Dorothy Eden by Sinister Weddings Page A

been caused, Julia thought slowly, by anger or frustration. And if that were truly so it meant that Harry was alive. And not far away.
    But if Harry were really alive, why should he want to play stupid malicious jokes on her?
    Davey had begun a conversation with Paul about bringing the sheep down from the high country for lambing. Kate was pouring another cup of coffee, slopping it into the saucer as if her hand were shaking. Lily was clattering dishes in the kitchen. Nita had disappeared, but if Harry were mysteriously in the house no doubt she had gone to him. This was the time to look.
    Unobtrusively Julia slipped from the room. She knew all the rooms on the ground floor, the kitchen, the library, the big front room where Georgina sat all day, the dining room where they had just finished breakfast, and two or three small rooms at the back that were used for lumber rooms. But upstairs she had not seen all the rooms. She particularly wanted to find the room in which Nita had slept last night. She wanted to know why Nita would not have heard her own baby crying.
    There was Georgina’s cluttered stuffy room immediately opposite the head of the stairs, then Kate’s, and beyond that Paul’s. On the other side of the passage was the large guest room that Julia had, then the tiny dressing room in which Timmy had been put. Next to that was the bathroom, and then two rooms that had previously been unoccupied. One of these would be Nita’s. Julia tapped on the door of the first. When there was no answer she cautiously opened the door and found another lumber room, clearly uninhabited for the bed was buried beneath a pile of old boxes and baggage. She went out and tapped on the slightly ajar door of the second. Again there was no answer. She went in and saw the double bed, unmade, and blankets flung back carelessly.
    Nita’s bags were on the floor and her cosmetics on the dressing-table. There was no doubt that it was Nita’s room. The only curious thing was that there were two pillows side by side in the bed, and each bore the round indentation of a head.
    So that, Julia reflected, was why Nita had not heard Timmy crying. At that instant she had that thought there was a sound behind her. She turned swiftly and saw Nita watching her with narrowed sardonic eyes.
    “Something you’re looking for?” she asked.
    Julia threw back her head. No narrow-eyed gipsy like Nita was going to frighten her.
    “Not something,” she replied coolly. “Someone.” She looked deliberately at the dented pillows. “Where’s Harry?” she asked. “Why does everyone tell me he’s dead when obviously he is here?”
    “Who tells you?” Nita asked swiftly.
    Who had told her? Only Georgina, and she was in her dotage. Yet it seemed that in a silent subtle way everyone had told her.
    “You surely don’t take any notice of a crazy old woman,” Nita said. “And if you think I shared my bed you’re wrong. I’m a restless sleeper. I fling myself all over the place.”
    “Then why didn’t you hear Timmy crying? You said you slept soundly.”
    “When I go to sleep, I do. Besides there are two rooms between us, and a wind howling in those god-awful trees outside. Would you have heard him? I won’t have him put in that room again. He’ll come in here with me. It was Kate’s fault last night. She was in a bit of a flap at our arrival.”
    “Why did you come unexpectedly like that?” Julia asked curiously.
    Nita went to the dressing-table, took a cigarette from a packet and leisurely lit it.
    “Because I have every right to. Even if I’m only a daughter-in-law, Timmy belongs here.”
    “Of course,” Julia agreed, her voice suddenly gentle. “I understand. You were lonely.”
    “What do you think?” Nita said furiously. “Left like that, trying to fight my way. Of course I was lonely. Though what I will be here I don’t know,” she added under her breath.
    Julia could see her anger and her despair, but still she could interpret no