Page 49 of Tears of Ink

“You find the one you want, and I’ll organise it.”

“Thank you.” I grin at him and turn for the door, my head held high in the air and my nose pointed in the opposite direction to the Wicked Witch of the West.

We work our way down the endless plush carpets to what I’m realising is the old staff quarters out back. Every so often, I stop to stare at one of the dark and foreboding portraits on the walls.

“It’s like they’re watching you, isn’t it?” Tabitha says.

“It’s bloody creepy.” I point to one plump woman in black. “She looks like she’s eaten her husband and is mourning her last meal.”

Tabitha chuckles and I cast a curious glance over her.

“Have you ever been in a portrait?” I ask. I wonder if somewhere around here there’s a gilt framed canvas hanging with Elijah on it.

“When we were kids.” She shrugs.

“I have to see.” I turn, looking closer at the wall hangings. “Where is it?”

“Faith, shouldn’t we be sorting out the studio? People are going to be here tomorrow.”

She’s right, I need to stay focused. This is all I have at the moment. There is nothing for me to run back to or run forward to.

We turn to the left, leaving the main house behind. “Do you think Elijah will be here tomorrow?” I attempt nonchalance, but I don’t miss her small smile. “I think he should be, seeing it’s his project.”

She nods, but then her pretty face fall serious. “I hope so, but I don’t know. He’s working on a horrible case at the moment.”

“What?” We are nearly at the outhouses, but I slow my steps down. “What do you mean horrible?”

Her face crumples with agitation. “I don’t know much about it; the family always treat me like a baby, Elijah especially. He wants to protect me.”

“Well that’s stupid, how old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

I remember what I was like at eighteen. There was nothing innocent left about me, it had all blown away in the sands of time and disappointment.

“Do you not know anything about the case?”

“Only what I’ve eavesdropped on.” She flushes but I hold my hand up for a high five and she giggles. I stare at my palm expectantly. “Top marks for initiative.”

“It’s the only way I hear anything, it’s how I know about Elijah and…” My ears prick up, but she stops herself talking. Her lips jam shut. Elijah and what?

“So, the case?” I push on the door of the studio I worked in yesterday afternoon.

“It’s a sexual harassment case.”

“What? Why? Wouldn’t that be a police matter?”

She shrugs. “That’s all I know.”

I let it go, ignoring the tightening in my stomach. “Come and see what I did yesterday.” I grab her arm and tug her in. There, in the middle of the room, is my earthenware statue.

She snorts with laughter, stepping closer and peering at it in detail. “Is that my grandmother?”

I laugh and keep my voice innocent. “No, it’s Medusa.”

Tabitha raises an eyebrow and smirks.

“What can I say? She made me bloody mad.”