Her back was aching from bending. The hand with the candle shook. She swapped it to the other hand as she reached the second red box, and pushed it with her foot. It was hollow-light, too, like the first. She saw a mousetrap with a tiny, long-dead mouse, the bar clamped across its back, like a staple. In the far part of the roof, she saw another trap. Seeing it there, tucked away, she remembered Alex had said to leave it. She’d have to go down on her knees to get into the corner. She put the candle down, and crawled. As the roof and floor met, she reached for the trap. She touched the sharp rim of the hole. She hooked her index finger inside it. It was heavy. The other traps had slid easily. If there was a snake inside it was a big one. She took her hand away. She listened. Nothing. She reached out again. It wasn’t going to move – not with one finger. She needed to lie flat. She didn’t want to lie down along the joist. Slowly, she lowered herself. The splintery wood cut into her body and between her legs, and her skirt fell into the gaps. She hoped a spider wouldn’t run up inside it, or a mouse. Straining, she put a hand on each side of the trap and pulled. Scraping and bumping, it slid towards her. She got up on one knee, and pulled it out, triumphant. She crawled backwards with it and got to her feet. It was as heavy as a small suitcase.

Balancing the candle on top of the trap, she wobbled back to the ladder, where the electric light shone, clean and modern, from the corridor below. She put the trap down, blew out the candle, and manoeuvred herself onto the ladder. Halfway down, she reached for it, unbalanced by the sudden weight. It was hard to climb down, holding the snake trap. She should find another way, or call for Dan, but he was in the cellar. The carpet of the corridor below her was tantalisingly close. She held the heavy trap with one hand, trying to hook her elbow round the back of the ladder, but there wasn’t enough of a gap for her arm to fit – hardly room for a hand. Helpless, she fell backwards, paddling. The trap fell too, crashing to the ground.

She fell onto her side, banging her hip and head. The corridor was sideways. The trap was broken open by the fall. It was full of banknotes; blocks of them, in rows, wrapped in plastic.