Now that the lights were on, Georgie could see that the first twenty yards of basement was raised above the remainder of the room. A set of steps led down to the lower section but the water was only a few inches from the top and spanned the breadth of the depressed area, wall to wall. It can’t be that deep, surely. The water was completely still, like a dark, opaque glass surface. It reminded Georgie of the black water pools in the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand, which had been a short, terrifying part of a three-month backpacking expedition after university.

She felt her chest quiver. As the final musical note died out, Georgie could just about make out what she supposed was the source of the music.

It sat in an alcove cut in the middle of the brickwork across the water like a shrine.

Her throat constricted – someone was playing games.

She paced for several minutes, her mind whirring with possibilities. Above her, the bulb cast weak light, creating shadows along the front wall. Georgie hated shadows – shadows were threats, agents of the darkness that haunted her. She had to make a decision. She could phone Charlie but what good would that do? How ridiculous would he think she was? Charlie would say that somebody had put the object there for a reason – just like the photograph in Simeon’s secret room – and the reason was because they wanted it to be found. It was another breadcrumb.

She checked her phone. No signal down here anyway.

So, go on then, just wade through the water and get it, then we can be out of here.

‘OK,’ Georgie said aloud, her chest heaving. ‘Shoes on or shoes off?’

She looked down at her white Converse – they would be ruined and she would have to ride all the way back to London with cold, wet feet, assuming Li remembered to pick her up.

‘Shoes off then.’

Georgie kicked her shoes off and rolled her trousers up to her knees. Great, I look like a Victorian woman going for a swim. See? This is fun.

She paced up and down a few more times, summoning up enough courage before dipping a toe in to the water. ‘Shit, that’s cold!’ Steady, Georgie. Just take it steady.

She gritted her teeth, braced herself, and stepped into the water. Her foot disappeared alarmingly quickly, followed by her ankle and most of her calf.

‘Shit!’

She nudged her foot forward, there was another step down, and another one beyond that. So much for pulling your trousers up. The water was now lapping at her buttocks. She closed her eyes, wondered about giving up. There were eels the size of her leg in the Waitomo Caves. In the distance, the object in the alcove glimmered. Georgie was breathing heavily, a combination of the freezing water and fear gripping her chest.

She swore that the object had eyes. It’s watching me.