Was this it? I bent down to find a cavity wall, with two layers of bricks. The external layer was the one with the crack in it. Then there was the cavity, then the internal layer. Some of the bricks had been removed from the internal layer, giving access to the cavity from inside the house. The hole had then been covered by the wooden panel. It had been deliberate, I was certain of that.

I looked through into the cavity; yet, just as from the garden side, it was impenetrably dark, so I pulled over a reading lamp from the desk and shone it through, hoping there would be something there. I couldn’t see much – dirty bricks, the same mist of plaster dust that I had sent floating up and the skeletal timber frame. Pressing my face right to the hole to peer around, I could smell the damp air, mixed with the odour of mould.

And then there was sharp pain and confusion – something was screeching at me and clawing at my cheek, drawing blood. I cried out as I felt its talons across my skin and its wings beating at my face, and I fell backwards, knocking over the lamp and scrabbling away, to press my back against a bookcase. The screeching went on and on, as if it were in my head, and at the same time I could hear Hazel calling out my name and then come running and trying the handle, banging on the door. ‘It’s all right, Hazel. I’m fine. I just … dropped something. Silly of me,’ I managed to stutter.

‘Can I come in?’ she asked, hesitatingly.

‘No, I’m … It’s your father’s things. His private …’ And in the beam from the tumbled lamp, I caught sight of the glittering black eye of the bird that had scratched my cheek. I put my hand to the stinging wound. ‘Please, just go back to your room.’

She sounded doubtful. ‘All right.’

I stared at the bird. It was watching me through the gap in the plaster. And then it thrust its head through into the room and looked around, studying me with its head to one side, for a long while. I sat as still as I could, hoping it wouldn’t fly into the room. Then it jumped back into the darkness, out of my sight, and all I heard was its wings flapping against the bricks as it flew away into the open air.