“Don’t tell me. It was your mother who prompted him to do it.”
She nodded. “Now, can we get on? We’ve work to do, and not much time to do it.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Sure.” He stepped aside, and they continued walking to the estate offices. He opened the door for her and she stepped inside. A dozen or so curious faces looked up at them both from around the board table. He could see their interest irritated her. She took the vacant seat at the head of the board table. No one looked surprised except him. They were obviously used to her taking charge. She hadn’t exaggerated when she said she was the estate manager and in control of all aspects of estate business.
Instead of taking a seat at the foot of the table where, no doubt, Indra had told them to place him, he remained standing. He folded his arms and leaned back against the wall, deciding he’d learn far more by watching and listening.
It was business as usual as far as he could see as they worked through the items on the agenda. But he could sense tension mounting as people shifted in their chairs and cast concerned looks Indra’s way. It seemed she could sense it, too. With each agenda item, she looked up expectantly, but nothing happened until the last item.
“Okay, last item,” said Indra, “the training center.” She looked around the room, conscious of a strained silence. Her eyes came to rest on Bill, the training manager. “Bill? Anything to report?”
Bill cleared his throat and looked at his colleagues, none of whom would meet his eye.
Indra inclined her head to one side. “Have the new horses settled in okay?” She checked her laptop. “It looks like the training is going well.”
“The trainingwasgoing well,” said Bill, in his strong Norfolk accent.
“Was?” Sebastian questioned Bill, walking behind Indra so he could see everyone. He didn’t like the sound of this. The racehorse training center was the mainstay of the estate’s finances.
All eyes switched from Indra to Sebastian.
“What do you mean ‘was’?” repeated Sebastian.
“Itwasgoing well until we received a call from Lord Bridges,” said Bill.
“Lord Bridges!” exclaimed Indra, in a voice which was hardly raised. “You received a call from Lord Bridges and you didn’t pass it to me?” Despite her quiet tone, she commanded the room and everyone’s attention switched from Sebastian to Indra, especially Bill, who’d taken the call from the training center’s biggest client.
“No, I didn’t,” said Bill sheepishly. “I was going to, but he said he was in a hurry.”
“I bet he did!” said Indra, sitting back in her chair. The only outward sign of tension was the tapping of her pen on the desk. “What exactly did he say to you?” she asked.
“Nothing much,” Bill mumbled. The shifting in his seat and sideways glances at the other estate workers contradicted his denial. “I mean, I answered the phone. We exchanged pleasantries and then he said he’d be withdrawing his horses as of next week.”
Sebastian pursed his lips and let out a slow whistle. This was, indeed, news. Bad news.
“And did he give you any reasons why?” Indra asked.
The man shrugged. “No. Just said he was taking them away on Monday.”
Indra tutted and frowned. “With Charles passing, my guess is that they think the training center has lost its leadership.”
“But I’ve been managing the training for years,” said Bill, “even before Charles became ill. And you’ve been doing all the financials.”
Sebastian was surprised. Whoever did the accounts for any venture was in charge and it seemed Indra hadn’t lied. She had a tight grip on every aspect of the estate’s business.
“Yes, but no one is aware of it,” she said grimly.
“So what are we going to do?” Bill asked. All eyes were on her for a solution. As were his.
“Do?” she asked, eyeballing each of her team in turn. He couldn’t have done it better himself. “We do whatever we have to do to keep our present clients and bring in more. That’s the only way. Because without racehorses we have no training center, no stables, no reputation and a massively reduced income.”
“And how do we do that?” a trainer asked.
Indra’s hair fell straight as a die down her back in the ponytail as she dipped her head in thought. The silence thickened. It was time to act. Time to divert the attention from this young girl to him, the new lord of the estate.
He walked around the table until he was opposite her again. There, he paused and punched the board table with his fist. That grabbed everyone’s attention.
“We have to act. We have to do whatever is necessary to keep our other clients and attract new ones. And then, maybe Lord Bridges will return,ifwe want him.”