Free Carved in Stone: Monochrome Destiny by T L Blake

reason
alright.        
    “You
see.  You worry too much.”  Ellie patted her hand before pulling hers
back.
    “I
just wish I could call her to make sure.  Her phone’s off and I don’t even
know who she’s staying with.”  Robyn had tried again this morning but the
phone was still ringing directly to voicemail and her texts were being ignored.
    Ellie
smiled.  “You sound like her parent, not her friend.  Give her some
space.  You two have been inseparable since you came to town.  It’ll
do you both good to have some time apart.  Now, will you stay for a cup of
tea, or do you have anything else to do?”
    Actually,
Robyn did want to do something, while the rain was absent.  With a
thankful nod she made her way home.

CHAPTER
EIGHT
     
    It had been
three days since Robyn had last stood in the church yard, but many things had
changed.  Aside from her worry over Kat, the rain had made the ground
increasingly wet, making navigating the tall grass more like traversing a
marsh, but she wanted to get a better look at the headstones, and had come
prepared this time with camera, cleaning equipment, crayons and paper. 
Besides, staying at the cottage gave her too much time to dwell.  She
needed to stay busy.
    Following
the direction she had taken on her previous visit, Robyn snapped pictures of
each stone, paying careful attention to those that had piqued her interest
before.  She made rudimentary notes of where each stone stood in relation
to the other features of the churchyard and drew a basic map.  Looking for
the graves she had been unable to read last time, she found a stone that had
writing on it, but was so covered in lichen and moss that she couldn’t make out
the lettering.  The headstone was still darkened by yesterday’s rain, but
that wouldn’t stop her.  Brushing gently across the stone with the soap
mixture she had brought with her, Robyn began to clean off the moss.  The
lichen was more resilient.  Careful not to cause any damage to the ancient
monument, she brushed with a little more force, until eventually she could make
out that this was the grave of someone named ‘ Wilce ’.
    Continuing
around the church she stopped at a particularly ornate stone, larger than the
others in the area.  This one was also covered in lichen.  Robyn
could feel the indentation of carvings yet couldn’t read them.  This was
where her visual impairment caused her the most difficulty.  Determined
not to be thwarted in her quest, she used the crayons and paper to take a
rubbing of the inscription.  Words soon formed.  They read
     
    Elizabeth
Truscott
    1747-1818
     
    Robyn
immediately recognised the name from the school.  Several of the stones in
the yard bore the same surname and a lot were large and ornately carved. 
The Truscotts must have been an important local
family.  Taking time to recheck the Truscott family history on display,
Robyn couldn’t help but notice that the beautifully sculpted monuments for the
older Truscotts were not mirrored by the markers for
their offspring.  As years passed, the gravestones became simpler and
therefore less expensive before a sudden surge in flamboyant headstones towards
the last period that the graveyard was in use.  Robyn postulated that the
family had to have fallen on lean times during the nineteenth century before
building their wealth back up again.  It was interesting, but not why she
had been drawn to come there.
    Robyn
was looking only for gravestones with more than one name.  They were a
puzzle to be solved and although the mystery would not usually interest Robyn,
it was at least something that would occupy her mind.  She continued
around the graveyard either scrubbing off moss and lichen or using the brass
rubbing technique to see what she couldn’t with the naked eye.
    Engrossed
in her work, Robyn had lost all track of time when she found herself crouched
in front of a large, upright slab which had been completely covered in