“Of course,” Lucy said, trying not to feel too disappointed that this sounded strictly business. “Do you want to text when you’re ready?”

“Thanks,” Finn said. He frowned. “I need to secure the summerhouse site and then we have to cover all the remaining excavations before the rain starts. There’s quite a fierce storm coming, according to the forecasts. I’m not sure when I’ll be free.”

“No problem,” Lucy said. “Are you heading out now?”

They followed Cleo and Johnny down to the barn. Geoffrey was sniffing the air as though he could sense a change coming in the weather.

“This is so interesting, Lucy!” Cleo knelt down by the trench Johnny had cut at the side of the duck pond. “Do you see these bundles of twigs? Johnny thinks they were edging sticks; when they cut a moat ditch they would embed these in the bank to stabilize and protect it. How cool is that? The barn had a moat around it!”

“Well, the barn wasn’t there in Tudor times,” Johnny said, “and we don’t know for certain yet what was, but we’ve found both clay-lined canals and these ditches on the site so a moat or canal is a strong possibility.”

“Just like at Lyveden New Bield, Lucy!” Cleo’s eyes lit up. “Do you remember visiting there with Aunt Verity? We were on some sort of Gunpowder Plot–themed tour at the time.”

“Lyveden belonged to Sir Thomas Tresham, didn’t it?” Lucy dredged her memory. “Hazel, the curator at Chastleton said that one of the Treshams was Catesby’s cousin and was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot.”

“Francis,” Finn said. “He was Sir Thomas’s son.” He paused. “But Lyveden wasn’t started until the early seventeenth century, whereas this garden has earlier dating. I wonder...” He raked a hand through his hair. “It’s plausible that this could be a precursor of the Lyveden design, I suppose, Thomas Tresham might have seen it—or even had a hand in designing it, perhaps.”

“That would be incredible!” Johnny was looking overexcited. “Wow! If we could prove that—”

“If you could prove that, even Finn would get excited,” Lucy said mischievously.

“You’ll be able to tell when I am,” Finn said dryly, looking her straight in the eye.

Lucy blushed, but fortunately Finn had already turned away again. “At Lyveden the moat encircles a labyrinth,” he said slowly. He looked at the barn, measuring the dimensions with his gaze. “It’s certainly flat enough to have been a maze site,” he said. “I assumed there was some sort of building there, but perhaps not. Johnny—” he threw him a look “—let’s measure this up properly and then I’ll check out the details of the Lyveden garden and see what else we can discover.”

“I could do that if you like,” Lucy said, surprising herself. “As I’m reading the Robert Catesby book today, I could do both. Just point me in the right direction. That is, if you’d like my help.”

Finn’s smile warmed her. “That would be great, thank you,” he said, “especially as I need to get all the tarpaulins in place before this afternoon.” He looked at the sky, which was turning a hard brassy blue. Not a breath of wind stirred the air. It felt hot and ominous. “There’s a book about Lyveden New Bield up at the cottage as well,” he said. “Pop up and get it later if you’d like to. The key code is 1598.”