“Let’s throw a bit of light over things, shall we?”
Sunshine showed him round, like a curator proudly sharing a collection of fine art. She showed him buttons and rings, gloves, teddy bears, a glass eye, items of jewelry, a jigsaw puzzle piece, keys, coins, plastic toys, tweezers, four sets of dentures, and a doll’s head. And these were the contents of only one drawer. The cream cup and saucer painted with violets was still on the table. Sunshine picked it up and handed it to Freddy.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it? The lady doesn’t want it back to her, so Laura’s going to keep it for the lovely cup of tea.”
Laura was about to contradict her, but Sunshine’s face was set with such absolute certainty that the words died in Laura’s mouth.
“That’ll be yours, then.”
As Laura took the cup and saucer from him, his fingers brushed against her hand, and he held her gaze for just a moment before turning away and sitting down in Anthony’s chair.
“And you’re to try and get all the rest of this,” he said, sweeping his arms around the room, “back to wherever it is that it belongs?” His equable tone gave no quarter to the enormity of the task.
“That’s the idea,” Laura replied.
Sunshine was distracted by an object that had fallen out of the drawer she had opened. She picked it up from the floor, but immediately dropped it again howling, in pain.
LADY’S GLOVE, NAVY-BLUE LEATHER, LEFT HAND—
Found, grass verge at the foot of Cow Bridge 23rd December . . .
It was bitter. Too cold for snow. Rose looked up at the black sky pierced with a tracery of stars and a sharp sickle moon. She had been walking briskly for twenty minutes but her feet were numb and her fingers frozen. Too sad for tears. She was almost there now. Thankfully, there had been no passing cars; no one to distract or intervene. Too late to think. Here now. This was the place. Over the bridge and then just a shallow, grassy bank. She took off one glove and pulled the photograph from her pocket. She kissed the face of the little girl who smiled back at her. Too dark to see, but she knew she was there. “Mummy loves you.” Down the grassy slope her gloveless hand clutched at razor-frozen grass. At the bottom, shale underfoot. “Mummy loves you,” she whispered as the distant lights pricked the darkness and the rails began to hum. Too hard to live.
“Too hard to live. The lady died.”
Sunshine was shaking as she tried to explain. Freddy pulled her close and squeezed her tight.
“I think that what you need is the lovely cup of tea.”
He made it, under Sunshine’s strict supervision. Two cups of tea and a jammy dodger later, she tried to tell them a little more.
“She loved her little girl, but the lady was very sad” was the best that she could do.
Laura was strangely unsettled.
“Sunshine, maybe it would be better if you didn’t go into the study anymore . . .”
“Why?”
Laura hesitated. Part of her didn’t want Sunshine becoming too involved. She knew it was selfish, but she was desperate to find a way to make Anthony and maybe even her parents proud of her. Posthumously, of course. It was her chance to finally do something right and she didn’t want any distractions.
“In case there are other things in there that might upset you.”
Sunshine shook her head determinedly.
“I’m okay now.”
Laura looked unconvinced, but Sunshine had a point to make.
“If you never get sadness, how do you know what happy is like?” she asked.
“And by the way, everybody dies.”
“I think she has you in checkmate there,” Freddy murmured.
Laura conceded defeat with a reluctant smile.
“But,” continued Freddy, “I may have the very thing to cheer you up. I have a plan.”
CHAPTER 21