LITMIR.BIZ

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      It wasn’t a question; it was more a statement of fact.

      ‘No, we didn’t and it doesn’t look as if anything is missing. You will need to check yourself and let me know if there is. Can I ask you if you have any help – a cook or maybe a cleaner? This is a big house for you to look after by yourself.’

      ‘Yes, thank you, I have a wonderful housekeeper called Dawn who comes in two days a week to help me. So what are we to do then? I know you might not believe me but I know in my heart that he went down into that cellar and never came out.’

      George’s mobile phone began to ring and he apologised and walked out into the hall to answer it.

      Martha lowered her voice. ‘Your friend might think I’m ready to be committed to the insane asylum but you know I’m speaking the truth, don’t you, dear? You sensed it. I could tell.’

      ‘Yes, I did sense something and I also thought that I saw something moving down in the drain, but it was so fast I didn’t actually see what it was. I believe you, I really do, but I have to go by the evidence and there isn’t any at the moment to say that this man has come to some harm, or even to prove that he was here. If his family report him missing then we can come back with a search team and go down into the drains, but at this moment in time I can’t say for sure that he has.’

      ‘What you mean, young lady, is that you have no proof that he was ever here and that I might be imagining the whole thing.’

      ‘To be blunt, Miss Beckett: yes. I do believe you, though, and whatever you do you mustn’t go down into that cellar on your own.’

      Martha chuckled. ‘Officer, the only reason I’ve lived to this ripe old age is because I never go down into that cellar. I’ve only ever been in there once when I was a child. I was scared beyond belief and I never went back down. But thank you for your concern. I suppose we will have to wait and see if this young man’s family or friends report him missing. What will happen, then, if someone reports that they saw him coming into this house but he never came out?’

      ‘Then we’ll send a search team in.’

      ‘And will this search team be told that something dwells in the drains underneath my cellar that has a taste for human flesh? I will not be responsible for anyone going down there.’

      ‘If it comes to that, then yes, I will tell them myself.’

      Martha nodded. ‘Thank you. You’ve been much more accommodating than I ever imagined. You have a gift, don’t you? That isn’t always a blessing, but you use it wisely and I can tell that you help those who need it. I hope you can find it in your heart to help me when the time comes.’

      Annie’s radio crackled, breaking the silence as the control room shouted at her again to go to a burglary at the rugby club. She stood up.

      ‘There’s no need to see us out. We can manage. But can I just tell you to make sure you keep everything locked up and secure? I know that he seemed like an okay kind of man, even though he was cold-calling, but you can’t be too sure. He may try to come back later and burgle the house.’

      Martha smiled. ‘Oh I always keep everything locked up, but it’s not to keep the burglars out, it’s to keep whatever is in this house in.’

      Annie nodded at her and felt her whole body shiver at the thought of having to live here alone, terrified by something you’ve never seen.

      They got into the van and Annie reversed. Sticking her arm out of the window she waved and then set off to go back through town to the rugby club.

      George sighed. ‘Oh my God, do you deal with nutty people like that all the time? I mean, at one point, when we were down in that cellar, I could almost have bought her story and my heart was beating ten to the dozen, but it just seems a bit too farfetched for my liking.’

      ‘I don’t think she was nuts. I think she’s a scared, vulnerable old woman. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we get a phone call from her tomorrow to say her house has been broken into. It sounds to me as if he was checking it out and will be back later.’

      ‘What does that go down as then – you know, when you update control?’

      ‘Suspicious incident, then I’ll have to submit an intelligence report and a vulnerable adult form. The next job will probably be a bit more standard. You can be the officer in charge if you like.’

      ‘What does that mean?’

      ‘It means you get to run the case, take the statements, request CSI. See how you feel when you get there.’

      Annie hoped he felt like saying yes because she couldn’t stop thinking about that face she’d seen in the mirror and the blood on her fingers. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. Did things that look part human but are clearly not live in drains and sewers? Was that even possible or was her imagination on overdrive after the severed head yesterday? She didn’t know, but either way she suspected that Miss Martha Beckett and Beckett House would be seeing a lot more of her in the near future.

      31 December 1930

      Joseph loved playing hide-and-seek. It was his favourite game and he was lucky enough to live in a house big enough to play a really good game of it. Sometimes it took his sister ages to come and find him, although he hated it if she took too long because he got bored. Today was one of those days where he was bored. He had no idea what she was doing, but if she didn’t come soon he was giving up and playing something else. Then he heard her footsteps running up the first staircase and stifled a giggle. She hated the attic and would go mad with him for hiding in here although she hated the cellar even more. She said the attic was full of spiders and the cellar was full of rats. A right proper girl she was and he sometimes wished that he had a brother to play with, but then he would remember that she was only five so he shouldn’t complain. He was nine so he was almost grown up compared to her. She began to call his name so she must be fed up of playing. Joe had tucked himself away at the back of the small cupboard in the attic. The door was tiny and only really big enough for a child to go in, and he wondered quite a lot why it was there and what purpose it served. It was one of those questions he always meant to ask his father but he would forget about it until the next time he saw it. His father was hardly around anyway. He was always at work at the amusement park. Joe wished he could go there more often with him, but his mother always said it wasn’t a place a child should be spending time in unless it was for a fun day out.

      ‘I give in, Joe. I can’t find you and if you’re hiding in the attic I’m not coming up there anyway. I told you I wasn’t.’

      His mother began to call them and he scrambled out of his hiding place as he heard Martha clattering back down the stairs. For a small child she had feet like an elephant. He hit his head on the doorframe and rubbed it with his hand to take away the sting. Slamming the door shut he ran out of the room and down the steep attic stairs to the landing below, then down the next set of stairs and straight into the dining room where he’d last seen his mother bossing Lucy, their housemaid, around while she was trying to set the table for tonight. He barged through the door and straight into Lucy.

      ‘Careful, Master Beckett, you’ll do yourself an injury rushing around at that speed.’

      ‘Sorry, Lucy.’

      His mother nodded her head with approval at his manners although he could tell she was a little displeased with him. He looked down and saw the black marks on his clean white shirt and realised why.

      ‘Sorry, Mother, we were playing hide-and-seek.’

      Martha was already standing next to her.

      ‘Yes, we were and he was cheating again. I told him I wasn’t going up to the attic but he still hid up there.’

      ‘Now listen to me very carefully: when the guests begin to arrive later on I want you both to be on your best behaviour. No bickering between yourselves and definitely no hide-and-seek in the attic. Do you understand what I’m saying, Joe?’

      ‘Yes,

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