Paradise Fields (36 page)

‘Except that if the hospice gets pulled down, it won't be in its place,' said Viv. ‘It may not be anywhere near here. And I think we all agree that one of the reasons the hospice has been such a success is because so many local people support it. It's part of our community.'

‘We do have to be businesslike,' said the man whose name Nel never knew, until she saw Viv scrawl it down for her. Fred Axminster. ‘I'm a businessman myself.'

‘Except we
are
a charitable institution, not a business,' said Nel.

‘Do you think these comments could go through the
chair?' demanded Chris Mowbray, who, as chairman, felt his authority was being challenged.

‘Not unless we want to be here all night,' said Muriel briskly.

‘What choice do we have, anyway?' said Fred Axminster, self-declared businessman. ‘We can't afford to keep up the hospice building, we might as well sell it and build a new one.'

‘Perfectly possible with the amount I'm offering for it,' said Gideon Freebody. ‘As you know,' he looked at his audience in a rather patronising way, ‘Mr Hunstanton owns Paradise Fields already. If I buy the hospice building, and then develop his site as well, we'll be quids – in a profitable position. And so will the hospice,' he added as an afterthought.

‘Exactly,' said the chairman. ‘Shall we vote?'

‘No!' said Nel. ‘I would like to speak, if the committee don't object.'

‘We haven't got time for a lot of hearts-on-sleeves nonsense,' said Gideon Freebody's sidekick, who only needed a badge saying ‘Security' to turn him into a nightclub bouncer.

Nel got to her feet. ‘Everyone knows that I have an axe to grind. I have supported this hospice for ten years. I have been party to raising thousands and thousands of pounds. I am reluctant to see the hospice disappear.'

‘It's not going to disappear!' Gideon Freebody was losing patience. ‘I've explained! You can have a new hospice.'

‘Not with the money you're offering us,' said Nel. ‘The figures don't add up. Have you any idea how much a new building would cost, from scratch?' It was a
rhetorical question, but she was very glad when Abraham answered it.

‘A sight more than he's offering you, that's for sure.'

‘If we allowed the hospice building to be sold, we'd lose it for ever. Even if there was enough money to build a new one, and I don't believe there is—'

‘My figures show that you can,' said Gideon Freebody.

‘Not the figures you're keeping to yourself,' said Nel. ‘Those figures leave us with about enough for a one-up one-down, if we're lucky with the price of the land.'

‘That's slanderous!' said the chairman. ‘Mrs Innes, I insist you withdraw that statement.'

‘It's not slanderous if it's true,' said Nel, ‘but I will withdraw it, because there are other arguments I'd like to put forward.'

‘Oh, get out the violins,' said Gideon Freebody's sidekick.

‘Please allow others to speak!' said Jake, who had been silent up until then.

Nel looked down at her notes. ‘The plans and figures you've put before us, Mr Freebody, overlook a couple of important facts.'

‘And what might those be?' he demanded.

‘The fact that your plans are completely useless if you don't have access. So while it might be perfectly possible for you to persuade the committee to sell the hospice, it isn't of any use if you can't get to the houses.'

‘What do you mean?' asked the chairman.

‘There's a ransom strip,' said Nel. ‘Some committee members already know about it. But you seem to have overlooked it, Mr Chairman.'

He blushed. ‘I don't know what you're talking about.
All the hospice land is of a piece. There is no ransom strip. Hospice land is hospice land.'

‘Yes, but I don't think everyone knows about this ransom strip,' said Nel, aware that she hadn't managed to contact everybody, and determined that it should be talked about, in the open.

‘It would be nice to have it clarified,' said Chris Mowbray. ‘If it exists.'

‘It does exist,' said Jake. ‘The late Sir Gerald Hunstanton left a small strip to the hospice in his will.'

‘Thank you,' said Nel, still keeping her eyes firmly averted. ‘And I think we should vote, as a committee, on what we want to do with this strip, as well as the rest of the hospice property.'

Chris Mowbray sighed with exaggerated patience. ‘Well, you can vote if you want, but I do advise the committee, that for the sake of the hospice, Gideon Freebody's plans are the ones to go for.'

