Maddy stared at her, blindly sipping at her coffee cup, uncertainty in her gaze, worry flicking over her features; her tense shoulders and posture finally relaxed as she sighed, "What do you want to know?"

"Everything," Sage said, "why it was put in place, who put it in place, when it was put in place …" Sage shook her head, "… I want the pure truth."

"Pure truth," Maddy whispered, smiling, "okay ... here it comes. During the Second World War, the curfew was put in place to keep the townspeople safe from aircraft bombing anything on the ground that had lights, like most places in the world during that time," Maddy said, "being on the coastline with no defences this village and the people living there would have been obliterated without much effort. I remember the elders who lived during that time saying how terrifying it was and how they lived from one day to the next worrying that it would happen," Maddy said, "somewhere during that time, a man by the name of Robert Channing put two curfews into place," she sighed, before continuing, "one was that no one was permitted to be out after sunset, which made sense at the time. The other was that everyone was to be asleep or in darkness an hour after sunset."

"That seems a little harsh," Sage whispered, "why?"

"The first you could understand that should anyone be seen after sunset, you could safely assume they were up to no good," Maddy said, "easy to tell friend from foe."

"Makes sense," Sage said, "and the second."

"We didn't have the luxury of heavy light-dampening curtains that were readily available in the rest of the world," Maddy said, "the lights needed to be off so that should any planes fly over, they couldn't see us."

"Therefore, keeping everyone safe," Sage said, nodding, "fair enough. So why is the curfew still in place?"

"At the end of the war, Robert Channing was said to have promised to legally lift both curfews," Maddy said, shifting in her seat and reaching for a flapjack, biting into it savagely, chewing and swallowing before continuing, "Instead, he lifted the second one completely allowing everyone to live normally after dark, but instead of lifting the first one he changed it from sunset to nine at night."

"Why did he do that?" Sage asked.

"To be mean," Maddy said, shaking her head, "prove that the Channings still controlled the cove."

"Come on," Sage said, "why would he do that, and is there any way to prove it?"

"We know he was being mean and controlling," Maddy said, "he put a clause in that stated it could only be lifted if the heir of Rosemary with all the names in Charlotte's family line could prove the legend of the house."

"What?" Sage spluttered, spraying coffee over the immediate surface of the table, reaching for a napkin and cleaning up the mess; she shook her head, "You're making that up."

Maddy shook her head, rose and walked to a set of drawers in the library's central area. Sage watched her open a drawer and pull out a leather-bound folder, turning to a page as she nudged the drawer shut with her hip and returned to hand the book to Sage, "Read from here."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

She pointed at the page and sat down again, leaving Sage to locate and read the words written in a solid hand. It was clearly written by a man.

"Well, I'll be damned," Sage said, placing the book on one side of her laptop and quickly typing in the reference number in the letter, "I'm going to see what I can find."

"Why? It's right there," Maddy said, "what do you think you'll find?"

"I'm not sure, "Sage said, "but strangely, he never sent a copy of the entire document as was required back then."

"You think there is more to this?" Maddy asked.

"Since arriving here, I've learnt there is always more," Sage said, "life has taught me that everyone has a version of the truth as they see or understand it," she glanced at her laptop as results started to show, "very rarely is the pure truth told and kept pure when people tell it."

"Something like a broken telephone," Maddy said, smiling.

"Like a what?" Sage asked, diverted from what she was finding.

"You know," Maddy said, "in school, you would play that game …" she chuckled when Sage frowned in confusion, "… one person starts a story, and each person hands it down until the end, and the last person hearing it tells everyone what they heard, and you compare it to what was initially said … a broken telephone."

"Right," Sage murmured, "forgot about that game … it was fun."

"It also taught us how things could be distorted over time and distance," Maddy said, sighing, "your laptop is dinging a lot," Maddy nodded toward the machine, "what is it finding?"

"Several versions of the document," Sage said, "but I'm not finding an original."

"You may need to dig deeper," Maddy said, glancing at her watch, "heavens, look at the time."

"Need to be somewhere?" Sage asked.

"I have specific things on my list I need to do around the house today," Maddy said, pushing to her feet, "shall I leave the tray and flask of coffee?"

"Please," Sage said smiling, "thank you, Maddy. I enjoyed that chat … if I don't appear by lunchtime, please feed me."

Maddy laughed, "I'll try and remember," she paused, "Sage …" she waited until Sage met her earnest gaze, "… you are going to stop whatever they are pushing to do to this place … aren't you?"

Sage stood, reaching for Maddy's hands, "I will do everything in my power to find the truth and a way to end whatever was done and is being done to the people of this place."

Maddy hugged Sage, "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to all of us."

"I probably don't, but if what I've found is a tenth of what the people in Coopers Cove have had to endure, I could understand the relief of it all being at an end," Sage whispered, returning Maddy's hug, "now you go and attend to your list and let me get back to my ... sleuthing."

Maddy chuckled as she released Sage and nodded, "Have fun."

"You too," Sage said, chuckling as she sank into her chair and watched Maddy leave, her smile falling from her face, "I have a lot of undoing to get done."

Turning to the laptop, Sage began to print out all the versions of the signed documents she found, frowning as she discovered a link at the bottom of one of the eldest versions. Sage gasped in surprise as she opened the link displaying an aged copy of a document, "Well …. hello, Robert Channing and your attempt at deviously covering up a document of treachery."

Reading through the original, Sage's anger at the document's manipulative, cold and cruel implementation grew. She made notes of all the names involved and started to dig.

"Somewhere here, there is a line of people who are going to answer for what was done here," she whispered, "I'm going to find out what you all have in common and end this …. conspiracy of greed ... against the rightful owners of this land."