I walk out onto the balcony, and start polishing the rail with my cuff, like it’s my job. A few people hurry against the wind on the cobbles below. The pier, which stretches out into the sea ahead, is empty. The tide is in, pounding the sea wall, and the wind moans around the railings and lamp posts, carrying with it a hint of fish and chips from Seegol’s Diner. A bank of dark clouds towers on the horizon as if it’s just waiting for the right moment to dump a mountain of snow on the old town. I nip back inside.

“I don’t think you were seen…” I say, but my words trail off as a low moan reaches us, from far away, sharpening to a monstrous shrieking roar that rolls around the distant horizon.

“What was that?” says Violet.

I close the window, hurriedly, and fasten the catch.

“They say it’s just the wind.”

“They say it’s just the wind?” says Violet. “Or it is just the wind?”

“I prefer to think it’s just the wind.” I straighten my cap. “Don’t you?”

But Violet doesn’t seem to be listening any more. She is standing in the middle of the room, looking around in wonder. And then I remember that she’s been here before.

“I was only a baby. Yet it feels like…”

“Like what?” I say.

“Oh, nothing.” She gives me a sheepish grin. “But this is the closest I’ve been to my – to Mum and Dad – since…”

“Hmm,” I say. “But that was twelve years ago. I don’t know what you’re hoping to find in here now.”

“Every time I rehearsed what would happen if I came back to the hotel, Herbie, I imagined there would be luggage. Other things that my parents had left besides me. I imagined there would be clues. Now it looks like this room might be my only chance to find anything.”

I shrug. Then I get down on the floor and start poking about under the bed. Anything we find here could have been left by any of the guests who have stayed here since. But Violet must know that already, so I don’t see any need to point it out.

After about five minutes of cobwebs and dust, we stop. There’s nothing here. For a moment, I wonder if we should climb up and look in the small chandelier, but I already know there’s nothing there either.

“Did you look in the wardrobe?” I say.

“Twice.”

“Well, we should go then. You’ll have to climb back down the fire escape, I’m afraid…”

“Climb!” says Violet, snapping her fingers. “Of course! I didn’t look ON the wardrobe.”