Kraal

Chapter 13: Rose

I found Gran in the kitchen, sitting by the fire, pouring over an interior design magazine. I kissed her on the cheek and slumped into the seat opposite. "Where's Mum?" I asked.

Gran smiled shrewdly and took off her glasses. "She's on a date."

"She is?" I asked.

Gran chuckled at the look confusion on my face. "With Ryan."

"Ryan?"

"He's a nice man," Gran said. "He's kind and he's easy on the eyes too."

"Gran."

Her laughter rang through the cavernous kitchen. "After they took that boy to the hospital, they had a coffee and they got talking."

"Good for her." While the thought of Mum dating was odd, I was glad that she had someone to take her mind off Dad. Maybe now she could stop crying over breakfast.

"The hospital said that boy was lucky you found him, if he had been left any longer he could've gotten hypothermia."

"His name is Jack."

Gran looked up with interest.

"I went to visit him yesterday, he's OK, but his face is a mess."

Gran clucked sympathetically. "Does he who know who did that to him?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "He didn't seem to want to talk about it."

Gran raised her eyebrows and went back to her interior design magazine, sliding her glasses back up her nose.

"Are you doing some more work on the house?"

Gran peered over the top of her magazine. "Actually, I'm thinking of extending. Your Mum was talking about finding a house for the two of you, but with the way the housing prices are, I suggested that you both stay here. If I added an annexe to the side of the house, you could both have your own space. What do you think?"

I thought that with every brick of that extension, I would be cementing my future in Westwood Falls, but the thought of staying with Gran and Mum and Josh made something inside of me glow.

"I think it sounds wonderful."

Gran smiled. "Good, you can help me pick out some stuff. I was thinking of sticking with the exposed-beam design, what do-"

Gran was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." I shifted out of my seat and trudged towards the front door.

Outside, a tall man and a pretty woman stood under the shelter of the porch.

"I'm DC Cole and this is DC Brown," the man said. "Can we come in?"

"Of course, come on through. Gran!"

I led the pair through to the kitchen where Gran had risen out of her chair.

"Mrs Summers? I'm DC Cole and this is my colleague DC Brown, we were hoping to speak to you about the boy you found outside of your property a couple of nights ago."

"Of course, take a seat. Rose, can you make some tea?"

I flicked on the kettle and busied myself taking mugs out of the cupboard.

"It was actually my granddaughter who found the boy."

DC Cole and DC Brown briefly turned in my direction.

"He has refused to give a statement about the attack," DC Cole said. "But some of his injuries were consistent with the bodies of two young males we've found in the last couple of weeks."