‘Really?’ said Chris, his interest piqued. ‘Have you got anywhere in mind?’

‘Not really, not yet,’ said Evie, ‘Mum thinks—’

Wiping her hands down the front of her T-shirt, Maude sighed and stood up.

‘Where are you off to?’ Nell asked.

‘The loo. God, Nell, relax.’

‘Hey,’ Chris said.

‘It’s fine,’ said Nell. ‘Sorry, Maudie. I didn’t mean anything.’

Maude didn’t answer, she settled for rolling her eyes at Evie as she left the room and bounded up the stairs; her bare feet slapping against the wooden treads.

Evie took a sip of her too-hot coffee. ‘I was wondering,’ she said, ‘if you, if either of you—’ She was interrupted by a thud on the landing.

‘Dad!’ Maude’s voice echoing through the hall. ‘Dad! Nell!’

*

‘I am so sorry,’ Carolyn said when they were all in the bedroom. ‘I really don’t make a habit of wandering into people’s bedrooms uninvited.’

Evie was the last one in, reluctant, edging towards the window.

‘It’s fine, really,’ said Nell.

‘I just glanced in as I was passing and – it shouldn’t look like that, should it?’

It was definitely bigger, Nell thought. A distinct line running perhaps twelve inches down one of the oak panels, parallel with the bedpost, with another crack, vertical, jagged, running horizontally across the top. There was the beginnings of a gap, as if someone had tried to tug it open.

‘And when I came up, Carolyn was in here and showed me,’ said Maude. ‘Is it a cupboard?’

‘It’s not a cupboard, there’s no hinge,’ Nell said. ‘It’s just – come loose.’

‘We must have knocked it somehow,’ said Chris.

‘So it’s your fault?’ A disapproving tone crept into Maude’s voice.

‘Good God, when did you become the holiday police, Maggot?’ said Chris.

‘It’s no one’s fault,’ said Nell. It seemed to her that there were too many of them in the bedroom, all too eager to offer an opinion. Chris bent down and shoved the bed to one side.

He pulled gently at the edge of the wood and it gave a little. ‘I think it’s a void,’ he said, peering in.

‘Sorry?’

‘A little gap, in the wall.’

‘A hidey hole,’ said Maude, sounding pleased.

‘We need a torch,’ Chris said.

Evie pulled her phone out of her pocket. ‘Will this do?’

‘Thanks.’ He let the beam of the torch app, which was surprisingly powerful, play up and down the panel. ‘I wonder if the bed has been holding it in place.’ He ran his fingers over the pale edge of the wood; the damage ran the length of the grain, and there was another crack, threading its way along the bottom of the panel. He edged it open a little more.

‘Well, it should be easy enough to repair,’ said Carolyn, ‘there’ll be some sort of insurance cover, I suppose.’

There was a pause.

‘There’s something here,’ Chris said.

*