13

To get to the Orderbrecht farm by car they turned left instead of right out of the hotel, and then took another left where the road forked. It narrowed and then doubled back, and they saw the sign Orderbrecht on a wooden gate at the start of a track. The track climbed and at the brow of the hill they paused. It was not nearly so strange a place as when Bea had walked through on foot. The herd of white cows grazed among the pens of chickens and goats, and the low yellow farmhouse looked relatively charming in the innocence of the morning sun.

‘Is that the barn?’ asked Dan, pointing. ‘The chapel?’

‘Yes, that’s it. We shouldn’t park outside.’

‘In case they’re sacrificing something.’

Only six days before, in the garden with Alex, she had told him about spying on the family through the barn door, and they had laughed about it. Time had lost its rational scale. Dan turned the car and left it facing the way they had come, so he wouldn’t have to do it when they left, and they walked down to the house, feeling conspicuous. Before they reached the garden gate, a woman opened the front door.

‘Bonjour,’ said Dan.

Her colourless hair was pulled back from a heavy, white face. She had very pale, bare legs and thick socks and a denim skirt. A pair of tattered rubber boots stood on the threadbare mat outside. Dan put his hand on the gate.

‘Bea?’ he said. He had exhausted his French with ‘bonjour’.

‘Good morning. Are you Madame Orderbrecht?’ said Bea.

The woman nodded.

‘I’m Bea. Alex Adamson’s sister.’

‘Hello.’ She was expressionless.

‘May we?’ said Bea.

The woman shrugged. Dan and Bea approached the front door, stepping around a big red tricycle upended on the path.

‘I hope it’s all right,’ said Bea, ‘we’ve come for the rent.’

Madame Orderbrecht just shrugged, and turned, and went into the kitchen, which was very cluttered and surprisingly dark. Peering in, they could make out two huge dogs, lying under the kitchen table and a baby in a nappy, sitting on the floor nearby. The baby was holding a Barbie doll by the legs, open-mouthed. Madame Orderbrecht opened a drawer in the dresser, and took out an envelope. She came back and put it into Dan’s hand. It was thick with banknotes.

‘Merci,’ said Dan.

Madame Orderbrecht stared at him for a second, then she closed the door on them. They walked back down the path.

‘Well, that was easy,’ said Dan.