Autumn Leaves at Mill Grange by Jenny Kane (best free e reader .TXT) 📕

a distance-learning student, with no practical skills until we arrived. I have to say, Sophie is good at this archaeology lark.’

Do you have to say? Thea felt her muscles clench as she listened to Shaun.

‘She’s a natural. Phil loves her on camera. I guess she’s got that young professional appeal that’s so popular these days.’

‘And having a female presenter on the show won’t hurt Landscape Treasures either, will it?’ Thea could hear herself saying the right thing, but the nagging feeling she’d all but dismissed during her discussions with Tina and Helen, re-stirred in her gut.

‘That’s true,’ Shaun agreed. ‘Luckily, I know that Phil isn’t letting her present just to tick some PC box. It was a requirement of us being here.’

‘It was?’

‘I’ll explain when I see you.’ Shaun paused. ‘She is good though, Thea.’

‘You said,’ Thea snapped.

Oblivious to Thea’s mood, Shaun said, ‘I know it’s bad timing, but is there any chance you can come to Cornwall for a couple of days? I honestly can’t think of another way to get this excavation finished on time so we can do the Mill Grange dig.’

Trying to be reassured that Shaun wanted her with him, and desperate to get in her car and go to see this Sophie for herself, Thea glanced again at the pile of work awaiting her attention. ‘I can’t. There’s so much to do here before we open properly. I’m helping interview a potential archaeology skills tutor tomorrow.’

‘That was quick! Didn’t the advert only go live last week?’

‘It did, but we had three applicants in the first day alone. The guy who’s coming, Tom Harris, looks the best one on paper.’

‘Right. Good. So you’ll have help. Once he’s there, you might be able to come here.’

‘As I said, I’d like to, but—’

‘Are Treasure Hunters still keen?’ Shaun broke through Thea’s reply.

‘You know they are.’

Shaun groaned. ‘I was wondering about discussing tactics to speed things up here with Sophie and—’

Sick of hearing the name Sophie again, Thea hung up the phone.

Five minutes later she sent a text saying they’d been cut off. She agonised about whether to sign off with a kiss or not. Deciding Shaun didn’t deserve one, she didn’t bother. She doubted he would notice.

Twenty-Seven

September 22nd

Bert gave Sam a hearty slap on the back. ‘Progress, young man!’

‘I walked two steps inside before coming back out again. Hardly the summit of Everest.’

Chuckling, Bert left Sam leaning against the open back door to his house as he brewed some tea. ‘No, young fella. You walked two steps into my home. A place you are unfamiliar with, and now you are stood, resting on the inside of the doorway.’

Sam leapt to attention, moving himself upright from where he’d been lounging, making Bert’s grin even broader.

‘You hadn’t noticed what you were doing.’

‘I hadn’t.’

‘I’ll tell you this as well. It’s significant that it was my house you walked in and out of.’

‘At the speed of light.’

‘That’s not important.’ Bert was suddenly serious as he poured boiling water into some mugs. ‘The point is, the only time you have seen any part of this house before, is when you used my walk-in shower.’

‘Which has ample access to the outside world.’

Bert smiled. ‘Only a week ago you couldn’t have walked inside a strange environment, however briefly. Think about it. This is a property that holds unknowns for you. If it had been Mill Grange, which you have seen the inside of, partly in person and partly on video relay, you’d have got further.’

‘You think so?’ Sam allowed himself to be hopeful. ‘Really?’

‘I do. That’s why I suggested we work here for a while. You need to conquer a space you don’t know; that way, when you come to an environment you know and trust it’ll be easier still.’

Sam took his mug of tea. ‘I wish I felt as confident as you sound.’

Bert winked and picked up a pile of papers from his kitchen table along with his drink. ‘I borrowed these from Thea. The plans for Mill Grange, along with the structural survey and associated surveyors report for the house and all the outbuildings.’

Sam followed Bert to a patio table and set of chairs in the back garden. ‘What did you want them for?’

‘You’ve seen these before. Many times, I imagine.’

‘Of course. I had them put together when I bought Mill Grange.’

‘And you trusted the surveyor to do a good job, and you know the house plans are correct because Tina and Thea would soon have shouted if they weren’t.’

‘Yes.’

‘My point is, that if you know the structure of the building is sound then you know it is safe. You know that the people you love go in and out of Mill Grange all day. Now—’ Bert raised his hand to stem the objection he knew would be rising in Sam’s throat ‘—I know that logically, you accept that Mill Grange is a safe place. That it has stood for over a hundred years because it is a solid structure. I also know that logic does not come into play with claustrophobia. However, reminding ourselves of the facts cannot hurt.’

Sam said nothing as he traced a finger over the plan of the kitchen and along the corridor to the downstairs washroom. It was such a short distance. If I could walk along there – or even run along it…

‘Penny for them?’

‘This is the corridor I’ve stood in.’ Sam retraced his finger along the plan. ‘The one between the kitchen and my bathroom.’ Swallowing back the anxiety that was already rising inside him, Sam concentrated resolutely on the plans. ‘If I walked from the bathroom to the kitchen and out through the back door, how long do you think it would take?’

Not mentioning that this had been the exact route Tina had suggested Sam try some weeks ago, Bert mused, ‘If you went at normal walking speed, maybe thirty seconds. At a mad dash, you could do it in ten.’

‘That’s not long is it?’ Sam stroked the plans again. ‘Ten seconds.’

‘It isn’t