‘Oh?’ he brightened. ‘Not some terribly valuable signed first-first, is it? Cullen MacDonald always did have a sharp eye.’

Rachel smiled. ‘In a manner of speaking, I suppose it is. But it’s not a book. It’s… something very different.’ She glanced over the balcony to the mourners below. Everyone seemed occupied. They could help themselves to the refreshments. She turned back to the solicitor, slipping the key to the lighthouse’s upper levels from her pocket. ‘It’s upstairs. I’ll show you.’

Crosswick’s initial reaction to the secret in the attic was utter silence. Rachel found him hard to read.

‘I know I should have told you about it immediately,’ she said, ‘and I’m sorry I didn’t, but to begin with, it was such a shock. And there was the note…’ Crosswick still held the fragile paper she had shown him in his hands. No one must know.

‘It’s extraordinary,’ the solicitor said in hushed tones. ‘Entirely extraordinary. And Cullen knew it was here?’

‘Yes. I think he’d known ever since he moved in, maybe even before. He never said anything to you?’

Crosswick shook his head. ‘Never.’

‘Then you don’t have any idea who E.A.M. was?’ Rachel asked.

‘I don’t, I’m afraid.’ He sighed. ‘Well. This could really throw the cat among the pigeons.’ Crosswick looked down at the floor, at the piles Rachel had made of the papers and notebooks. ‘You’ve begun to go through these?’

‘Yes,’ Rachel admitted. ‘I’ve put them in date order as best I can. It takes time, though – the handwriting isn’t easy to decipher.’

The solicitor was quiet for another moment, a thoughtful frown on his face. Rachel waited him out. He didn’t seem particularly angry that she had hidden her discovery from him, but he did seem troubled.

‘Have you told anyone about this, besides me?’

‘No.’

‘All right,’ he said eventually. ‘I think that I would like you to continue what you have begun here. See what you can work out – about why this is here, why it was kept a secret. Do you think you can do that, as well as sort out the gatehouse?’

‘I—’ Rachel was taken aback. ‘Obviously I’ll do my best—’

‘—but it’s a lot of work,’ Crosswick finished for her. ‘I can see that it would be. And who knows how much time we have, after all. Well then, perhaps it would be a good idea to enlist some help to untangle this conundrum. Is there anyone you can suggest?’

‘To help research this place?’ Rachel was surprised for the second time in as many minutes.

‘Someone who might find this sort of challenge amenable. Is there anyone you know who might fit that bill? One of the bookshop’s regulars, perhaps?’

Rachel couldn’t imagine Ron being able to make his way up and down the ladder, even if he’d had the patience for this sort of puzzle. Edie might, but she was busy enough with her own work. Ezra would barely fit through the hatch; there was no way he’d be able to move around this space with any degree of comfort. But—