Mabel looked expectantly at Roz, who gave her a rather embarrassed smile. ‘Me too, although I bet you sound just like one.’

Mabel rolled her eyes. ‘Good job we tested it out first, or I could’ve been hooting myself hoarse!’

The following Wednesday, they put their plan into action. Mabel waited until she saw Callum drive the lorry past the end of Mercer Court before slipping out of the house and positioning herself out of sight. Having been given clear instructions on how to get to the loft above the coal merchant’s on Crooked Lane, Felix had left his home far earlier than he normally would and made his way to the docks, where the night shift was still going strong. He slipped one of the messenger boys a penny to go to the Haggartys’ and tell Lilith that a man had just seen a terrible accident involving Partington’s coal lorry, and that she was needed quickly. The boy raced off and Felix strode idly behind, his hands deep into his pockets. He didn’t wish to arrive before Lilith had had time to get out. When he reached Crooked Lane, he saw Mabel standing outside the merchant’s waiting for him.

Without as much as a word, she stuck her thumb into the air and went to her hiding place across the road. With the coast clear, he took the unstable steps two at a time and entered the sparsely furnished room. As he stood looking around him, it took him a moment or so to get over the extreme poverty in which his friend was living. How could Roz wonder where her necklace had got to? There was hardly a chance of it slipping down the back of the sofa, as there wasn’t one, not even a bed frame. Realising that he was wasting precious time, he walked over to what he assumed must be the sleeping area. His eyes came to rest on a bed – if you could call it that – which had sacks in place of blankets. That must be where Roz slept, he thought bitterly, for it was the only bed that had been neatly made. Taking the sacks, he pushed them to one side and looked at the floorboards beneath. Nothing, not even the narrowest of gaps. He lifted the mattress next to it, and peered beneath, but again there was nothing to suggest a necklace could fall between the boards. He picked up the pillow, which turned out to be two very flat pillows inside one case, and continued to search.

On the other side of town an argument was breaking out.

‘How the hell should I know?’ roared Callum. ‘If you ask me you either dreamed it or you’re going doolally in your old age!’

‘Waste of bloody time,’ said Lilith, as she bent over trying to get her breath back.

‘Just what did the lad say?’ asked Roz, radiating innocent concern.