Chapter 03

Water Falls

On Tuesday the original house section is far enough advanced Pat can start getting the rainwater downpipe installed. Until the gutters are in place all he can do is attach the back half of the brackets to the uprights and bolt them into place. Wednesday he attaches the first section of pipe to the drain from the roof gutters. Most downpipes are only seventy-five millimetres in size but these are two hundred millimetres because the gutters are sloped to carry all of the roof’s rainwater into this one pipe and down this corner. All of the gutters are a metre wide and half a metre deep so they can hold a lot of water if there’s a very heavy downpour that overloads this one huge downpipe. Because the pipe will be hidden in the wall and very hard to get at Pat is using a stainless steel pipe for long life, which is why he’s so exacting in the fitting of it. By dinnertime on Wednesday night the inside downpipe is fitted and sealed to the guttering and bolted to the upright with the section going through the wall at an angle of only thirty-five degrees from upright. The hardest part in this was the drilling of the hole through the sandstone because he couldn’t do that until he had the rest of the pipe fitted. But that’s now done with the pre-angled section through the wall and attached to the upper pipes from the gutters. Tomorrow’s job will be to install the tanks after their arrival then to attach the sections to go from this piece to the inlet of the first tank.

Thursday afternoon the tanks arrive just as Pat is finishing his lunch. The delivery truck has a built in hoist that’s just high enough to lift the tanks into the building. The first tank goes in and the deliveryman goes inside to see it’s settled into place on the special frames installed when the building was built. After a little adjustment all is OK. Next is the second tank which is set a half metre higher. The pipes for the overflow from the higher tank to the lower tank and from that tank to the drain are put in place and secured, so are the outlet pipes. Only then are the tanks securely strapped down and the insulating foam sprayed about them. Once it sets the foam helps to keep them in place and in shape.

Pat installs the inlet pipe from the downpipe to the higher tank inlet. Only one more part to attach and he’s done, but first he places a secure cap over the end of the pipe, and he signals for Alice to let the men on the roof know she’s turning on the hose they’ve taken up to the roof.

The hose runs until one of the men on the roof calls down they’ve got water backed up into all the gutters and have added the bright food colouring to the water. While the roof workers check the guttering for leaks by looking at each joint from underneath them Pat goes back over his work looking for leaks as well. None are found in the system so he takes the cap off to let the water run into the tank. The next task is for the hose to be lowered back down and fed to him to put water into the lower tank. Alice turns it back on at his command and they run the water for several minutes before checking the outlet pipes of both tanks for leaks. When none are found the water is turned off, the hose put away, and Pat dumps in the chemicals the company said to put in the first water into the tanks.

Now all he has to do is put on the roof. Eve and Alice pass up two of the steel roof trusses which Pat sets in place at each end of the roof to see where the wall frame has to be attached so he can mark the spot. Next up is the frame to be bolted to the main building for the trusses to attach to, and he bolts it into place. By the time that’s done it’s dinnertime.

Pat has no uni work due for submission tomorrow so after dinner he’s back at work on the roof by using a bright LED lantern to see by. Alice and Eve help with passing up the trusses when he wants them while Dean helps by bringing small parts up the ladder when needed. By nine in the evening the roof is ready for the powder-coated corrugated steel sheets to go on.

When Pat gets home on Friday afternoon he’s surprised to see the roof on the addition is finished. When he gets out of the car the work crew supervisor says, “We had a delay on the roof work this morning so a few of the guys did that for you instead of sitting around. Your mother gave them a case of beer as thanks, so they consider themselves well paid for the work.”

Pat laughs before saying, “Thanks,” and going inside for lunch.

Now all he has to do is to come up with eight sets of doors and they’ll be at the lock-up stage.

Living Decisions

Over lunch Pat and Eve have a discussion about the types and numbers of doors they need. Alice asks, “Why is there a question about the number of doors because now you only have four exterior doors?”

Eve grins while she replies, “We can leave the interior doorways as open archways or we can install doors in them the same as the exterior doors or different to the exterior doors. We need to choose what look we want to have in the finished interior, and the doors will affect that.”

Pat says, “Well, the big question there is how you intend to operate within the finished building. If you want to set up different areas to be segregated or not? That’ll affect if you need any doors and what types.” They talk about the Mansion’s interior usage and layout quite a bit, and that moves onto a talk about the long term residence for Eve and Pat.

Alice asks, “When you move back into the main house can Dean and I stay on here in The Cottage. We don’t want to move back to the farm because there’s a bit of a problem there.”

