and walked down to the kitchen. He turned the light on in the kitchen and looked at the floor. It was as clean as he remembered it. Too clean. There was no dust on it. He walked across to the dresser that was positioned in the far corner opposite the sink and leaned against the wall at a diagonal. He put his hands either side of the base unit and pulled. It was sitting on a rug and came away surprisingly easy. He pulled it a little further out and looked behind it. There was a trap door.
Bingo.
He bent down, put his finger through the ring and pulled it open and called out.
'Sally.'
'Sir, you can't come down here.'
'It's all right, Sally, it's just me.'
Delaney took off his jacket and walked down the stairs.
'You can't see me like this.'
'I can't see a thing,' said Delaney. 'It's like the black hole of Calcutta down here.'
'Don't mention Indian restaurants.'
Delaney could hear the fragility behind her laugh, he reached out with his jacket and she managed to drape it around her shoulders. Delaney went back to the bottom of the stairs and fumbled for the light switch. He found and turned it on; a bare bulb flared up overhead. It was a small wine cellar. Empty apart from a side table, a mirror and his young assistant who was manacled to the wall, her arm raised like an overeager child with the answer to a difficult question in class.
'Did he hurt you, Sally?'
She shook her head. 'He took me to another bar for a drink. He must have slipped something in it, because I remember feeling suddenly woozy and I hadn't drunk that much. He said he'd drive me home. The last thing I can remember is getting into his car. And then I passed out.'
Delaney took a hold of the ring set into the wall with his one good hand and tried pulling it. It wouldn't budge. He managed to loosen the manacle a little, but not enough for Sally to free her hand.
'Don't worry, Sally, we'll get you out.'
'Michael Hill, sir. Did he hurt anyone else?'
'No, and he's not going to hurt anyone again. He's dead.'
'Good!'
Delaney nodded. She was right. He headed back to the steps. 'I'm going upstairs to find something to get you free with.'
Delaney walked up the stairs and into the kitchen and stopped dead as he saw the rifle pointing at him.
He looked at the person holding it and held his hands up. She looked familiar to him but he couldn't place her at first. And then he did. She was the receptionist at the South Hampstead Hospital. She wasn't smiling.
'Put the rifle down,' he said.
The woman smiled and there was poison in it. 'I don't think so.'
'Who are you?'
'Not that it's going to matter to you, but my name is Audrey Hill.'
Delaney nodded. 'Michael Hill, he's your husband?'
'No, Detective Delaney. He's my baby brother. I brought him up.'
'You know who I am then?'
'I know exactly who you are.'
