Goody Two Shoes (Invertary Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

machine.
    “I spoke to Caroline yesterday.” Josh folded his arms over his Scooby-Doo T-shirt. “She said it’d take weeks to get permission for the renovation. How come you guys are here this morning?”
    “Ah.” The old man shuffled his work boots. “You don’t know our Caroline. It may take you weeks to get the permits you need, but Caroline has a way of getting things done on her schedule. And she wants the work to start today.”
    “Why are you ripping up the hall carpet?” Mitch was banging around with the coffee machine. “We only want to renovate the main room. That’s where the building should be taking place.”
    The small man dug around in the pocket of his shabby white overalls and came out with a crumpled piece of paper.
    “It doesn’t say anything here about renovation. This is a restoration job. Caroline herself told me that we’re to get the castle back into its natural state as fast as possible. She said, ‘Get rid of the ugly carpet and unearth the mouldings, and while you’re at it find a rubbish dump for the TV.’ I’m just following orders.” He shoved the paper back into his pocket. “Don’t worry. We know what we’re doing. We’re the crew that helped Caroline restore Macgregor’s folly a while back. You don’t need to worry; the place will soon look like a proper castle.”
    Josh stared at the man. “But I like it the way it is. All I need is a sound room.”
    The old man chuckled. “You’d best be taking that up with Caroline. She said she was in charge of the project and we take our orders from her.”
    “I own the damn castle,” Josh pointed out.
    “Ah.” The old man nodded. “But you don’t own Caroline. No offence, but I’m more scared of her than I am of you, so I’ll be following her orders until I hear otherwise.”
    With that, he put his cap back on and went off down the hall. Josh stared after him.
    “She’s restoring the castle,” he said, more to himself than anyone else.
    Mitch came round to sit beside him. “I recall her saying, ‘I’ll do it for the castle, what I say goes, you can’t interfere.’ And you said, ‘Done.’” Mitch took a long gulp of scalding coffee. “As your friend, manager and lawyer, I’d like to point out yet again that this is one of your more insane ideas.”
    “Can she do this?” Josh felt bewildered.
    Somebody shouted “timber” and there was a loud crash.
    “She is doing this,” Mitch pointed out.
    Josh frowned in the direction of the noise. “We might have to sort out some of the details in this arrangement.”
    “You think?” Mitch mumbled before finishing his coffee.
     
    Caroline couldn’t abide it when things didn’t run according to plan, and she abhorred rudeness. She looked at her watch for the third time. Making people wait was extremely rude. Her assistant, Beth, was seven minutes late, which made Caroline seven minutes late for her meeting with the vicar. And Caroline Patterson was never late.
    “You need to calm down, girl,” Archie McPherson told her again. “Something is going to pop in that pretty head of yours and you’ll spend the rest of your life in a nice white jacket that buttons up the back.”
    “I am calm. I’m always calm.”
    “No, you’re controlled. That’s something else entirely.”
    Caroline pursed her lips at the man who had been her grandfather’s best friend. “I’m not controlled. I’m in control. There’s a subtle difference.”
    She pushed back her shoulders and picked a piece of lint from the front of her grey A-line skirt. She loved this skirt. She wasn’t sure what the material was, but it was indestructible. It never needed ironing and liquids seemed to roll off it. It was the best second-hand bargain she’d ever picked up.
    Archie sat back in his chair and smiled at her, making Caroline wonder why she’d bothered to leave her office to say hello to the domino boys. The other three men at the table watched with amusement. They’d been present at