‘They never said, but I don’t think so. They know she’s away and probably saw us going in and out and thought there was no need. Why?’

‘Dunno.’ Will was fighting his way back into his jacket. ‘But something’s not right there. Come on, Matt. We’ve missed something.’

Grabbing his own coat, Matt chased after Will, who was already halfway down the drive. ‘What are we looking for?’

‘I’ll know when I find it,’ Will threw back over his shoulder. ‘So far, it’s nothing but the old copper’s nose, twitching like fury.’

Matt muttered something and then called out, ‘Will! I’ve been through that cottage with a fine-tooth comb. There’s nowhere left to look.’

The rain had come to nothing. Will thought they had about an hour before the twilight made it difficult to continue. They were lucky to escape the notice of the reporters. Just as they approached the group of them waiting by the gate, two cars swung into the lane and the press ran off to catch a sighting of the arriving dignitaries. Will and Matt were able to slip into the garden of Little Anchor without as much as an eye turned in their direction.

‘Okay. If you’ve been right through the interior, it has to be outside. The only thing I can tell you is that we’re looking for something, anything, that would be worth forcing the old lady out for.’

‘So, where outside exactly?’ grumbled Matt. ‘The shed was trashed, the summerhouse is empty, which only leaves the garage.’

‘Then let’s get out there now, before we lose the light.’ They let themselves into the big empty garage. The fluorescent lights fluttered and steadied.

‘Goodness! I’ve never seen a smarter garage, have you?’ Matt looked around in admiration. ‘Carpet?’

The floor was indeed carpeted. There wasn’t an oily puddle or greasy rag to be seen. One wall was lined with cupboards, each carefully labelled with a list of the contents. At the far end hung every kind of tool a mechanic might possibly require. Each implement had been outlined so that it could be returned to the appropriate hook.

Will whistled, lifted a large adjustable wrench from its appointed position and looked at the carefully painted outline. He placed it back almost reverently.

They looked around but found only carefully stacked tins of paint, a lawn mower and shelves of car cleaning polishes and waxes. ‘There’s nothing here,’ said Will. He had been so sure of finding something.

Matt stared around doubtfully. ‘So, where is the workroom? She said there was an inspection pit and a workroom, didn’t she?’

‘Well, I suppose that is the pit.’ Will pointed to a square outlined in the carpet. They rolled it up and found a long wooden slatted cover beneath it, which they slid back.