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“Love to.”

I headed off in the direction of the bathroom but I didn’t go in. As I crept upstairs I knew I couldn’t risk taking her skin out of the house while Sir Alastair was hanging around. The best I could do would be to move it to Lady Justina’s room. Then I could keep him talking while she got the skin and went down to the loch. Simple. Perfect. What could go wrong?

Lots of things:

(1) I could meet Phillips on my way up to the attic.

(2) He could catch me hiding the skin in Lady Justina’s room.

(3) Sir Alastair could come in search of me.

(4) Lady Justina could get cold feet and confess our plan to Sir Alastair.

(5) I could slip on the stairs and break an ankle.

Trying not to dwell on all of the above, I headed for the attic. I couldn’t shake the feeling that at any moment Phillips would appear and enquire what I was doing creeping around the house when I was supposed to be in the bathroom. It was a relief to reach the attic without bumping into him.

I surveyed the mounds of junk. Amongst it there were no less than five carved chests. I tried to remember which one had contained the furs but it was no good. They were too similar. I was wasting time. It would be quicker to look in each of the chests.

The first one contained the long out-of-date clothes I had seen on my last visit. The second chest contained old schoolbooks. The third contained the furs.

I scooped out the fox stole and the coat that might have been mink. On my last visit Lady Justina’s skin had been directly beneath it. No, I must be mistaken. There was another fur coat beneath the mink. I dragged it out and dumped it on the floor. Another coat lay beneath that. I pulled it out too. Then I stared deep into the chest. It was empty. I checked every other chest in the room but none contained the skin.

How had Sir Alastair known Casper and I had been in the attic? Had he followed us? I was almost certain he hadn’t. Then I realized he didn’t have to. All he had to do was check the attic after we had returned to Furness. Evidence of our nocturnal visit would have been clearly visible in the thick layers of dust.

With a sinking heart I crept downstairs and returned to the bathroom. I made a lot of noise flushing the toilet and washing my hands but it was pointless. Sir Alastair had known I would creep upstairs to the attic. Right now he was probably rubbing his hands in glee.

Trying not to look as disappointed as I felt, I made my way to the drawing room. Lady Justina was pouring a cup of tea for Sir Alastair.

“Feeling better, Allegra?” he asked.

“Fine, thank you.”

Justina gave me a hopeful lift of her eyebrows.

I shook my head.

Sir Alastair said brightly, “How about some tea?”

I accepted hoping to have a few moments alone with Justina to plan our next move, but Sir Alastair didn’t budge. He kept up a steady stream of small talk until my patience wore thin and I told him I had to get back to Furness.

When I finally left Maitland House, he was beaming in triumph. Beside him Justina looked as though she was about to mount the scaffold.

It took me a long time to retrace my steps to Mac’s. I had no wish to parade my failure in front of Douglas but sadly I was given no choice. He was waiting for me.

“You missed breakfast,” he said solicitously. “What was so important you had to run off without eating?”

“I’ve made progress with the case,” I told him.

“Well done, Allegra.”

“Not so fast, Douglas. I know what’s going on but I’m not sure I can make it right.”

“Come and tell me all about it,” he said, ushering me into the warm kitchen. “Do you want something to eat? I make a mean omelet.”

He could cook too? Why was I resisting this man? Unfortunately I was in no mood for food.

“Just make me a strong coffee, Douglas.”

His coffee tasted better than Bess’s. Much better. I took another sip of the tasty brew.

“Dinnae keep me in suspense,” said Douglas. “Tell me what you’ve found out.”

I told him about Harq and the selkies. When I got to the part about Sir Alastair stealing Justina’s skin,