NICHOLAS
I had been to the estate twice since buying it.
Once when I signed the papers — a walkthrough with the agent, rooms that echoed because there was nothing in them yet.
Once with a structural engineer to review the east wing renovation.
Both times I had stood in the entrance hall and thought, yes. This is right. This is what it's for.
I had not been back since.
I drove there at midnight without deciding to. I was in the car heading toward the townhouse and then I wasn't.
I was on the bridge, then the road through the trees, then the gravel drive with the headlights cutting across the front of the house.
I sat in the car then I went inside.
**
The estate was cold in the way of houses that had been waiting.
It was not abandoned. The caretaker kept it clean and heated.
I
