‘Suck it and see?’ Christine takes a breath. ‘I have notes.’ She taps the clipboard with short fingernails, her face morphing into a smile. ‘I can do this, can’t I?’

‘Of course you can,’ Alice says, as Lori releases Christine and steps away from her.

‘Well I, for one, can’t be arsed with amateurs. Even if this weekend is a freebie.’ It’s the young woman with red hair, her accent upper class English. Alice stares, her heart thudding. She knows where she’s seen her before. ‘Let’s go to our room, Dane,’ the woman goes on, rising, taking the man’s hand. He springs to his feet like an athlete, all long limbs – his vest T-shirt clinging to his muscular body. And with a seductive tone she adds, ‘I can think of better things for us to do.’

‘The Winslows from The Winslow Touch,’ Mitch whispers in Alice’s ear. ‘Small world, isn’t it?’

Alice recalls how she watched them pull her father apart on YouTube. She’s experienced first-hand how cruel they can be, and vows to avoid them for the rest of the weekend. Cameron Patterson has clearly made a mistake if he’s thrown this couple a freebie weekend in exchange for good publicity.

‘Take no notice of them,’ Faith says to Christine, as Savannah and Dane Winslow head towards the staircase, his arm draped around her shoulders, her high heels clipping the quarry tiles.

‘She’s got bitch written all over her,’ Mitch says, glaring at them as they head up the stairs and disappear from view. ‘That kind of woman needs to be taught a lesson.’

Alice cringes, wondering what kind of lesson he means.

Christine leads the group of four over to the photographs on the wall. Most are framed pictures of Felix Flynn performing on stage, either magic tricks, or with his ventriloquist puppets. Alice moves closer. There are several puppets in the pictures, one has wool for hair and is dressed in a checked suit, another has sleek black hair combed away from its face, and is wearing a bow tie. She turns from the pictures.

‘Apparently, Mr Patterson found these photographs when he purchased the place,’ Christine reads from the clipboard. ‘The house was faded and shabby when he bought it in 2017.’ Her voice has brightened a fraction, and she seems more confident suddenly, as though the subject fascinates her. ‘It was creepy back then.’

‘Still is, if you ask me,’ Mitch says, his brown eyes scanning the pictures.

‘Yes.’ Christine looks about her. ‘I suppose so. But now it’s meant to be this way. In 2017 nobody had lived in the house for some time. The owner, Verity Flynn – Felix’s daughter – had lived in the cottage on the island, where Mr Patterson lives now.’ She pauses for a moment. ‘It says here several developers refused to take the place on due to the foreboding atmosphere.’ She gives a little shudder.