"What do you mean?" Maddy asked, "How did Rosemary send you? To do what?"

"Do you know the name of the company Rosemary left to run?" Sage asked.

"I think there is a list here somewhere," Maddy said, "why?"

"There were several situations that happened from my interview to this assignment that I could never put my finger on," Sage said, "my grandmother left me some of her personal items, which I put in storage when another family member of hers took over living in the estate house."

"Can you get them sent here?" Maddy asked.

"Perhaps," Sage said, "but I may need to get them myself ..." Sage hesitated, "unless I can send someone whom we can trust."

"We have those people, but you cannot go," Maddy said, "are you okay?"

Sage sighed, returning the picture to its position, "I'm not sure if I'm okay, but I realised now that our conversations were more relevant than I realised."

"What do you mean?" Maddy asked.

"We would talk of family history," Sage murmured, "but my grandmother told a story of deception, treachery and hidden proof."

"It sounds like one of those stories made up to scare children when they're bad," Maddy said, chuckling, "why does it come to mind now? Do you think there was more to it?"

"I suspected so but could never find anything that pointed toward it," Sage said, "I stayed with my family after our last conversation ... which was the strangest we had," Sage sighed, "it was then that my grandmother told me to trust my instinct, follow my heart and never settle for anything less than the pure truth."

"Pure truth?" Maddy asked.

"The untainted truth, not someone's version of the truth but as it actually happened," Sage whispered, "I've never forgotten those words, and I live by them. She knew that ..." Sage paused, "... she knew she was not the last in the line. Rosemary knew it would come down to me righting the wrong from so long ago."

"That's not fair to put something like that on one person," Maddy spoke softly, "how can you possibly right the wrong? You don't have the authority to right any wrongs ... that still sits with Rosemary's family."

Sage looked at Maddy, grinning, "Yes, it does, and I am the last in the line of Rosemary's direct family."

Maddy stared at Sage, "What are you saying?"

"I have all the authority to right the wrong," Sage smiled, "Rosemary left me as her heir; there was a document that she put in the packet saying that when her true heir to her lands, estate and life was revealed, all would revert to the true line of Charlotte."

Maddy nodded, frowning slightly, "Have you noticed how it's never about Simon's father? We don't even know who he is or his brother," Maddy said, "it's always about Charlotte."

"I've noticed that," Sage said, "things about her and her line have been secretly stored, hidden, preserved ..." Sage looked around, "... yet there is a strong male influence overshadowing it all. Jeffery is certain the house is his, that he owns it, yet if the family bible is to be believed, it is mine."

"What could that possibly mean?" Maddy said, "Was there something about this land that Charlotte's brother-in-law didn't want the world to know about?"

"Of course ... "Sage said, slapping her hand against her forehead, "... land deeds."

Maddy stared at Sage unblinkingly until she shook her head, shrugging, "Sorry you lost me."

"When Charlotte and her family lived here, women were not permitted to own property," Sage said, "so stupid, but that was how they lived back then. What if the land given to her husband was gifted to Charlotte but with conditions."

"Such as ..." Maddy waved her hands vaguely in the air around her, "... she has to be within a certain number of feet of the house, or she can never leave the cove or ..." Maddy sighed, "... I've run out of ideas."

"I'm not sure if it's anything like that, but you've got the idea," Sage chuckled, "remember what we were told ... Charlotte was given the choice of leaving or being killed."

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"She chose to leave," Maddy said, "but she didn't vacate the area."

"Correct," Sage said, "I think Charlotte was a very clever woman, and I think she put into place a way of stopping the treachery but couldn't from the island."

"The tax money in the trust," Maddy said, nodding.

"The people living here would have no way of living," Sage said, "her brother-in-law used the people she cared about the most as leverage against her. Simon never returned here; perhaps there was a reason ... one that was more than running the business and marrying."

"But her daughter also left," Maddy said, confused.

"Yes, but only after Charlotte and her returned husband had other children," Sage said, "the line was continued here at Coopers Creek."

"But we haven't got any proof of those documents," Maddy said, "we came across nothing in this house that pointed towards a time when the family lived here."

