by Jenny Kane
‘According to Thea, this might be more about getting one over on Landscape Treasures, than the site.’
‘Then the question is, do we want those sorts of people excavating here?’
Tina glanced up at Sam. ‘You’re asking my opinion?’
‘I am.’ Sam looked sheepish. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t consult you about Helen and stuff.’
‘All I wanted was a sorry.’ Tina smiled. ‘I think we should wait. Treasure Hunters are offering money but not mentioning start dates, is that right?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then we should hang on until they demand an answer. Don’t you think?’
‘Good plan. We’ll leave things as they are for a moment. In the meantime, I have a confession. I’ve done something else without talking to you first. Something rash.’
‘Go on.’
‘I’ve hired an open-top car to drive us to Worcestershire.’
Tina squeaked as she said, ‘We’re going to see your parents?’
‘You knew we were.’
‘Yes, but… we’re really going?’
‘Can you think of a better time? We have a week before the proper guests come. Tom is here, so Helen won’t feel abandoned and, most important of all, it will get meeting my parents over with. I’m tired of worrying about it.’
Aware she was gaping, Tina said, ‘You mean we’re going today? Now?’
‘Tomorrow. My parents don’t go to work in the conventional sense – we don’t need to wait until the weekend. I’ve checked with Mum, and she’s fine with the date change.’
Panic gurgled in Tina’s belly. ‘But Tom’s only just got here, and we can’t ask Mabel to feed the chickens as well as everything else and—’
‘Woody’s on holiday down here, exploring the area. I’ve asked him to come back for the day.’ Sam peered at Tina through his overlong fringe. ‘You aren’t going to get all offended that I sorted this without speaking to you first, are you? I knew you were nervous about meeting my parents. I didn’t want you to have long to worry about it.’
Flustered, and not sure whether to dash inside to see if she still liked the clothes she’d decided to wear on such a visit, or to run into Upwich for a haircut, Tina asked as gently as she could, ‘What about you going inside?’
Looping his arm around Tina’s waist, sidestepping the question, Sam steered her towards the walled garden.
‘I didn’t intend to live like this. Outside of my home, I mean.’ Sam gestured to the landscape around them. The trees were taking on a distinctly orange, red and brown hue, with the occasional evergreen confidently displaying its coat here and there. The last few flowering blooms were bravely holding on in the final vestiges of summer, fooling themselves that winter wasn’t coming, and that they’d last forever. ‘I can’t turn the clock back, however much I wish I could. What happened while I served my country wasn’t my fault, and isn’t something I should be ashamed of.’
‘I never understood why you thought it was either of those things.’ Tina kissed his cheek. ‘I just wish…’
‘Wish what?’
‘I don’t know anything about you, Sam. Not the you before Mill Grange I mean.’
Sam bit his lips, his gaze landing on the chicken run. ‘That’s because I didn’t live until I came here.’ He slipped his hand free, his expression suddenly closed. ‘I’d better go and fetch the car.’
*
Tom wasn’t sure if he really could smell the residue of burning in the air, or if it was simply because Moira had told him what had happened to the mill that had alerted his senses as he set off through Upwich, towards Mill Grange.
He couldn’t believe he’d got the job. It had certainly been the most relaxed interview he’d ever had. When the email inviting him to interview had arrived, saying the process would be in three parts, Tom had almost turned it down, convinced he’d never get through the initial stage, let alone the other two. Now, as he strolled through the quintessentially Devonian village – despite it being in Somerset – Tom was increasingly glad he hadn’t bottled out.
Moira, a mine of local information, had chatted happily about what Upwich had to offer, from the tea rooms opposite, to the local produce in the shop, the nearness of Exmoor’s endless beauty and even, she’d added with a flourish, the village school.
It was the village school comment that had caught his attention, and as he walked, Tom found himself picturing Dylan there. He wasn’t sure what the primary schools in Tiverton would be like, but they had to be better than the place he’d have gone to if Sue had stayed in Swindon, where Ofsted had imposed special measures.
