Matt went and stood at his side. ‘Do you know, Prof, I feel the same way when I look at that. I’m certain there’s something there that I should be picking up on.’ He groaned. ‘Here we go again! Blast it!’
Heavily, Will sat back down in the armchair. He took a sip of his brandy and watched the flames lick at the dry bark of a log. He recalled their first days at Holland House, happy times with a Kate who was still childlike and enthusiastic. Days before they knew about the missing and dead children, before her acquaintance with that slimeball Grove. His thoughts strayed to the man’s decaying shack. If only the man had stayed away until Sophie was found. Better still, stayed away, full stop. The house should be allowed to do as Swifty had suggested and just slip into the water. He wondered what on earth the man thought about out there alone in that dreadful old ruin. Well, he did have electricity, that was one thing, and a telephone. He thought of the new cable snaking up the crumbling brickwork . . .
Will sat forward with a start. ‘Matt! There are two lines! At Grove’s place!’
Matt dragged himself away from the painting and stared at him. ‘Sorry?’
‘Two BT lines. Why would anyone want two telephone lines?’
‘Some business thing, like for his academic work maybe?’ Matt shrugged.
Will was on his feet. ‘No, no! You don’t need two incoming lines. There was one line in on the ground floor — that would be the usual main BT telephone line. But I saw another separate line running upstairs. Did you hear them say who checked that house over? Because I think they missed something.’
‘They just said CID searched it from top to bottom,’ said Matt. Then he took a breath. ‘Ah, but I wonder . . . ?’
‘What?’ asked Will urgently.
‘There’s a second attic area. Just a small space and it’s accessed by a trapdoor in the box-room ceiling! They might have searched the main attic, but I doubt they will have even realised the other one is there!’
‘We’ve got to find Swifty! They have to get back there before Grove does! Sophie could be there!’
‘We’ll come too.’
Will and Matt raced out into the night, with Philip and Sam at their heels.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
In the glare of the halogen lights, the garden had taken on an unearthly glow.
Jack Fleet was at the refreshments’ vehicle, talking to the sergeant. ‘Our turn to offer you a drink, I reckon.’
‘Bugger the drinks! Swifty, you have to get back into Grove’s cottage! I think you boys have missed something,’ Will said. ‘I’ll explain as we go!’
Fifteen minutes later, the cottage door swung open and Will received a blast of the foul air from Gerald Grove’s kitchen.
A PC on a ladder had traced the second line to the level of the attic.
‘DC Kenwright has already been up there, Stoney. Said the dust was as thick as a carpet. Hadn’t been used in donkey’s years.’ Swifty sounded worried. He had acted without calling it in and awaiting instructions, and if they failed to find anything, he would be in deep shit. Even so, they had a child missing, and suspecting her to be concealed there, her life in danger, he was within the law to enter without a warrant or Grove being present.
‘Swifty! It’s not accessed from the main attic,’ said Matt. ‘As Will told you, there is a tiny trap door into a branch off the main attic. It’s in the box room.’
Leaving Sam and Philip outside, they mounted the creaking stairs two at a time and burst into the room.
‘Behind all that stuff! Up there!’
The far side of the room was stacked to the ceiling with junk. The earlier search had shown up a century of Isaac Berridge’s rubbish, along with heaps of empty removal boxes and hundreds of magazines and periodicals. It appeared that the detectives had given up just before they got to the tallest pile of boxes. These had obviously not been moved, and behind them was a narrow trap door. With a freshly oiled bolt.
Matt knocked the empty cardboard containers away and dragged a table to just beneath the small door. He looked up in dismay. ‘Damned if I’ll get through that tiny aperture!’
‘Then you need a proper copper.’ Showing remarkable agility, Swifty climbed through the narrow trapdoor and was soon calling down from the dusty loft above them.
‘Nice one, Matt! This area is walled off from the attic proper. You’d never see this from the main hatch. And guess what? We have a mini office! Our man has a second computer! I wonder what this one has on it?’
Will groaned and whispered to Matt, ‘But no Sophie.’ He felt distraught that his niece had not been found, but relieved, too, that she hadn’t been in the clutches of a man like Grove.
‘No Sophie, but what will we find on that second computer?’ Matt then yelled up to his friend. ‘Don’t touch anything, mate! Get back down here and radio for the SOCOs and an IT bod. And get your guv’nor back out here.’ He turned to the others with a sigh of relief. ‘I thought I’d blown it. I could just see Grove arriving back to find us in his parlour.’
‘What on earth is that unsavoury man up to?’ asked Sam.
‘We’ll soon find out. The station’s techies will get that baby to cough up its secrets in no time. Now, I suggest we all get back to the house, while Swifty waits here for the scene-of-crime team.’
With the beam from the torch bobbing up and down in front of them, they made their way back to Holland House. As they went, they discussed the find in the attic and speculated on the nature of Grove’s game. Whatever it was, it wasn’t anything to do with pretty butterflies!
Around them stretched the black and endless marsh. Will saw Philip shudder. They must all be thinking of a frightened little girl and a long, dark night.
A light flashed, bright and diamond sharp, and was immediately swallowed up.
A fishing boat coming in on the high tide? Or maybe a freighter out in the Fenfleet Deeps. Will waited for another spark but saw nothing more. The clouds obscuring the stars moved away occasionally, and in the clear black sky a cluster of twinkling, brilliant, crystal points of light emerged. Kate knew the name of every star. His heart gave a lurch, and while the others moved on, talking quietly, Will followed in silence, full of thoughts of his wife.
‘The press are up ahead, Will. Get ready to run the gauntlet,’ Matt called back.
The line of cars, vans, trucks and reporters now extended from the road all the way down Tylers Lane and the track to his home.
In a tight group, they marched through the throng, ignoring the calls and shouts, the flashing cameras and the microphones. They practically fell through the front door, and slammed it shut behind them.
‘Hell-fire! Where’s that brandy?’ They collapsed on to the lounge chairs swallowing their drinks gratefully.
‘Will?’ The round head of the sergeant appeared in the half-open door. ‘Sorry to interrupt. DCI Anders wanted you to know that the Romanian seems to be in the clear. He said the girl had asked for directions to Whisper Fen. He walked along with her for about five minutes before directing her down the correct route to Tylers Lane. He said she was wearing a baseball jacket with the number thirteen on the back. She told him her name was Sophie and she wanted to pay a surprise visit to her uncle.’