Suddenly Niall was overtaking her. ‘Where’s this cellar supposed to be?’

‘Close to the waterside, beneath what would have been the back wall. This was an eel-catcher’s cottage. The stream used to run right past it.’

‘Yes! There is a door!’ cried out Niall. ‘Kerry!’

‘Hell’s fire, not exactly a softly, softly approach, is it?’ gasped Cat, as she reached Nikki’s side. ‘What if we find Stephen Cox sitting in there?’

‘Then I stick his ugly head in the stream, and drown the fucking bastard! That’s what!’

‘Fine. Just checking.’

‘It’s jammed! Give me a hand here!’ Niall was wrestling with an old, but still solid wooden door. ‘Can’t move it.’

‘We need something to prise it back,’ said Yvonne, hunting through the rubble of the derelict building. ‘Maybe this’ll do.’ She dragged a flat metal pole from a pile of debris.

‘Give it here.’ Niall wedged it firmly between the door and the frame, and put all his weight behind it.

There was a screech of splitting timbers, and the door swung free.

‘Good lad. Let’s get in there.’

Nikki followed him down the damp and slippery steps, then almost cannoned into his back when he suddenly stopped.

‘What is it? I can’t damn well see through you!’

‘She’s here, ma’am, but …’

Nikki pushed him aside and jumped down the last two steps.

Kerry Anderson lay on some old fleece blankets, the kind that come two for a fiver in cheap bargain shops. And beside her, cuddled in tightly, as if trying to keep her warm, was Kris Brown’s Springer spaniel. Even the sound of the door being trashed had not woken her, and for one moment, Nikki feared the worst.

With a little cry, Nikki threw herself down beside the girl and frantically searched for the pulse in her neck. ‘Please! Please! Oh, sweetheart! You’re safe now, we’ve got you. Come on, Kerry!’ She turned and looked up. ‘Radio for the ambulance crew. Tell them she has an irregular heartbeat, she’s cold to the touch and unresponsive. It looks like hypothermia. Yvonne, can you remember the way back to the marsh lane?’

‘No problem, ma’am.’

‘Then go meet them, and escort them as far as their vehicles will go, then bring them in on foot.’