“At least the postman knows where to find the place,” said Adrian.
In front of him, Lenny laughed softly. He used the light from his phone to check through a couple of the items. Stopping at one of them, he tore open the envelope.
“Will you look at this,” he said, waving a sheet of paper at Adrian. “It’s a bill from the electricity company in my dad’s name. Looks as though he pays all the bills automatically through my parents’ joint account. Can you try the light?”
Adrian reached over and tried the switch, which came on instantly, flooding the hallway with light.
“That’s going to make checking the place over a little easier,” said Adrian. “I was going to ask if you had a torch in the car. But we ought to make sure the electricity is switched off when we leave. This house would make a perfect home for squatters.”
As they moved forwards, the scents of dust and neglect hit Adrian. A narrow staircase with a thin worn carpet led upstairs, while doors led off either side at the front and one down a narrow corridor to the back of the house. Leonard took the first door on the right and flicked on a light to reveal a spacious room that ran the length of the building, with a large fireplace in the centre.
Without furniture, the huge space appeared abandoned and soulless. Apart from the linoleum flooring—the only touch of colour in faded green and grey—the walls and ceiling had been painted in powdery matte white paint, shadowy cobwebs filling the corners.
“Bloody hell. Looks as inviting as a doctor’s surgery,” said Lenny, somewhat unkindly.
“Don’t look at what it is, look at what it could be, Lenny. That fireplace, for example. With that old three-bar electric fire it looks like something my great-grandmother would have considered hi-tech. And why paint everything white? Beneath a couple of coats of paint, I’ll bet there’s an old black-iron fireplace, and those painted-over tiles are probably originals. I doubt you’d be able to have a real fire now—chimney flues will be blocked off for sure—but there are plenty of gas fires produced these days that resemble coal or log fires. Odd, though. Usually there’d be alcoves either side of the chimney stack, not flat, flush walls.”
Adrian went over, tapped his knuckle on the wall on the right side of the fireplace and produced a hollow clunking sound.
“Plywood. Maybe the previous owner did that to make things easier when they wanted to wallpaper or repaint. Shame though. Little features like alcoves with armchairs or places to showcase an antique chest of drawers are focal points. Looks as though they wanted this place as low maintenance as possible, which makes sense if it was a holiday home. Even with all that, the main thing that strikes me straight away is the light. I know it’s a bloody awful day, but look how much daylight comes into the place from the front and back. Amazing. Can you imagine this place on a summer’s day?”
For the first time since they had entered the room, Adrian turned to look at Lenny. Arms folded, his glare followed the line of old linoleum, which had begun to crack and peel away from the skirting board.
“Hey, Lenny,” said Adrian, catching Lenny’s attention. “Stop nitpicking and see the bigger picture.”
“Have you noticed what’s missing?”
Adrian looked at the wide-open space, up at the ceiling with beautiful coving and picture rail. Even decorative plaster moulded roses around the light fittings.
“I’m not following.”
“Why is there no furniture? Did my aunt not approve of leaving fixtures in the house?”
“Is there supposed to be furniture? Maybe check with your solicitor, in case there’s an inventory,” said Adrian. “Perhaps it’s in storage. She may have worried about burglars breaking in and stealing things.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Come on, Lenny. Let’s see what state the kitchen’s in.”
Adrian’s suggestion had been meant to get Lenny away from the main room and possibly brighten his mood, but entering the rounded archway into the kitchen left Adrian speechless. Probably last remodelled in the eighties—maybe before that even—the long room had teal-painted units and kitchen backsplash tiles in orange and brown that might have been tasteful once, but Adrian seriously doubted it. Nevertheless, a couple of things stood out for Adrian. An original fixture, the square sink of thick white porcelain appeared original and, on a quick inspection, flawless. If Lenny did decide to keep the house, the basin had to stay, Adrian would make sure of that.
All of the countertops had updated electrical sockets. Some houses he had worked on in Drayton had old round pin- plug sockets. On the plus side, this meant Lenny might not need to rewire the whole house.
Also, the ancient refrigerator was almost as tall as Leonard, and the four-ring gas stove and oven, although old and, in all honesty in need of replacement, looked in working order.
Adrian walked over and opened the fridge door, an action he instantly regretted and he slammed the thing shut. By then the acrid smell of staleness had filled the air.
“We’re going to have to give that a thorough clean before we switch the thing on to see if it works. If you want to keep it, that is.”
“It’ll do for now. But put cleaning equipment down on your mental list.”
“Done. How about we take a look upstairs.”
Upstairs turned out to be pretty standard with minimal decoration. Two larger bedrooms and a smaller one, together with a family bathroom. Each of the rooms had similar metal bed frames with stain-mottled mattresses that had seen better days.
“These are king-sized frames. Nothing special, cast iron, robust enough,” said Adrian. After surveying the room, he lifted the corner of a mattress to check the state of the base, a criss-cross of metal links. He had seen similar designs in some of the houses he had renovated, sturdy and well made. When he turned to Lenny to speak, he noticed him on the far side of the bed and hesitated. Lenny scanned the light fitting before moving towards the window at the view beyond.
“Amazing sight, isn’t it?” said Adrian. “Even with those storm clouds.”
