Page 46 of A Year at Appleyard Farm
‘Well, that’s families for you, especially estranged ones. I expect to them this is merely worthless tat.’
‘Do you think the family knew all this was here then?’
‘There was an inventory of sorts from the estate agents, but I can’t remember how much detail it went into; not much I’m guessing…Let’s put all this back for now and see what we can find out.’
Merry took a deep breath. ‘I want to use this, Tom – Christopher’s work. I want to use it in the shop, and this furniture. I can’t explain it, but it feels right somehow. It’s the thing that’s going to make this place come alive again, I’m sure of it.’
Tom took hold of his wife’s shirt, pulling her close until their noses were just touching. ‘Come and show me,’ he murmured. ‘And bring those keys.’
They were standing in front of the row of wooden cupboards in the first of the storerooms, cupboards which appeared to be fixed to the wall behind them, and the ones that Merry had been working towards on the first day they started to clear out these rooms. There were three in total, each with two doors, and although neither of them had said as much, both thought that the cupboards would make excellent display units. It was such a shame to have them languishing unused in the storeroom, but as the doors were locked they hadn’t been able to investigate any further.
‘It’s a bit of a long shot, I know,’ said Tom, ‘but how about we try some of the keys? I thought about taking the doors off, but it would be much better if we could just open them.’
‘Do you suppose there’s anything still inside?’
Tom gave his wife a wide grin. ‘Wanna find out?’
He upended the tin of keys onto the floor.
‘Back into the tin if they don’t fit, right?’
Merry snatched up a handful of keys. ‘I wonder if the same one fits all the locks,’ she said, trying the first of the little brass keys. ‘That would make life a whole lot easier.’
‘I’d say it’s probable, hardly high-level security, is it? Anyway, I’m guessing that at one time there were cupboards like this throughout the main shop. It would make sense given the age of the place…It might also explain why there are quite so many keys,’ he added. ‘There must be fifty or so here.’
The tin rang with the sound of keys dropping back into it, and Merry lost count of the number before Tom gave a sudden shout.
‘Bingo! A wee bit stiff but nothing that a can of WD40 won’t fix,’ he said, looking across at her. ‘So that was door number one, let’s try number two, shall we?’
Merry’s answering grin got wider as she saw the key turn in the second lock.
‘Go on, the last one’s yours,’ added Tom generously, handing her the key. ‘Let’s make it a hat-trick, shall we?’
With a final shove, the key grudgingly turned the last of the way. Merry gave Tom an excited glance. ‘You know they’re probably empty, we shouldn’t get too carried away.’
‘I know…but on three?’
‘One…two…three!’ yelled Merry, swiftly turning the handle of the door nearest to her.
‘Oh my God,’ came Tom’s astonished voice from beside her.
22
‘Why are you so determined to think the worst?’ demanded Freya, getting crosser by the minute. ‘It doesn’t help anybody, least of all you.’
Stephen regarded her from over the top of the newspaper he was trying to read. ‘I’m not. I rather thought I was stating the obvious.’
‘But that’s exactly what I mean!’ countered Freya, her eyes blazing. ‘Why would a visit from your brother automatically lead you to think he was gloating? Couldn’t it just be a catch-up visit; that’s what happens in normal families I believe. There doesn’t always have to be an agenda, Stephen.’ She snatched the newspaper from his hand, and plonked it down on the table. ‘This is just your guilty conscience talking here, you do realise that, don’t you?’
Stephen’s look was cool. ‘I didn’t invite you over here, Freya. If all you came here to do was insult me, you might want to consider leaving.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘What’s it to you anyway?’
She gave him an exasperated look. ‘Because in case you haven’t noticed, I’m marrying your brother soon; you’re going to be family. We’re neighbours, and I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us. It’s about time all this was put to an end.’
Stephen opened his mouth to speak, but Freya ignored him and ploughed on. ‘I’d have thought that much was bloody obvious…and I haven’t forgotten what you said before Christmas. I really thought you might have begun to view things in a different way…or was that just the booze talking after all?’
‘You really don’t like me very much, do you?’
Freya dropped her head to the table and groaned. ‘Yes, I do. I do like you, Stephen, that’s why I’m here.’