Eve says, “Well, actually, I’m thinking about staying in The Cottage myself because I now prefer it to the old house.”

Pat leans back to think on this, he also thinks on the letter he got in the mail during the week which he hasn’t mentioned to anyone yet. After a few minutes thought while the ladies continue talking he asks, “Are the two of you happy with the way we’ve been living here in this cottage the last few months? Because, if you are, we can set up to be living like this on a permanent basis. There’s a couple of rooms we don’t use because we’ve seen this as being a temporary arrangement, but we can clean them up and sort the place out if it’s to be permanent.”

Alice turns to him and says, “I’ve no issue with it but I shouldn’t be living with you on a permanent full-time basis because it’ll only make Sean angrier than he is.” Eve looks up at the comment and she wonders what it’s about as neither of them have spoken to her about the issue of Dean’s parentage.

Pat gives a wry smile and says, “Actually, I think you should live with us permanently, and Sean is going to have to apologise to you.” He gets odd looks from both ladies: Eve because she doesn’t understand, and Alice because she’s now aware Pat knows the details of the trouble. He half grins and adds, “One of the things I did when you first moved into town was to take Dean to the doctor. As well as the few shots he needed for school he was given a full check-up plus some blood samples were taken and sent away for testing.” He turns to Eve, “Sean is angry with Alice because he thinks she was cheating on John. I brought them in here to get them out of the bad atmosphere there and to have Dean DNA tested.”

He stops to take a drink of hot chocolate before adding, “I got the DNA test results in the mail earlier this week. Dean is a Murphy, that’s clear. However, there is a side issue.” Both Eve and Alice are looking at him, especially Alice because she knows about the blood group issue and suspects something is wrong somewhere. “The results make it very clear Alice did not cheat on John while he was alive, which is what Sean’s problem is. However, old Samuel has a lot to answer for.” Alice’s face goes pale and then deep red when she gets the full meaning of what Pat is saying. “When John died Samuel sent me over to get Alice drunk and to see she didn’t commit suicide. We both got drunk that night.”

Eve laughs and says, “I remember the terrible hangover you had the next day. I was going to say something to you about drinking, but I felt the hangover was doing a better job of it.”

Pat nods, “It sure did. But blame Samuel and Alice for me being drunk. He sent me over with top line whisky and she insisted I drink the good scotch as well.” Eve laughs again. “However, the long and the short of it is Dean was born a bit premature and is my son. So I want him to live with us. I’ve no idea how we’re going to tell him this.”

By now Alice has worked it out from what Pat had said a moment ago, but the statement on parentage catches Eve by surprise and her jaw drops open. She gulps and says, “Damn, that was unexpected! I’m too young to be a grandmother!” Which makes Alice laugh as she needs a good laugh right now, and Pat joins her in the laughter. After a moment Eve starts laughing too.

A few minutes later they’ve settled down and agree they all want to live in The Cottage on a permanent basis, so the ladies now have to look at cleaning it up properly and clearing out the rooms full of stored gear so they can set up house properly. Pat leaves them to that because he figures they want to talk about this revelation about Dean, so he goes over to see how the work on the big house is going.

When he watches the workmen he thinks about the house paddock and all of the buildings in it while considering options on how to best use the buildings for the future of the Trust and the Michaels Clan. With the decision made about them living in The Cottage it opens up more options on what to do with the main house because he had planned to set aside a floor or two half floors for their own use, but not now. He needs to sit down and go over the possible options in finer detail while drawing possible layouts. He’s a reasonable draughtsman, but has real issues with seeing how a plan will work if he doesn’t have it on paper in front of him.

After checking on the house Pat goes to the garage because he figures he can go through some of the stuff found in the old basement while he thinks. He doubts there’s much there he’ll need to think a lot about, and if there is it’ll take his mind off his current issues.

Stored Surprise

When the gear was stored in the garage Pat gave it no more than a glance because he was more concerned with moving it than anything else. He now sets about re-stacking it to take up less space and to see if there’s anything he should have a close look at right now.

Two hours later he has about half of it repacked with several large trunks set aside for a closer examination. He decides to have a bit of a rest by getting a drink and checking the contents of a few of the trunks. He’s interested in three that look the same as one his father has because it has a hidden compartment for important documents.

Pat is going through the second trunk while his half consumed drink sits on the top of the trunk he just finished checking when he opens the hidden compartment to find two piles of letters and a bundle of cash. When he puts the bundle of old twenty pound notes aside he wonders if the bank will cash them or if he’s better selling them to a collector. The letters are a collection of love letters so they go aside for his mother to read as she’ll enjoy reading them. Just a few minutes later he’s repacked everything else into the trunk and he’s stacking it on top of the first one he checked after he shifts his drink.

