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“I know, but you could forgive him…” Dani looked so hopeful, it broke Bea’s heart.
She cupped her daughter’s cheek with one hand. “I can forgive him, and I will someday. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be married again.”
“You’re still married now.”
“You know what I mean.” Bea’s face was warm—her heart pounded. She was ready to get back to work. To do anything other than talk about her marriage with Dani.
She got back onto her feet, then grimaced at the pain in her arms and legs. “Come on, we have to get this finished. We can talk about my failed marriage another time.”
They headed for the bathroom and got to work demolishing it. Bea’s arms had recovered enough for her to lift the hammer, but it was hard going. After about ten minutes, they both stopped, puffing hard. Bea leaned against the wall and raised her goggles.
“I can’t believe we’re almost done.”
Dani sat on an upturned bucket. “It’s getting dark.”
“We’ll go back soon. We should put on our headlamps.”
Bea had found headlamps in Dad’s camping supplies in the shed and brought down two for them to use. They slipped them over their heads and switched them on. The light from Bea’s lamp illuminated the hole in the wall she’d made with her sledgehammer. They were expanding the bathroom out so that it wasn’t so dark and pokey, and she was looking forward to seeing the finished product. As her lamplight glided over the hole she’d made, something glinted in the wall recess.
She froze, then shifted the light back to that place and stepped forward to peer down into the inner part of the wall.
“What’s wrong?” Dani asked, standing and moving closer.
“I don’t know. I saw something in the wall.”
“Really? What is it? A rat? Please tell me it’s not a rat.” Dani shivered.
Bea grunted. “It’s not a rat. It’s…” She pushed a hand into the wall, and her gloved fingers closed around the hard object. She pulled it out. It was a small fabric bag, wrapped around something. “This. I don’t know what it is.”
“Let’s open it up.”
Bea carried the bag out to the deck, and they both sat on the edge. She pulled off her gloves, shifted her goggles from her eyes and lifted the object out of the bag. It was a film canister.
“What’s that?” Dani asked.
Bea chuckled. “Film… This is how we used to take photos, kiddo.”
Dani leaned forward and stared at the canister. “Why was it in the wall?”
“No idea. Someone’s clearly hidden it there for a reason.”
“Sounds spooky.”
“Not necessarily.”
“Didn’t Pa build this cottage?” Dani asked.
“No, he bought it from someone.”
“How do we get the photos?”
“We’ll have to find a place that develops film and see if they can do something with it. It’s pretty old, by the looks of it.”
Dani pulled her phone out of her pocket and searched for somewhere they could take the film. “This place, Eveleigh’s Books in Kellyville. It says here Eveleigh is an avid photographer who specialises in film photography. I wonder if she would develop the film for us.”
“Eveleigh… That might be the Evie Mair I’ve known since primary school.”
“Could be.”
