started for the back door that led to the cellar, and stairs down … and when one of the Hamblyns did not immediately fall in line, Jack stopped.
“Coming along, Terry?”
And Sarah saw from the sick expression that Terry might have a clue as to where this would lead.
***
Late afternoon sun still filtered into the narrow windows of the cellar. The room felt chilly, the stone floor uneven.
Jack ducked under low cross beams until he came to a wine cellar, motioning the others towards the wine rack, which looked as though someone had been playing battleships with it — dotted as it was with so many empty slots.
“But where is all the wine? Last time I was down here,” Dominic said, “these racks of vintage reds were full .”
And all Jack had to do was point, and the group turned.
To a pile of empties stood by one wall, looking like glass soldiers mowed down.
“Someone liked to come down here, have a bottle or three,” Jack explained. “Maybe bring one back home. But you see …”
Jack walked behind the massive chimney bottom, around to the back, and returned dangling the space heater he’d found in the bin at Terry’s caravan.
‘Gets quite cold down here at night, after Victor was asleep. So cold that a little space heater could take the chill off, isn’t that right, Terry?”
“I … I just … I mean, he didn’t drink any of it so I thought …”
Jack nodded.
“And yes — guess you’d sit … right about here.”
A wooden chair with a tattered cushion sat next to the empties. And behind it, an electric wall socket.
And that too was blackened.
“I don’t understand,” Susan said.
But Jack wasn’t about to rush.
He gave them all a smile.
“I imagine the wiring down here is even more ancient than most of the house. And do you know what room is right above here, on the same primitive circuit?”
Everyone looked up to the dark floorboards above them.
Jack could see Sarah, trying to imagine the layout of the ground floor.
But Dominic nodded.
“The library …”
Jack’s smile faded.
“Yes. And the electrical fire may have started here, an overload … but it triggered the main one up there.”
Dominic came and grabbed his brother by the lapel and Terry — though built like a bowling pin — seemed to become an empty bag of air as his brother shook him left and right.
“You killed him! You killed …”
But Jack intervened.
“No. All old Terry did here was sample some free if expensive wine. When the heater blew the circuit, I imagine,” he turned to Terry “that you grabbed the heater — ran out, panicked?”
Terry nodded.
“I called out to Dad. I thought he’d hear and get out. Then the fire trucks showed up. They’d get him out, I thought.”
“So you bolted. Nice,” Jack said.
“Bloody typical,” said Susan Hamblyn. “You always did run away, you little …”
And now Jack had to step sideways, to protect Terry from his sister whose hands reached out to grab at his long, greasy hair …
“Please!” said Tony Standish. “This is most uncivilized!”
Vanessa Coole then hurled herself into the action.
In the midst of the scuffling, Jack managed to turn and smile to Sarah who was backing away with Hope.
“See you upstairs?”
He saw her roll her eyes and usher Hope away in a graceful retreat.
And then he returned to the fray.
Sarah stood by Hope outside the front door of the Manor, breathing in the fresh air with relief. Out here there was only silence — not a hint at the mayhem that had just gone on inside.
“You okay?”
Hope nodded. “Just thinking — he had something most of us never do, a love that lasts a lifetime.”
There was more to tell her friend about that love, and one more thing to be done, Sarah knew.
But for now …
She saw Jack emerge from the house, pulling his jacket straight. He stopped and seemed to consider.
“You know, in the end — there wasn’t a murder,” he said. “There was just one awful and messed up
“Coming along, Terry?”
And Sarah saw from the sick expression that Terry might have a clue as to where this would lead.
***
Late afternoon sun still filtered into the narrow windows of the cellar. The room felt chilly, the stone floor uneven.
Jack ducked under low cross beams until he came to a wine cellar, motioning the others towards the wine rack, which looked as though someone had been playing battleships with it — dotted as it was with so many empty slots.
“But where is all the wine? Last time I was down here,” Dominic said, “these racks of vintage reds were full .”
And all Jack had to do was point, and the group turned.
To a pile of empties stood by one wall, looking like glass soldiers mowed down.
“Someone liked to come down here, have a bottle or three,” Jack explained. “Maybe bring one back home. But you see …”
Jack walked behind the massive chimney bottom, around to the back, and returned dangling the space heater he’d found in the bin at Terry’s caravan.
‘Gets quite cold down here at night, after Victor was asleep. So cold that a little space heater could take the chill off, isn’t that right, Terry?”
“I … I just … I mean, he didn’t drink any of it so I thought …”
Jack nodded.
“And yes — guess you’d sit … right about here.”
A wooden chair with a tattered cushion sat next to the empties. And behind it, an electric wall socket.
And that too was blackened.
“I don’t understand,” Susan said.
But Jack wasn’t about to rush.
He gave them all a smile.
“I imagine the wiring down here is even more ancient than most of the house. And do you know what room is right above here, on the same primitive circuit?”
Everyone looked up to the dark floorboards above them.
Jack could see Sarah, trying to imagine the layout of the ground floor.
But Dominic nodded.
“The library …”
Jack’s smile faded.
“Yes. And the electrical fire may have started here, an overload … but it triggered the main one up there.”
Dominic came and grabbed his brother by the lapel and Terry — though built like a bowling pin — seemed to become an empty bag of air as his brother shook him left and right.
“You killed him! You killed …”
But Jack intervened.
“No. All old Terry did here was sample some free if expensive wine. When the heater blew the circuit, I imagine,” he turned to Terry “that you grabbed the heater — ran out, panicked?”
Terry nodded.
“I called out to Dad. I thought he’d hear and get out. Then the fire trucks showed up. They’d get him out, I thought.”
“So you bolted. Nice,” Jack said.
“Bloody typical,” said Susan Hamblyn. “You always did run away, you little …”
And now Jack had to step sideways, to protect Terry from his sister whose hands reached out to grab at his long, greasy hair …
“Please!” said Tony Standish. “This is most uncivilized!”
Vanessa Coole then hurled herself into the action.
In the midst of the scuffling, Jack managed to turn and smile to Sarah who was backing away with Hope.
“See you upstairs?”
He saw her roll her eyes and usher Hope away in a graceful retreat.
And then he returned to the fray.
Sarah stood by Hope outside the front door of the Manor, breathing in the fresh air with relief. Out here there was only silence — not a hint at the mayhem that had just gone on inside.
“You okay?”
Hope nodded. “Just thinking — he had something most of us never do, a love that lasts a lifetime.”
There was more to tell her friend about that love, and one more thing to be done, Sarah knew.
But for now …
She saw Jack emerge from the house, pulling his jacket straight. He stopped and seemed to consider.
“You know, in the end — there wasn’t a murder,” he said. “There was just one awful and messed up
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