Bastet Mysteries book 1

2. Arriving

Jessie stared out of the car window, swallowing the words that tried to come out to let mother know what a lousy idea this whole thing was. Still, even though she said nothing, Mother sensed her mood, looked at her and noticed the look on her face. She sighed and patted her hand.

"It is only for the duration of the summer, dear. Until I find a place for us to stay."

They had left their old home behind in the early morning, when it had still been dark - which was much said as at this time of the year the sun rose so early Jessie had taken the habit of sleeping with her T-shirt covering her eyes. Se had always been a light sleeper and even the slightest increase in light woke her up.
She had dozed off, sitting in the car, but now the sun was truly about to rise.

Mother had wanted to leave early so that neighbours who knew of their difficulties in paying rent did not see them leave.

The sun had not yet risen above the treetops behind the meadow they were just crossing. They had left paved roads behind them a long time ago and were now driving a narrow sandy road. Its bumps and holes shook the car and woke Jessie. She could see the swallows circling the pale sliver of the moon just above the trees in the morning sky before the narrow road dove between the trees again.

"It will be a hot day," mother said in an effort to lighten the atmosphere, pointing at the swallows, "There will be no rain when they are flying that high. And look! We have arrived!"

The trees gave way and the pale moon came into sight again. Mother stopped the car on the gravel in front of the house. Jesse could already feel the heat when they opened the car doors and stepped out.

The garden was lush, green and grown wild. Birds were already singing on tree branches and bushes, and flying frantically everywhere to catch insects. Midsummer had not yet arrived, and their young had yet to leave the nest, so they had to keep on singing to pronounce their territory. After Midsummer the nature would be silent again, just as the summer would begin to become really hot. A heat wave this early was an exception in the north. "Apple blossoms always see at least one frost," as grandmother from mother's side used to say. She had been born far north. Or at least that's what mother told she had said - she had passed away when Jessie was still very young.

There they stood, enveloped by a perfectly beautiful, warm summer morning. The place looked almost like a paradise, until they turned to look at the old house standing in the middle of the garden.

It was big. It was old. It had a red tile roof, now green with moss. Its windows were hiding behind the closed shutters. And it was black. Painted with the darkest black imaginable. The walls, the shutters, the pillars on the porch - black. Even the steps, though the center of each step had worn into a lighter shade.
Who in their right mind would paint an old wooden summer villa black? And if the fact the colour had not faded at all told anything, it had been painted recently. Maybe it originally had been white, looking at the decorative wood cuttings, and window shutters and pillars. It should have been of some light color, with darker shutters. But now everything was pitch black. The white rambling roses climbing the porch and the pillars made it look almost gothic.

"Why on earth did grandfather of all people want to leave this house to me?" Jessie asked, "Why not a nice lump sum of money so I... so we could have chosen where we wanted to live?"

Mother looked uneasy. She made herself busy lifting bags from the back trunk of the car, humming a little tune as she always did when she was nervous. It never was any tune Jessie would have recognised. It was like she was humming the words she was thinking, the tune had the rhythm of speech.

When she turned to look at Jessie, she recognized the expression on her face. She tried very much to look like there was nothing amiss, but Jessie knew her so well she could see through her act. Her eyebrows were arched high, and a stiff little smile turned the corners of her mouth upwards. Jesse knew she didn't have a clue why grandfather had wanted to give this gloomy villa to Jesse.