He laughs, tracing a finger over the bare skin at the back of my neck, making me shiver in a different way, and I decide to forgive him for being so snappy. ‘Come on then, Al, show me what you’ve found. I’m starving and I’ve still got a ton of paperwork to go through tonight ready for tomorrow. Unless you’ve found something rare and valuable that we can sell for a fortune, and I can retire in the morning?’ His mouth quirks upwards into a smile.

‘Don’t be daft. Over here.’ I step forward, catching movement ahead of me as I do. I stop for a second, my pulse speeding up, before I remember this morning. My actions mimicked in the mirror ahead of me, and again now as I move towards it, Rav close behind me.

‘Look,’ I say. ‘I found this mirror. Isn’t it beautiful?’ I run my finger over the carved frame again, just as I did hours before.

‘Yeah, it’s nice,’ Rav says. ‘Really nice, actually. I doubt it’s worth much though.’

‘I don’t want to sell it,’ I say, horrified at the thought. ‘I want us to use it, Rav. It would look amazing hanging in the hallway, don’t you think? It just needs a good clean and then it would finish off that space perfectly.’

Rav runs his eyes over it again. ‘Yeah,’ he says eventually. ‘Yeah, it would look good. You clever thing. I suppose you want me to help you move it?’

‘Would you?’ I flutter my eyelashes at him, and he laughs. ‘Here, you take that side, and I’ll grab here.’ I clamp my hands firmly around the frame, one midway and one at the bottom. Together we manage to inch it towards the opening of the attic. It’s surprisingly less heavy than I first thought, but I am still sweating when we reach the space down to the landing below.

‘I’ll go down first, and then if you slide it towards me, I think I can manage to get it down. Just be careful,’ Rav instructs, before he starts to descend the ladder. As his head disappears through the opening, the shadows seem to gather and I feel the air stir, as if someone has walked up behind me. My arms breaking into goosebumps, I turn slowly, suddenly sure that there is someone, something up here with me, just waiting for Rav to leave, but when I look over my shoulder there is no one there.