The Smallholding
Tarvik's old smallholding was now owned by a family who only used it on weekends. The house was a simple stone cottage with a slate roof and a small barn at the back. A neighbour had a key. With permission, Lina and Bo were allowed to look round the outbuildings — but not to dig anywhere or move any walls.
Lina had a notebook. Bo had a torch.
They spent two days going over the barn. The barn was empty except for some old straw and three rusty tools.
There was nothing in the barn.
They spent another two days walking the field. The field had been ploughed many times since Tarvik had owned it. There were no obvious markers.
There was nothing in the field.
On day five, Lina sat on a stone in the corner of the field and stared. She was tired and discouraged.
"Maybe it isn't real," said Bo.
Lina did not answer at first. Then she said, slowly: "If you were a clockmaker, and you wanted to hide a clock so you could come back for it, where would you put it?"
"Somewhere dry."
"Somewhere very dry."
"And — somewhere clocks would already be."
Lina looked up sharply. "Bo."
"What?"
"He was a clockmaker. Where do clockmakers work?"
"At a workbench."
"Where would the workbench have been?"
They went back to the cottage. The kitchen had been redone. The front room had been redone. The back room — the one with the tiny window facing the slope — had not. The walls were the original