Page 18 of Forgive Not Forget
She opened the wardrobe, which was a little fuller since their shopping trip, and extracted her new tweed jacket, chinos, and blue shirt. As much as she liked her new look and Katherine’s reaction to it, the more formal attire was taking a bit of getting used to. Having only worn the abbey jumper and her baggy, beige trousers until now, this was a fresh look entirely. Katherine had tried to persuade her towards a more corporate suit with a white shirt, but Anna felt it didn’t suit her or her position and decided on the more relaxed country look. The outfit required certain footwear, which was unsuitable for wandering around a ruined abbey, so she left a pair of wellies by her office door in case she was caught out and needed to go into the abbey ruins.
Once dressed, she headed downstairs to the kitchen to feed Virginia and fill up a stainless-steel thermal mug with peppermint tea, something that had become a morning essential. Five minutes later she was out the door of Abbey House and through her office door in Abbey Barn, the easiest and most beautiful of commutes. Her office location came with the added benefit that she could come and go as she pleased, without having to open the visitor centre.
Resisting the lure of a chocolate egg breakfast, Anna fired up her laptop. Having chased quotes for printing at the end of last week, she was relieved to find several in her inbox. They would allow her to finalise her ideas for the rest of the year and finish the report for Katherine to pass to the trustees. She had hoped to have a couple of weeks to finalise everything as she was still waiting for quotes; Katherine had given her a week, despite her pleading. Sometimes she felt Katherine was a little harder on her at work because of their relationship; it was understandable, though, that she couldn’t be seen to be lenient with her.
Anna’s plans for the abbey were quite ambitious, considering it was their first year with a more formalised structure of events. The Easter bunny trail would be in one week’s time, followed by a summer gala, then Halloween with a guided, nocturnal ghost walk, and then the trialling of a Christmas market, inspired by their trip to Bath back in December. The market was the event she was most looking forward to, and it would no doubt prove to be the most difficult to organise. That would need to be dealt with alongside the New Year’s Eve party plans but having already organised one successfully, she hoped it would require less attention this year.
With the work being carried out at the abbey, there had been a need to extend the hardstanding car park. It would prove to be an invaluable additional space for Christmas market stalls. However, with the ever-increasing popularity of the abbey, she feared by the holidays, they would require all the hardstanding for car parking.
Once the work on the visitor centre extension was complete and all the machinery and equipment removed from the site, Katherine had agreed to Anna’s idea to install car parking machines to help towards maintenance costs. Katherine had insisted it be more of a token gesture rather than an extortionate fee. It was important that they keep peace with their neighbours and encourage people to park in the abbey car park rather than finding free parking around the village. Anna had eased her concerns with the suggestion to have a refund voucher printed on the rear which could be redeemed against any purchase made in the restaurant or gift shop. She’d also agreed to put signs up in the parking hot spots in the village, stating ‘No Nunswick Abbey Parking’.
A knock on the external barn door startled Anna from her thoughts. Carrie entered with a parcel.
“This just arrived,” Carrie said, placing the box on Anna’s desk.
“Great, that will be the print for the egg hunt,” Anna said, running a pen through the tape of the box to open it.
“We have a rather pressing matter, I’m afraid.” Carrie contorted her face. “I know Katherine isn’t due in for a few hours, but it might be best if you fetch her anyway.”
Anna stood instinctively, reading the tone of Carrie’s voice and the look on her face.
“What is it?”
“Come and see. Boot up.”
Fully booted, Anna followed Carrie across the site to the chapel wall at the far end of the site.
“There.” Carrie pointed at the exterior chapel wall, which was covered in purple spray paint.
“Graffiti! Where did that come from?”
“I think we’d all like to know that, and that’s not all.”
Carrie turned and pointed to several disturbed areas on the ground. “Someone’s been digging?”
Anna approached the nearest hole and examined it. “Night hawks.”
“Night what?”
“Night hawks. Illegal metal detectorists,” Anna replied with a sigh. Katherine was going to be fuming. She’d been right to be wary of newspaper reports. “I’d best get Kat.”
“I rang Sophie immediately to check that it wasn’t anything to do with her surveying the area."
Anna gave her a hopeful look, and Carrie responded with the shake of the head.
“Back in a bit,” Anna said, turning and heading for Abbey House. She checked her watch; it was ten thirty. Katherine should be up and dressed by now.
As she entered the house, she could hear Katherine talking to someone, she assumed on the phone as they hadn’t been expecting visitors. Katherine was pacing the kitchen, mobile to one ear. It was never a good sign when Katherine paced.
Anna listened in, trying to gauge who she was talking to with that deflated tone of voice. She allowed her eyes to soothe a wave of anxiety as they wandered to Katherine’s long stockinged legs and high heels. The navy blouse she was wearing drew Anna’s eyes as it revealed flashes of vanilla cleavage as the buttons strained to contain her breasts.
Katherine came to the end of the conversation, and Anna’s heart sank as she signed off.
“Okay, thanks, Lucy, let’s do that. Let me know the results as soon as you have them.”
Katherine hung up the phone and met Anna’s gaze. “I didn’t expect to see you here. That was Lucy.”
Anna pre-emptively pulled out a stool at the island and sat. “Give it to me.”