Five minutes later he’s checking the third trunk with a hidden section he knows how to open is unpacked and he’s opening the compartment. He gets out a bundle of papers and goes through them. He stops to stare at the paper in his hand, the third or fourth last one. Gulping hard he puts the document in his shirt pocket as he looks at the rest of the papers before repacking the chest. After a few minutes to repack the trunk he’s walking into The Cottage with the papers in his hand.

Alice and Eve are sitting at the kitchen table having a cold drink when he walks in. Pat drops the letters on the table while saying, “You may like to read these in a moment. I’m just going to have a quick shower, can you ring Will Dunn and tell him I’m on my way in for an urgent talk, please, Mum?” Eve nods yes, and he turns to go have a shower because it’s been hot and heavy work in the garage so he really needs a shower.

Five minutes later he’s in the car and heading to see the trustee.

Walking into the solicitors Pat is told by the receptionist, “Mister Dunn is with a client but he told me to let him know the moment you arrived and to ask you to wait in the conference room.” Pat nods and he turns to enter the conference room while she picks up the phone.

Pat is hardly settled into a chair when Will Dunn walks in and asks, “What’s so urgent?”

Pat grins as he replies, “Please confirm a few facts for me first. David Sean Michaels died during the Second World War with no wife, child or heirs, and his will gave all of his property to the Trust. Correct!”

“That matches my memory of the records, but I can check the will as it’s in our files.” He picks up a phone and he asks for it to be found.

“The old style Interest Bearing Deposits with the banks requires you to hand in the deposit certificate to claim the money, don’t they?”

Will’s eyes go wide when he puts the two pieces of data together, “Did you find an old certificate made out to David?”

Putting his hand in his pocket Pat pulls out the document he stared at for so long in the garage and he hands it over to Will while asking, “How much would five thousand pounds invested in an IBD in nineteen thirty-five be worth today? As you can see on this, it was an annual maturity with an automatic reinvestment unless claimed within a month of the maturity date.” Will takes the paper and he checks it over with great care.

After reading it Will leaves the room, and a moment later he’s back with his phone book to look up a number. He makes a call, when it’s answered he says, “Dan, I’m looking at a very old IBD from your bank. Will you please check what your records have to say about it,” then he gives him the certificate number and date. He hangs up and says, “Dan will call us back in a few minutes.”

David’s will arrives and is examined. Yes, all of his assets go into the Trust because he had no direct heirs. It’s another ten minutes before the phone rings, and it’s Dan, the manager of the local Commonwealth Bank, so Will puts the call on speaker phone mode.

“You like stirring the shit up, don’t you, Will?” Is Dan’s comment. “I checked the records and we have one showing the certificate was paid out in nineteen fifty, but the certificates book shows it still out. I gather you’re looking at the original certificate right now!”

“Yes, Dan. I’ve got it in my hand at the moment. It was just found in the personal affects of a man who died in combat in nineteen forty-four. So there’s no way he collected it six years later, and the heirs didn’t know about it until they found it this afternoon while going through a lot of old family records and things in storage.”

“Shit. Head Office isn’t going to like this. It looks like someone knew he was dead and the certificate was misplaced, then they took the money out for themselves.” They wait a moment while they hear him playing with a keyboard. He comes back on the line, “I shouldn’t say this, but the system tells me if that five thousand pounds had been reinvested each year, the way it was supposed to be, it’d be worth close to six million bucks now. Lock it up in your safe. I’m going to call Head Office and tell them what we have. I’m sure they’ll send an expert down to check it out and to check our files, then some brown matter will be slamming into the rotating air movement device.” They all laugh at his comment on the trouble they’re starting, and Dan hangs up after a few more words.

Will looks at Pat while saying, “I do think you just found the money to do the restoration work. I suspect one of the older senior staff knew about David and took the money, but that’s their problem and not ours. If they offer a decent amount to buy this back right away I’ll take it and be done with the matter.” Pat nods his agreement.

A few minutes later Pat leaves with a receipt for the certificate and a photocopy of it while Will locks the original up in his personal safe in the firm’s strongroom. They both want it kept safe and secure.

When he gets back home Pat tells Eve and Alice about the find and its value, surprising them both. However, they show more interest in the old love letters they’re reading. So much interest Pat phones out for a delivery of Chinese food for dinner for them all because it’s late enough to eat and the ladies have done nothing about getting a meal ready.

