Still Water Read Free Page B

up with somebody in the yacht club bar who’d want his opinion on some business problem or other. Matt and his brother Paulie had sided with their father, and in the face of so much opposition their mother had capitulated, on condition they build a decent house on the point. And so it had been, and they had joined the small community of summer people who came every year.
    Fifteen years had passed since the house had been sold, two more than that since Matt had last set foot on the island, until three months ago when he’d found this house, owned by the estate of a woman who’d died a year ago. Henry claimed she’d been a miserable type and a poor neighbour, though since she’d died he’d missed having somebody to talk to. The house with its views and the woods behind, had appealed to Matt, it was a good place to start over. Somewhere he could try to bury the ghosts of his past.
    He tossed his coffee grounds into the bushes. “I better get going,” he announced.
    “You have a good day,” Henry called. His eye dropped to Matt’s polished shoes and it seemed he was trying not to grin.
    As he drove down the track Matt looked in the mirror at the fine dusty cloud he had raised in his wake, and saw Henry on the porch shaking his head with evident mirth.
    Once he hit the blacktop it was a ten minute ride into town to his tiny first floor office on a street off Founders Square. Two paths bisected the square, cutting across the yellowing grass from corner to corner, and bench seats had been placed at regular intervals where people could sit and pass the time of day. Around each of them the grass had been worn away to bare earth which in winter became mud before it iced over. The building that housed the town council was opposite the police department, and the fire department lay on the south side, the library and courthouse on the north. These, like most of the buildings in the town looked vaguely shabby, and the flag that fluttered above the courthouse was faded. Everything about Sanctuary looked a little down at heel, like an old dog lying panting in the shade.
    For most of the morning Matt read the paper and drank coffee. He was the sole employee of his newly opened practice, and in two months he’d made almost enough money to cover his groceries. It was a slow start, but then he hadn’t expected to make a fortune. Maybe Henry’s cider would pay the rent. During the afternoon he made some calls and settled a land dispute between two farming neighbours in the north.
    “I guess you’ll send me your account,” Norton, who was Matt’s client, said grudgingly, implying that he considered Matt’s role in the settlement had been slight and was hardly worthy of payment.
    “Maybe you could just let me have some bacon.”
    There was a short silence as Norton figured he probably wanted a whole pig. They agreed on a side of ham, but even when Norton hung up he sounded suspicious, as if he thought he was somehow being cheated.
    “Don’t mention it, you miserable old bugger,” Matt said after he heard the click.
    He was relieved when the day drew to a close. He walked across the square towards the town offices. The mayoral election was due to be held in a few weeks’ time, dominated by a proposal to develop land on the south shore. The issue was a hot one, and had been debated long before Matt’s arrival on the island. The community was almost neatly divided half and half, for and against.
    Matt waited by the steps, nodding to one or two people he recognized as they drifted into the building. Outside, a few groups stood around talking in low voices and smoking. A bunch of guys from the docks from whom the odour of fish wafted fell silent and watched a woman walk across the square, their expressions sullen with resentment. As Ella drew near Matt went to meet her, and she smiled when she saw him.
    “Hi there.”
    “Hi,” he said.
    “I’m glad you could come.”
    “Hey, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
    Their