‘He could have been bird-watching,’ said Lena. ‘Maybe the swan had a nest nearby.’
‘But he wasn’t facing the river, was he?’ said Milly. ‘I’m pretty sure I saw him chuck something into the bag on the back of his bike. Could it have been a camera or some binoculars? I can’t say for sure, but it looks like he could have been watching Lancing College, or maybe the flight path leading to Shoreham Airport.’
Seebold jotted this down on the back of an old envelope he’d found lying on the table.
‘Then there was the incident with my bike,’ said Milly. ‘I nearly broke my neck when I fell off.’
‘I agree that was strange,’ Lena agreed, ‘but how can you be sure it was anything to do with Freddie?’
Milly sighed. ‘I can’t, but I had spotted him taking photographs of the council workers in the Steyne. He couldn’t get away fast enough when he saw me.’
‘You never mentioned that,’ said Seebold.
‘Sorry, I thought I had,’ said Milly. ‘It was when they were building the underground public shelter and, although it’s public knowledge, it just seemed a bit odd that he should take such a close interest.’
Lena pulled a face but didn’t seem convinced. ‘I may be playing devil’s advocate, but aren’t you reading a little too much into this?’
‘I think it was the way he darted away that made me think it was a bit fishy.’
‘Not much to go on so far,’ said Seebold, making another note. ‘He could have simply wanted to avoid you because of his mother-in-law.’
‘He was scribbling something in his notebook when I was doing that Home Guard exercise the other day.’
‘Something about you?’
‘No, I don’t think so. He didn’t actually see me,’ said Milly. ‘I was in the gardens at the end of Heene Road trying to look as if I’d been horribly wounded by a mustard gas attack.’ She paused. ‘I suppose I’ve always been suspicious of him because I remember Eustace saying something really odd when I first met him at Lady Verity’s party,’ Milly went on. ‘He said, “I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.”’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I don’t know, but it wasn’t exactly flattering, was it,’ said Milly. It crossed her mind whether to mention that she thought Eustace was nothing more than a pathological liar but decided that would only make Seebold dismiss the whole idea that there was something fishy about Freddie. ‘Oh, and I’ve just remembered, I saw him on the Gallops when Miss Gerard from the library was showing me the tunnel they excavated.’
‘A tunnel?’ Lena gasped.
‘They’re hiding some of the town’s historical treasures,’ said Milly, ‘in case of invasion. There’s another secret hiding place in Carnegie Road Cemetery.’
‘Well, they can’t be much of a secret if both you and Freddie knew about them,’ Seebold said with a chuckle.
‘I was asked to help because my old art school want to protect a couple of their pictures,’ Milly said stoutly. ‘What Freddie was doing there was anybody’s guess.’
‘The evidence is very circumstantial,’ said Lena, ‘but, you’re right, it is all adding up.’
‘There’s another thing,’ said Milly. ‘When we were walking near Muntham Court that time and we saw the old ice house . . .’
‘Yes, and some of the brambles had been cleared,’ said Seebold.
‘And I tried the door, remember?’
‘I remember,’ said Seebold, ‘but it was locked.’
‘That’s just it,’ said Milly. ‘The more I think about it, the more positive I am that it was locked from the inside.’
‘Locked from the inside?’ said Lena. ‘What does that mean? If a door is locked, it’s locked.’
‘When I tried that door,’ said Milly patiently, ‘the lower part of it moved. I think we couldn’t get in because it was bolted on the inside at the top of the door.’
‘Which means . . .?’ said Lena.
‘Which means someone was on the inside,’ said Seebold.
‘Look, I know you’re sceptical,’ said Milly, ‘but when we were walking back, I turned around and I thought I saw something.’
‘What?’ said Lena.
Milly frowned awkwardly. ‘I’m not sure – a movement. It was only for a second, but it was definitely something – or someone – moving by the ivy around the door.’
They were quiet for a minute or two, each trying to digest what was being said.
Seebold glanced up at the clock. ‘There’s nothing to stop us going back up there and taking another look.’
‘What, now?’ asked Lena.
‘Why not,’ he said. ‘We’ve still got three, four hours of daylight left. Let’s take another look and find out if Freddie is hiding something up there once and for all.’
It was a pleasant evening. Nipper came too, glad to stretch his legs. Seebold drove them as far as Long Furlong and then they hiked over the hill towards the back of Muntham Court. When they reached the track leading to the ice house, it was noticeable that there had been a lot of recent traffic. Not motor vehicles, but there were a great many more footprints and scuff marks.
The door was still partly covered in ivy and brambles, but now they only hung over it from above. Seebold tried the handle but the door was firmly locked.
‘The bottom of the door didn’t move that time,’ Lena observed.
