When two of them together fail to force it open, one of them opens the bag they’ve brought with them, then starts to work on the lock. It takes a few minutes, but finally the door opens silently, and one of them reaches for a torch. But when they shine the beam around the room, it’s completely empty.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Jo

I follow the DI inside, disappointment washing over me as the beam of his torch illuminates empty space and dusty floorboards. My eyes scan the room before settling on the floor. ‘Sir? That far corner …’ The DI’s beam flashes back to the spot I’m talking about. ‘The floorboards are different.’ As I look more closely, I see it isn’t just the corner. There’s a four-foot strip of floorboards along the length of that wall that are considerably narrower than all the others.

‘Emerson? Prise those up, will you?’

In silence, we watch as the floorboards come up easily – too easily – revealing a narrow staircase. Stepping forward, the DI nods at Sarah. ‘Collins? Stay here. Keep an eye out, will you? The rest of you …’ He glances at me and the two policemen. ‘With me, please. Let’s check this out.’

At the bottom of the stairs, the DI shines the beam of his torch around, settling it on a switch. Then, as the lights come on, I gasp at the row of screens that have been illuminated. There must be half a dozen, each with a chair in front of it, while along one of the walls are shelves on which discs and folders are stacked. The DI goes further in and calls me. ‘May?’

As I reach him, I see he’s holding back a curtain, revealing an area just big enough to hold a large bed. It’s covered in black sheets, and above it a number of cameras are mounted on the wall. I feel sick, imagining what goes on here.

‘Looks like Mr Mason is exactly who Operation Rainbow have been looking for.’ His voice is grim. ‘Ask Collins to secure the scene. Then call forensics. I want them over here, right away.’

‘Sir.’ I head upstairs, then outside to where Sarah’s standing. ‘We were right,’ I tell her. ‘It looks like it’s all there.’ Moving my phone around, I manage to get a signal at last. ‘He wants you to secure the scene. I’m calling forensics. This looks like the break we’ve been looking for.’

As I go back down to Mason’s cellar, a horrifying thought occurs to me. What if Mason had groomed Hollie? What if she was one of his models? According to several of the villagers, she’d been noticeably more distressed shortly before she died.

The DI is still carefully looking around. ‘They’re on their way, sir.’ Then I tell him what’s just occurred to me.