Read Online The House of Susan Lulham (Kindle Single) by Phil Rickman - Free Book Online Page A

land he has no wish to sell and you don’t make a friend. Certainly not in this case. Been in his family for centuries, you see.’
    ‘But if he planned to put housing on it…’
    ‘Oh no, no, no… not
that
land. No, the field he’d earmarked for housing was on the flatter ground below. But Clifton, canny chap, wanted this smaller area, up on the hill itself, overlooking Johnny’s farmhouse. Where he knew he’d probably get immediate permission for a house because, you see, there’d been one there
before
.’
    ‘You mean on the site where the New House…?’
    ‘Where that sixties abomination now stands, there was a previous house. Or, at least, the shell of a house that was never finished.’
    ‘Oh… Why, er…?’
    ‘Ha! Well. It
was
to have been the home of Johnny Morgan’s grandfather, Grenville Morgan. Grenville… had also been the victim of some unwise investment. Not to mention personal difficulties. His wife had left him, you see, and he was rattling around in the farmhouse… so he decided his son and his young family should have it, and he’d build himself a smaller house. Something farmers often do, and the planners are always sympathetic. So work started in the top field on what would be a sort of eyrie, where Grenville could watch the farm. You know what farmers are like.’
    ‘At their worst in retirement?’
    Mr Unsworth beamed.
    ‘You know your way around then, Mrs Watkins.’
    ‘My grandad was a farmer. In North Herefordshire.’
    ‘Oh, really?’ Mr Unsworth raised an eyebrow. ‘What was his name? No, no, tell me later, I’ll lose my thread. Yes, Grenville Morgan - he was before even my time, but my father knew him - seems to have been a somewhat
abrupt
sort of man. Hairline fuse and free with his fists, especially after a few drinks. Wife left him as a result of domestic abuse, as it would be called now. Well… what we think of as abuse now, in those days was simply a matter of giving the wife a clip around the ear if your dinner was unsatisfactory. In this instance, one clip too many, apparently. Evidently came as quite a surprise when she actually moved out. Children long grown-up by then.’
    ‘Pre-feminism, too. Gosh.’
    ‘Cost him money, even then. And a bad harvest, that year. Had to stop work on the new house. Four walls but no roof when he took his shotgun in there.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘A proud man, you see, Mrs Watkins. And an aggressive man. Came to abrupt decisions, and no going back. Certainly not this time. Was probably just after a rabbit or something when, I imagine, a wave of rage and despairovertook him. The sheer injustice of life. Bang! Both barrels.’ Mr Unsworth’s eyes actually gleamed. ‘Don’t know whether it’s true, but it was said they found bits of… brain and bones and whatnot outside the walls.’
    Merrily winced. Mr Unsworth looked over his glasses, mouth drooping in mock-regret.
    ‘Sorry about that. Andrew Hill did say I should tell you everything I knew. On the instructions of his good lady.’
    ‘Andrew didn’t know Harry Clifton, then.’
    ‘Before his time as an architect. And Clifton’s dead now.’
    ‘Did he ever live at the New House?’
    ‘Oh, for a while, yes, with some woman or other. Houses and women, always the same. Never together long. In this case, Clifton knew that once one house was built up there, it was only a matter of time before permission was given for more. But, the way things turned out, building
that
project took rather longer than he expected. He’d demolished the remains of Grenville Morgan’s house, but nothing much seemed to happen for quite some years. Talk of arguments with builders. Bad workmanship. At one point he started again, put in new foundations. Small hitches, perhaps, but… nothing seemed to go right.’
    ‘As if the place didn’t want to be built on? Sorry…’ Merrily feeling herself blush. ‘I get carried away sometimes.’
    ‘You may not be far out, my dear. I know that, at one stage, he