Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
CATH
W ell, she had to admit it—her new commute beat her old one hands down. Cath clutched her half-drunk mug of Earl Grey as she ambled up the high street, taking deep breaths of the fresh, early-morning air.
And boy, was it early, even for her!
Cath was used to hopping out of bed the moment she woke up—mainly because her old, terraced house had been on one side of the capital and the imposing white cube of the gallery had been on the other. Early mornings had been a necessary evil if she wanted to get to work on time.
Here, though? Well, she had a feeling they might become a bit of a joy instead, especially if the colours dancing at the edges of the wispy clouds were always this enchanting!
Of course, it helped that her commute was now less than a five-minute walk up the picturesque cobbles to the top of the hill.
Plus, it didn’t hurt that the moment she’d closed her new front door behind her, she’d been greeted by the tantalising scent of hot bread. Crumbleton’s baker was clearly already hard at work!
Cath hadn’t forgotten her promise to herself the previous evening. She had every intention of wandering back down the hill to grab herself a mid-morning treat. But first—she wanted to see what she’d let herself in for at the museum.
Patting her pocket, Cath double-checked that she’d remembered to pick up the ornate key that would let her into her new lair. There wasn’t really any need—it was so heavy, she could feel it weighing the side of her cardigan down, bouncing slightly with every step she took. Still, it was nice to hear the reassuring jangle as it rattled against its big, metal ring and the bunch of smaller, unlabelled keys that had come with it. Whether she’d ever figure out what they were all for was anyone’s guess!
Cath sighed and smiled as she took another sip of tea. Realistically, she should be exhausted after all the stress and heavy lifting of the day before. That couldn’t be further from the truth, though. It might be early, but she was buzzing with possibility. Sure, her new home might look like a badly played game of Jenga right now, but that didn’t matter. Give it a few days and she’d get those boxes under control.
Pausing to peer at a gorgeous display of potted orchids and spiny cactuses in the florist’s window, Cath peeped up at the sign.
Milly’s Flowers
So, this must be where Oli and Ruby had moved to. They hadn’t been exaggerating when they’d said they’d been able to transport most of their belongings by hand!
The pair of them had been so kind to her the previous evening. They’d made sure she had everything she needed, and Ruby had even insisted on helping her to make up her bed so that it was ready for her to collapse into the minute she was ready. They’d disappeared fairly promptly—clearly sensing she was so tired she could barely string a sentence together—but not before they’d promised to catch up with her over drinks down at the Dolphin and Anchor as soon as she’d settled in.
Their easy, uncomplicated welcome had made Cath feel instantly at home, and her fears about starting over again and finding new friends had melted away. Now all she had to do was get her teeth into her new job, and she’d be off to a flying start!
‘And there’s the museum!’ Cath whispered to herself.
The sight up ahead of her was quite imposing… at least at first glance. The museum was part of the higgledy-piggledy castle that crowned the top of Crumbleton’s hill. It had a creaky-looking bell tower that was something straight out of a fairytale. There were turrets and arrow slits and an impressive, iron-studded wooden door that looked like it could single-handedly hold off a marauding mob.
Cath knew better than to sink too far into the glamour of the fairytale, though. Ruth had hinted during the interview that it wasn’t just the inside of the museum that would benefit from a bit of care and attention. The outside needed quite a bit of work too—work that would take a pretty penny to complete.
Even from this distance, it was easy to spot the telltale signs that the stonework needed some serious TLC. Here and there, tufts of grass stuck out of the walls. There were patches where stones had come loose and fallen to the ground far below. A veritable forest of buddleia bushes had taken root in the resulting gaps. As pretty as the purple flowers were—wafting in the breeze several dozen feet above ground level—Cath knew the roots would be playing havoc with the ancient walls.
‘Let’s get inside!’ she murmured, not wanting to get overwhelmed by all the work that needed doing.
Cath trotted past the little antiques shop that lay between Milly’s Flowers and the museum, fishing the key out of her pocket as she went.
‘Oh!’ She came to a sudden halt.
Cath had been so caught up with inspecting the building itself that she’d managed to miss a pile of… stuff… right outside the museum entrance.
A knackered-looking sofa had been left on the cobbled pavement next to the door. Balanced on top of it was a ginormous tasselled lampshade, a brown china chicken, and what looked to be an old wooden tennis racket with loose strings.
‘And yet more boxes!’ said Cath, the words tumbling out in a desperate sort of chuckle.
There were five of them, piled on top of each other and leaning precariously against the door itself. She had no idea what all this stuff was… nor why it was there… but she was going to have to shift it out of the way if she wanted to get inside.
Cath sidled up to the stack of boxes. She didn’t want to waste time moving them out of the way one by one, so she hauled them away from the door and then leaned her full weight against the damp cardboard and pushed until the whole lot started to inch sideways.
‘There, that’ll do,’ she said, holding out her hands as she backed away, just in case of imminent collapse. ‘Sorted!’ she added triumphantly when the stack sagged ever so slightly but failed to topple over.
