‘How on earth do you know that?’ asked Tabitha with a surprised laugh.
‘Piero della Francesca was also a mathematician and my darling hubby has – as you’re aware – always been a maths geek. He’s a huge admirer of della Francesca’s work,’ said Tamar. ‘We saw the painting at the National Gallery in London when there was an exhibition of his work a few years ago.’
‘Well, aren’t you two sophisticated,’ said Tabitha, exaggerating the last word to a drawl.
‘You betcha,’ said Tamar.
Tabitha scrolled through her phone again.
‘His dates are 1415 to 12 October 1492,’ she said. ‘If he used the symbolism, the folklore around single magpies being bad luck must go back a lot further than Samuel Johnson, who was alive between,’ she checked her phone, ‘1709 and 1784.’
‘Are there any paintings with magpies in the house?’ asked Tamar, topping up their glasses.
‘Nothing obvious springs to mind, but I don’t know the house as well as Edith,’ said Tabitha. ‘What do you think the rest of it means?’
‘“Blood shall stain the river’s thread.As wings veil truths the past has bled.Who comes at call is most to fear –The danger lies when they draw near”,’read Tamar aloud and then she shuddered. ‘It sounds like a curse.’
Tabitha remembered Molly’s comments about the Boleyn curse and a shiver ran down her spine.
‘Could the “river’s thread” part be a reference to the River Ceren?’ asked Tamar, following her own train of thought. ‘Was iron ore ever mined on the estate? Iron ore can make rivers appear to run red, which might look like blood.’
‘Does it?’ said Tabitha, trying to ignore the whisper of foreboding as Tamar nodded in response to her question. ‘No one has ever mentioned that there was mining on the estate, but we could check with Edith. Although, if the water of the Ceren ever ran red, I’m sure she would have mentioned it; she loves telling gruesome legends about the house and grounds.’ She paused to eat a forkful of spaghetti, then continued, ‘Do you think the last two lines could be a link to the blowing of the whistle? The sound of the whistle summoning a deadly foe.’
‘Yes, but what about the other lines, they’re the most gruesome – “Blood shall stain the river’s thread”. If there’s possibility of a natural phenomenon causing the water to turn red, do you think it means if you blow the whistle, blood will be spilled, enough to make a river?’
‘I hope not,’ said Tabitha. ‘Perhaps “river” is a geographical clue?’
‘Which brings us back to the Ceren,’ said Tamar. ‘This is ludicrous, it could be anything.’
‘The other two clues referenced items in the house,’ said Tabitha. ‘One was a painting, the other was the finial carved like a hawk next to a stained-glass window.’
She hurried from the room, returning with her laptop.
‘Let me search the spreadsheets to see if the word “magpie” or “blood” or “whistle” or “two for joy” pop up,’ said Tabitha. ‘Even before I came, there was a rough inventory which Molly had begun to compile. Her attempts and the realisation of the enormity of the task made Edith understand it would be a full-time job to properly catalogue the house and its contents, which was why they advertised.’
‘You check, I’ll clear up,’ said Tamar and raised her hand to silence Tabitha before she could protest. ‘I’m invested in this now, I want to solve the clue.’
Tabitha grinned at her sister before turning her attention to the database. Opening Molly’s first chart of artefacts, which she had spaced out by hand on a simple document, Tabitha tried the word ‘magpie’ with no luck, the same for ‘whistle’. The second also proved disappointing, but there were two more in the files Molly had created, one entitled:
To Be Repaired
the other:
To Be Thrown Away?
Good luck with that, thought Tabitha as she opened the first one,Edith hates parting with anything.
A moment later, she let out a cry of excitement.
‘This must be it,’ she said as Tamar hurried to her side. ‘“A taxidermy model of two magpies, one wears a golden hawking whistle around its neck, there is a river on the painted image behind them which appears to be red and they are sitting on a book”.’
‘Amazing,’ exclaimed Tamar. ‘Where is it? Can we go and look at it?’
Tabitha scrolled through the annotation and wrinkled her nose in frustration.
‘It’s in the barn.’
‘Let’s go,’ said Tamar, but Tabitha shook her head, shutting her laptop.
