James noticed that a SOCO was taking photographs of something in one corner and as he followed DC Abbott further inside, he saw that it was a grey marble memorial stone of the kind usually found only in cemeteries. It was about the size of a football and rested on a small, squat display unit. James stopped for a closer look and saw an inscription on the stone which read:

You will never be forgotten.

He assumed it had been placed here by the Batemans in memory of the couple who were found dead in the cellar twenty-four years ago. He also assumed that it was what Abbott was so keen for him to see. But he was wrong.

‘You have to go up the stairs, guv,’ she said, pointing ahead of her to a wooden staircase that climbed up through the ceiling.

‘Well, that’s not something I expected to find down here,’ he said. ‘I’m sure there’s no door to the cellar inside the house. Or, if there is, I didn’t spot it.’

‘There isn’t,’ Abbott said. ‘It was replaced.’

She stepped to one side at the bottom of the stairs and waved him on.

‘A forensic officer is up there to show you what’s been found, guv. There’s no room for me as well so I’ll wait down here.’

James’s curiosity was aroused as he mounted the stairs. Halfway up he stepped over an evidence marker that had been placed next to a dark stain on a step, and he made a mental note to find out what it was.

There was another open door at the top of the stairs, and beyond it a small enclosed space where a SOCO stood holding a torch.

‘Welcome to my cosy cubbyhole,’ the officer said from behind his mask.

James felt the hairs on his neck stir as he stared inside. It was about five feet from the door at the top of the stairs to a plasterboard wall opposite, and ten feet from left to right, but the ceiling sloped dramatically and filled much of the space. The only object that James could see was a plastic step stool tucked up against the wall.

‘Is this some kind of cupboard or storeroom?’ he asked as the officer waved his torch around to illuminate the room.

‘It could be used as such, and probably has been in the past,’ the officer said. ‘But as you can see it’s empty now, except for the stool.’

‘So, what have you found that’s got my detective so excited?’

The officer placed a hand on the plasterboard wall.

‘This is not part of the original structure,’ he explained. ‘It was put here to replace a door that used to allow access to the cellar from the living area. It’s not uncommon for home owners to block off cellar doors like this, especially those that are located beneath interior staircases.’