‘Then I had to chase these two’—he nodded at Erin and me, neglecting to include Sofia—‘from the maintenance shed, and that turned into Titanic for a bit for this fella, and then by the time we’d gotten him back here, the buses had arrived, and I was roped into helping usher people on them. And people’s cars needed digging out. It was non-stop. But, I swear, I didn’t want Michael locked in the room when I wasn’t there, in case he woke up and couldn’t get out. In case there was a . . .’ He stopped short of the word ‘fire’, perhaps figuring out the irony. ‘I opened the lock before I left. I’m certain of it.’

I was desperately trying to remember if I’d slid the bolt back myself before I opened the door, and I didn’t think I had. Crawford was right: the door had been unlocked.

‘Was the window broken when you last saw him?’ I asked.

Crawford appealed to Juliette, who gave a shrug. He shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Are you sure he was asleep?’

‘I mean, I didn’t ask him.’

‘Was he breathing?’ This time I asked Juliette.

‘I didn’t . . . Look, I didn’t check. Nothing seemed suspicious.’

‘What are you thinking, Ern?’ Sofia asked.

‘Green Boots had a serrated cut in his neck from the plastic zip-ties,’ I said. ‘If Michael had struggled against them, they’d have chewed up his wrists. I didn’t see any damage to his hands when I found him. Did you, Sofia?’

She thought a second. ‘No. But there wasn’t any blood or bruising on him either, which I’d expect if he’d put up a fight. Then again, there was a lot of ash, so maybe I didn’t see it.’ I could tell she didn’t believe that. ‘A clean hit, maybe, but it meant that whoever hit him he trusted enough to turn his back on.’

I thought aloud. ‘So the window maybe was, maybe wasn’t broken. It was pretty obvious when I found him; there was glass on the floor, extra light, and surely you’d have noticed the wind, seeing as the storm was still heavy, so let’s assume—’ Erin nudged me hard in the ribs with an elbow, but I ignored her. Everyone was watching me piece together the timeline. Analytical as it was, the energy of discovery was helping me work my way out of my shock. I’m sure everyone else would have preferred to scurry back to their rooms and have their own private breakdowns, but we all knew this was important. It could lead us to a killer. ‘Let’s assume the window wasn’t broken yet when you saw him. Though he may or may not have been sleeping.’ Erin nudged me again. ‘What?’ I hissed at her.