Straightening her shoulders and reaching back into her pocket for the key, she slotted it into the lock. This was it—her new domain! It was finally time to take a peep inside.
‘Three… two… one…’ she whispered, before turning the enormous key. Except… it wouldn’t turn. In fact, it wouldn’t even budge.
‘What?’ she groaned, taking the key back out of the lock and staring at it. It didn’t look damaged. Surely Ruth had sent her the right one?! ‘Try again…’
With far less pomp and circumstance the second time around, Cath shoved the key back into the lock and tried to turn it. It simply wouldn’t cooperate.
‘Seriously?!’ muttered Cath, barging her shoulder against the door… more to let out her frustration rather than anything else. Sure enough, all she managed to do was bounce off the ancient—decidedly solid—wood.
Okay, it was time for Plan B… whatever that was!
Cath rubbed her shoulder and stared around as though the answer might be staring right back at her. Unfortunately, it was barely six o’clock in the morning, and she was in an unfamiliar town. There was no one else around. Perhaps the only answer was to give up, head home, crawl back into bed and admit defeat.
So much for an early start to the perfect first day!
‘Nope!’ she said, squaring her shoulders. She wasn’t about to be beaten by a faulty lock!
Grabbing the bunch of smaller keys, she started to offer them up one by one. After all, she’d just assumed that the great big one was for the front door!
Two seconds later, she gave up again.
‘Okay… okay, let’s think,’ she said, stepping back.
Cath had the Welcome Pack in her bag, but she’d already read the thing from cover to cover more than once, and as far as she could remember, there wasn’t any mention of how to actually get inside the place.
But… there was that list of emergency phone numbers. She could call someone. At six o’clock in the morning. That was bound to help her make friends… NOT!
Grabbing the pack from her bag, Cath started leafing through the pages, hunting for the list of numbers. The names hadn’t really meant much to her the last time she’d looked, but now as her eyes scanned down the list, she saw that both Ruby and Oli’s private mobiles were on there, along with a landline for the bookshop. Well, there was no way she was going to drag those two out of bed this early in the morning—especially after they’d been so kind to her the day before.
Maybe she should just leave it for now? Maybe…
Cath’s eyes had come to rest on a number for Heather . The name didn’t mean anything to her, but it had Crumbleton Bakery right next to it. At least she knew she wouldn’t be getting Heather out of bed. The lights for the bakery had been on when she’d walked past, and the scent of baking bread was a dead giveaway that there must be someone hard at work in there.
Grabbing her mobile, Cath punched in the number before she could chicken out. She wasn’t expecting someone who owned a bakery to help her with a faulty lock… but Heather might at least be able to tell her which of the dozen other names on the list to call.
‘Hello? Crumbleton Bakery, this is Heather…’
‘Oh, uh, hi!’ said Cath, wincing slightly at the nervous squeak in her voice. ‘Look, I’m really sorry to bother you… especially so early!’
‘Early? Ha!’ chuckled the woman on the other end. ‘And it’s fine, I’m just taking a breather. Now, what can I do for you?’
‘I’m Cath… the new curator at the museum. I… erm… I can’t get the key to work and…’ Cath paused. She sounded utterly ridiculous. She should have just gone home and then tried to reach Ruth when it was a more human hour rather than bugging random strangers. ‘Sorry, this is stupid, but I wasn’t sure who to call, and I saw your lights on and…’
‘Stop!’ said Heather. ‘And breathe!’
‘Okay,’ said Cath. ‘Breathing!’
‘Good!’ laughed Heather. ‘Now, you need to speak to my brother.’
‘Oh!’ said Cath in surprise. ‘Erm, could I grab his number…? Or maybe he’s on my list already. What’s his name?’
‘No need, I’ll go grab him for you now,’ said Heather. ‘He’s working right outside.’
Before Cath could say anything else, there was a load of rustling on the other end of the line, and then she heard muffled voices.
‘Hello?’ The unfamiliar voice was deep and decidedly gravelly. ‘Can’t get into the museum? I’ll be right up!’
Cath didn’t even manage to get a word out before he hung up on her. Heather’s brother was clearly a man of very few words.
Suddenly exhausted by the unexpected turn of events, Cath stared around, looking for somewhere to perch while she waited for her saviour to arrive. She couldn’t imagine it would take him very long to wander up the hill from the bakery, but there was a perfectly decent sofa right next to her! If she shifted the lampshade over she could just…
‘Ahhhh,’ she sighed, sinking down into the cushions. That was seriously comfortable! Either that or she was just so knackered that even a stone wall would feel like luxury.
Cath had just shifted the china chicken over a bit so that she could pop her bag down next to her when she spotted a tall figure wearing overalls and a hard hat loping towards her up the hill.
Huh! He’d sounded a lot older on the phone.
Cath raised a hand to push her hair away from her face, suddenly wishing that she’d taken the time to put on some mascara before leaving the flat. Scooting forwards, she hauled herself back out of the depths of the sofa to greet him.