Rewinding the footage one last time, he paused on a still frame of Connie. So slight and vulnerable. So haunted. Of course she’d reminded him of someone, he thought, staring in the rearview mirror. It was him.

Fergus left the car park at 8.30 a.m.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Once they’d helped Xavier in and out of the bathroom, and settled him back on the sofa, Meggy and Elspeth began rolling the carpet back once more. At least Fergus was leaving the lights on for them now – they were learning to be grateful for small mercies.

‘What time is it now?’ Elspeth asked.

‘Eight forty a.m. We’d better get on with it,’ Xavier said.

The single broken floorboard revealed nothing but a dark hole. As they pulled up the second that had been loosened during their first excavation, there was a hint of a grey mass in the cavity.

‘Show me,’ Xavier said.

Elspeth covered her hand with a tea towel and pulled out a long, dry bone.

‘It’s a femur.’

‘Are you a doctor?’ Meggy asked.

‘No,’ he replied gently, ‘but when your legs stop working properly, you suddenly learn a lot about anatomy in a very short time. Pull out the bones and anything else that’s in the way, but keep them in one pile right next to the opening so we can shove it all back if we hear him coming.’

‘I’m holding someone’s leg bone,’ Elspeth said. ‘Why don’t you seem bothered by it?’

‘I am bothered by it. Don’t think I’m not, but I don’t want it to be my leg bone,’ Xavier said. ‘And not yours or Meggy’s, either. That bone and the others in there mean we’re on borrowed time, so we sit around and lament our fate, or we find a way out. Which would you prefer?’

Meggy looked from Elspeth’s face to Xavier’s, shoved her arm as far into the cavity as she could and began joining in, dragging out bone after bone.

‘Where’s the complete body?’ he asked.

‘Further in. We saw it but couldn’t reach it.’

‘Good. I don’t want it to be in the way. We’ll need to get another floorboard up,’ Xavier said. ‘Can you get me down onto the floor next to the hole? My legs might be useless, but my arms might just make up for it.’

They helped him to the floor, and he worked on loosening the next board while bones came out of the hole fast.

‘There are so many bones,’ Elspeth said.

‘Two hundred and six in an adult,’ Meggy said. ‘We just studied it in biology. Maybe they’re all from one person?’

‘Only if that person had five legs,’ Xavier said, looking at the bone pile. ‘Keep going. This floorboard is nearly out. Then we’ll need something strong and heavy.’