Page 31 of A New Family at Puddleduck Farm (Puddleduck Farm #6)

‘Well, don’t keep us in suspenders,’ Maggie said. ‘Who is it?’

‘It’s Mr Smarmy Ski Jacket. The guy who pretended he wanted to rehome our kittens just before Christmas. I knew there was a connection.’

‘Are you sure it’s him?’

‘Pretty sure. Same thin fair hair and beaky nose. Natasha met him too though, and she saw him for longer. She could probably confirm.’

Marcus was already reaching for his phone. ‘We’re meeting for lunch, but I’ll get her to pop up here first.’

A few minutes later, Natasha hurried into reception and Eddie showed her the photo.

Marcus brought her up to date with developments, and she nodded slowly. ‘Yes, that’s definitely him. Bingo. So we finally have some evidence that he’s up to no good.’

‘We know he’s selling kittens under fairly dubious circumstances,’ Phoebe pointed out. ‘We don’t know for sure he’s running a kitten mill. And we still don’t know if he stole Oscar.’ She frowned. ‘And I’m not sure if there’s any way of finding out.’

‘We’re going to have to resort to Plan B,’ Maggie said cheerily.

‘What’s that?’ Phoebe asked her with a thread of trepidation.

‘Climb over the back fence and scout around in the garden. They’ve got a big shed out there.’

‘Really, did you see that from the front?’

‘No, but you can see it from the back. I told you! Eddie and I did a recce.’

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea to go clambering over people’s fences,’ Phoebe said hastily.

‘Don’t you dare say at my age.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’

‘Besides, we don’t need to go clambering over any fences. I was winding you up about that. There’s a back gate.’

‘And what if it’s locked?’

‘Eddie’s got bolt cutters.’

Phoebe decided not to ask her why Eddie had bolt cutters. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea either. Breaking into people’s back gardens is illegal.’

‘Only if they catch us. Which they won’t. Because we plan to set up a diversion tactic. Natasha’s going to help us.’

Natasha looked guilty, and Phoebe put her hands over her ears. ‘I’m not even listening to this. There is no way anyone associated with this practice is doing anything remotely illegal.’

‘OK, OK.’ Maggie gave a deep sigh. ‘We won’t break in. We’ll find another way of luring them out into the open. I’m talking metaphorically,’ she added quickly, ‘so don’t look at me like that.’

Phoebe held her gaze. ‘Promise me, Maggie. That you won’t do anything illegal, or risky or dangerous. We don’t know who we’re dealing with.’

‘OK, I promise we won’t do anything remotely criminal. I was joking about the bolt cutters,’ she added, a touch huffily. ‘I’m not completely irresponsible.’

‘She was definitely joking,’ Eddie assured Phoebe, his eyes serious. ‘I may have had some bolt cutters once for farming work, but they’d be too rusty to be much use for anything these days.’

Phoebe had to be content with that. While she wouldn’t have put it past Maggie to bend the rules if she thought she could justify it, she was pretty sure Eddie was as straight as a die.

She went back to the house to tell Sam about the latest developments. When she walked into the warmth of the farmhouse kitchen, Sam had Lily on his lap and they were playing peekaboo.

It was such a tender little scene that for a moment her heart turned over and she paused in the doorway to watch.

‘Hey, guys, how are you doing?’

‘We’re doing fine. Here’s your mummy.’ Sam smiled at her. ‘Have you come in to hear how Turtle Tots went?’ He still had damp hair.

‘Absolutely, I have.’ Phoebe crossed the kitchen and held out her arms. ‘Hello, my darling. Do I get a cuddle?’

Lily gurgled at her, and Phoebe picked her up. ‘You’re getting bigger by the day. And heavier too,’ she added as she cuddled her. ‘So how was Turtle Tots?’

‘Tiring. For me, not for her. She loves it. How’s your day going?’

Phoebe told Sam about the latest developments with Mr Smarmy Ski Jacket.

‘I knew there was something off about him the first time I saw him,’ she finished. ‘He’s definitely up to his neck in something dodgy. I just wish there was a way of proving it.’

‘Have you thought about showing that photo Eddie took to Archie?’ Sam asked. ‘I know it’s a long shot but what if he was involved with taking their kittens? It’s worth asking him, isn’t it?’

‘You’re a genius. Yes, of course it’s worth it. We could go up there this afternoon, couldn’t we? We could take Lily. I’m sure Rufus and Emilia would love to see her.’

‘Is it OK to just call by on spec to see a lord? We won’t need to make an appointment or anything?’

‘Um, no, I don’t think so. Although I suppose they might not be in. I’ll text Archie and ask him.’

* * *

Sam watched her tap out a message. She’d obviously forgotten he’d earmarked this afternoon for going over to Brook Riding School to see Marjorie about the possibility of resuming some teaching for her.

She was so excited about going to see Archie that he didn’t like to remind her. Besides, Saturday afternoon was probably a bad time to visit Marjorie. Weekends were super busy over there. He’d be better going to see her one morning in the week.

‘What happened about the little hedgehogs?’ he asked while they waited for Archie to respond. ‘Did they get rehomed OK?’

