‘That belongs here,’ Kym said. ‘You can’t have it. We’re going to put it back.’

‘And what would you know about it?’ said Carolyn.

‘It keeps everything – I don’t know – in check. Safe.’

‘Is that what you think?’ said Carolyn. ‘Once upon a time, perhaps, but now I’m not so sure; what if that little shoe means different things to different people? What if it means something different to me? What if I need it more than you do?’

‘Mum,’ said Evie, ‘you can’t keep it. Please.’

‘Do you know,’ Carolyn went on, ‘the hidden shoe represents a human sacrifice? Because they are worn and moulded over time, because they’re the imprint of a person.’ She looked at Nell. ‘That’s why they used a child’s shoe, because that’s the best kind of sacrifice. Children make the best offering, even if they try to protect themselves with bent pins and piles of salt.’ She smiled. ‘I tidied up, in the attic,’ she said.

‘It’s not yours,’ said Nell. ‘It belongs to the house.’

‘You’re not listening,’ Carolyn said, waving the knife idly. ‘It’s not just the shoe, it’s your intention; it’s what you are willing to do.’

‘Like Dr Bishop,’ said Nell. ‘You must know all about him, surely? He dug up the drying ground, and he donated his finds to the museum.’

Help me, God Almighty

‘And I think he found the shoe, but that – that he put back in place. But . . .’ Nell glanced at Kym who seemed to be edging towards Carolyn. ‘At around the same time there was an accident. His little boy went missing. He went missing, and they found him in the attic, and he’d died. And all this time I’ve been hearing . . . I thought it was . . .’ She ran a hand across her belly, the ache there was too much. ‘I felt sorry for him. It must have been unbearable,’ she said.

‘Or not,’ said Carolyn, ‘because the really interesting thing about Frederick Bishop is that after the tragic death of his only son, his luck changed. He became a successful man. He became mayor, he built a hospital, devoted his life to good works and there were more sons eventually; more babies, all boys. He lived a long and happy life, with everything he could wish for, a happy ending.’ She paused, smiling. ‘He struck his bargain, he got what he wanted.’

‘He made a sacrifice,’ said Evie, and her mother looked at her closely.

‘My clever girl,’ she said. ‘I didn’t think you had it in you.’

‘You don’t know that,’ said Kym, ‘not for sure—’

‘Of course I do,’ said Carolyn. ‘My Aunt Ida knew, she told me. She knew lots of things.’

‘Maybe he felt ashamed, or maybe,’ Kym said, ‘maybe he realised in moving the shoe he – he – allowed something into the house. Moving it makes everything go wrong.’