The Incident Concerning The Alsatian Dog.

Chapter 8

I woke in the morning, and decided my pretence of being ill had gone on for long enough. Besides, I needed answers. Now.

I dressed quickly, and after stowing the makeup box under Isabel's bed I made my way downstairs to breakfast. Newham was there, and we ate in relative high spirits, he having no idea how close I was to solving the mystery.

My current predicament was that I had a vague idea of what should have gone on, but there was one huge blocker slap bang in the middle of everything that prevented anything from being possible at all. It was that blocker which I needed to unplug that morning, with Newham's help, of course. I mentioned my ideas to him as we walked out of breakfast, and he rather foolishly agreed to whatever I had planned.

I led him down to the kitchen, and smiling as pleasantly as I could muster at Ellie, who was there, I asked if I could have a look around the little corridor leading to the back door. Reluctantly, she agreed.

"Robert?" I asked, as the two of us entered the corridor and began to look around. "Can I ask you something?"

"I don't see why not" Newham replied jokingly. I rolled my eyes, then, putting my ear to one of the walls, I began to move slowly along it, tapping as I went, forgetting all about the conversation.

"What were you going to ask me?" Newham asked confusedly, after watching me doing this for quite a few minutes.

"Oh" I sighed, looking up. "Right. I was going to ask whether Matthew's corpse had a jacket on."

Newham laughed, although I could tell he had tried to hold it in.

"Seems an odd question" he mused.

"So do all questions, out of context" I pointed out, beginning my tapping routine along the wall again.

"Right" Newham said, sounding a little cheesed off. "I don't think it did. Have a jacket, I mean."

I stopped my tapping and turned to look at him.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes" Newham nodded, after a moment of thought.

"Right." I continued tapping. I was easily halfway along the first wall now, and was starting to get a bit worried that I might have got things slightly wrong.

"What are you doing?" Newham said suddenly. It seemed he had been holding in the question for some time now.

"Checking for woodworm" I replied, whilst keeping a totally straight face.

"Really?" Newham asked bemusedly.

"Of course not."

There was a pause, as the lieutenant evaluated his options. I continued to tap.

"Do...you want me to do it too?" he said hesitantly. I sighed.

"Not unless you really want to. Besides..."

I stopped tapping. I had found what I was looking for. The spot where the wall suddenly went hollow.

"Go grab me a fork, will you?" I asked. Newham, by now wise enough not to ask what in the world I could want with a fork, did as he was told.

By the time Newham returned with the fork, I had tapped along a little way further, and worked out where the hollow part ended. The wall itself was made up of long, wooden planks running from the floor three-quarters of the way up to the ceiling. It was these planks I had been so methodically tapping along, and I now very methodically grabbed the fork and rammed the head of it hard into the join between two of the planks, pushing forward as hard as I could on the end.

Nothing happened.

I tried pulling the fork back the opposite way.

Nothing happened.

"Ah. Wrong side" I muttered, to a now totally bemused lieutenant standing behind me, as I swiftly removed the fork from the panelling and inserting it again into another join a few panels down.

"This should work" I remarked cheerily, pulling hard, and when that didn't work, I pushed. With a bit of a crack, the whole of the side panelling swung out like a door.

Bingo. Both Newham and I peered into the gloom beyond, and what seemed like a flight of steps spiralled away into the dark. I looked at Newham. Newham looked at me.

"You first" I said sweetly.

Newham snorted derisively, squeezing my shoulders.

"Alright. But let me get a light first."

A few minutes later, Newham, equipped with a sturdy candle, began his ascent of the mystery stairs. I followed at a close distance, shutting the secret entrance behind me.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? " Newham asked, his voice muffled by the passage.

"Nope. But we can't go back now" I sighed. The lieutenant felt for my hand in the darkness.

"Don't let go. If anything happens to you, shout" he ordered.

"Don't you worry" I replied cynically. "I'm sure you'll hear me scream."

We began to climb the stairs, in silence, both of us sensing now wasn't the time for chat. The staircase began to rotate clockwise, and we must have gone up quite a few rotations before Newham gave a shout.

"Hey! What's this!" he exclaimed, bending down.

"What is it?" I asked worriedly.

"Material. Just left on the stairs" Newham called back. "Looks like a jacket."

"I'll bet my life it's Matthew's" I said determinedly. "Pick it up, Robert. It might just come in useful very soon."

"You know who did it now, then?" Newham asked, as we continued to climb. I laughed.

"Oh, I've known for a while. It's just the how that's had me stumped. But now even that is crystal clear. It's all rather complicated, mind."

"When is it ever not complicated?" the lieutenant pointed out. I agreed heartily.

"We've reached the end!" Newham announced, a few minutes later. He shone the candle around the blank wall ahead of us.

"Push it" I ordered, and Newham leant on the door and gave it a shove. It opened, and I was grateful to see the light again. We had come out upstairs, on the landing, from behind a bookcase down at the far end of the hall.

"And that's that" I smiled. "Case closed."

"So what happens now?" Newham asked. He was still holding the jacket we had found, the jacket which was actually Matthew's. I rolled my tongue around my teeth, thinking.

"How do you fancy putting that on?" I suggested, pointing at the jacket. Newham looked begrudgingly at me.

"If I must" he sighed, taking his own jacket off and putting the other one on.

"And how do you fancy spending a bit more time in there?" I then asked, smiling sweetly. He sighed.

"The things I do for you, Allie Winter. You owe me now." He came close and kissed my forehead, ruffling my hair.

"I'll pay you back somehow" I promised.

"I assume there's some sort of plan involved here" Newham added, looking at me seriously.

"There is" I smiled wickedly. "It's not the nicest of plans, but it's necessary. What's the time?"

"Ten to ten" Newham told me, after checking his watch.

"Right" I rubbed my hands together excitedly. "We have much to do."