In the southern wall of the cellar were two ways out, one with a modern wooden raised walkway to help visitors gain access over the uneven stones underfoot, and the other an almost circular hole beneath what had once been a window. This second one was smaller but still easily big enough for me to get through if I crouched.

I could hear Asquith and Valance talking outside without being able to actually hear the words but, presently, I could tell from their flashlight that one of them had moved round to enter the keep on the western side, while the other seemed to be coming directly towards me.

But which of them was which?

The light coming into the keep got brighter, and then I could hear footfalls on the wooden walkway.

I inched myself up and silently crept through the circular hole, moving my body outside at the same instant that the person holding the flashlight moved in, using the thick wall between us as cover.

Now where?

I continued anticlockwise, feeling my way in the dark up the eastern side, past the ruined chapel. It was the route back towards the wooden building, and the castle exit beyond.

I could hear Asquith shouting for Valance from within the keep.

‘Anton, where are you?’ he shouted. ‘Have you seen him?’

There was no reply.

I was inching my way silently towards the castle exit, alongside the new wooden stairway, when, quite suddenly, a flashlight came on not six feet in front of me, and it was shining straight into my eyes.

Bugger!

CHAPTER

36

I DECIDED TO RUSH it, just hoping it was Valance with only a flashlight and not Asquith also with his gun.

But as I bunched my muscles for the attack, with my heart rate rising to near two hundred beats a minute, the light pointed suddenly upward, showing me the face of the man holding it, and he was grinning.

‘Hiya, Sid,’ Chico whispered. ‘Need any help?’

I could have kissed him.

‘How did you get the flashlight?’ I whispered back.

He switched it off. ‘It’s the one Valance had.’

‘So where’s Valance now?’

‘Shall we just say that he’s indisposed. Nursing a nasty headache, I shouldn’t wonder.’

‘But where is he?’

‘Somewhere over on the other side. He walked right down past where I was hidin’, but with his flashlight shinin’ onto the big building in the middle. So I simply gave him a gentle tap on the head with a rock. He went out cold.’

‘Where on earth did you find a rock?’

‘I prized it off a crumblin’ castle wall.’

‘You can’t do that,’ I said in a mocking tone. ‘This is a Grade One listed building.’

‘Tough,’ Chico said. ‘My need was greater.’

‘Will Valance wake up?’

‘Not for a bit, I hope. It wasn’t that gentle a tap I gave him. In fact, it was bleedin’ hard.’

‘Even so, he might.’