He’d never understood why Sue had said she’d be happy to send their son there. But there were a lot of things about his ex that he didn’t understand. Like her sudden move to Devon. At least that was something he approved of; her decision to stay in one place now that Dylan had reached school age.
Pausing to watch a pheasant cross the track in front of him, Tom smiled. Dylan would love to watch the local wildlife and explore the grounds of his new workplace. He was seeing his son at the weekend; perhaps they’d have a trip out here, if Sam and Tina didn’t mind.
Rounding the final bend in the manor’s driveway, pleased that Sam had wanted him to start work straight away, Tom found himself wondering if the woman with the shock of red curly hair would be there today.
She looked great in dungarees.
*
Tina was already wishing Thea hadn’t left for Cornwall. If ever she’d needed her friend’s calming presence, it was now. ‘I can’t be ready by tomorrow.’
Yes I can. I can do today’s and tomorrow’s Trust work today. I can move the meeting I’ve got with Mabel about the guests’ meals from Thursday to Friday, and then I can wash my hair and have a bath. I’ll decide on clothes while I’m in the bath.
Having sternly addressed her reflection in the age-spotted bathroom mirror, Tina’s mind filled with the closed expression on Sam’s face when she’d admitted she felt left out of his previous life.
Maybe I won’t go with him tomorrow.
The idea filled her with sadness. Even though she loved Sam, and she was sure he loved her, she hadn’t seen him make any effort to battle his claustrophobia for weeks, and every time she mentioned anything that pertained to his life before Mill Grange, he clammed up.
She asked her reflection. ‘Do I want to spend my life with someone I don’t know?’
Thirty-Two
September 23rd
Thea could have kissed her sat nav as it confidently announced, “You have reached your destination,” having led her to the Guron Estate in one go, without a single invented left turn or fictitious roundabout.
Her straightforward journey, however, had not prevented nerves from building in Thea’s chest as she edged closer to Shaun’s current place of work. Swinging her car through the estate’s wide-open double iron gateway, she found herself proceeding along a winding driveway that made Mill Grange’s look like it wasn’t even trying. The path afforded stunning views over the edges of Bodmin Moor, its very bleakness providing its main appeal. Thea was hardly surprised that so many timeless novels had been set there, an opinion that was enforced when the land abruptly sloped downwards, and Guron House appeared.
What Thea saw before her was the side view of a granite mansion with a fascinating mix of Elizabethan and Victorian architecture that formed a stunning landmark on the moor’s edge.
Negotiating another curve in the drive, Thea crawled the car to a halt as the front view of the house presented itself, along with the excavation itself. Shaun hadn’t been kidding when he said it had taken over the majority of the front garden. ‘Whatever made the original builder put the house so close to the church… assuming it wasn’t already lost?’
Her historical ponderings ended as quickly as they began, as she saw the unmistakable figure of Shaun in the distance. He was rising from a trench and moving towards a camera, which was being walked slowly backwards by its opera
tor.
Her palms tingled with anxiety-triggered pins and needles; Thea suddenly didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to risk interrupting to the filming, and holding things up further. On the other hand, she didn’t want to stay where she was; hovering in her car like some sort of wheeled stalker.
Heading for the lay-by about a hundred yards nearer to the house, she pulled in and parked. Hooking her bag onto her shoulder, Thea took two steps towards the site, and then turned back. Taking a pad and pen from her bag, she scribbled a note to leave in the window screen saying who she was, why she’d abandoned her car, and where she was going.
Pushing images of the Sophie she’d conjured – stunningly attractive and endlessly charming – to the back of her mind, Thea strode forward, scanning the view for friendly faces. If she couldn’t go directly to Shaun, then perhaps she could find Ajay and Andy. With each step closer, the archaeologists and television crew looked less like oversized action figures and more like men and women at work. Guron House, meanwhile, maintained its majesty however close she got; towering over the older construction that was being revealed beneath its shadow.
