‘But … they said they have letters. They have something! You have to see it.’
He shrugged.
‘I don’t care. I don’t want to know. This whole thing – it ruined my life. My entire life.’
Carmen thought of the confused little boy, sent off to a cold dorm while his parents were only down the road.
‘But they seem so nice … It was a long time ago, Mr McCredie. Everyone would understand. Things are … things are so different.’
‘Not if he was tossing your grandparents onto trains it isn’t.’
‘Do you know what he did?’
He shook his head.
‘No, but I can have a reasonable belief it was nothing good.’
‘I mean these people … They might be relations.’
He shrugged.
‘It can’t help me.’
She looked again at the creased photo. He was still holding it.
‘Have you seen that picture before?’
He nodded.
‘My mother … my mother kept it in her wallet.’
‘Fuck,’ said Carmen, unable to help herself.
‘Sorley – that was my dad – was a … he was a difficult man. Very famous family. Used to getting his own way. Thought my mother would be a pretty country girl he could dominate and make lots of breeding stock on.’
He half-smiled.
‘He got more than he bargained for there.’
‘But they stayed together?’
‘Everyone stayed together. That’s how it worked.’
‘But she kept that picture. Did you find it?’
He smiled.
‘I was trying to steal money. For sweets. It was after they got rid of rationing. I was so excited. I wanted to buy so much chocolate … but I found that.’
‘What did she say?’
‘She wanted to talk about it,’ he said. ‘Oh God. I did not want to hear it.’
‘She couldn’t have told anyone.’
‘She never did. People made up their own stories anyway. Next time I checked her wallet, the picture had gone. And my train set was packed away in the attic.’
Carmen nodded.
