It was nearly three months before the interiors of the four units were fully fitted out and ready to be occupied, and extensions to the warden’s cottage completed. All the tenants would have lovely views of the park and the two large trees in the centre of this end. By then Amanda was happily settled in the cottage.

However, during that time Warren Padgett was promoted to the position of manager of the council building department, and had proved a thorn in her flesh. He immediately started reorganising ‘his’ department and making his presence felt in a variety of annoying ways.

He seemed to have set his sights on the trust as well and she suspected that he was trying to find a way to take over its administration. His initial target was the selection of tenants and he made it clear during his first meeting with Amanda that he did not approve of homeless people from outside the valley being given priority for places ahead of local people already on the council’s waiting list for housing.

Two more meetings showed that he didn’t approve of anything else she was doing, either, and someone tipped her the wink that he was sneakily lobbying councillors about passing new bylaws that would help him to take over the trust from this amateur female who was (he told everyone) so inefficient.

She doubted he could do anything legally because she prided herself on her ability to write watertight contracts and she knew she was managing things efficiently, but he could and did slow down progress on the council signing off on the buildings. In fact, he was an absolute pain to deal with.

Today was what she hoped would be the final meeting with him about the units and unfortunately her return to the valley was delayed by heavy traffic.

Padgett was already waiting for her, scowling of course, with Corin standing nearby. The usually friendly architect wasn’t even looking in the other man’s direction let alone chatting to him, but fiddling with his phone. That said something about the general mood of their encounter. She knew whose side she was on. If you couldn’t get on with Corin Drayton there was something wrong with you.

When she got out of her car, Padgett made a big display of glancing at his watch and tapping it before she could even begin to explain what had delayed her.

She retaliated by giving him a beaming smile, something which, as she’d already found, made him visibly uneasy.

‘Sorry I’m late, Warren. Traffic problems.’

‘You should have made allowances for traffic delays. This is a busy time of day. And, as I’ve said before, Ms Denby, I prefer that we address one another formally. This is a business meeting not a social event.’

She smiled. ‘I’m just not a formal person, I’m afraid.’ She turned to the other man. ‘Hi, Corin. Lovely to see you again.’

He came across and plonked ostentatious social kisses on each of her cheeks in turn, taking his time about it. This made Padgett wince again.

‘Always lovely to see you, Amanda darling. You’re looking rather tired.’

‘It’s been a busy week finishing everything off.’ She turned reluctantly back to Padgett. ‘Ready to go round again, Warren?’

This would be the second ‘final inspection’ they’d made. He’d found two unimportant faults during the first one and had insisted on another complete inspection once they’d been dealt with. She’d agreed only because it seemed likely to be quicker to do that than causing a fuss about his uncooperative behaviour with the town council.

He scowled at her. ‘My staff and I have already checked the houses.’

That made her stare. ‘How did you get in without keys?’

He avoided looking her in the eyes as he replied. ‘The council always retains a master key to any new developments it’s dealing with, in case something goes wrong. The key opened the doors of all the units so we were able to have a good look round this time.’

She opened her mouth to protest and he held up one hand like a traffic cop in a movie.

‘We always do this with public housing. We didn’t want to waste our time hanging around waiting for you and anyway we didn’t think you’d object to us going inside. It is our job to supervise local building projects, after all.’

‘I do object. Please don’t try to gain entry to these private premises again. This is not and never will be public housing. There is a reversion clause in the trust’s favour if you close them down.’

She waited in vain for a response to that. He treated her to another scowl and continued talking at her.

‘Everything seems to be in order this time, Ms Denby, though since you didn’t gain council approval for your choice of builder there will have to be regular, ongoing checks of these premises to ensure that they do not deteriorate and continue to meet local standards.’

‘There won’t be any further checks, I assure you. I checked and you don’t do that to other private housing so I’ll make a major legal complaint if you try to do it to the trust’s dwellings.’

He stiffened visibly. ‘Of course there will be ongoing checks. Someone has to keep an eye on the safety side of buildings in this valley. That is well within my remit.’

‘For council properties, perhaps, but the trust owns these units and as its CEO, I shall be dealing with their ongoing maintenance. If any problems arise, I shall call Corin in.’

‘I must insist—’

‘You can’t insist on anything. The rules were legally set in place before you even came to work here when the trust first acquired the plot of land. It will take care of its own tenants and building maintenance from now on. All the council needs to do is receive the rates money paid on the units. Read the contract again if you’ve forgotten the terms and don’t hesitate to ask for help if you don’t understand any of the long words.’

He breathed deeply and started to say something but she turned back to Corin. ‘If you’re ready now, you and I will do a final inspection to satisfy ourselves that there is nothing else that anyone can complain of.’ And, she thought, to check that nothing had been tampered with, but though she was tempted to say that, she didn’t want anything else to cause delays.

‘Happy to do that,’ Corin said.

Padgett breathed deeply. ‘I shall join you in case you have any queries about council regulations, though I have already put it on record that this project is being conducted in a way that I thoroughly disapprove of.’

She ignored him and unlocked the rear door of the first unit. She couldn’t stop Padgett trailing along behind them without creating a scene but she locked the doors of each unit carefully as they left and didn’t address any remarks to Padgett until an hour later, when they went to stand in the residents’ summer house and barbecue area at one side of the small garden at one side of the units.

‘Did you find any problems, Padgett?’

‘Not at the moment.’

‘I didn’t think you would, so I brought the final document with me and I’ll ask you to sign it here and now. We can get your assistant and Mr Drayton to act as witnesses.’

‘But I don’t—’

‘If you are unwilling to do this, I shall make a formal complaint to the council immediately about your lack of cooperation and charge for the waste of my time.’

‘I’ll sign it for now but you can be quite sure that I’ll be keeping an eye on those units.’

‘From a distance only.’

‘As needed,’ he corrected.

We’ll see about that, she thought, but didn’t bother to argue.

Once the document had been signed, she said, ‘May I have the master key back, please?’

From the smirk on his face as he handed it to her, she guessed he’d had a copy made.

She put it in her bag and turned to Corin. ‘I owe you a coffee, my friend. How about I pay my debt now?’

‘Good idea.’

She walked quickly across to her cottage before her annoyance with Padgett made her do or say something rash that she might regret.

Corin joined her at the front door and they stood watching Padgett fuss his way into his council vehicle and watch them without making any attempt to leave quickly.

She said in a low voice, ‘I’m going to get all the locks changed this afternoon and every person who moves in will be told not to give copies of their door key to anyone, especially people from the council.’

‘Very wise.’ Corin glanced back over his shoulder and chuckled. ‘He looked...