It took me a little more effort than I'd hoped to get the boards off enough to get inside the old building, but eventually I'd managed it. I put them to one side, nails sticking out of them that could do a lot of damage, but also possibly, with some care, be used to put the boards back when we were done.

I pulled out a torch as we looked inside and saw that it was dark. Most of the windows had been boarded up as well, this time from the inside, stopping any more glass from being broken through. The church had seen better days and a couple of rats squeaked and scurried out of the way as we went inside.

Wrinkling up my nose, I looked for any part of the building that might lead downward but Arthur once again moved past me, looking around the small room we'd gone into first.

In one corner was an old bookshelf, the wooden panels rotting and sagging. Some books had once sat on shelves, but time, damp and nature had ruined them, tipping many of them to the floor in heaps. The pages were mulch, and entirely unreadable and the spines were no better in the dim light.

Arthur motioned toward a door on one side of the building, and I flicked the light toward it. It was also hanging off its hinges and not shut properly, but it wasn't easy to see what was beyond. He confidently strode toward it, kicking up dirt and dust, but being careful not to stand on any of the books, or anything else that he might slip on.

Once again, I followed, not appreciating the musty smell inside, but already getting used to it. There was clearly nothing here of value, but Arthur had spoken of it being underground. We needed to find a way down to a basement or some kind of underground entrance.

I had no idea where to begin looking and Arthur was moving around the building as if he did know the way, so I let him stay in front, shining the torchlight around to take in the major features as we went.

The first door led to a hallway that seemed to run down one side of the church building for a short way. There were more doors off on either side, but Arthur ignored most of them. Two of them had doors across them that had just about managed to hold steady, but this part of the building was clearly more sheltered and hadn't been decayed by time and weather to the same degree.

He ignored all of them for a door at the very far end. It was still sturdy, but standing open. After waiting for me to catch up, he plunged inside. It was hard to keep up with him, but I did my best to keep the light where he could be guided. The next room looked like it had been turned into a sort of kitchen.

Although it had been gutted again at some point, or never fully made into a kitchen, there was the outline of a sink and taps and openings where cupboards had once been, one surface still attached to the wall. Arthur didn't stop in this room, but headed toward another door that seemed to lead into more of the main church, coming back on ourselves but deeper into the building.

I had to hurry after him, the light seemingly unneeded as he continued one. It was even darker in here and I didn't know how he could see without it, but he walked straight into the next section, an area behind the main church building and off to one side. It looked as if it was partially used for storage, a large lectern in there and other bulky objects, including some moveable pews that were leaned against one wall.

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Arthur went straight past them to a rug on the ground that I barely lit up in time for him to pull back. He was walking as if he could see everything, confident and even stepping over pew legs and other items in the storage before I shed any light on them at all.

As he pulled back the carpet he revealed a trap door with a large metal ring set into it. It was rusting, but by the time he'd managed to get it lifted up and could pull on it, I was beside him and shedding light on it. He pulled with all his might and it didn't seem to budge so I reached down to get a grip on it as well.

We both pulled, managing to lift it a little before noticing that one of the pews was across it and stopped it from being able to open. We shoved stuff out of the way, both hastily rearranged the contents of the room some more and Arthur pulled back the carpet even further to give us even better access.

This time he could open it on his own, and all I had to do was shine a light downward for us to see. A small ladder went down, made of wood and looking as if it had seen better days.

"I don't know if we can trust that," I pointed out as he turned to take the first step downwards.

"We might not be able to, but it doesn't go far and I'm heavier than you. If it holds my weight, it will hold yours." He grinned at me as if it was obvious. I had far more questions than I could voice, also still caught up on how he had known where to look when this building hadn't been here the last time he was, but I didn't say any of them.

The last thing I wanted to do was distract him when he was doing something dangerous and would need to concentrate. I stayed silent and shone the light where he needed it to be so he could see, even if I wasn't sure he needed it.

He made it to the floor level down there without anything breaking, although it creaked a fair amount as he went down. He reached up his hand to take the torch and return the favor for me, but I hesitated. Now it was my turn, I wasn't sure I wanted to go down into a hole in the ground with a man I barely knew.

Wasn't this how women got themselves killed. His big brown eyes looked up at me, however, his hand outstretched and no hint of malice in him whatsoever.

Slowly, I reached out and gave him the light. I needed to find out how this ended, even if it cost me everything. He stepped back a little and cast the light in such a way that it lit my feet and hands from the side, but didn't get into my eyes.

Having to turn my back to descend didn't make me feel any less vulnerable, but I'd told myself what I thought now, and I stepped down as confidently as I could when I also worried that it would break under the new use at any moment.

It creaked even less for me and didn't seem to have a lot of give, which made me feel a little better by the time I was standing beside him. He also hadn't done anything to harm me and swept the area with the light as soon as I didn't need it. Down here were remarkably well preserved wine racks in a large stone room. The floor was made of large slabs of stone and even the walls were a sort of stone brickwork.

Arthur moved between the racks, ignoring them until I pointed out that a few had bottles on. He shifted the light beam where I directed and lit up the dusty bottles. They were covered in cobwebs but I went over to them and used the sleeve of my jacket to wipe enough away to see that they were communion wine. This must have been used as a sort of wine cellar.

It wasn't Arthur's treasure, however, and that meant we had to keep searching.