But the smile slipped away when something caught his eye.

There was a set of shoeprints in the otherwise pristine snow, and Robert was sure that they hadn’t been there earlier. They were coming from the road and leading over to the steps on the right side of the house, the ones that descended to the cellar door.

And yet there were no prints going in the opposite direction.

It puzzled him because the cellar door was always locked and there was only one set of keys, which hung from a hook in the kitchen. What’s more, Mary rarely ventured down there because she’d convinced herself many years ago that it was haunted.

He tightened his grip on the bag and went to investigate. What he saw made him frown further.

The shoeprints went down the steps and stopped in front of the door, which suggested that whoever had gone in there hadn’t yet come out.

But who could it be?

He was about to go down and check when the sound of raised voices suddenly came from inside the house. They were loud enough to cause a blast of alarm to shoot through him.

Instinct told him that what was going on in the house had to be more important than what might be happening in the cellar, so he turned sharply on his heels and rushed towards the front door.

Just as he reached it, the shouting was drowned out by a high-pitched scream that sent his pulse racing.

Then, as he pushed the door open, another sound reached him.

The sound of breaking glass.

CHAPTER ONE

Wednesday December 27th

James Walker woke up suddenly, his mind dragged from sleep by the shriek of the alarm telling him it was 07.30.

He stretched his arm out from under the duvet and switched it off.

‘Is it time to get up already?’ his wife murmured beside him.

He rolled over so that he was facing her, just making out her features in the dark.

‘I’m afraid so,’ he whispered. ‘Work beckons once again.’

Christmas had been and gone and today he was due to return to his job as a detective inspector with the Cumbria Constabulary based in Kendal. He wasn’t looking forward to it because he had really enjoyed spending so much alone time with Annie, especially given that this was their last Christmas as a family of two.

Annie was finally expecting and they couldn’t be more thrilled.

‘I’m going to miss you being here,’ she said, snuggling up to him. ‘It’s been fun with just the two of us.’

He felt a rush of emotion and ran a hand through her thick black hair.

‘Well at least you don’t have to go back to work yet,’ he said. ‘So, make the most of the next couple of weeks.’