Note: Three weeks later, after checking all of their records, the bank makes noises about the investment being paid out, but they end up buying the certificate back for four and a half million dollars. The old bank notes are in very good condition and are sold to collectors for just over ten thousand dollars.

Since all this is, legally, just a sale of its negotiable assets the Trust doesn’t have to pay any taxes on any of the money they get. Despite them not knowing they had the assets until now.

Council Capers

Another event during this time is an interesting letter from the local council reminding Pat he has only a few days left to pay his minor development application fee if he wishes to avoid fines. The notice is a shock because Pat hasn’t lodged any applications yet, nor has Will.

The afternoon Pat visits the Council to sort the matter out he’s given the applications forms. The clerk tells him he’s supposed to sign them before he lodges them and would he mind doing so in future. While Pat reads the forms Henry Jamieson walks over and quietly says, “After your last visit I spoke with the Town Planner, then we raised these forms and put them in for you. He had them processed, despite being unsigned. You may notice the papers are dated a week before the fire. This way, when Sydney asks about post fire applications we can say you’ve not put any in and the only work is within what you applied for before the fire.”

Pat grins while he reads and signs the forms before he writes the cheque for the fees, back dating the cheque to the date on the application. He takes it all back to the clerk to hand her the forms and cheque while apologising for not sending the cheque in with the forms because he forgot to. She takes it all and processes it before giving him a receipt.

The fun thing about the application is it’s for the owner to alter the placement of, and construction of, interior walls that aren’t structural or weight-bearing. It also notes all pipes or cables for power and utilities will be moved by licensed experts and not the owner. No mention is made of the installation of any new ones; not for or against. In short, he has a back dated approval to do anything with the interior walls and to run any new cables or pipes he wants. He doesn’t need to lodge plans for the new interior layout now because it’s all covered by this approval.

Henry walks Pat to the door and says, “We do not want to know anything about what you’re doing to make the building stable. Just get it to the point the people from Sydney can’t see anything to complain about before they think to come and have a look in a few months.” Pat nods his agreement before he walks out of the Council offices.

Status Review

Pat is reviewing the situation with the Manor while driving home from the university. It’s three months since the fire and Serge’s people are packing up the last of their gear now the roof is done. Things will be slow for a few weeks as it’s now late November and Pat is very busy getting ready for the end-of-year exams. The building is now safe and secure with its strong steel girdle, new windows, new roof, and sheets of thick plywood blocking the four doorways. Inside it’s a hollow shell with steel grids for floors. All of the exterior work on the building itself is done, except for the doors. Plus the extension for the water tanks and power, and the extra work to make the doorways look nicer is finished.

All he has left to do is the interior and the grounds, and it’s finished. Except he’s not made up his mind about what to do with them yet. He very wisely decides to include the ladies in the grounds discussion, but it can wait a few days. Pat sighs as he hopes the State Heritage people are busy elsewhere so they don’t come down until well into next year.

The new development is doing well. All of the roads, services, and fences are in with no above ground cables. Fourteen houses are up to the finishing touches and are already sold. People will be moving in over the coming month. Serge’s crews are busy building the Trust’s houses and the strip of eight houses along the short side. Serge is balancing the work for the Trust against the house sales to maximise the work done before he has to hand over any cash. At the current rate of work all of the houses will be finished by the end of January of the coming year.

Serge and Pat agree to put in the playground equipment as part of the park deal; which makes the Council happy and many of the locals in the area are also happy about it being done. The park was the first thing completed and it was in use while the roads were still being made.

The insurance money is in to pay the bills to date with a bit still in the Trust for the work. However, the money from the 1935 investment will be in before Pat has to ramp up his costs for the interior work. All is going well right now, so it’s a good time to concentrate on other issues.

Interlude

Planning the Grounds

At breakfast the Saturday following Serge’s people moving off-site because they’ve finished their current work on the main house Pat asks Eve and Alice, “What do you think we should do about the grounds? I want them to be as low maintenance as possible.”

Eve looks up and says, “A large part will have to be taken over as car parking for the residents and I want some nice high fences for privacy on the boundary as well as between The Cottage and the main house.”

Alice adds, “We want to make sure what we put in looks nice and fits in as well. How about some hedges or something similar. And can we put in some citronella plants to discourage the annoying insects.”

Pat grins because they all seem to be on the same wavelength as far as the general plans, but he needs ideas for specifics. “Well, I think we all have the same basics in mind. However, I need specific ideas and leads on items. So what say we all do some Internet research this morning then discuss it again at lunch.” Both of the ladies nod their agreement.