Page 91 of The Sisters at the Last House Before the Sea

‘Everything’s lovely!’ she yelled, and a flock of startled seagulls rose as one into the air and flew across the sea, towards the distant horizon.

35

CAITLIN

Caitlin couldn’t find Isla anywhere. She’d come in after taking Ben’s hat back and rushed straight upstairs but now she seemed to have disappeared.

‘Isla!’ called Caitlin, wandering along the landing. ‘Where are you? I have chocolate digestives.’ That always did the trick when they were kids, but not today. Caitlin glanced into Isla’s bedroom again, in case she’d magically appeared in the last two minutes.

‘Why are you yelling?’ demanded Maisie through the open door of her room. ‘She hasn’t been murdered or anything, so why are you so desperate to find her? Have you ever considered that she might be trying to get away from you for a while?’

Caitlin ignored Maisie’s remark – she was trying to be understanding while the teenager was processing her father’s news. For the sake of peace, she also didn’t insist that Maisie should take off her shoes while lying on the bedspread that Jessie had crocheted.

‘Why do you need to see Isla anyway?’ asked Maisie sulkily.

‘I have some news, and I’d just like to see her.’

‘What sort of news?’

‘News about Edith.’

Maisie’s face collapsed into a grimace. ‘Ugh, so boring.’

‘Actually, it’s not,’ replied Caitlin, but Maisie was busy phone scrolling so she left her to it.

It was hard to explain to a stroppy teenager but Caitlin had a sixth sense that Isla was in trouble. The same back-of-the-neck prickle she’d get twenty years ago, when Isla was so dependent on her for comfort and security. Back when she was important in Isla’s life.

Caitlin ran a hand across her forehead that was beginning to ache and stood still on the landing. Maisie was right – Isla would turn up when she felt like it. Her coat was still hanging in the hall but perhaps she’d gone out in her car without it.

Caitlin had reached the stairs, planning to check on the whereabouts of Isla’s Mini, when she heard a noise above her head. A scraping of wood on floorboards. She turned back and went to the end of the landing where the door to the attic was hidden by the airing cupboard.

No one ever went up to the attic but Caitlin opened the door and climbed the narrow stairs, dipping her head to avoid a cobweb hanging from the ceiling.

‘Isla?’ she said tentatively on reaching the top step. It was gloomy up here but, as her eyes adjusted to the low light, she spotted a figure sitting next to the small window set into the roof.

‘Isla, there you are! Are you all right, sitting up here on your own? I was worried about you.’

‘Sorry.’ Isla turned her head. ‘I needed some breathing space, that’s all.’

‘Would you like me to go?’

‘No. Come on in, if you don’t mind braving the spiders. I think there might be a few mice, too. There are some droppings scattered around.’

Caitlin, a fan of neither spiders nor mice, gulped but picked her way across the dusty room that was littered with boxes and redundant furniture.

Isla was sitting on an old dining chair, looking out of the window, which provided a bird’s eye view of roofs cascading down the hill to the sea. Her hands were in her lap and a shaft of light through the glass was catching her hair and making it shine. She looked like the serene subject of an Old Masters portrait.

‘What’s going on?’ Caitlin perched on a dusty crate and fidgeted when a corner of the box dug into the back of her thigh. ‘You usually go for a walk if you need space to think.’

‘So many people in Heaven’s Cove know me, I get stopped all the time.’ Isla raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s difficult to be incognito when you’re as famous as I am.’

‘Infamous, more like.’ Caitlin grinned and reached into the pocket of her long cardigan. ‘Do you fancy a chocolate biscuit? I found a few in the kitchen that Maisie hadn’t polished off.’

Isla gave a faint smile and took a biscuit from the packet. ‘Thanks. Chocolate digestives are my favourite.’

‘I know. I remember. How did you get on at Driftwood House? Did you see Ben and return his hat?’

‘I did.’

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