“So no one is allowed inside?” I clarified. “Even if I just want to go in and pick out a book to read?”

“No, ma’am, I’m sorry,” he said. “Detective Inspector’s orders. The library is empty and Detective Stewart wants to keep it that way. I’ve been on duty for hours and no one has gone in.”

“Or out?” Harry asked. “No one’s come out of there either, right?”

“Of course not,” the constable said. He looked annoyed. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’d notice if someone came out of there, yeah?”

“Right, absolutely, sir. Sorry to have disturbed you,” Harry said. He was using his placating tone, which when he turned it on me, made me want to kick him, but I could see how it settled the ruffled feathers of the constable.

“We’ll just find something to read elsewhere,” Harry said. He took me by the elbow and led me away.

“What are we going to do now?” I asked. “We have the entire first floor to cover, and the place I thought Sunny was most likely to be is locked up and guarded.”

Harry glanced down at my feet. I was wearing trainers. Then he fingered my sweater as if to determine how thick it was. “I wish you had a jacket on,” he said. “But we won’t be in the tunnel long, so this will have to do.”

“We’re going to the outside entrance, aren’t we?” I asked. My voice came out high and I cleared my throat. It wasn’t that I was opposed to the idea, I just really didn’t want to run into the murderer in a tunnel with only two exits.

“It’s the only way we can get into the library,” he said. “It might be for nothing if Detective Inspector Stewart stationed another constable in the garden, watching the tunnel exit. But if he didn’t, then we can use it to sneak into the library and see if Sunny is in there.”

“Wouldn’t they have checked for her there?” I asked.

“Who knows?” he said. “If she discovered the tunnel, she may have used it to get in there. She also might have used it to hide if they came into the library looking for her.”

“Or she’s living in there presently because she used the tunnel to kill Dooney, and now that everyone thinks she’s pregnant with Dooney’s child and had a reason to murder him, it’s her permanent hideout.”

“That’s dark,” he said. “Did she strike you as the sort of person who would do that?”

“Actually, no,” I said. “She seemed very naive and sweet and a lot overwhelmed by everything that’s happened to her.”