“Right, now I want to know where you went today and what you learned, Ellen,” Bram then said.
“Are you happy to speak about this, Gray?” Ellen used his name for the first time.
He liked how it sounded on her lips. Not many people called him Gray. In fact, no one.
He rarely talked about his cases, but this situation was different. These people were entwined now. The knife, Ellen finding the body, and her visions. She would tell them anyway if he didn’t.
Gray looked at the children.
“We don’t hide things from them, but not too much detail if you please, Gray,” Ivy said.
“I was like a consultant,” Ellen said.
Leo made a scoffing sound that had Ellen’s lips tightening.
“I was, and very useful too.” She poked out her tongue, and Gray had an urge to nibble it.
What was wrong with him?
Gray found himself talking about the Nicholson case, seated between Matilda and Fred, with the disturbing Ellen across from him. Plates of cakes, fruits, and sandwiches appeared, carried by the man called Mungo and Bud. Plus another young lady who kept sending Alex flirtatious looks.
He’d never seen so much food for afternoon tea.
“Like debating, eating is a sport in our household,” Bram said, noting the bewildered expression on Gray’s face.
The food was consumed with gusto, and he’d never eaten with so much noise before. It was a revelation. He thought about the solitary life he led and loved. But did he really? Suddenly, it seemed lonely and sterile when faced with so much happiness.
Was this what mealtimes were always like? Loud, with the children present? He ate slowly and read the paper or just sat and reflected on the day. No way would a person reflect on anything with this noise.
Why did his existence suddenly seem lonely?
“So you really have no leads on the case yet?” Alex asked him.
“It’s early days, but no, only what your sister has told me and of course, the knife.”
“Which was stolen from our uncle,” Leo reiterated.
“Do you think I would sit down to take tea with a man I believed wasn’t innocent?” Gray asked.
“I have no idea what you do.”
Ellen rolled her eyes.
“Can I ask how you knew my aunt liked to wear orange? Did you meet her before she passed?” It had been bothering Gray, why Alex had said what he had. “And the treacle. Was that a guess?”
“Alex talks to people on the other side,” Fred said from beside him.
“Side of where?” Gray asked.
“That have died and passed over,” Fred said patiently.
“Should we be giving him all the family secrets?” Leo sighed.
Gray’s eyes shot to Alex, who gave him a calm look back. He then glanced at Ellen. She saw visions. Was her brother gifted too? Gray felt an urge to flee. Get out of his chair and leave this house. Everything that was sane about his life had changed since he’d met Ellen Nightingale. Gray didn’t like change.
“Your aunt passed from something to do with her lungs?” Alex said.
Gray nodded. She had died from tuberculosis.
