‘Possibly. We’re looking into whether she may already have received some goods and stored them here for James until he visited. It would mean the items were well out of sight of the police down south. Now Georgina Arnold seems to have disappeared, which is suspicious in itself, and we are very keen to speak to her and find out what she knows about James Stellion’s activities,’ said the officer.

Dora started to cry then, so there were two weeping mothers, lamenting that their children had gone so entirely off the rails. Ellen sympathised, but she wished they’d be a bit quieter so she could think what on earth could have happened to Gina and where she could have gone.

‘I think we should look in Gina’s rooms and see if she’s left a note or summat,’ Ellen suggested. ‘I’m still hoping this is all a mistake and she’ll be back any moment, or summat’s happened – nowt to do with this – and she’s had to go to see to it.’

The policemen looked incredulously at each other and Ellen felt foolishly optimistic, but she didn’t want to give up on Gina so easily. There was still hope, wasn’t there?

‘Good idea,’ said George. He looked at the wailing mothers and saw there was no point asking them to help. ‘Would you show the officers downstairs, please, Ellen? Tom and I will come too.’

Gina’s sitting-room door onto the corridor was locked and the key was missing from its usual hook in the kitchen.

‘I heard her going past just before lunchtime,’ said Mrs Bassett, eyeing the policemen nervously. ‘I called out, but she can’t have heard, I reckon.’

‘Is there a spare key?’ Ellen asked her.

‘Not that I know of, love.’

In the end, Tom forced the door open with the help of the police officers. It was a violent act that brought home to Ellen just what serious trouble Gina was in. She rushed into the room calling, ‘Gina! Gina! Are you there?’ She could see no note, so she went into Gina’s bedroom and had a very quick search around.

‘Her coat and handbag are gone,’ she called.

She looked to see what else, but couldn’t be sure. Then she trod on something hard on the bedside rug and bent down to see. It was a hatpin with a large pearl at the end and a tiny red stone on the pinhead. To her certain knowledge it didn’t belong to Gina. The red stone might even be a ruby and the pearl was huge. For one crazy moment she thought about putting it in the pocket of her breeches and telling no one, but what if it was a vital clue to where Gina had gone – besides being a dishonest thing to do?