‘Even so,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘She told me that the only time I could use her phone was if she needed an ambulance, or if the house was burning down. I tell you, she’s as tight as an Irish navvy on St. Paddy’s Day. That’s why she isn’t going to like all this mess.’

‘It could be worse,’ I said. ‘At least there’s no blood on the carpet.’

‘Not this time,’ he said forlornly.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘You wait here. I’ll be back, and I’ll sort you out a taxi then. I haven’t got the time right now.’

He wasn’t happy to be left alone, but he hadn’t much choice, other than to walk somewhere else.

I rushed down the stairs, almost tripped over Tiddles lying asleep on the bottom step, and then hurried up the hill towards the marketplace, past the families at the fair and on to the castle beyond.

I slowed down as I approached and kept close to the low stone wall that ran alongside the road in front. The sun had now dipped towards the horizon and the castle ruins towered above me, dark and sinister against the brightness of the western sky.

There had been no warning text from Chico that either Valance or Asquith was on the move, but, even so, I was very wary as I crept across the wooden drawbridge over the dry moat, and then in through the dark arched castle entrance.

As Chico had said, there was a modern brown wooden building just inside the gatehouse. Attached to it was an English Heritage sign indicating that a ticket needed to be purchased before exploring the ruins, but I decided to skip that on this occasion.

The wooden structure was actually L-shaped. The near end had a row of big windows and appeared to be a gift shop. The interior of this section was in darkness, but there was a sliver of light showing under the door of the far end segment, and I could hear raised voices from within.

Treading carefully and silently, I made my way round the back to find Chico.

‘It went a bit quiet for a while,’ he whispered. ‘But they’re both still in there, and they’ve started arguin’ again. So what do we do?’

‘Are you sure that the other two goons are not with them?’

I didn’t fancy taking on four of them, but just two were manageable, especially if the two were Valance and Asquith. Chico and I had seen all too clearly at the Turkish Baths in Harrogate that Valance was considerably overweight, obese even, and very unfit, while Asquith must be in his mid-seventies, if not older.

‘A hundred per cent certain. I watched them drive away.’

‘I wonder where they went. I don’t really want them coming back.’

‘Why not?’ Chico asked in a whisper.