I follow him into the house, through to a small but airy kitchen. A woman, presumably his wife, looks up in confusion from where she sits at a breakfast bar feeding a chubby baby.
‘Sorry, love,’ Nick stoops to kiss her head, ‘this lady just wants a quick word about her extension. Can you give us a minute?’ With a curious glance between us, Nick’s wife wipes the baby’s face and scoops him from the highchair, leaving Nick and I alone. ‘Right, what did you want to know?’
I lay out the plans, and as Nick looks them over, he nods his head. ‘Yep, I remember this one well. Lovely, light airy room, and a nice couple to work with. The architect did a brilliant job on the design.’ He frowns. ‘You’re not the lady I did the work for, though, did they move already? Seems a shame to spend all that money and then move away. Wait… didn’t we speak about a swimming pool?’
‘We did, and no, they didn’t move,’ I say, my cheeks flushing warm and pink, ‘Caro, the lady you did the work for, isn’t around anymore. Her husband got remarried… err, to me.’ I give him a small smile and he just nods again.
‘So, what’s the problem?’
I flounder for a moment, not sure what to say, everything I’ve prepared melting out of my head. ‘The pool. I wanted to get some more clarification on the pool. Make sure there won’t be any surprises if I go ahead with it.’ Tucking my fingers into my sleeves to hide their shaking, I incline my head towards the plans.
‘What? Like dead bodies being unearthed?’ I feel my eyes go wide, as Nick grins. ‘Just joking, love! No, no surprises. It was a quite straightforward job, actually. One of those rare jobs where everything seems to go smoothly. Even the bricklayers turned up every day.’ He gives a laugh, deep and infectious, and I get the feeling that maybe the bricklayers don’t always turn up.
There is a pang of something deep in my chest and I can’t figure out what it is. I don’t want to call it disappointment, because obviously I don’t want Rupert to have done something terrible, but equally it isn’t quite relief either. Maybe I have got things all wrong after all, maybe Rupert was right, and I do see things that aren’t really there. I reach for the plans, but Nick lays his hand flat on them.
‘Why are you asking? Is there a problem with the build?’
‘No. Not a problem,’ I smooth my hand over the drawings, ‘it’s only that you said that I couldn’t put the pool where I wanted it because of the second soakaway. Is it usual to have a second soakaway? It seems a shame, that’s all,’ I say hastily.
‘Well, originally there was only one. You only really need one,’ Nick says, happy to explain, ‘but I got a call from the home owner – the gentleman, not the wife – asking me to come out and see about putting in another one. You could always put the pool in further down the garden, but like I said, it’ll cost you.’
‘But why? Why would he need a second one?’
‘He was concerned about flooding – the land is partially clay there, so there is potentially a very small risk of flooding, seeing as you’re not miles from the river, and the weather was shocking, if I remember it correctly. It was a wet winter and there’d been storms, some real torrential rain. He was worried that the original soakaway wouldn’t be able to cope – bit overcautious, really, but you know how it is, the customer is always right. He was quite panicky really, he wanted it done as a rush job. Luckily we weren’t too busy.’
‘When was this?’ That creeping sense of unease is back, prickling its way along my spine and round towards my heart, a cold fist closing over it. ‘I mean, how soon after the build was finished?’
‘Maybe a week or so?’ Nick rubs a hand over his forehead. ‘I’m pretty sure it wasn’t very long because we’d just had everything signed off. She – Caroline? Christina? Sorry, I can’t remember her name – she said she wanted to have a party to celebrate. She invited us, me and the wife.’ He laughs, as if embarrassed by the thought. ‘We didn’t go, though. They were all a bit too upmarket for us, and anyway I don’t mix business with pleasure.’ Dropping a lazy wink, he grins to show he doesn’t mean any offence.
‘So, you went back after the party and put the second soakaway in?’
‘That’s right. A couple of days after the party, if that. It took us a couple of days, but the fella said he’d pay us double if we could fit him in and get it done ASAP.’ He looks at me quizzically. ‘Are you all right? You look a bit peaky.’
I swallow, unable to take my eyes off the spot on the drawing where the soakaway lies. ‘Yes,’ I manage, ‘I’m fine. Thank you so much for your help. That explains a lot.’
‘Well, if you want me to come back and see about where you can put the pool in without digging up the drainage then I’d be happy to help.’ Nick is guiding me towards the front door, and I am only too happy to leave, keen to get out into the fresh air and process what I’ve discovered.
‘No, it’s OK. Honestly. I won’t keep you anymore.’ I wait as he jumps into his truck and gives me a wave as he drives off, before I turn towards the bus station and head back to the house.
I stand in the garden, almost mesmerised by the thick, lush grass that marks where the soakaways are, my stomach swirling uncomfortably at the idea that Caro has never been
