The Perfect House

Chapter 33: the culprit

Mrs Stein lined them up.

"Now, fortunately for you lot, my sister has a good sense of humour, so she is allowing you to stay on. She is ringing Mrs Castell to inform her."

"Great."

"Thanks, Mrs Stein."

"Beauty."

"However," the woman went on, "she has charged me with the task of giving you a telling-off. So consider yourselves told off."

Some laughs, mixed with relief. Then Harold spoke up, "I'll go and see Mrs Castell tomorrow and apologise for our trick."

"That would be good, Harold. She will probably be feeling a little affronted."

There were a few moments of silence before the less pleasant subject was broached. Flori had realised that Mrs Stein had recognised the culprit. She said quietly, "The letter is on the table over there, Mrs Stein."

She read it and sighed, "Are you going to the police?"

Harold answered, "We're not sure, Mrs Stein. We talked about it while Florina was over seeing you. It seems to be a rather amateur attempt; we suspect that it could be a student at the university."

"Yes, you're right. I saw who put the note in your letterbox; I've met him a couple of times. He started at Calmont University this year and his name is Leyton Dolman; he is Mrs Castell's nephew."

"Really!" exclaimed Bobba

"Well, that could explain a few things," Preston expressed with feeling.

"I fear so," Mrs Stein continued. "I understand that he has been something of a worry to his parents and his aunt. His mother is in poor health and his father (Mrs Castell's brother) is away a lot working on building projects. Mrs Castell has been trying to teach him the property management business."

"And perhaps innocently told him about the owner's requirements for the tenants of this house," Flori observed quietly.

"Yeah. This Leyton would probably have had a gawk at who the tenants were and then most likely picked up on you, Flori."

Harold was nodding his head, "Guys, I reckon this could be just a one-off. Whadda say that I give the letter and the identity info to Mrs Castell and let her and the kid's father deal with it?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"He's probably just an idiot. We can give him a second chance."

"I'd still like to give him a bloody good clip around the ears, but okay."

"Thank you, boys, thank you, Florina. That is kind of you; let's hope they can straighten him out. Now, Florina, this has been a rather unsettling business. Walk me home, will you please dear? I think I need to spend some time in my garden."

Watching them leave, Harold observed dryly to the others, "I somehow doubt that we would still be here if Flori hadn't become such good friends with that lady."

"Yeah, you're right. Florina to the rescue again."

"You know, I reckon that Flori is enjoying being Florina."

"For sure, and I kinda like it too. It's fun."

"It is, isn't it? She gets a bit bossy with us at times and we probably need that."

"Bobba, tidy up your room," Preston mimicked, "it's a dreadful mess. What would your mother say, or Adele for that matter, if they saw it?"

Chuckling away, they went and got a beer each to celebrate their staying.

Florina came back about half an hour later with a large bunch of flowers.