‘Yes, I think so. Natasha took them over to the hedgehog rescue place. They’re in a better position to home them than we are.’

Her phone pinged and she snatched it up.

‘He’s replied already. Yay, and it’s good news.

Archie’s out riding, but he said he won’t be long and Rufus and Emilia are in after three so that’s perfect timing, isn’t it.

You’re a genius, Sam. Thank you for suggesting we see Archie.

It’s a brilliant excuse to see him. By the time we’ve eaten a sandwich for lunch we’ll be about right, won’t we? ’

‘Perfect.’ Sam glanced out of the window. ‘Hey, look. I think it’s snowing.’

Phoebe dashed over to the window and saw he was right. Huge soft flakes were falling out of the white sky. ‘Wow. It is. How brilliant. We can show Lily her first snow. We can build a snowman.’

‘We’d better see if it settles first,’ he said, loving her enthusiasm. ‘Besides, I thought we were going to see the Holts.’

‘We can do both.’

‘Of course we can.’

Sam was looking forward to seeing Archie too.

Lord Rufus Holt, not so much. He’d always felt a little uneasy around the man.

Possibly because he and Phoebe had been an item once.

Sam still felt amazed sometimes that Phoebe had chosen him over a land-owning lord of the manor. He gave himself a little shake.

Behave, Sam . Rufus wasn’t a threat. Of course he wasn’t. Sam was painfully aware that his own less than buoyant self-esteem was one of the reasons the man still bothered him.

Rufus was married now with a toddler. Briefly Sam wondered if Rufus was as much of a hands-on dad as he himself was with Lily. He guessed they might find out this afternoon.

He looked back out of the window. It was still snowing. If anything it was coming down faster and there was a white sprinkling across the ground. Phoebe was now holding Lily up to look too, and the baby was wide-eyed. ‘Oh, Sam, our first snow at Puddleduck Farm. It’s settling too. Isn’t it pretty.’

‘It’s gorgeous.’

By the time they’d had their sandwich, there was enough snow on the ground to take a very well wrapped-up Lily out to show her.

Sam and Phoebe made a mini snowman, which she adored, and Roxie, who hadn’t seen snow before either, danced around trying to catch snowflakes in her mouth, making them all laugh.

At just after three when they left for Beechbrook, there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground, and it was still falling.

The Holts were their next-door neighbours and if they’d been walking, they could have crossed the Puddleduck fields in less time than it took to load up the car.

Archie had always taken the shortcut and still did, but it would have been impractical to push Lily’s buggy across the fields in the snow.

If it came down much faster they might not even get to the Holts in the car, Sam thought, looking up at the sky.

But the snow was stopping as they left and at just after three, Sam drove beneath the life-size bronze stag – complete with a thin cloak of snow – that straddled the gateway that led into Beechbrook House.

Lily was happy in her car seat and Phoebe was sitting beside him, her face reflective.

The Holts’ land lay on both sides of the quarter-mile drive.

Rufus had grown lavender commercially for the last few years, and in the summer the fields were a vibrant mauve.

Today the skeletal bushes stretched out on either side of them looked magical, every twig now decorated with a sparkling coverlet of white that glittered in the afternoon sun.

Sam parked Phoebe’s Lexus on the wide frontage alongside Rufus’s Mercedes with its heavily tinted windows.

The car had a good couple of inches of snow on the roof already.

It would have been nice to have so much land, but Sam didn’t envy Rufus the imposing manor house, with its dozen or more paned windows and several chimneys, that loomed over them now, however impressive it looked.

There must be endless repairs and maintenance looking after that lot.

Neither did he envy him the heavy responsibility of being a peer of the realm.

A responsibility little Archie would one day inherit too. Bless his little cotton socks.

He wondered how Archie was getting on with his riding. There was plenty of land here to set up an indoor school. In fact, he was surprised Rufus didn’t have one for Archie to use.

‘You look miles away,’ Phoebe said. ‘What are you thinking?’

Sam realised he’d switched off the engine but was still sitting motionless in his seat. ‘Sorry. I was just thinking about Archie and wondering if Rufus has ever thought of setting up an indoor school.’

‘He probably thinks Archie’s away at school too much to get enough use out of it. Hey, maybe we should encourage him to get one. You could hire it. It would save us a fortune.’

So he wasn’t the only one who’d been looking up costs then. He smiled at her. ‘They are pretty pricey, that’s for sure.’

‘Oh, my goodness, I’ve just remembered you were going to see Marjorie today, weren’t you?’

‘I was, but don’t worry. We didn’t have any arrangement. I was just going over on spec and Saturday probably isn’t the best day. Especially in view of how the weather’s turned out. I might have had trouble getting back.’

She looked relieved as she got out of the car and began to unbuckle Lily from her car seat, while Sam grabbed the carrycot and the rucksack that accompanied their daughter everywhere.

‘Right then,’ Phoebe said. ‘Let’s go and see if we can shed any more light on the kitten-milling mystery, shall we?’

‘Fingers crossed,’ Sam murmured as they crunched across the snow-encrusted frontage, leaving footprints as they went, past the fountain with its tasteless cherubs, each now with a white cap of snow on its head, and on towards the great oak front door.