They went into the second room. The ceiling had totally collapsed here and looking up, Erin could see the roof had caved in too, above them was the black stormy sky. ‘It’s really ramshackle now,’ she said. ‘A bit different to when we used to come here.’
‘Let’s see if we can get upstairs,’ said Kerry. He shone the light into the corner, where a flight of wooden stairs disappeared round behind the central fire breast. ‘Mind your step, some of these treads have rotted right through.’
The wood creaked and groaned as they made their way carefully up to the first floor. They reached the landing at the top. To the left was the room, or rather hole, that they had peered up through from the downstairs. To the right was a closed door. This side of the building had remained more intact.
Erin grabbed Kerry’s arm. ‘What’s that? Did you hear that noise?’
Kerry listened but couldn’t hear anything. ‘From in here?’ he indicated to the closed door. Erin nodded. Kerry placed his hand on the latch. ‘Ready?’
‘Be careful,’ said Erin.
Kerry lifted the latch and pushed opened the door. It creaked as it swung back on its hinges. Kerry shone the light into the room. The floorboards were patchy, several of them missing and the window had been boarded up, making the room very dark. As the torch light swept the room, in the corner beside the fireplace was a bundle of blankets.
‘Wait,’ said Erin grabbing his arm. ‘Go back. The blankets.’
Kerry moved the torch beam back to the bundle and then picked his way across the broken boards towards the corner. Erin followed him. A small whimper came from the blankets.
‘Sophie? Quick Kerry, it’s Sophie.’ Erin dropped to her knees and pulled at the fabric. A little face appeared in the spotlight. ‘Sophie. Oh, Sophie. It’s me. Erin. Aunty Erin. It’s okay, darling, you’re safe now.’ Within seconds the little ten-year-old was in Erin’s arms. Both were crying as Erin held her tightly. ‘It’s okay. It’s okay,’ she repeated.
‘I want Mammy,’ said Sophie through her tears. ‘I want to go home.’
Kerry knelt down. ‘We’re going to take you home. Everything is going to be fine. Don’t be crying now. There’s a good girl.’ He stroked her head.
‘Roisin said she would take me home. She promised, but she keeps saying I have to stay a bit longer,’ said Sophie. ‘She scared me.’
‘Everything will be fine. I promise,’ said Erin. ‘What happened, Sophie? Why did you go with Roisin?’ Sophie dropped her gaze. ‘It’s okay. You’re not in trouble.’
‘I was in the garden. She came to the side gate and said Mammy wanted her to go to the shop and did I want to go with her. She said she’d get me some sweets and we wouldn’t be very long.’
Erin looked up at Kerry. ‘As simple as that.’ She looked back down at Sophie. ‘I suppose you thought it was okay because you know Roisin.’
‘She’s a friend of Mammy’s. She goes into Nanny’s café. I was just wanting some sweets, that’s all. I didn’t know this was going to happen. I promise.’ Sophie began to cry again.
‘Sophie, sweetheart,’ said Kerry. ‘How did you get here? It’s a long way to walk?
‘She had a car. A blue one,’ said Sophie.
Kerry let out a small groan.
‘What is it?’ said Erin.
‘Doesn’t matter right now. I may be wrong,’ said Kerry.
‘I want to go home,’ said Sophie.
‘That’s what we’re here for,’ said Erin. ‘Don’t cry. It’s okay.’
‘Do you know where Roisin is now?’ said Kerry.
‘She said she was going to get something to eat.’
‘She won’t have gone far,’ said Kerry. ‘She can’t afford to be seen just yet. He gave Sophie’s head another stroke. ‘Listen now, we’re going to go downstairs and sit very quietly while we wait for Roisin to get back.’
‘I want to go home,’ said Sophie. ‘Please, Erin, take me home.’
‘We will,’ said Erin. ‘We need to wait for Roisin first. She’s in a lot of trouble for bringing you here. I promise as soon as she’s back we can go. I’ll even text Mummy now to let her know we’re coming home soon.’ Erin took her phone from her pocket and fired off a quick text to Fiona.
‘Roisin won’t have gone far. We’ll sit and wait for her in the back room, out of the way,’ said Kerry.
‘You’d better switch off that light,’ said Erin as they reached the bottom of the stairs. ‘She’ll see that before she even comes in. We don’t want to give her any warning we’re here.’