Everything I want to keep safe is shut away.
‘Mice can carry hantavirus,’ I said, slightly weakly and feeling a bit ungrateful.
Not many viruses can survive in here.
‘Well no. I’m surprised thatyoucan.’ With a quick look to check that Tilly wasn’t attempting to kill herself, I leaned towards Isobel. ‘You really can’t carry on living here, can you? Apart from the fact that the house belongs to Ross now, winter is coming and you’ll freeze.’
Isobel shrugged.
I’ve managed up to now.
I took the mug of tea that she offered and looked at her. She seemed to be wearing the same clothes as yesterday, layer on layer. I could already see my breath mingling mistily with the strands of fog that edged in through the open window. ‘It’s cold and it’s damp. Would you like me to help you find somewhere else to go?’
Isobel paused in putting biscuits on a plate. She did seem to be considering the idea, which at least gave me hope.
What about the birds?
‘What about them?’
I have to keep my birds with me. I care for them as they care for me. I won’t abandon them, and where could I go where I might take a flock of corvids with me?
‘Good question,’ I muttered into my mug. ‘But you see the problem? Ross needs to knock this place down so he can build a new house on the site, and he needs to do it soon. If he doesn’t…’ I thought of the air of nervous tension that surrounded Ross Ventriss. ‘I’m not sure his business will survive,’ I finished.
That’s not my fault.
‘Well, it sort of would be. And he could call the police or bailiffs or something to get you removed. He’s being nice by sending me to talk you into going of your own accord.’
I have squatter’s rights.
I had no idea how written words could sound sullen, but they did. But I’d looked all this up. ‘You can only take possession of the house if you’ve been here for ten years,’ I said, trying my best not to sound confrontational. ‘And Ross only has to apply for a possession order and then the police can get involved. I think he’s trying to do it gently by giving you the chance to go of your own accord.’
Ross, after all, would be far more up on the law of property possession than I was. He must know he could send in any authority he wanted to, but then, of course, that wouldn’t look great if Isobel refused to go until the cameras were rolling. Even if she was forced out beforehand, she could camp out in the woods and make everyone’s job very difficult, plus making Ross look a complete turd for ejecting an elderly lady from her ‘home’.
Isobel inclined her head again.
‘Look! Pretty!’ Tilly had, to my horror, found a small bag and tipped the contents out onto the bare floor. Small beads of black rolled around, glimmering in the vague light.
‘Tilly! Put those back!’ I snapped and Tilly’s thumb went into her mouth as a mutinous expression settled over her face.
‘Pretty,’ she muttered defensively.
Let her play. Ask her to sort them into sizes.
‘But…’ I looked at the glittering stones. ‘They look valuable! You can’t let a toddler play with jewels like that!’
They are mine and I can let her if I so choose.
‘Tils, Isobel says would you like to sort them into sizes?’ I asked, not sure whether I was giving in or not. ‘Put the biggest at this end and then the smallest down here. Be careful they don’t roll away.’ I didn’t really think that Tilly would sort them properly, she was only just getting the hang of big and small, but poking the stones around with purpose would occupy her for a while.
Tilly’s thumb came out and she beamed at me, then at Isobel. ‘Pretty,’ she repeated. Brass was pulled out of her pocket and carefully seated on the floor to watch, then she set to lining up the stones.
‘She has speech delay.’ I had no idea why I felt it necessary to explain my daughter’s need to repeat single words. ‘As a result of—’ I stopped myself. None of Isobel’s business.
My father was a mining engineer in South Africa.
Isobel surprised me with this insight into a life lived beyond this ruined house.
Those are crow diamonds: black diamonds. There was a legend that the crows laid them instead of eggs. My father had these polished and gave them to me on my eighteenth birthday.
