Charlie Bone and the Red Knight. Jenny Nimmo

I found him in Aberdeen. He was ailing when I met him and has since died, but he was able to give me an old address of Billy’s great-grandmother. And I found her.’

      Paton’s audience waited breathlessly for his next revelation. He smiled at them with satisfaction and announced, ‘Her name is Sally Raven and she lives in a care home on the north-east coast. It seems she had become estranged from her daughter and knew nothing of Billy’s fate after his parents had died. But she told me about the box, Maybelle’s box she called it, with its beautiful pattern of inlaid mother-of-pearl. It was given to her by her husband’s aunt Evangeline, and Sally gave it to her grandson, Rufus, on his wedding day.’

      Emma uttered a quiet, ‘Ah!’ She had been thinking of weddings lately. She looked at her aunt, who smiled.

      ‘The key was lost,’ Paton continued, rather hurriedly. ‘And there was no way of opening the box. It was just a very beautiful object, Sally said. But in her heart she knew it contained something special because there were others, on the Bloor side of the family, who desperately wanted it.’

      ‘The Bloors?’ said Tancred and Emma.

      ‘Just so,’ replied Paton. He turned to Miss Ingledew. ‘Shall we show them?’

      ‘I think we had better.’ Miss Ingledew went to her desk and unlocked a small drawer at the top. She withdrew a folded piece of paper and carried it over to Tancred. ‘Open it out,’ she said. ‘I call it the Raven Tree.’

      Tancred unfolded the paper on his knees, where Emma could see it.

      ‘A family tree!’ Emma exclaimed.

      ‘Sally Raven is an extraordinary woman,’ Paton told them. ‘She has a case full of photos, letters and cards from her family and her husband’s. She was able to help me draw up a family tree that goes right back to Septimus Bloor, old Ezekiel’s great-grandfather.’

      ‘So Billy is related to Ezekiel?’ said Tancred with a frown.

      ‘Distantly,’ Paton agreed. ‘Billy is descended from Maybelle, who married a Raven. Ezekiel is descended from Maybelle’s brother, Bertram, who inherited Septimus’s fabulous wealth. But Sally believes that Septimus left his fortune to Maybelle and her heirs. And his original and true will is hidden in that beautiful box. The box she gave to Rufus. The box she believes Rufus entrusted to his dearest friend. And he was Lyell Bone.’

      Tancred gave a low whistle. ‘What a tangle.’ He was about to hand back the family tree when Emma restrained him. She was scrutinising the paper intently.

      ‘There’s a line that goes nowhere,’ she said, pointing to a name on the far left side of the tree. ‘N-I-A-something, and then Ita, and then Eamon.’

      ‘Irish,’ said Paton. ‘I intend to follow it up, but it may be impossible. Sally told me that her husband had a half-sister who lived in Ireland with her grandparents. Her mother died when she was born. But we’re only interested in the line that ends with Billy. If Sally is right then Billy Raven is the heir to Septimus Bloor’s fortune.’

      Tancred rolled his eyes. ‘No wonder they want to get rid of him. Does Charlie know about this, Mr Yewbeam?’

      Paton nodded. ‘I managed to fill him in before he left for school on Monday.’

      The telephone on Miss Ingledew’s desk suddenly gave a sharp ring, and everyone jumped. Miss Ingledew picked up the receiver. The voice at the other end could be heard quite clearly and Tancred leapt off the sofa, crying, ‘It’s Dad. Oh no, I forgot to ring him.’

      Miss Ingledew had to hold the receiver well away from her ear as Mr Torsson’s voice thundered into the room, sending pens and papers flying off her desk. Paton took the receiver from her and shouted, ‘Torsson!’ into the phone. ‘Tancred’s here, as you no doubt suspected. He’s quite safe, but he’d better spend the night in the bookshop. There’s a lot going on. We’ll talk about it later.’

      Mr Torsson’s reply was loud but reasonable. He’d managed to get his thunder under control. Tancred took over from Paton and told his father he would be home in the morning. He replaced the receiver with a sigh of exhaustion.

      ‘It’s all right to stay the night, is it?’ he asked Miss Ingledew, darting a look at Emma.

      ‘We’ll make up a bed on the sofa,’ Miss Ingledew said with a smile.

      Paton decided it was time for him to leave. He wished everyone a good night and reminded Miss Ingledew to lock and bolt the door as soon as he had left. He waited outside the shop while she did this, and then she waved at him through the glass in the door, and he set off.

      When he left Cathedral Square, he heard a low muttering of voices that grew louder as he approached the turn to Piminy Street. A group of people were coming up the road towards him. They were an odd bunch, with their heavy topcoats, their furs and their leathers and strangely dated hats. One of them wore a string vest. Paton retreated a few steps and slid into the shadows behind a narrow porch. He watched as they all turned into Piminy Street. There must have been at least a dozen of them. When they had passed the first few houses, Paton felt confident enough to step quietly into the street, but one of the group turned suddenly and stared at him, her eyes glinting in the dark; she was very small, her face ancient in the lamplight, her hair a deep red. Paton averted his eyes and hurried on.

      Not for the first time he wished that Julia Ingledew didn’t live so close to Piminy Street. ‘On the doorstep of another world,’ he said to himself as he walked briskly through the city, avoiding lamp posts where he could. The salty tang on his lips reminded him that Lord Grimwald was in the city once again. At Ezekiel’s invitation, no doubt. And Paton thought of Lyell Bone, out on the wild ocean.

      As Paton strode down Filbert Street, a black car rolled past him and stopped outside number nine. Grizelda Bone got out of the car and climbed the steps to the door.

      ‘I’ll wager she’s up to her neck in all this skulduggery,’ Paton said to himself.

      Gabriel’s secret

      Gabriel Silk had a secret. He wanted to tell Charlie about it, but there was never an opportunity. They were in different dormitories now, and different classes. The canteen was too public, and out in the grounds they were never alone. There might, however, be a chance when Charlie was on his way to a music lesson.

      Gabriel had been waiting in the corridor of portraits, hoping to waylay Charlie as he crossed the hall. He had intended to stand just inside the corridor, but found himself wandering further down, studying the portraits on the wall. He passed them every day but had never really studied them. The subjects were mostly stern-looking men and women, though occasionally you could find a smiling person. If you knew your history well enough, you could tell by their clothes what century they had lived in. Gabriel had been told that every one of them was descended from the Red King. There was even a Silvio Silk, in a black velvet suit and a white curled wig. He might have been Gabriel’s ancestor, but he bore no resemblance to him.

      If Gabriel wore someone else’s clothes, he immediately knew what sort of person had worn them before. He could sometimes picture them, see what they had done and even hear their voices. But portraits could tell him nothing. ‘If I was Charlie, I could go right in and talk to you,’ Gabriel whispered to Silvio Silk. ‘And you could talk to me.’

      Silvio Silk didn’t bat an eyelid. He wore the same resigned expression that he had worn when the artist painted him, two hundred years before.

      Gabriel wandered further down the corridor. He passed men in sober black suits, in rich red jackets and glittering gold waistcoats; he passed women whose necks were hung with diamonds and pearls, whose hair