"Right ..." Sage sighed, "... everything from Charlotte and her husband has been preserved so well. Where did the items come from?"

"Most of the younger brother's things were in this basement," Maddy said, "literally thrown into trunks and forgotten. It took a bit to preserve what there was. Charlotte took all her things with her when she "left", so we discovered most of it in the house she inherited from the old couple."

"That is interesting," Sage said, "I wonder if she hid it somewhere there ..." Sage glanced at Maddy, finding a confused expression staring at her, "... for safety ... think about it; she could have been worried about discovery and should something happen to her the evidence and proof that she, and ultimately her line, owned the cove remained safe."

"I suppose she could have hidden it, but when they left, and her children were living there," Maddy said, looking around, "she may not have been able to live here, but the secret was safe."

"Was it?" Sage asked.

"What do you mean?" Maddy asked.

"She was removed from their lives when they were fifteen," Sage said, "think about it … they had their Uncle and Aunt's influence during their most impressionable years," Sage shook her head, "if what I read in those letters was the pure truth their Uncle was manipulative, cruel, cold and not someone you underestimate in any way. They lived with that for years. Perhaps Charlotte wasn't sure of her children."

"You mean ... she didn't trust them," Maddy whispered, "that is … harsh."

"Perhaps, but when the lives of so many are hanging in the balance," Sage shrugged, "would you trust two people you may love from birth but have had influences from the people who tried to take away the only place you could truly call your own."

Maddy nodded and frowned a little before shaking her head, "My instinct would be to take another route to ensure that the place stayed mine, not just for me but for the people around me."

Nodding, Sage smiled gently, "Even if it meant starting another line of family."

"You mean she purposely got pregnant?" Maddy asked.

"I'm not saying she went out of her way to do so," Sage said, "we'll never know, but when it did happen, maybe she thought it was an answer to hold onto her land and the people who had become her family."

"Maybe," Maddy said, looking around, "all of this would certainly point in that direction, but there is one problem."

"What is that?" Sage asked.

"How are you going to prove it?" Maddy asked.

"Me?" Sage frowned, "Why me?"

"I have … restrictions placed on me, remember," Maddy said, cocking her head, "I can inform, but I cannot have anything to do with proving the point."

"Hmmm … I'll have to give it some thought," Sage said, "reading that Family Bible has made a difference in how I can go about it."

"You would be able to think better with food in your stomach," Maddy said, looking at her watch, "I need to prepare dinner before I leave."

"Wow, is it that time already," Sage said, looking at her watch, "time certainly flies when you're having fun."

"Really? You call this fun?" Maddy asked, incredulous curiosity filling her eyes.

"Absolutely," Sage said, "it's even more fun to find out what really happened and why."

"You should be a journalist," Maddy said, chuckling.

"I wanted to be, but I didn't like the fact that they usually ended up in dangerous places doing dangerous things that became hazardous for their health," Sage said, following Maddy from the library, "tell you what … my brain has a lot to process … can I help you make dinner?"

"I'd love that," Maddy said, smiling, "then we can talk some more."

Sage grinned, "Awesome, I haven't cooked in a long time."

"Didn't you cook for yourself when you lived alone?" Maddy asked.

"Salads and tinned foods are not cooking," Sage said, "that's fueling the body and nothing more."

"That is very true," Maddy said, "then you will do the cooking, and I'll do the managing."

"Sounds like a plan," Sage said as they entered the kitchen; she looked around, taking in everything, "after our encounter earlier, I half expected Jeffery to be back."

"Oh, he wouldn't dare," Maddy said, "he could lose his right to visit the cove."

"He doesn't stay here?" Sage asked.

"Not permanently," Maddy said, "he is a distant cousin from some branch of the family but not the section permitted to live here."

"Huh …" Sage said, pondering that new piece of information as Maddy retrieved food from the fridge, "what are we making tonight?"

Maddy's face glowed suddenly as she smiled and told Sage the recipe she would teach her, "It's one of Charlotte's favourites."

"Oh, a family favourite," Sage said, returning the smile, "then let's cook. Tell me all about it."