Wishing she knew what she was going to say when she met Sophie, Thea slowed her pace. Last night, fired up by her indignation, Thea was convinced she needed to get to Shaun as soon as possible. Now she was here, she wished she’d taken time to think about how she was going to tackle ‘the Sophie situation’.
Suddenly, she heard Shaun’s voice carrying on the breeze towards her. Thea caught herself smiling as he explained how recycling building materials in the Saxon and Norman periods was common practice. I need to talk to him. We need to sort this out. Whatever this is.
Scanning the activity beyond where Shaun, a couple of cameramen, and two people holding clipboards, stood, Thea’s eyes soon hit their targets. The AA were seated at a plastic table, concentrating on the laptop in front of them. Thea edged around the outside of the activity, hoping no one would approach her before she reached the geophysics boys.
*
Sophie watched from her bedroom window. The others had been working on the site for almost four hours, despite it only being just gone eleven. Shaun was obviously desperate to leave Cornwall as soon as possible.
Her cheeks burnt crimson. Sophie had rehashed the bogus date invitation experience through her mind again and again, minute after minute, hour after hour. How could I have thought, even for a moment, I’d won him over? He didn’t say it was a date, but what else was I supposed to think it was?
Unable to face the pity of her fellow archaeologists, Sophie felt helpless as she saw the work she ought to be doing unfolding without her.
Thinking back, she’d never seen anyone drink coffee so fast. And what was worse, she hadn’t noticed at the time, chattering away between sips of latté, telling Shaun about her career dreams and how she’d had a crush on him since she was nineteen. She winced as she recalled the confused expression on his face.
The minute she’d put her empty glass onto its saucer, Shaun had asked for the bill. Before Sophie had known where she was, he’d invented a call he urgently had to make and she was back in her father’s Jag. Perhaps Shaun hasn’t told anyone. Sophie couldn’t honestly imagine he had. But what if he has?
The people in the three trenches below her could have become her friends, but she’d blown it. The chance of friendships with people her own age from the real world, a career in archaeology and an escape from the shackles of life at Guron House were all gone because she’d focused on the wrong thing. A life with Shaun Coulson.
The thought seemed to mock her. Why had I believed he was mine for the taking? Turning abruptly from her vantage point over the old church, Sophie crumpled onto the end of her bed. ‘Why did he ask me out? What was the point?’ Unless… ‘Maybe the call he needed to make was to Thea, telling her it was over? Perhaps he felt bad having a date before dumping her?’
Hearing the hope in her own voice, Sophie was suddenly furious at her neediness. She jumped to her feet and marched to the pile of celebrity magazines heaped up in the corner of the room, scooped them up in one armful, and dumped them in the cardboard box that acted as her paper recycling bin. ‘All lies!’
Glaring accusingly at the discarded magazines that preached women were stronger than men on one page, and then told you how to deliver the ultimate blowjob so you never lost your man on the next, Sophie kicked the box hard. ‘Celebrities are ordinary people doing their jobs the same as the rest of us. How dare you tell us otherwise! Your deceit has made me humiliate myself!’
With a sense of failure, knowing the magazines were just an easy target to blame, Sophie returned to the window. At first glance all seemed as it had before. Then the corner of her eye caught site of Ajay and Andy engulfing someone in an enthusiastic welcome.
Sophie couldn’t see the newcomer. The AA were hugging whoever-it-was tightly, their combined bulk shielding the visitor from view. Yet, Sophie knew exactly who it was.
Thea Thomas had come to claim her boyfriend.
*
‘It is so good to see you!’ Ajay’s face broke into a beam. ‘Shaun will be thrilled.’
Andy added, ‘And relieved! An extra pair of trusted hands.’
Thea smiled at her welcome, but couldn’t prevent the edge of trepidation that crept into her voice. ‘Has it been as bad as that?’ Thea found herself searching for someone who might be Sophie Hammett among the workforce.
Andy got up to fetch a chair from a pile propped against the storage hut. ‘You may want to sit down for this.’
