children any more. I’m not going to spoil your jigsaw or scribble in your favourite storybook.’
It was enough to bring Thea up short, aware that this was very much the kind of reaction she’d been experiencing. Jocelyn had been a tremendous pest as a child, forcing the older children to hide their possessions from her, in case she broke them. It was chastening to discover that this image still hung around her, thirty-five years on.
‘No, I know you’re not. It’s just that I need to understand what’s going on first. I don’t want to be accused of sheltering a wanted criminal, do I?’
‘What?’ Her sister sounded utterly bewildered.
Thea forced a laugh. ‘That was a bit uncalled-for – sorry. It’s because I’ve just been interviewed by the police, you see. It’s the way my mind’s working today.’
‘Police? Why?’
Thea sighed. ‘I can’t tell you the whole thing overthe phone. Look – can you come and see me, face to face?’ A sudden idea struck her with the force of a punch on the ear. It seemed impossible that she hadn’t thought of it sooner. ‘Actually, if you’re desperate for sanctuary, you’d be better off here, assuming I’ll be staying for the agreed time. You can share the house-sitting with me and we can talk everything through properly. And, to be honest, you’d be doing me a big favour as well.’
‘But—’
‘It’s not so far away. And it’s a lovely place. Loads to explore.’
‘Oh.’ Thea could hear the thinking going on at the other end. ‘I suppose that might be all right. I really do have to get away from here. What’s that place you put in your email? Muddlehampton or something. I’ve never heard of it.’
‘Minchinhampton. It’s south of Stroud.’
‘I have no idea where Stroud is, either.’
‘Hang on. I’ll find a map.’ Carefully, Thea directed her incompetent sister up the M5 from Bristol, and off at Junction 12. ‘I’ll meet you outside the church in the middle of the town, at four,’ she said. ‘You can’t miss it – it’s only a small place.’
The next half hour was occupied with assembling a quick belated lunch and trying to guess what might be wrong with her sister. She felt jangled and stressed, but strangely upbeat after the wobbles of a short while earlier. The prospect of having Jocelynin the house with her for a few days was primarily an appealing one, chasing away any worries about prowling strangers who might have suicide or murder on their minds. There would, she hoped, be no more police visits, once they were satisfied that the death had indeed been self-inflicted – unless they made a courtesy call to update her on the identity of the dead boy. She would focus on more local walks, and perhaps a spot of historical research if she could find a decent library, with her sister as deputy in pony care and cooking. And she could find out what in the world was the matter with Jocelyn.
Siblings, as she had recently realised, were the longest relationship anybody had in their lives, and the patterns were determined from the outset. Thea and the others had always competed, at the same time as sensibly colonising different areas of interest and experience to make the whole thing bearable. Thea had not initially elected to be clever. Her studies had come later than normal, and she was drastically outshone by Damien who got four A-levels and a first class degree and worked for British Airways doing something frightfully responsible. Neither had she been pretty in her early years. Her good looks were a feature of her adulthood, when some magic had transformed her into a beauty at twenty. The second child and first daughter, Emily, on the other hand, had been acurly-headed cherub from infancy, content to rely on this as her passport through life.
Which left Jocelyn and Thea to wrestle for more complicated ground. Thea had been her father’s soulmate. She had asked questions and shown interest. She had walked alongside him,
It was enough to bring Thea up short, aware that this was very much the kind of reaction she’d been experiencing. Jocelyn had been a tremendous pest as a child, forcing the older children to hide their possessions from her, in case she broke them. It was chastening to discover that this image still hung around her, thirty-five years on.
‘No, I know you’re not. It’s just that I need to understand what’s going on first. I don’t want to be accused of sheltering a wanted criminal, do I?’
‘What?’ Her sister sounded utterly bewildered.
Thea forced a laugh. ‘That was a bit uncalled-for – sorry. It’s because I’ve just been interviewed by the police, you see. It’s the way my mind’s working today.’
‘Police? Why?’
Thea sighed. ‘I can’t tell you the whole thing overthe phone. Look – can you come and see me, face to face?’ A sudden idea struck her with the force of a punch on the ear. It seemed impossible that she hadn’t thought of it sooner. ‘Actually, if you’re desperate for sanctuary, you’d be better off here, assuming I’ll be staying for the agreed time. You can share the house-sitting with me and we can talk everything through properly. And, to be honest, you’d be doing me a big favour as well.’
‘But—’
‘It’s not so far away. And it’s a lovely place. Loads to explore.’
‘Oh.’ Thea could hear the thinking going on at the other end. ‘I suppose that might be all right. I really do have to get away from here. What’s that place you put in your email? Muddlehampton or something. I’ve never heard of it.’
‘Minchinhampton. It’s south of Stroud.’
‘I have no idea where Stroud is, either.’
‘Hang on. I’ll find a map.’ Carefully, Thea directed her incompetent sister up the M5 from Bristol, and off at Junction 12. ‘I’ll meet you outside the church in the middle of the town, at four,’ she said. ‘You can’t miss it – it’s only a small place.’
The next half hour was occupied with assembling a quick belated lunch and trying to guess what might be wrong with her sister. She felt jangled and stressed, but strangely upbeat after the wobbles of a short while earlier. The prospect of having Jocelynin the house with her for a few days was primarily an appealing one, chasing away any worries about prowling strangers who might have suicide or murder on their minds. There would, she hoped, be no more police visits, once they were satisfied that the death had indeed been self-inflicted – unless they made a courtesy call to update her on the identity of the dead boy. She would focus on more local walks, and perhaps a spot of historical research if she could find a decent library, with her sister as deputy in pony care and cooking. And she could find out what in the world was the matter with Jocelyn.
Siblings, as she had recently realised, were the longest relationship anybody had in their lives, and the patterns were determined from the outset. Thea and the others had always competed, at the same time as sensibly colonising different areas of interest and experience to make the whole thing bearable. Thea had not initially elected to be clever. Her studies had come later than normal, and she was drastically outshone by Damien who got four A-levels and a first class degree and worked for British Airways doing something frightfully responsible. Neither had she been pretty in her early years. Her good looks were a feature of her adulthood, when some magic had transformed her into a beauty at twenty. The second child and first daughter, Emily, on the other hand, had been acurly-headed cherub from infancy, content to rely on this as her passport through life.
Which left Jocelyn and Thea to wrestle for more complicated ground. Thea had been her father’s soulmate. She had asked questions and shown interest. She had walked alongside him,
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