Page 51 of The Path to the Last House Before the Sea

But Jack wasn’t going to let it lie. ‘What, with treasure and pirates?’ he scoffed.

‘Probably no treasure and definitely no pirates. But—’ She paused, but couldn’t stop the words tumbling out. ‘There were smugglers in the village, and, I’ve been thinking, what if this map was given to Charity by Josiah? It was found where Charity once lived. What if Josiah was a smuggler himself and that’s why he had to leave without a word, when the customs men came?’

‘So was Charity a smuggler too, in this reframing of history?’

Alyssa decided to ignore the jibe. ‘No, she was the woman he loved.’

‘So not the woman he brutally murdered, then?’

‘Why are you so determined that your ancestor was a murderer?’

‘Why are you so determined that he wasn’t?’ Jack pushed a hand through his hair and sighed. ‘I hate to harp on about it, Alyssa, but life isn’t always a fairy tale with happy endings.’

‘Yes, I know that very well.’ Alyssa’s teeth were so gritted, she could hardly get the words out. ‘My life hasn’t been a bed of roses, I can assure you.’

They glared at each other until the sound of a distant cheer from the marquee broke the tension.

‘Whatever,’ muttered Alyssa, taking her phone back from him and shoving it into her pocket.

She felt bizarrely disappointed by Jack’s reaction to the map, although she should have known he’d be sceptical. One kiss hadn’t changed his entire personality, or his view of her.

She got to her feet and brushed grass from her backside, but Jack remained seated.

‘What happened to them really matters to you, doesn’t it. Why?’ he asked.

Alyssa gazed at the seal, still stretched out on the rock like a sunbather without a care in the world. ‘I think everyone deserves a chance of redemption, and the truth can provide that.’

She waited for Jack’s derisive comments but, after thinking for a moment, all he said was, ‘Maybe you’re right and Josiah and Charity did run away together. They were ill-fated lovers.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Or perhaps they were dragged into the depths of the ocean by a sea dragon.’

Alyssa sighed but she realised that Jack was gently ribbing her, rather than mocking, when he looked up. His dark grey eyes were warm this time. He held out his hand. ‘Let me have a proper look at this so-called map.’

Alyssa sat down again and handed over her phone. He studied the photo again, a furrow appearing between his eyebrows.

‘What do you reckon?’ asked Alyssa after a while.

‘It looks like it was drawn by Archie, when he was three.’

‘Fair enough, but some of the lines have faded over the years.’

‘Mmm.’ Jack peered at it more closely. ‘But I guess that squiggly outline there could be the cove, and the cross is the church, and perhaps that smudgy box there is supposed to be the castle? I’m just making stuff up now.’

Alyssa leaned closer. ‘I thought it might be the castle, too. And those lines that converge at the cove could be the smuggling tunnels I mentioned.’ She sat back and blew a strand of hair from her face. ‘But even if this is a smugglers’ map, I don’t suppose there’s anything left of the tunnels. All traces will have disappeared over the centuries.’

‘Oh.’ Jack, who’d been scrolling down the photo, suddenly sat up straight. ‘What’s this circle at the bottom, with a cross in it? I hadn’t spotted that.’

‘I have no idea. It’s not a part of the map.’

‘It looks familiar.’

‘Familiar in what way?’ asked Alyssa. She glanced around as she heard her name being carried in the wind. Magda was waving at her in the distance, from the marquee. ‘Ah, I have to go because I’m needed to help again.’ She got to her feet and waved back. ‘But what do you mean, the circle with a cross in it looks familiar?’

‘I don’t know. I’m probably wrong,’ said Jack. ‘But meet me tomorrow morning at the shop.’

‘Why?’ Alyssa turned as her name was called again and shouted to Magda: ‘Won’t be a sec! I’m just coming!’

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