Logan looked out through one of the small square windows at the ragged wild land of Glen Coe. It was, he thought, a strange place to visit without a car. It only really made sense if you were looking for complete and total isolation.

Or maybe, he thought, just a place to hide.

The mish-mash of items on the dressing table went on and on: talcum powder, a light-up yo-yo, an almost empty family-size bag of Maltesers, a cheerful-looking rubber duck, and two pairs of black socks rolled together into individual balls.

Several items had rolled off the edges of the cluttered surface and now lay on the floor. He saw a few lipsticks down there, along with a couple of brushes, and something that was either intended for curling eyelashes, or removing eyes.

Poking around on the dressing table top, he found a wooden box beneath a trashy tabloid magazine peddling tales of bereavement and betrayal. It contained several necklaces of silver and gold, a couple of brooches, and a tiny bracelet that would be hard-pushed to fit a child.

Logan had no idea of the value of any of it, but he’d be surprised if the average home invader did, either.

So, why was it still here?

Maybe they hadn’t noticed it. It had been hidden, after all, although he suspected more by accident than design.

Maybe they hadn’t bothered to check up here. There was something about the way the items lay on the floor that made him doubt that, though. He couldn’t say why, exactly, but he felt like they’d been knocked off in a hurry, like someone had bumped into the dressing table, scattering the stuff onto the floor.

It could have been the kids, of course, or the parents themselves. But, some niggling little voice told him there was something wrong up here. Something the reasoned part of his mind was yet to pick up on.

He turned and surveyed the room again, and almost stepped into the empty abyss of the hole in the floor.

“Jesus,” he muttered, catching his balance just in the nick of time. “Bloody death trap, that.”

“You alright, boss?” called a voice from down below.

“Aye, fine. You get anything yet?”

“Nothing out of place in the kitchen, boss, no. All looks pretty normal.”

Sinead’s voice came from a little farther away. “Nothing in the kids’ room, either,” she said.

“Keep looking,” Logan instructed.

Tyler’s voice was suddenly loud and clear as he appeared at the bottom of the steps. “What’s it like up there, boss? Anything exciting?”

Logan shrugged and shook his head. “No’ particularly.”

“There’s an outbuilding out back. Want me to go take a look?”

“Be careful,” Logan told him. “Palmer’s team have been over it, but still. Go canny.”