‘I need some volunteers. Regardless of his strength, if the last place he was seen was in the cellar then we need to send someone down into that hole.’

‘I’ll do it. He is my son.’

‘No, sir, I think it’s best if you stay here with your wife.’

Davey stepped forward. ‘I will do it, and I’ve been down there once before, last year when there was a blockage.’

The policeman nodded his head in approval. ‘Thank you; we will help you and watch you to make sure that you’re safe and then we can pull you back out after you’ve checked it out.’

Davey left the room followed by the two policemen and Martha watched as her mother began to crumple in front of her eyes. Mary and Lucy both walked over to her. Taking an arm each, they led her out of the crowded dining room and down towards the kitchen and Martha ran behind them.

‘Should I tell the guests to leave, ma’am?’

‘No. As much as I don’t want them here, if they don’t find Joe down in that hole we will need them to help search the gardens. I don’t want any stone unturned.’

‘Very well, ma’am. Would you like a cup of tea?’

‘No, thank you, Mary. I think this is going to call for something much stronger than tea. Lucy, please will you get a bottle of sherry and pour me the biggest glass you can find.’

Eleanor looked at her daughter for the first time since Martha had told them she couldn’t find her brother and seemed to realise how upset she must be. She opened her arms and Martha ran to them. After clambering onto her knees, she buried her head in her mother’s chest and began to cry.

‘I’m so sorry we can’t find him. I don’t know what to do.’

‘Shh, Martha, come now. None of this is your fault. We’ll find him and when we do he will be in trouble for causing such a fuss.’

Martha felt her eyes getting heavy and before long she was drifting off to sleep and a place where Joe was still hiding in the attic waiting for her, and whatever it was that lived in the cellar hadn’t taken him away to eat him.

***

Davey led the way into the cellar followed by James Beckett, who had insisted on helping, and the two policemen – all of them with lamps burning brightly and illuminating the gloomy room. Which was no longer its usual tidy state because every box and piece of furniture had been pulled out and searched. James couldn’t tell them about the missing monster without Eleanor finding out that he’d disobeyed her wishes, and he didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was. If they didn’t find Joe soon he would tell her and the police, but for now it was far more important to locate his son than a stolen fairground exhibit.

Davey led them to the large drain in the far corner and put his lamp down. James did the same and they both took hold of one end and strained to lift the cover to one side. The policemen looked at each other and nodded. They knew that if the boy was down there, and the cover had been in place, then there was no way he had got down there on his own, which meant some foul play was afoot. The cover dropped to the floor with a heavy clang, narrowly missing Davey’s feet.

Davey walked over to the hole and waved his lamp around. It didn’t look any different to any other time he’d looked into it. He knew there was a tunnel that led out from under the house to the lake, but it wasn’t that big and he would have to slither along on his belly to check the whole length of it, which he was glad to do. He liked the lad and didn’t want any harm to come to him. The thing was that, if by some miracle Joe had managed to get down here and go along the tunnel, it would be highly dangerous. There were rats and a couple of times Davey had seen something much bigger than a rat, but it never stayed in the same place long enough for him to actually see what it was. It moved too fast.

The tunnel eventually led out into the lake and he hoped to God they wouldn’t find the boy’s body in the morning, all dead and floating around. It made him shiver just thinking about it. He sat on the edge of the hole and swung his legs down. After jumping down into the blackness he landed on his feet but felt his hand brush against something large and cold. He screamed for Mr Beckett to pass him the lamp and he did. There was some movement as whatever it was brushed against him, but when the light was shone down there it had gone.

‘What’s the matter, Davey? Why did you scream? What’s down there?’

‘Sorry, sir, it was a rat, a bloody great rat. I hate them things. They give me the shivers.’

‘Can you see anything? Can you see Joe?’

He knelt down, his hands shaking so much that the light swayed as it cast shadows. Now on his hands and knees, he ignored the thick, black gunge underneath him, which squelched under his weight. Scared to look into the tunnel but even more scared not to, he forced himself to shine the light down there and felt relieved there was nothing in there. No sign of whatever had just touched him or the boy. Davey wasn’t sure whether this was a good or bad thing. He would have liked to have found Joe covered in muck and too terrified to move in case one of the rodents bit him.

‘Nothing. The tunnel is empty, sir. Do you want me to crawl down and see if Master Joseph has gone down and got stuck?’

‘If you can, Davey – I know this is difficult for you but it’s a matter of life and death. If for some reason he’s in there and has hurt himself…’

Mr Beckett’s breath caught in the back of his throat and his eyes welled with tears he would not shed, not in front of strangers. Davey nodded and, although terrified of what he might encounter, he began to crawl into the tunnel and forced himself to think of nothing other than finding the boy. It was hard work. The floor was wet and filled with God knows what. It stunk something terrible and it was hard to breathe without inhaling the foul smell.

He did his best to crawl as far as he could where the tunnel branched off into two. The one that went to the left was much narrower and he was glad that he couldn’t fit down it because that was where the eye-watering smell was coming from. The other tunnel also narrowed and Davey knew that if Joe was down here he was so far down he was never coming back. The boy had no lamp with him and, although he was an adventurous lad, Davey didn’t think he would venture down here in the pitch black just to avoid getting caught playing hide-and-seek.

So he began to move backwards, his breathing laboured with the exertion. He had to stop and rest a minute. It was when he was perfectly still and resting that he heard the noise. It was coming from the much narrower tunnel and it struck the fear of God into him. It sounded like scratching and the clicking of claws, very big claws, and it was heading up the tunnel to meet him. Panic taking over, he began to move himself backwards as fast as he could until he felt his legs dangle over the lip of the tunnel, and with one final shove he pushed himself out of the tunnel and back into the hole where the policemen were leaning over, shining lamps onto him. He had never been so glad to see a copper in all his life, and he shook his head.

‘He’s not down here. Pull me out.’

They reached in and grabbed his arms and he felt himself yanked up just as something reached out of the tunnel to grab at his foot. He felt the air swoosh around it and he let out a scream. He clambered out of the hole as fast as he could and fell onto the floor in a sticky, smelly mess.

‘What’s the matter with you, man? Are you scared of your own shadow?’

‘No, sir, I just don’t like rats. Horrible creatures they are and I think there is a big one down there. We need to come back tomorrow and set some traps – try and catch it. We don’t want it coming up here.’

‘Is there any sign that Joe has been down there, Davey?’

‘None at all, sir – I’m really sorry. I was hoping he’d gone in and got scared and was waiting to be rescued, but the tunnel was empty as far as I could see, and I crawled along until it narrowed and isn’t big enough for anyone to get down.’