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If the expression on Barnie’s face was anything to go by, the answer was not good. Standing next to him, Cam stared down at the jumble of artefacts on the grass at Barnie’s feet. There were a couple of pieces of broken brick similar to what Cam had been pulling out of his pit, a lump of clay pottery they’d not be able to put a date on until it had been cleaned up, and part of a decorative carving. ‘This looks promising,’ Cam said as he knelt down to inspect the carving. It was only a small piece so hard to tell what the design was, but it could be part of a roof boss or some other kind of flourish.
‘It’s closer in period to what we might expect but it was in the same layer as the brickwork, which makes me much less happy about it,’ Barnie said, coming down on one knee beside him. He picked up one of the bricks. ‘I don’t know what to make of these, they remind me of the raised beds in the ornamental gardens behind the house.’
Cam frowned. ‘It’s a trek from there to here. I’ve found similar stuff in mine, though. Do we have a date for the gardens?’
Barnie shook his head. ‘Not exactly. I found some plans in the archive but anything relating to the Hall itself I put to one side. I’ll pull them out when I go back and I’ll take a couple of these brick fragments back with me so I can do a closer comparison. You still haven’t been up and had a proper look around the Hall, have you? The family maintained the front façade pretty much as it was originally built, but there’s all sorts of quirky additions around the back.’
‘I’ll try and make time this weekend, but can I leave it with you to look into for now?’
‘Sure. Shall I head back there and crack on?’
Cam glanced around at the mess of the site. There were bits of finds everywhere and it would take time to sort and catalogue them all. It was basic work and he could supervise it. ‘I can handle things here. Why don’t you take Ed and Cassie with you? The sooner we understand what’s going on here, the better.’
‘Sounds like a plan. Hey, why don’t we meet up at the pub later for dinner? Ed and Cassie want to check it out and Meena is at a family birthday, so I’m at a loose end. Bring Hope and we’ll have a few beers and chill out.’
‘I’ll see what she says. Even if she’s not up for it, I might try and pop down for a drink.’ He was conscious of how much time he and Hope had been spending together. His friends had rearranged their summer plans to support him and he didn’t want them to feel like he was taking them for granted.
It was late afternoon before Cam finally heard from Hope. He’d been so busy trying to keep an eye on everyone at the dig, he hadn’t stopped for more than five minutes to eat a sandwich someone handed him and gulp down a cup of coffee. The air was thick with anticipation, as though everyone knew they were just a few steps away from discovering the truth about the site, but Cam kept them focused on the tasks at hand. Impatient as he was to make sense of everything, they couldn’t afford to be sloppy. Even the groundworkers had wanted to pitch in, so Cam had set them up under Adam’s watchful eye to sift through the spoil heap from each of the pits to make sure they hadn’t missed any fragments of material.
‘It’s a bit like panning for gold,’ Paul had declared once he got the hang of shaking the large sieve. ‘I saw them doing that once on a documentary.’
‘If you find a gold nugget, I’ll let you keep it,’ Cam joked. The kind of treasure he was interested in would be dismissed by most as rubbish, but even the smallest pottery shards could help with dating the site.
He’d moved on and was double-checking the finds each team had bagged so far when his phone rang. Seeing it was Hope calling, Cam dusted off his hands and walked far enough away for privacy while still being able to keep a watchful eye on the site. ‘Hey. I was getting worried about you. How did it go?’
‘About as awful as you might have expected.’ Hope fell silent and Cam wished he’d made the effort to seek her out rather than them doing this over the phone. ‘Everybody knew, well, apart from Rhys, and I swear he’s even more furious about it than I am.’
‘They’ve told you the truth, though?’
‘Yes. Well, as much as I could handle for the moment. There’s still some other stuff we need to get to the bottom of, but that can wait for now.’ The laugh she gave was a painful, choked noise that broke Cam’s heart. ‘Ben doesn’t want anything to do with us. I can’t say I blame him, but I had at least hoped we could salvage something positive from this whole bloody mess.’
Cam listened as she described the contents of the solicitor’s letter sent on her brother’s behalf. ‘Oh, darling, I’m so sorry.’
‘Me too.’
‘Look, I can finish up here and come and see you if you need me, or you can come and meet me at the lodge if you’d prefer?’ He’d wanted to do another hour on site, but if Hope needed him then he could trust Adam and Zoë to supervise closing down for the day.
‘That’s so lovely of you, but I’d rather be on my own for a bit, if you don’t mind.’ Hope sighed. ‘It’s all so awkward here right now, but the estate needs all of us to run properly. We’re a part of this place, and it’s a part of us. It’s where we belong. I’m going to have to find a way to live with what I know.’ She gave that sad laugh again. ‘Be careful what you wish for, eh?’
‘Why don’t you come and stay at the lodge with me for a few nights while everyone gets used to the situation?’ He could only imagine how hard it would be for her to sit around the kitchen table for dinner and feel betrayed by everyone sitting with her. Except for Rhys… ‘I was going to meet Barnie, Ed and Cassie in the pub for dinner. Why don’t you and Rhys come and join us? It’d give you both a bit of breathing space. I haven’t said a word to anyone about what we found out last night, so you won’t have to worry about having to talk about it.’
‘I’m not sure I’m in the mood for it. You won’t mind, will you?’
‘Of course not. And I don’t mind if you’d rather stay at the farmhouse either. I just want to help you get through this in whatever way I can. Look, I’ll go to the pub with the others and if you decide to join us, then great, if not then text me later before you go to bed.’
‘Okay. Look, I’d better go as I need to go and see if Rowena has managed to find her rings. She was beside herself earlier and I kind of brushed her off because I was too focused on talking to Ziggy.’
Cam’s heart swelled with compassion and affection. Even with all the shocks that had been dumped in Hope’s unsuspecting lap, she still loved and cared for her family. It was going to be a very rocky few months, but he had faith they would find a way through. ‘Okay. Call or text me if you need me and I’ll be there.’
* * *
‘Oh, this is lovely,’ Cass said with a delighted smile as Barnie held the door of The Stourton Arms open for her and Ed. Cam followed them into the bar, remembering to duck before he clunked his head on the low beams – something he hadn’t managed on his first visit. It was quiet, but then it was a Tuesday night. Still, given how busy the campsite on the estate was, he’d expected more than half a dozen tables to be occupied.
‘Table for four?’ Barnie asked the barman.
‘Better make it for six as we might have company later,’ Cam reminded him.
‘Oh, yes, of course. Can you manage six?’
