‘I’ll need the first one-third of my fee up front,’ Hannah answered, examining the contact information on the card, trying not to feel suspicious.

Cassie nodded. ‘Invoice me.’

‘OK,’ said Hannah cautiously. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, that was quite a change of heart.’

Cassie drew in a huge breath, then blew it out on a shaky laugh. ‘It was one of those “I am woman, hear me roar” moments. You see, Christopher inherited the estate and he’s quite protective of it. But he asked me to sort this out so I’m going to do it my way.’

Hannah wondered how Christopher would take that but if Cassie was empowered to employ her then that was all she needed. ‘Then I’ll start in right away. Do you know why the builders left the site in such a state?’

‘I’m afraid they got their final payment late. Just because of the general muddle,’ Cassie added hastily.

Hannah could imagine. ‘I think we should cut our losses there, as time’s of the essence and we’ve lost their goodwill. I’ll hustle hard to get a commercial cleaner here.’

Cassie looked enthusiastic. ‘I’ll bring estate workers in to do it. They can take care of the hedges too.’

Though she wondered why the hell Cassie or Christopher hadn’t got on with these jobs, if they had the manpower at their beck and call, Hannah assumed a congratulatory expression. ‘That’s brilliant! I’ll make arrangements with the traders.’

Another twenty minutes in the office and they’d phoned Simeon and demanded access to the laptop and necessary files. All had been emailed to Hannah.

‘Gosh, I feel empowered.’ Cassie looked a hundred per cent more relaxed. ‘But I’ve got to rush because I’ve got reflexology with Liza at The Stables Holistic Centre at Port Manor Hotel at two.’

She drove away, still looking determined, and Hannah turned her attention to telling the traders on site about the clean-up starting tomorrow and that she’d be driving the Christmas Opening on the nineteenth. She thought Mark was going to cry. ‘I can’t believe it,’ he kept saying. ‘The relief! You’ve no idea. I ploughed my redundancy into this venture and I’ve been lying awake at night worrying.’

‘Us too,’ said Perla, whose ponytail was swishing happily now rather than like a cobra about to strike. ‘The girl who’s supposed to be supplying us with deli was quite nasty on the phone last night.’

‘Can you hit a deadline of the nineteenth? It’s only two and a half weeks away.’ Daintree looked around dubiously at the messy buildings.