9
It looked like any other cottage at first glance. However, as he stood in the doorway and surveyed it, Salmon could see it was more like a scene from a forgotten world, freeze-framed. Through the door, a simple room dominated by a large table with broken backed chairs arranged haphazardly on all sides. A cold, empty fire grate, open cupboards that strained from rusted hinges, straw swept earthen floor, tiny windows, the walls cracked and crumbling, large chunks of cob exposed. And covering everything, the over-powering smell of damp. Once upon a time it might have been homely, but in this deplorable state, abandoned with the wind moaning through the cracks, and specs of rain filtering down from the failing roof, it was not a place to tarry in for long.
It was also clear, as he looked,
