’s a terrible thing to say but I don’t trust her as much as I trust you, so I’ve stipulated that you take charge of making sure my final wishes are followed to the letter. You promise you’ll do this for me?’
Shay gestured at her mum to stop.
‘Please don’t talk about wills and final wishes, Mum.’
‘I need to, while it’s straight in my mind because not a lot is these days, so listen to me, Shay.’
There was a tone of desperation in her voice that Shay couldn’t ignore.
‘I’m sorry I’ve had to resort to tricks, leaving that will there like cheese on a trap. It made sense at the time when I did it.’ The look on her face suggested it didn’t make the same sense now, but Shay understood her motive. Roberta didn’t want to fall out with her daughter and the new will would cause a small war. Shay found herself wishing she were in as much blissful ignorance as her sister.
‘Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say on the matter. I’m not planning on popping my clogs any time soon, so you needn’t worry.’
‘Good, I’m glad to hear it.’
‘You will stop them doing all that building next door, won’t you, Shay?’
‘I absolutely will,’ came her daughter’s assured reply.
At home, Shay filled in Bruce on what was happening with her mother’s neighbours. He looked at length at the photos she’d taken of the building work in progress – front and back and then shrugged his shoulders.
‘Dunno,’ was his pronounced verdict.
Shay huffed. ‘Can’t you go round to see them and ask what they’re doing?’
‘No, I can’t. They’d tell me to piss off, as is their right,’ said Bruce grumpily, ‘as I would have told Dave and Sylvia if they’d come round to ask us what we were doing when we built the porch.’ He inclined his head towards their own neighbours.
‘That’s totally different, Bruce. Our porch didn’t turn their detached house into a semi.’
‘You’ll have to talk to the council, Shay. If the Balls are acting illegally then they’ll stop them, won’t they?’
‘Will you at least just ask any builders on site to have a look at the photos I’ve taken if I WhatsApp them to you?’
He mumbled something by way of an answer and carried on reading the newspaper, then something jumped into his mind and he snapped the paper down to speak over the top of it.
‘Do NOT ring Courtney and tell her. She’s bound to march straight round there fists flying and get herself into trouble.’ Then he added pointedly, ‘Again.’
‘I won’t, I’ll sort it myself,’ said Shay. That’s what usually happened anyway, why change the habit of a lifetime?
Chapter 8
As soon as she awoke the next morning, quarter to six, Shay was on her laptop researching neighbour disputes. It was crystal clear that permission had to be sought from next door if you were planning on buggering about with a party wall. ‘Always instigate a civilised chat to head off acrimony’ was the advice one site offered. There was an accompanying graphic of two people talking over a fence, laughing, both holding cups of tea and chomping on biscuits. Neither of them looked like a vulnerable old lady or a psychopath who pushed old men over, though.
‘Why did you get up so early?’ asked Bruce, coming downstairs at seven-thirty.
‘There wasn’t much point in staying in bed when I was wide awake,’ she answered him truthfully.
‘Oh well that’s nice,’ Bruce replied, clearly affronted. ‘Very nice.’
‘What?’
‘Thanks a bunch.’
How the hell could he have derived an insult from that? She decided he was spoiling for a fight and she wasn’t goingto give him one. She pasted on a smile and tried to reset the morning.
‘Coffee and a slice of toast?’ she offered.
