‘Let’s see what this stupid man wants,’ she muttered as she went off to meet Hobkins.

She was puzzled to find another man sitting to one side of the office and waited to be introduced to him. But Hobkins only waved one hand and murmured something about his colleague sitting in.

‘And does your colleague have a name – and the right to be involved in this?’

Hobkins had been fiddling with some papers and her words seemed to startle him, because he dropped his pen. ‘Um, we work as a team here at the council.’

‘Even team members usually have names. I like to know who I’m dealing with, and why.’ She got out a notebook and wrote down the date. ‘I’ll just take the names of the people present for my records.’

Hobkins looked distinctly rattled by that. A few seconds ticked slowly past before he said, ‘This is, um, Mr Dorling.’

Bullseye! she thought. That proved there was something fishy about this whole set-up. ‘Of Dorling and Cavendish?’

The men exchanged quick glances, as if surprised that she recognised the name. Did the idiots think Angus wouldn’t talk to her?

‘As I told you before, Mr Hobkins, I’m Angus’s business partner, so naturally he showed me the written offer from Mr Dorling’s company, to buy Saffron Lane. What I don’t understand is how a private contractor would be involved in minor council business like this – and for the same set of buildings.’

Dorling looked towards Hobkins and when the official made no explanation, he said in a soothing tone, as if she was a halfwit, ‘I’m here in an advisory capacity, that’s all, Ms Chaytor.’

‘Well, I don’t need advice and I’d prefer to deal only with a council officer if this is official business.’

‘It, um, never hurts to consult an expert,’ Hobkins offered.

‘Then if you’ll tell me what sort of expertise I need, I’ll find an appropriate expert to represent my partner and myself, then we’ll reconvene this meeting on a more equal footing.’

She waited, thinking what a poor conspirator Hobkins made and how clear it was from his uneasy expression that this was not all above board.

After the silence had dragged on for a minute or two, Dorling stood up. ‘No worries, Ms Chaytor. If that’s your wish, I’ll leave you to discuss it without an adviser.’ He paused at the door to stare at Nell and add, ‘After all, Hobkins and I can always talk about the matter later.’

If that wasn’t a threat, she’d never heard one. And how did he know her name? She’d never been introduced to him. Everything official at Dennings was in Angus’s name, as was only right, and she certainly wasn’t on the electoral roll yet.

When the door had closed behind Dorling, she looked at the council official and waited. Again it took him some time to speak.

‘This is a matter of planning permissions,’ he said.

‘For what?’

‘Alterations to property.’