‘We checked the house from top to bottom. It was empty. There wasn’t any man tied to a bed with cauterised stumps for legs.’

Cathy grinned. ‘Well, we’ll see then, won’t we? Let’s hope that you and George did a thorough check; then you’ll have nothing to worry about.’

Annie laughed but at the same time she wondered if it was possible. Had they missed a room? It was a big house and there were probably a lot of nooks and storage cupboards. She hoped not, otherwise she’d never live with herself if they found his body stuffed into a cubbyhole.

All four of them got out of the van and the front door opened. This time a much younger woman was standing there.

‘Can I help you?’

Cathy looked at Annie and shrugged. ‘Yes, you can. Is Miss Beckett available? We really need to speak to her.’

‘She’s in the kitchen. Is this about the missing man?’

‘Yes it is, and who told you there was a missing man?’

Cathy stepped closer to the woman.

‘Martha did. I was off on Thursday but when I came Friday morning she was in right state. She hadn’t slept and looked as if she had aged twenty years, and when you’re in your nineties that’s not a good look.’

Annie stifled a giggle. She liked the housekeeper or cleaner or whatever the woman was. Cathy nodded her head. For once she was at a loss for words.

‘Well, you’d best come in then. I suppose Martha will be pleased to see you. She is ever so worried about that man, even though I told her he was probably going to steal the best silver.’

All four of them followed her down to the kitchen. This time it smelt of fresh gingerbread and coffee. Annie felt her stomach grumble and put her hand on it as if to tell it to be quiet. Martha stood up from her chair to greet them. Recognising Annie, she smiled.

‘It’s nice to see you again, officer. Have you found him? Please tell me that you have. I’ve been sick with worry since I last spoke to you.’

Annie wanted to hug the frail woman but didn’t know if Cathy would appreciate it, so she walked over and took hold of her hand, gesturing for her to sit down.

‘I’m sorry to say that we haven’t, Miss Beckett, and now his friends who were with him on Thursday have come to report him missing. So you were probably the last person who saw and spoke to him. I know you’ve already told me what happened, but would you mind telling me again so the inspector here can listen? And then would it be possible for us to search your house again?’

‘Well, of course, dear. You can search anywhere you like. I’m so sorry that he hasn’t turned up; I’ll never forgive myself for letting him go down into that cellar on his own. I told him it was dangerous but he laughed and told me he wasn’t scared of cellars, but he should have been because now he’s gone. We won’t ever find him, just like we never found Joe.’

Cathy looked at Annie; arching one eyebrow Annie shook her head. She knew exactly what her boss was thinking – that the woman was cuckoo – only she wasn’t.

‘Joe is Miss Beckett’s brother who went missing when he was nine years old. He went into the cellar and was never seen again.’

Cathy grimaced.

Annie kept hold of the hand, careful not to tug on the almost see-through wrinkled skin.

‘We’ll start at the top and work our way down and all four of us will go into the cellar. Is that okay with you?’

‘I suppose it will have to be, dear. Do you really need to go back down in the cellar? You’re all women. What if it’s down there, waiting for you all? What would I do then?’

‘I’m pretty sure between us four we can cope with whatever it is. In a way I wish it would be and then we could capture it and find out where everyone is and put your mind at rest.’

Martha clasped Annie’s warm, soft hand with her stiff fingers.

‘You’re a dear; please take care. I don’t want any more blood on my hands. I would never forgive myself if something happened to any of you. My housekeeper will escort you around the house but I will not let her go into the cellar. She’s far too precious to me and I couldn’t manage without her help.’

Annie glanced at the younger woman who’d let them in and actually saw her breathe out a sigh of relief.

The two PCSOs looked confused and Cathy looked amused, which meant that only Annie was actually taking anything seriously. That was both dangerous and downright stupid. She couldn’t say anything because she didn’t want them thinking she was cracking up, which was the distinct impression Cathy had formed of Miss Beckett. Annie stood up and nodded at the woman who had been given the babysitting duty; she looked Annie straight in the eye and never wavered. She believed everything her employer had told them, so at least that was two of them who thought they were up against something no one had ever come across before – at least not that Annie had ever heard about, and she’d heard a lot of stuff over the years. The woman held her hand out to Annie.

‘I’m Dawn; I suppose we should know who we all are just in case.’

‘I’m Annie, this is Cathy, my boss, and these two are Sam and Tracy.’

‘Good. Come on then, let’s get this over with. I’ve been in every room myself since Thursday – except the cellar – and nothing is missing. There is no sign of this man.’

All four of them followed Dawn out into the hallway. As they passed the cellar with the assorted bolts and padlocks, Cathy looked at Annie. ‘That’s the cellar.’

‘Well, whatever is down there won’t be getting out this side of the century, will it?’

Dawn looked at Cathy, about to say something, then apparently thought better of it and carried on walking towards the stairs.

‘The attic is big and there are a lot of storage cupboards up there, but it won’t hurt to check them again.’

‘No, it won’t. We need you to show us every single space in the house that you can gain access to. I want it searched from top to bottom and if we find anything then we will need to call in forensics.’

‘You don’t think that me or Martha had anything to do with this, surely? I wasn’t even here. It was my day off and I’d spent the whole morning in Furness General with my twelve-year-old son. Fell off his blasted skateboard…again.’

‘Not really, but it can’t be ruled out. Sorry to put it so bluntly. To be honest I think our Seamus has helped himself and then done one so he didn’t have to split the profits with his mates, so there’s nothing to worry about.’

Annie kept quiet, letting her boss do the talking for a change.

‘Is Miss Beckett of sound mind, if you don’t mind me asking?’

‘Yes, she is. She’s old and frail but she’s as sharp as you or I. I don’t think she would make something up like that; she’s such a lovely woman. She is very quiet and keeps herself to herself. She wouldn’t phone the police if she didn’t believe in her heart that this man had gone missing.’

Annie believed her wholeheartedly. She couldn’t say this in front of an audience, and she didn’t know how much Cathy believed in the whole sixth sense, psychic thing. It wasn’t something they’d ever discussed, but it was something Annie had had plenty of practice with – since the day Mike had tried to kill her and left her with a gaping wound across the back of her head and the ability to connect with dead people. They all followed Dawn up the narrower staircase that led to the attic. There were two huge rooms full of boxes and suitcases. A smaller door opened onto a room that was lined either side with shelves and cupboards, which were also full of stuff.

‘Right, I’ll check in here. Annie, you do the room on the left and you two do the bigger one. I want every cupboard checked.’

The only smell was one of the fustiness that attics normally smelt of. It didn’t smell as if there was a rotting corpse hidden up here and Annie doubted that Martha could even make it up these narrow, steep stairs – let alone kill someone and hide the body. She checked everything then went back to speak to Cathy, who had just slid the last door shut in her room.