Chapter 189: Her Enemy's Promise, Part 9, Captives

MICHAEL

We find ourselves in what ought to be the interior of a house but with the general collapse, has become a kind of open courtyard, strewn with rubble, broken tiles and rotted timbers. The space is so large, perhaps it was once a ballroom. I cast my mind back for some memory, but it's a long time since I was here, and the house was occupied then. Old McAlister didn't let apple-scrumping boys inside.

"Doesn't look very promising," comments Klempner. "When were you last here?"

"Thirty years ago."

"It seems a lot of damage for thirty years."

"Probably had the lead stripped from the roof. Once that's gone, the rest..."

James interrupts. "The cellars. A place like this would have had all the staff activity below ground and as often as not, the basement can be in good condition even when the house itself it in ruins."

Klempner pulls a face. "You think?"

"Once the roof has gone, outer walls become unstable." He gestures around to the collapsed grandeur about us. "They fa