‘But surely someone knew about the places?’

‘It was an all-out war. Who knows what happened to their records? They may still be locked carefully away in some dusty drawer, or they may have been destroyed by bombing, or groups of local people may have been told to keep their mouths shut and did it all too well, right until they died.’

‘I’ve seen things a bit like this discovered on that archaeology programme on TV,’ Elise said. ‘Fascinating stuff. I never expected such a place to be there on my doorstep.’

‘What are you going to do about it now?’ Angus asked. ‘I’m still anxious to finish off these houses and find tenants.’

‘There is funding being prepared to turn it into a miniature museum in memory of Jason Kinnaird’s father.’

‘Won’t we have to rebuild that side of the house first?’

Bill grinned at them. ‘Only some of the bricks from the outer shell of the house. They fortified the inside extremely well, in case there was fighting. They made it of reinforced concrete, so it’s still pretty much all right. Amazing some of the quirks you run across in my job.’

As Angus and Nell walked into the house by the front door, he suddenly spun her round and knelt before her. ‘Darling, I love you to pieces. Will you please marry me?’

‘We’ve already said we were going to get married. What brought this on?’

‘I wanted to propose properly.’ He stayed on his knees, looking up at her, very serious for once.

‘Then I’ll answer properly too. I love you to pieces as well, Angus Denning, and I can think of nothing that would make me happier than to marry you.’

He stood up and pulled her into his arms, sealing the proposal with a kiss. Then he moved his head back a little and grinned. ‘I think I did it rather well, don’t you?’

She smiled back. ‘Extremely well.’

‘I’d been practising.’

She looked at him in surprise. ‘Really?’

‘Yes. It’s a daunting thing for a guy to do, proposing. I tried it with fancy words, with a poem I found in a book, and in the end, I decided on straightforward and sincere.’

‘That suits me very well, darling.’ She pulled him closer and kissed him again. ‘Of course, I’ll want a gigantic diamond engagement ring.’

He knew her well enough to chuckle at her joke, but led her into his workroom and opened the safe. ‘I knew you were mercenary so I got this ready.’

He pulled out a worn leather ring box and opened it. ‘This belonged to my great-grandmother and I think it’ll suit you.’

It was a single diamond surrounded by loops of gold. ‘It’s lovely. I shall be proud to wear it.’

It even fitted her perfectly – as Angus did.

Epilogue

Two months later, Nell and Angus got married in what had been intended to be a quiet wedding. And indeed, only a select group went along to the registry office with them.