‘For the sake of the hospice chairman, more like,' muttered Vivian to Muriel.

‘I think the committee would, if presented with all the arguments, vote against selling the building.'

‘The figures are there,' said Gideon Freebody.

‘Yes, both sets,' said Nel, risking slander again. ‘But without the ransom strip, neither of your plans – either with or without the hospice land – can go forward, because you'd have no proper access. Which means the ransom strip is far more valuable than the sum you've put on it, just lumping it in with the hospice. Unless you're prepared to offer us at least four times what you have already, it would not be in the hospice's interest to accept your offer.'

‘Can you afford to ignore it?' said Mr Freebody. ‘You
know yourselves how much the roof is going to cost to repair.'

‘Well, we know how much it would cost if you repaired it,' said Nel. ‘But Mr Abraham has offered to do it for nothing.'

‘But the roof is only a tiny part of the upkeep!' said the chairman.

‘And may I point out that the woman putting up all the objections—' Gideon Freebody began, before he was interrupted.

‘The woman's name is Mrs Innes,' said Jake. ‘I think you know that. Would you be kind enough to use it?' Nel blushed and all the women in the room sighed a little.

‘I'll use the name I think fit!' Gideon Freebody sent spittle arcing out of his mouth onto his notes. ‘And that's Nimby! Not In My Back Yard! She doesn't want houses at the bottom of her garden! It's all very well to be sentimental about sick kids, but put a few cheap houses on her back lawn and she's up in arms!'

Jake half got to his feet, but was pulled down again by Father Ed.

‘Except,' said the chairman, leaping up. ‘She's not just a Nimby! She's been doing a bit of investigation as to how much her garden would be worth as building land! She wants to have her cake and eat it too!'

‘I never did understand that expression,' said Viv.

Nel felt dizzy. She had never been attacked personally like this before and it was strange, and yet oddly exhilarating. ‘I beg your pardon, Mr Chairman. What did you say I'd done?'

‘I said you'd been making enquiries as to how much your garden would be worth as building land. All this
talk about ransom strips and saving the bloody hospice! You're just waiting for us to get planning permission for a big scheme so you can cash in yourself. You could get a three-bed executive home, on that bit of land. Garage with up and over doors.'

Nel wondered if she was going to faint. It was quite interesting, waiting to see if the room really would go black and fill with silver stars. ‘I'm sorry, Chris,' she said quietly. ‘I must be being particularly dense, but what the hell are you talking about?'

Muriel liberated a glass of water from the chairman's end of the table and handed it to her.

‘Oh, you haven't done it yourself! You're far too clever for that! You got your boyfriend to do it for you!'

Before she could think what she was doing she looked at Jake. He shook his head so slightly she could hardly see the movement, and then she realised. It was Simon.

‘Oh yes,' Chris Mowbray went on. ‘Your boyfriend, Simon Butcher – the estate agent. He made some very interesting enquiries on your behalf.'

‘Really, I have no responsibility for what Mr Butcher does. But I can assure you that he did not act on my behalf. I would not dream of selling my garden in order to put houses on it!'

‘See, I told you she was a Nimby,' said Gideon Freebody.

‘This is a side issue,' said Jake. ‘Now, everyone knows, I think, that I act for Mr Hunstanton, and therefore cannot be considered unbiased. But for common courtesy's sake, I would ask you all to listen to what Mrs Innes has to say without interruption.'

Chris Mowbray sighed. ‘Carry on, Mrs Innes.'

‘I propose,' said Nel, feeling both shocked and
bolstered up by Jake's support, ‘that the committee votes on whether or not we want our hospice building pulled down.'

‘Can't afford to keep it up, if you'll pardon the pun,' said Chris Mowbray.

‘And that to raise money for the upkeep of the building,' persisted Nel, ‘we divide the ransom strip into plots, to be sold to individuals.' She sent a quick glare in the direction of Chris Mowbray. ‘Which would have the effect of making it difficult for future committees to threaten to sell the building.'

