She made to go upstairs, but her husband put his hand on her arm. ‘Let me go, love,’ he said. ‘You stay here with Mr Penrose. Show him Emily’s albums.’

She watched him walk through the workroom and draw back the curtain that covered the staircase. He hesitated, 223glancing back at her and quickly pulling the curtain across again, but she had already seen her friend’s body lying at the foot of the stairs.

‘Don’t go any further, Mr Pendean,’ Penrose ordered. ‘Come back and look after your wife.’

He tried to hold her back, but Nora forced her way past him. ‘I need to look at her,’ she cried. ‘Please let me look at her.’ If she hadn’t known better, she would have said that Emily had fallen down the stairs. She stood over her body, looking at the awkward, crumpled way she was positioned, and it seemed so obvious that she wondered if Emily had still been alive when she left her after all? Then she remembered the blood, so much blood, and that terrible, stertorous breathing.

‘She must have fallen,’ Tom said, and Nora wanted to tell him to stop, to give her time to think, but he ploughed relentlessly on. ‘Look, her shoelace is undone. What a bloody awful thing to happen. I’m so sorry, love. I know how close you were. Come here.’

He put his arm round her and led her gently away.

‘Do you live nearby?’ Penrose asked.

‘Yes, just behind the harbour.’

‘Then take Mrs Pendean home and stay with her. I’ll ask Miss St Aubyn to send someone to check on her.’

Tom nodded. ‘What about the causeway?’

‘Don’t worry about that now. I’m sure the three of us can manage if necessary.’

‘All right, but be sharp about the timing or you’ll never make it across.’

He turned back to Nora and held her close, and she clung to him as the only thing that made sense. ‘Come on, love – let’s go home. You’ve had a terrible shock.’ 224

She wondered if he would ever know how true his words were. ‘What about Charlie?’ she said, suddenly remembering the cat. ‘We can’t just leave him, Tom.’

‘All right, all right.’ He scooped the cat up and gave him to her to hold. ‘You were a good friend, Nora,’ he said. ‘Emily was lucky to have you.’

225

7

As Tom Pendean led his wife from the building, Penrose watched them go, trying to make sense of what was happening on the island and what his priorities should be. He locked the museum and went straight to the Change House to call the castle and speak to Hilaria. She took the news calmly, but he could hear the strain in her voice, and he knew that these tragedies would take their toll once the anaesthetising practicalities were dealt with.

Deep in thought, he returned to Emily Soper’s body, conscious of having a limited amount of time before low tide offered the only opportunity to access the mainland. The bizarre surroundings of the scene struck him anew as he entered the room, even though this time he was prepared for them. Mrs Soper had obviously been a talented taxidermist in her own right, as well as a collector: a workbench was covered in the tools of the trade, and the gimlet eye of a jay in full flight stared across at him – a work in progress, now garishly lifelike by comparison with its creator.