In moments, we were on the run through Cambridge once again. Ducking into alleys, turning to look in shop windows, we flitted anxiously through the ancient city like desperadoes. We were heading, per Holmes’s direction, back to the Cross and Anchor and Dillie’s abandoned bolt-hole. Holmes was certain that he had missed something in our earlier visit and was determined to take a closer look.

‘But the place has been cleared,’ I said as we raced up the stairs at the back of the Cross and Anchor.

‘I did not spend the time I needed, Watson. There is something there that will help us, I feel sure of it.’

The waning sun slanted in through the sheer linen curtains, lighting up the room with a yellow glow. It was nearly seven, but the Indian summer hours were still long. The room, abandoned and stripped of possessions by her angry father and jealous sister, appeared just as it had that morning. It felt like a lifetime ago. The family had made quick work of removing all traces of Miss Odelia Wyndham.

The furniture and few remaining items were in disarray. Holmes began what he had hoped to do earlier, which was a detailed inspection of the empty closet, the empty drawers, the windowsill and the floor.

He turned to look at me where I was seated on the blue velvet sofa in front of the window. ‘Up, Watson,’ he directed. ‘I need to look underneath.’ Together, we pushed it aside.

There, back against the wall, something glinted in gold. Holmes seized it and examined it with his lens, then handed both to me. It was a simple gold ring, in the shape of an arrow, looped in on itself. ‘It’s a Woodman ring,’ he said. ‘Freddie’s – the one he mentioned. I am surprised she left it when she fled.’

‘Perhaps she didn’t flee but was abducted from this room?’ I offered. ‘You did say earlier that something did not feel right here. Could there be something in plain sight, something we have missed?’

‘I do not think she was abducted from here, Watson. Even the Cambridge police – or at the very least, her father – would have noticed obvious signs of a fight or a disturbance. I wager Wyndham found nothing telling. I believe she packed up her most treasured possessions and fled from this room of her own accord. Nevertheless, we do not have the whole story.’

Holmes stood in front of the window, scanning the room. He drew back the sheer linen curtains only a sliver and stared down into the street. ‘It does not look like anyone could have climbed out this way. Not without a ladder or a convenient tree.’ He let the curtains fall back across the window, and the evening sun glowed through them. Holmes moved to the centre of the room and turned slowly in place. ‘But there is something here. I can feel it.’