‘When I saw Cam that last morning, he told me he’d be back the next day,’ Katy said. ‘And I can’t explain, so don’t ask, but I’m sure that he meant it. I don’t know what happened in between, but that morning Cameron was planning on coming home. I wish someone else had been there to see him. Simon, or the girls even. They’d tell you.’
‘Well, there was Ilse.’ Nathan hesitated. ‘She saw him.’
‘Yeah. I suppose she did.’ Katy started walking towards the house again.
‘And she reckons he said much the same as he said to you. That he’d be back the next day.’
‘Well.’ A small shrug. ‘I was too far away to hear, so we’ll have to take Ilse’s word for it.’
‘And yours.’
Katy looked up at his tone, then gave a hard half-smile. ‘That’s true. Although –’
She broke off suddenly, looking at the house. Nathan followed her gaze and could see a shadow in one of the windows that had previously been empty. Simon. He was looking out at them, his eyes hidden by the reflection of the glass.
Katy started walking faster and Nathan jogged a couple of paces to catch up with her.
‘Although what?’ he said. ‘What were you about to say?’
‘It’s nothing. It doesn’t matter.’
‘It does.’
‘Honestly, I’m not looking to cause trouble. I’m trying to mind my own business.’
‘Come on, Katy.’ Nathan stopped walking. ‘Please. He’s dead.’
‘I know that.’ But she stopped. ‘All right. It’s just, if that’s the only thing Cameron and Ilse said to each other that morning, they took their time getting it out.’ She seemed to debate for a moment. ‘Plus, Ilse didn’t wave him off as he drove away.’
‘So? That doesn’t mean anything.’
‘Maybe not.’ Katy’s dark, smudged eyes gave him a look he couldn’t decipher. ‘But when you leave, she waves to you.’
They stared at each other, then Katy shrugged.
‘I told you it was nothing.’ She shoved the tissue into her jeans pocket. ‘Thanks for before, by the way. I feel better now.’
He watched her walk away. When Nathan next looked back towards the house, Simon was gone, and every window was dark again.
Chapter 23
Up close, Nathan thought, it was interesting how things could appear so different. He stood alone in the living room, his nose near to Cameron’s painting. The image of the stockman’s grave hung on the wall at eye level. Outside, the night was drawing in, and it was hard to see the detail properly under the artificial glow of the ceiling light. Still, it was mildly hypnotic, examining the lines of the brushwork and the way two colours bled together into something new. He was about to move away when his gaze snagged on the left edge of the painting. There was a dark smudge on the horizon that he’d never noticed before. It was a muted grey mark, and faint to the point of transparency.
Nathan frowned and leaned in. What on earth was that supposed to be? A person? A shadow? Just a dirty mark? He reached out and lightly ran his thumb over it. No, definitely paint. Deliberate and permanent on Cam’s part, then.
‘Cameron would kill you for that.’ Ilse’s voice came from the doorway and he turned. ‘Don’t touch the picture. Golden rule in this house.’
Nathan put his hands up and took a step back.
‘That’s probably safer.’ She gave him a weary smile. He could hear the sounds of dinner being cleared away in the kitchen. The meal had been mostly silent and entirely subdued.
‘Ilse –’ he said as she turned to leave.
She stopped, waiting.
‘I was talking to the girls earlier. They said you’d taken them out there.’ Nathan nodded at the picture.
‘To the grave?’ Ilse said. ‘How did that come up?’
