Cora nodded. She took a breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. ‘I know. I understand.’
‘Okay.’ I thought about reaching for her hand, to give it a reassuring squeeze. But I’d never been good at spontaneous human contact. ‘So?’
‘I’m still going to look for her.’ Cora glanced at me. That smile flickered again; somehow soft and steely at the same time. ‘Nothing can stop me.’
In that moment, I completely believed her. ‘I’m sorry I can’t help,’ I said. ‘I just don’t remember. I don’t know if I was near the south end of the curraghs or the north end.’
Cora produced a plastic ruler from her bag and started measuring distances on the photos, comparing them to an Ordnance Survey map. ‘I’ll search every inch of that place if I have to,’ she said. ‘I’m not leaving until I’m certain whether or not my sister was here.’
‘Really?’
Cora pushed her hands across the maps to smooth them flat. ‘I’m going to search this swamp from one end to the other, one square metre at a time, until I’ve covered the whole damn lot. I’ll start along the north edge here, work west to east, east to west, moving south with each sweep.’
I leaned over the maps, letting myself see them properly for the first time. Someone – presumably Cora – had drawn a grid over the top of the maps and the photos. Each small square was numbered. The ones at the very perimeter of the curraghs were shaded pale yellow, as was a section in the north-west corner.
‘We can probably discount those areas,’ Cora said, following my gaze along the yellow squares. ‘You were found coming out of the trees on the eastern side of the road, so you can’t have been in this north-west section, otherwise you would’ve had to cross the road. And, from what you’ve said, it sounds like you weren’t on the edge of the swamp. You would’ve noticed, right, if there were fields instead of trees in front of you?’
I nodded. ‘There were trees all around. When I found the skeleton, I stood up and looked around. Like, I don’t know, like maybe someone was there who could’ve helped.’ That’s what you do when you’re a kid, even if you know for one hundred per cent certain that no one’s there except you. ‘I looked around, and there were trees on all sides. No farmland.’
Cora nodded, pleased. ‘And, how far can you see when you’re in the thick of it? Ten feet, twenty feet? More? Less?’
‘It depends where you are. If there’s lots of undergrowth you might not see more than five or ten feet in front of you. If the trees are thin, you can see quite some distance. Fifty, a hundred feet. It depends.’
Cora nodded again. She leaned over the pictures and started making pencil marks on one of the photos.
I was forced to re-evaluate the woman. I’d jumped to the assumption that she’d come here with nothing more than false hopes and unreal expectations. But it looked like she’d done her homework. She’d researched maps and photos, several of which were new to me, despite my living here for most of my adult life. Cora was as prepared as anyone was likely to get.
Watching her, hunched over the maps, I couldn’t suppress a twinge of excitement. If anyone could do this, it might be her.
I tried to smother my hope. ‘When I found it, there was nothing left but bones,’ I said. ‘It will have broken down a lot more since then. We could walk right over it and see nothing. Plus,’ I sighed, ‘I mean, really I might’ve been mistaken. It could’ve been a sheep skeleton for all I know. Or it could’ve been hundreds of years old, someone who was buried on the land and the grave forgotten about, then the tree roots shoved it to the surface. You have to consider these things.’
‘There were fillings in the back teeth,’ Cora said. ‘That’s what you saw, right?’
I made a face. ‘Oh my God, how much of my life is on that stupid website? Is there anything the whole world doesn’t know? How’d they even get details like that?’ I’d forgotten about the fillings myself until right then.
‘You’re not going to talk anyone out of this search,’ Dallin said. He’d remained standing, leaning against the counter with his arms folded. ‘Believe me, plenty of people have tried. But we’re here, and we’re not leaving until we’ve finished the search. Right, Cora?’
Cora pressed her lips together and nodded. ‘Right.’
The pair of them were staying at the campsite at Ballaugh, a few miles down the road. I came out to the doorstep to say goodnight.
Cora gave me an awkward smile. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘For helping us. I know you think you can’t do anything, but thank you for at least hearing me out and not dismissing us straight away.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Dallin said. ‘Rosie’s been called a crackpot for years by folks around here. If anyone’s likely to believe you completely, it’s her.’
Cora winced at his crass words; tried to cover it with another hesitant smile. ‘We’ll let you know how we get on, yeah?’
‘Sure.’ They were going out into the curraghs early the next day, to start the search. She’d hinted I was welcome to join them. ‘Drop round any time you need a cup of tea,’ I said. ‘I’m almost always here.’
‘Certainly will.’ Cora grinned again then got into the driver’s seat of the car.
Again, I couldn’t help but admire her determination. There was a lot to admire about Cora. I almost wished we were meeting under different circumstances.
I hunched my shoulders. I could practically feel the weight of Beth’s gaze pressing down on me from the house. I looked away from Cora quickly.
Dallin remained behind for a moment. He reached to hug me and I instinctively stiffened as he put his arms around my shoulders.
‘It’s good to see you, sis,’ he said.
‘Yeah, well.’ I turned my face away so I was staring over his shoulder at the garden. ‘Have you been to see Mum yet?’
‘Not yet, no.’
Something in his tone made me pull away from him. ‘I usually visit on Sundays, but I could go with you tomorrow if that’s better?’
‘I’ll have a think, sure.’
There it was again, that dismissive tone. ‘Dal, you have told her you’re here, right? She knows you’re back on the island?’
‘I figured it might be a nice surprise.’ Dallin gave a weak, apologetic grin.
I looked away. ‘I don’t know why I expected anything different.’
‘That’s hardly fair.’
‘Don’t tell me what’s fair and what isn’t.’ I kept my voice and my expression neutral so Cora wouldn’t notice anything wrong. ‘You’re quick enough to run and help when a girl you barely know needs it but you wouldn’t come home when your actual family needed you.’
Dallin started to say something else, but I turned away and went back into the house. I closed the door and twisted the key in the lock.
I stayed there in the hallway with my arms wrapped tight around myself, until I heard the noise of the car fade as it turned left at the end of the road. And then, at last, the house was silent again.