Read Online River of Destiny by Barbara Erskine - Free Book Online

was addressing the neighbours’ wayward children or some ghostly presence. Either way she acknowledged that she was scared.
    Her heart was thudding in her chest. The feeling that there was someone listening intensified; behind her she heard something roll across the table and it fell to the floor with a rattle. She spun round and stared. A bent corroded nail lay beside the table leg. She stared at it and then looked up. Had it fallen from the ceiling? In here there were fewer beams, the ceiling between them smoothly plastered. There was nowhere it could have appeared from. Hesitantly she stooped and picked it up. It was rusty, squarish, with a small head, cold as it lay in her palm.
    She dropped it hastily on the table. ‘Is that yours?’ she called. She was addressing the ghost. ‘Are you trying to tell me something?’
    There was no reply.
    Seconds later she heard the crunch of car tyres on the gravel outside and, glancing through the window, she saw Ken’s car sweep round the side of the building.
    She scooped up the nail and put it into a small bowl on the dresser; minutes later Ken had opened the door and walked in, bringing with him a blast of cold air. He piled some paper carriers on the worktop. ‘I missed the blasted post again! Here, do you want some sausages? From the farm shop. I thought it might be nice for supper.’ He pushed a packet towards her. ‘The forecast is good; shall we go out early tomorrow? See if we can get down the river and over the bar?’
    ‘Out to sea?’ Zoë picked up the sausages with a slight grimace and went over to the fridge.
    He laughed. ‘Yes, out to sea, with waves.’ There was an edge of hardness to his voice.
    ‘Why not?’ She forced herself to look pleased. Even sailing seemed better suddenly than staying alone in the house with – her thought processes stalled. She thought of it – the ghost, if there was a ghost – as him.
    It occurred to her that Ken was watching her and she gave him a forced grin. ‘We could cook the sausages tonight to take with us tomorrow.’
    He nodded. ‘That would be nice.’
    ‘OK. How early do you call early?’
    He smiled, all charm now he had got his way. ‘We need to go out so that there is enough depth going over the bar.’
    ‘And come back when the tide turns?’
    He nodded.
    ‘Great.’ She managed to sound enthusiastic. ‘I’ll make the picnic up tonight.’
    He nodded. ‘I’ll just go and send out a couple of emails then I’ll wash up for supper.’
    That’s me sorted for the evening; cook supper and pack the picnic. Zoë suppressed a surge of irritation. It wasn’t as if she had anything else pressing to do, or that she didn’t enjoy cooking.
    Ken was heading for the door when she heard him give an exclamation of annoyance. He stooped. ‘Bloody nail on the floor! Look, I’ve scratched the boards.’ He threw something into the rubbish bin and walked out. It didn’t seem to occur to him to wonder where it had come from.
    For a moment Zoë didn’t move. She stared at the bin then slowly moved towards it. She pushed open the lid and looked inside. There, at the bottom of the empty white rubbish bag, lay another rusty nail identical to the first.
    She reached down and picked it out and put it with the first one in the bowl, then stood for several moments looking down at them before putting the bowl back on the very top shelf of the dresser.
     
    Leo watched them leave next morning with a sardonic grin. Obviously they hadn’t listened to the forecast. Walking away from the window, a bowl of cereal in his hand, he went into his studio and stood looking at the work in progress. It was proceeding well and he had to admit, albeit grudgingly, he was pleased with himself. There was a rattling noise from the kitchen door.
    ‘Come in!’ he called. ‘I saw you there.’
    The door opened and a face peered in. ‘Hi, Leo.’
    ‘When did you come down?’ He hadn’t looked round.
    ‘Yesterday.’ The face was heavily