35

As he stood washing the dishes, after dismissing the lad, Mr Armitage had time to think further through exactly what he’d hoped to achieve yesterday with his neighbour, and whether Calum was right. When the girls went missing, he’d hoped the neighbour would be his greatest support. Of course, the authorities suspected him of something dreadful, but there was no evidence. The bodies were never found, and besides, Mr Armitage hadn’t even been in the country.

He’d been with the Haudenosaunee, where the girls were from. He was especially close with Sara’s father, and counselled him greatly after what had happened to their mothers. He soon returned after hearing the distressed call from his neighbour, who said he hadn’t seen the girls in the fields for two days. He arrived home and went straight to Mrs Careen, who explained that the neighbour had filed the two new missing persons reports, disappeared inside and refused to come out again.

He thought then about going to him that day - how his neighbour had cried and hit him, asking why he hadn’t left the girls in his care while he travelled, though the girls had been between fifteen and seventeen when they had been last seen. It hadn’t even occurred to him to find them some minder. Prior to that day, there had been growing animosity, but they had mostly retained a bond of friendship. But Number Seven was becoming necrotic even then - and that was the day the necessary amputation happened.

Mr Armitage had finished washing and drying their plates, trays, and the pans Calum had used to cook. He recalled the Dickinson lines the neighbour had quoted him that day -

Time is a test of trouble, but not a remedy

if such it prove, it prove too,

there was no malady.

The lines always helped the men understand the true nature of the hardships they faced. His were all maladies. He thought again of Calum - young enough to perhaps discover a different truth than he found. The boy still hoped for remedies; perhaps there was one at Number Seven, so Mr Armitage settled in himself to introduce the boy to their neighbour.