Page 10 of Trust in Truth
Katherine flicked through her notebook. “Eighteen in total. Fifteen have confirmed their attendance so far, plus five trustees. I’ve not counted myself in that. Then there are forty general members confirmed; the other one hundred and twenty-five are general public. So we’ve more than broken even already; I think we’ll hit the two hundred mark in the coming weeks.”
“So at least 60 that require special treatment. I’ll need you to do some schmoozing. If any of them have a wedding or birthday coming up, I want them booked into the barn. Margaret can help; she seems suitably qualified for a bit of schmoozing.”
Katherine lowered her glasses and peered over them at Anna.
Anna drew a line across her lips, and Katherine gave her a nod and a sarcastic smile in return. She wasn’t sure why she had to be made to feel like a child for stating the obvious. Perhaps she was being paranoid, overthinking things. No one else seemed to think there was a problem, so maybe if she stopped looking for a problem, she wouldn’t see one. Anna twisted her lips.Unlikely.
“Anna, are you with me?”
“Sorry?” Anna replied, unaware she had zoned out.
“Am I buying gazebos then? I for one would rather be under some form of shelter.”
“Yes. Get two of the larger ones with the walls and windows, and please make sure they are easy to put up. I’ve completed a risk assessment; we’re going to need to install some additional lighting externally, particularly along the pathways.”
Katherine scribbled in a notebook. “I’ll get right on to it.”
“Thanks, it will benefit us all year round if we are going to be holding events outside, so don’t scrimp. If we’re getting an electrician in, it might be worth getting them to add some power up at the far end of the site too. It might be that we’ll need to hire a generator. The band representative is coming tomorrow, so we’ll see what they require.”
“Understood.”
Anna tapped at her keyboard. “Now, the builders will be completely offsite over Christmas, correct?”
“Yes, and they won't return to the site until January second when they will move on to the construction work on this place. They have a separate team they bring in for fitting out interiors, so they will be in the barn from the second too.”
“Please reiterate that they don't store any tools onsite over Christmas. I don't want guests tripping on them in the visitor centre when they get their canapés. Speaking of which, the caterers have booked a site visit between Christmas and New Year, just to make sure they bring the correct equipment.”
Katherine nodded. “Great, sounds like you have it all in hand.”
Anna lifted her eyebrows. “And you’ll soon have two projects to oversee; best not tell Becks.”
“The projects are planned and overseen by the Project Manager. I just need to check they’re following the plan correctly. It’s just a shame we’ll open the season in March with a building site as a visitor centre.”
“When do they aim to start fitting it out?”
“The first week of April. We should be fully operational by the beginning of May.”
Anna extracted a tape measure from her pocket and tossed it to Katherine who just barely caught it. “I need to measure up the barn signage, and I need a glamorous assistant.”
Katherine smirked. “I’ll see if I can find you one.”
Chapter 4
Katherine walked down the gravel driveway of Abbey House, followed by Virginia a few paces behind. The feel of the gravel under her feet never grew old; she adored the crunching noise it made. It took her back to her family home and walking across their gravel drive with her dad to go to school. It was just another tick in a box when it came to buying the house.
She knew she would come to hate the drive as she grew older and would no doubt struggle to walk on it. It wasn’t the best surface for the types of heels she wore to work, today, however, she was strapped into her trusty, leather knee-high boots. The best part of winter was getting to wear them.
Although she was heading to the abbey, it wasn’t for work. It was to retrieve something she’d hidden in her desk drawer — an engagement ring. It was safer to have it delivered to the visitor centre where she knew it would reach only her hands. She had fallen in love with it as soon as she had seen it online and feared keeping it at home as she didn’t trust herself not to peek at it and get caught by Anna.
She arrived outside the visitor centre and realised Virginia was still close at her heel.
“Wait there for me; you’re not allowed in.”
Virginia mewed in reply and sniffed at a blade of grass before chewing at it.
She made her way upstairs to her office to find Margaret on the phone; they greeted each other with a smile. Katherine headed straight for her desk and sat.
An initial rummage in the desk didn’t bring up the ring. Admittedly it was a large drawer, yet she remembered exactly where she had placed it: at the back, in the centre of a roll of tape covered by a notepad. She pulled the drawer out and began a more frantic search.
