Стивен Бут - Blind to the Bones

Peak Water was a small operation, which surely couldn’t survive much longer without being swallowed up by one of the larger companies that had come to dominate water supply since privatization. Its offices in Glossop occupied the upper floors of a timber-framed building near the town’s market square. There was a building society on the ground floor.

Ben Cooper had made an appointment with someone called J. P. Venables. The medieval appearance of the building’s black-and-white timbers must have given him false expectations. To his surprise, Venables turned out to be a man in his thirties, not much older than Cooper himself, but rather overweight, as if he had done a sedentary job all his life. He had shed his suit jacket to reveal a waistcoat with fancy coloured panels, and he wore glasses with tiny rectangular frames.

‘Waterloo Terrace,’ he said, ‘is not the most prestigious property in our portfolio.’

‘They were originally railway workers’ houses, weren’t they?’ said Cooper.

‘Yes. But of course they weren’t required after the stations closed, and they were taken over by Peak Water, which also owns most of the land up there.’

‘I’m interested in your tenants at Waterloo Terrace. Particularly members of the Oxley family.’

Venables smiled. ‘Now, there’s a surprise. I must be psychic.’

‘Sir?’

He pointed to a stack of manila files that lay ready on his desk. ‘As soon as I heard the words “Waterloo Terrace” and “police”, I found my hand moving of its own accord towards the “O” section of my filing cabinet. I wonder how that happened? It’s uncanny.’

‘You’ve had a lot of dealings with the Oxleys?’

‘Hasn’t everybody?’

‘Did you know some of their neighbours in Withens have made complaints about them?’ said Cooper.

Venables hesitated. ‘Yes, we’ve had a few complaints, which we’ve spoken to Mr Oxley about.’

‘Some of the boys have been in court several times.’

‘If there was substantial evidence that they were causing a nuisance to their neighbours, then we might have to take action under their tenancy agreement.’

‘You could evict them then?’

‘In certain circumstances, yes.’

‘I think that’s what some of their neighbours would like.’

‘We keep the situation under review. We have to, if we keep getting complaints. But it’s only the immediate neighbours that are our concern. Other tenants of ours.’

‘But all the Oxleys live next door to each other. They only have one immediate neighbour in Waterloo Terrace.’

‘Well, of course, that’s quite convenient for everyone,’ said Venables.

‘Convenient?’

‘Mmm.’

Venables leaned back in his chair. He looked too relaxed. The water company man had shiny nostrils. When he tilted his head up towards Cooper, he felt as though he was caught in the glare.

‘Every time you get a complaint, does someone speak to Lucas Oxley about it?’ asked Cooper.

‘We try to. There’s quite a dossier of reports now. I suppose I could get permission for you to see them if you wanted to. But from what I recall, the interviews with Mr Oxley aren’t terribly enlightening.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind. But I think I can imagine the sort of responses you got.’

‘There’s Oxley and his wife, and the old man, and all those other members of his family. They seem to form a sort of barrier around themselves, and no amount of argument or appeals to common sense will get through.’

‘Has Lucas Oxley ever accused Peak Water of being part of some conspiracy against him and his family?’

‘I believe that accusation appears in the reports a few times,’ said Venables.

‘It’s understandable, don’t you think?’

‘No. What do you mean? There’s no conspiracy.’

‘I mean, it’s understandable that it should seem that way to the Oxleys. To them, it must look as though everyone is against them, and no one is on their side.’

Venables shrugged. ‘I can’t help that. They’ve only themselves to blame, after all.’

‘Perhaps,’ said Cooper. ‘Hasn’t anyone tried explaining this to the Oxleys?’

‘We’ve written to them several times,’ said Venables.

‘And?’

‘We’ve never had a reply.’

‘But did nobody call on Lucas Oxley to talk to him personally?’

‘Well, you’ve seen yourself what he’s like. He sent our man away with a flea in his ear and threatened to set the dog on him.’

‘He probably didn’t understand what it was you wanted.’

‘His behaviour was extremely unreasonable. We would have been within our rights to involve the police at that stage. People can’t go around being abusive and threatening to our staff. The company has a responsibility to its employees.’

‘And did you involve the police?’

‘No. We gave Mr Oxley another chance.’

‘Which means?’

‘We wrote to him again.’

‘Great.’

‘We warned him about his behaviour in the clearest terms and told him that he was in breach of his tenancy agreement. We gave him ten days to contact us to arrange a meeting at which the situation could be discussed. We told him we hoped it could be settled amicably on both sides.’

‘To which I suppose you got no reply?’

‘No. So then we sent him a final warning. Same result. So, regretfully, we began court proceedings.’

‘I see.’

‘You have to realize that this thing has gone on for months and months. We do try to be patient, but we really haven’t the time to be dealing with people like the Oxleys, who refuse to see sense. Whatever the consequences are for the family from here on, they will have brought it on themselves, I’m afraid.’

‘So you said.’

Venables shrugged again. ‘We’ve followed the proper procedures, every step of the way. We’ve bent over backwards to accommodate the Oxleys and come to some mutually acceptable arrangement with them. They can have no grounds for complaint about the way the company has dealt with them. Court proceedings were a last resort.’

‘What about the question of the water catchment area? Is Waterloo Terrace a problem? I understand there was a farm that had to be moved recently.’

‘Withens is quite different from Crowden,’ said Venables. ‘The farm had a flock of over a thousand sheep. Besides, it was right by the A628, and there were safety concerns about slow-moving tractors and agricultural machinery having to use a busy road like that, with heavy traffic on it all the time. There’s no comparison to the situation at Withens.’

‘Has the situation been explained properly to the Oxleys?’

‘Mmm. Well, I have to admit that communication might not have been as good as it should be. The fact is, there’s been a bit of a problem over jurisdiction.’

‘Sorry?’

‘We’ve been experiencing a difference of opinion with South Yorkshire over where responsibilities lie. We don’t seem to be able to resolve the situation very easily, I’m afraid. It’s causing rather a delay.’

‘So the Oxleys slip through the cracks while you argue among yourselves.’

‘I wouldn’t put it quite like that.’

‘I would.’

‘As you like. But there are procedures to be followed, and rules to be observed. We can’t just go trampling on someone else’s territory without being confident of our position. There could be legal repercussions. We have to be very careful, otherwise the company’s interests could be compromised.’

‘There’s another terrace of houses down there, isn’t there?’

‘Yes, Trafalgar Terrace. They’re void properties.’

‘Void? That’s a good word for it. I’d call them derelict. They look like a health hazard to me.’