FIFTEEN
Ellie was making lunch when she heard a sudden bang from upstairs, followed by the sound of Fee swearing. She ran up the stairs.
‘Hey! What happened?’ She ran into the study, where Fee was rubbing her foot.
‘I’m okay. I was looking for A4 paper in this cupboard and this box fell on my foot,’ she muttered. ‘Bloody thing. Look at its corners! Who balances a wooden box with razor-sharp edges at the top of a cupboard? Madness.’
Ellie bent down and examined Fee’s foot. ‘I think it’s okay. Can you move your toes?’
‘Yes.’ Fee waggled them. ‘Ouch.’
‘I’ll get you something from the freezer. Hang on.’ Ellie ran downstairs and came back with a bag of peas. ‘There you go. How come you were sneaking around in Mara’s cupboards, anyway?’
‘I wasn’t sneaking. I texted her to see if she had any A4 paper in the house, save me heading into town to get some. I don’t even know where I’d get any in Magpie Cove. Anyway, she said to look in here.’
Ellie picked up the wooden box. ‘I wonder what’s in here?’ She turned it over in her hands, and looked up at the shelves built inside the cupboard.
‘Dunno. Open it.’ Fee draped the bag of peas over her foot and sat down on the high-backed chair. ‘And let me know if you see any A4 in there. I’ve got to print out this presentation and post it. Bloody old-school clients. Why I can’t just send a PDF, I’ll never know.’
‘I’m not going to open it. It’s Mara’s.’ Ellie placed it on the desk next to Fee’s laptop.
‘Well, give it to her, then. She said she was going to pop in this afternoon anyway. Looks like nobody’s looked at it for a long time. She might have forgotten it was in there. You don’t want to leave personal stuff in rental properties.’ Fee reached for a half-drunk cup of tea. ‘Ugh. Cold.’
‘I’ll make you another.’ Ellie picked up the mug and the wooden box and took both downstairs. ‘Lunch is almost ready, anyway,’ she called behind her. ‘D’you think you can walk down the stairs?’
‘Depends what it is.’
‘Sausages and salad,’ Ellie replied, smiling.
‘Be there in five.’
They were halfway through lunch when Mara knocked at the front door and poked her head in. ‘Everyone decent?’ she called.
‘Come in. We’re having lunch,’ Ellie replied. ‘There’s some left, if you want any—?’
‘Oh, no. We’ve just had lunch at the café.’ Mara walked in, taking off her black straw sunhat and fanning herself with it. ‘Franny’s with me. Say hello, Fran.’
Ellie and Fee had met Mara’s daughter Franny on a couple of occasions already and liked her immediately: she was a smart, no-nonsense young woman who belonged to a local group of teenage activists who called themselves something different every week, it seemed. Ellie had seen their posters up around the village, usually asking locals to remember to recycle, or vote in the upcoming councillor elections. Ellie thought that Franny would make a very fine local councillor herself when she was old enough.
‘Hi.’ Franny looked up briefly from her phone.
‘D’you want some sausages, Franny? From the butcher in the village.’ Fee pointed to the large bowl on the table.
‘No, thanks. Meat is murder,’ Franny replied, then added, ‘Thanks, though,’ after Mara gave her a look.
‘Principles don’t take up room from manners,’ Mara lectured her daughter, who rolled her eyes.
‘Okay, okay.’
‘Sorry about her. She’s never very chatty when she’s in the middle of organising an online petition,’ Mara explained. ‘I brought you some paper, by the way, Fee. We had some at home. And I brought you some more toilet paper and dishwasher tablets. Noticed it was all running a bit low.’
‘Oh, thanks, Mara. You’re a lifesaver.’ Fee took the stack of A4 paper, wiping her hands on a tea towel first. ‘Oh, and we found something of yours up in the study. I knocked it off the top shelf by mistake, but we thought if it’s personal you should have it at your house, really.’
‘Oh! Thank you.’ Mara took the box, frowning. ‘I’ve actually never seen this before. Where did you find it again?’
‘There’s a storage cupboard in the study. At the top,’ Fee repeated. ‘Fell on my foot, actually.’
‘Is your foot okay?’ Mara leaned over to look at it.