‘Oh.’ Thea didn’t know what else to say as her eyes drifted to Shaun’s back as he continued to work to the camera. He didn’t know she’d arrived yet.
Ajay poured Thea a cup of coffee from a flask on the table. ‘How much has Shaun told you?’
‘Quite a bit. Mostly about being behind schedule here, and that he suspects he knows who’s behind it, but can’t prove it.’
Ajay and Andy exchanged glances. ‘We didn’t know there was a suspect. Interesting.’
Thea found herself examining each female digger in turn. ‘Shaun told me Lady Hammett was difficult about the excavation at first.’
Andy grunted. ‘Difficult is a good word for it.’
‘And the project itself, excavating the church, that’s going well? From where I left my car you get a good view of what’s been uncovered.’
Ajay waved his cup of coffee towards the viewing tower that was currently being wheeled to the opposite side of the dig. ‘Looks even better from up there.’
Thea turned towards the tower. ‘I got the impression that there was some question of damage to the site after a tarpaulin was removed.’
Andy and Ajay exchanged puzzled glances. ‘What tarpaulin?’
‘You didn’t know that someone had taken the covers off one part of the excavation, exposing the church to damage from the weather or wildlife?’
Ajay’s forehead furrowed. ‘No we didn’t. We didn’t see Shaun or Phil last night.’
Lowering her voice, Thea asked, ‘Have you two spoken to Shaun this morning?’
‘No.’ Andy clicked a few buttons on the laptop keyboard to stop the screen from going into sleep mode.
‘I thought not.’
‘Why?’
‘I’ll explain later.’ Thea stared across the dig. ‘Can you tell me which one is Sophie? Subtly like, I don’t particularly want her to know I’m here yet.’
Ajay relaxed back into his plastic chair. ‘Does that mean Shaun’s accepted my theory that the young pretender has the hots for him?’
‘He has.’ Thea grimaced. ‘He told me last night, but he doesn’t want to endanger the end of the dig, so let’s keep that to ourselves.’
‘Might be a bit late for that.’ Andy pulled a face. ‘You should see the looks she flings Shaun. Subtle, she is not.’
Ajay added quickly, ‘Shaun was oblivious by the way! Didn’t believe a word of it when I suggested he keep his distance. Teenage gi
rls in love are trouble.’
Thea gratefully digested this piece of information. ‘Shaun said she was in her twenties, not a teen.’
‘Sheltered life, so same thing in this case.’ Ajay shrugged. ‘She hasn’t turned up for work today. Odd really, because she’s been first one on site and last one to leave every day since we got here.’
Andy tapped a few more keys, changing the scene on the screen. ‘She didn’t come to the pub last night either.’ He paused. ‘You don’t think she and Shaun—?’
‘Andy!’ Ajay cut across his friend’s speculation.
Thea gazed across Bodmin’s stunning moorland landscape so they couldn’t see her expression. ‘It’s okay, I know the situation, but I’d rather not talk about it until I’ve seen Shaun.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything.’ Andy went back to tapping on his computer.
Ajay dipped his head in the direction of the house. ‘The living room curtains are twitching, but then they always are. Lady Hammett likes to pretend she’d not interested in what we’re doing, while watching us like hawks from behind the stately velvet.’
‘Could Sophie be there with her?’
‘Not likely, they don’t get on.’ Ajay spoke as if he despaired of the younger generation, despite being only twenty-four himself. ‘Sophie talks about this place as if it’s somewhere to escape from at all costs.’
‘Right.’ Thea was only half listening as she scanned the upper-floor windows. ‘Unless I’m much mistaken, she hasn’t escaped yet.’ She turned towards the house. ‘Second floor, third window from the left. Is that a shadow, or a young woman wishing she could come and rejoin the dig?’
Thirty-Three
September 23rd
The light breeze that insisted on chilling the back of Thea’s neck, making her wish she’d brought a scarf with her, dropped as she sat with Shaun beneath a rare cluster of trees on Bodmin Moor. Despite only being half a mile from the house, the air felt clearer. Something about being near Guron House was stifling.