‘Well, I think that's a ridiculous idea,' said Chris Mowbray. ‘But I'm keen to have a vote on whether we should maximise our opportunities, sell the hospice land and rebuild somewhere else. All those in favour of selling the hospice building and land to Mr Freebody and partners—'

Chris Mowbray looked round the table, his own hand up.

‘May I point out,' said Jake, ‘that as chairman, you don't have a vote unless it is a draw, and you need a casting vote.'

‘Oh yes. Let's see?'

Not many hands were up, although Gideon Freebody and his sidekick both tried to vote, seemingly unaware they were not entitled to.

‘Very well,' said the chairman. ‘Now, who's against?'

‘Would that be voting in favour of Nel's idea?' asked Muriel.

‘Yes.'

Most of the people Nel had lobbied put their hands up. Nel counted, and it seemed to be evenly split. She curled her fingers so that her nails bit into her palms.
If only she'd tried harder, said more, done more! The fate of the hospice now hung in the balance.

‘I reckon that's an even split, so with my vote—' Chris Mowbray began.

‘Excuse me,' said Jake, ‘I know it's not strictly my business, but I do feel it would look very bad if a vote of such importance was taken while not all the committee members are present. I gather your legal advisor is in the Maldives?'

How did he know that?
Nel scrawled to Viv.

‘I told him ages ago. He must have stored up the information,' whispered Viv.

‘So?' demanded Chris Mowbray.

‘I don't know if he'd be pleased to discover that the committee had been talked into making a decision like this when he might say they didn't have an opportunity to discuss the matter fully,' went on Jake steadily.

‘How would he know?' demanded Chris Mowbray.

‘He would read the minutes,' said Jake.

Chris Mowbray exhaled loudly, exasperated.

‘Can I suggest a compromise?' said Jake. ‘That you bring the matter up again at the next meeting?'

There was a hurried consultation between Chris Mowbray and Gideon Freebody. Nel might have been mistaken, but she thought she heard something about ‘planning permission' and it expiring.

‘No, we can't do that,' said Chris. ‘We have to decide now.'

‘There's got to be a way round this! Can I suggest a compromise?' Nel asked

‘What?' demanded Chris Mowbray.

‘That we give my idea of selling the plots a chance. If we can sell them, raise a certain amount of money,
by a certain time, it would give the community a chance to say how they felt about their hospice being pulled down. And if we fail, well then, we'll accept the inevitable.'

‘I won't,' said Muriel.

She was ignored. Chris Mowbray was looking at Nel with narrowed eyes as if plotting how to bring about her downfall. ‘Very well,' he said. ‘I'll give you a chance. If Mrs Innes raises say, ten thousand pounds,' he seemed to Nel to have thought of a figure he knew would be downright impossible to raise ‘by –' he consulted Gideon Freebody ‘the end of March, we'll discuss this again. If not, we sell. Agreed?'

Gideon Freebody sneered. ‘Why not make it the first of April, make an April Fool of the whole stupid scheme.'

‘Good idea!' said Nel rashly, refusing to be daunted by two such disgusting characters. ‘And April the first happens to be the date we've decided on to have our next fundraising event. It's to include a farmers' market, as well. All those in favour?'

Most people raised their hands, but Nel's fellow members of the fundraising committee did look at her with some bemusement.

‘You know I'm always prepared to back you up,' said Muriel. ‘But I was going on a cruise on the first of April. Now I'll have to reschedule it.'

NEL FELT AS
if she either had a very bad hangover, or was about to go down with flu. She realised it was shock. She must have looked odd too, as Viv offered to go home with her.

‘No, you go and tell Florence all about the meeting. She'll be desperate to know what I wore. I need to go home and sort my head out.'

‘OK. I'll come round later.'

‘I'll ring if I need you. I've got to see Simon.'

‘Ohmygod, I'd forgotten for a moment. Yes, of course.'

Although she was aware of his presence at every second, and thought she could avoid catching his eye, Nel found herself looking at Jake just as he was looking at her. He was putting his keys in his car just as she was doing the same. She wanted to cry, to laugh with embarrassment, to be sick, but she did nothing. She felt she should thank him for his support, but she couldn't shout her thanks across the hospice car park. She just stood there.