Blood Ties by Lin Le Versha

Author:Lin Le Versha [Le Versha, Lin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Steph’s stomach churned as Hale drove them to Glebe Hall. He’d phoned late in the afternoon and told her Luke had agreed to meet them in his office at five o’clock, after work. Immediately Steph expressed her reluctance to go to the Hall so soon after all the fuss with Jack, but Hale assured her she was in the right and it was the Percys who should be feeling ashamed of their son’s lies. Somehow, she thought they wouldn’t.

They skirted the Hall and went beyond the barns to a small cottage which Luke had told Hale was the office. Estate agents would describe it as ‘bijou’. It was thatched, with wonky ancient grey beams cutting through the Suffolk pink walls and encircling the tiny leaded glass windows. The solid front door, fractured over centuries, held an iron circular knocker which had worn a crevice in the wood, now filled in with a modern piece of metal. As Hale reached out for it, the door opened and Luke stood to the side, gesturing that they should step down into the dark room.

The uneven floor was covered in old terracotta pamments, typical of East Anglia, and led to the inglenook brick fireplace, complete with a hook over the fire basket. In contrast, the furniture was definitely not hundreds of years old but modern Ikea-style light wood office furniture with sharp lines, lit by LED lamps. A row of three computer screens on the table beneath the window was sandwiched between floor to ceiling bookshelves loaded with files, all in a dark blue shade. Here was someone who organised life down to the last full stop, or perhaps it should be the last pound sign?

Luke pulled two chairs in front of the screens on either side of his office chair and invited them to join him. Steph’s original assessment of him as an ambassador was reinforced. Polite – no – courteous and elegant in his ivory shirt and navy chinos; everything about him was understated, and she could see how the flamboyant Zac complemented him.

Patiently, he took them through the accounts he’d submitted to Companies House, which showed a profit. Not an enormous one, but a solid profit many small businesses would envy.

‘May we see the accounts for the individual activities, please?’ asked Hale.

‘Of course. I’ll put them on the screens in front of you, so you can get hold of the detail.’

Luke took them through the various enterprises run at the Hall. Open Days, weddings, yoga and textiles workshops all ‘wiped their face’, as Luke put it.

‘And the school?’

Another set of figures whizzed on the screens. ‘There you are. Thought so. Probably the most profitable business – almost makes as much as all the others put together – does extremely well for a small school. As I said, it’s popular and grows each year.’

They watched as Hale perused the columns of figures. ‘Since we met at the station, have you thought of any reason why Hector would want to close it?’

‘None. As you can see, the financials work and, I understand, the education is outstanding.

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