“I’m going to work in the library this morning, Helged,” Grandmother said. “DC Fellow has given me a lot of advice. He thinks the intruder might have tried to get on my computer! Please see that I am not disturbed.”

“Of course, Madame.”

Grandmother stopped, as a thought occurred to her.

“Linua! What are you wearing? Where did you get those clothes?”

Linua steeled herself.

“I borrowed them from Anith. These are the kind of clothes I want to wear from now on.”

Grandmother’s mouth worked, but in the end she just said; “Well, you’ll have to return them. But I can’t deal with this right now! We’ll talk later.”

Linua didn’t feel like talking about clothes either. She felt wrung out, and her ribs were sore. She hoped there would be no more drama today.

No sooner had Grandmother settled herself in the library, and Linua had settled herself on the sofa with the Keng Boh Kids novel about the tomb of Deen Tuwa, when the phone went off. She heard Helged answering, and then: “Anith? Is everything alright ducky?”

Linua bolted upright, winced as her ribs twinged again, and hustled to the door.

“What does Anith want?” she hissed.

Helged hesitated, then said into the phone, “Her Grandmother won’t allow her to speak to you, but I can pass on a message.”

A tinny voice erupted from the handset. Linua drifted closer. Helged’s eyes widened and she beckoned to Linua.

“Wait a moment, ducky,” she said into the phone, and then to Linua: “Eret’s been taken by the police for questioning!”

They both huddled around the phone and listened to Anith. Apparently two police officers had turned up and told him he needed to come to the police station. He’d been ferried off in the back of a police car, while his dad had followed behind in the family car.

“It’s because of the break in last night,” Linua said, and explained what had happened. But why did they want to talk to Eret? “Maybe they just want to get a witness statement. They found his moped tracks from last night. They just said they would want to talk to him in case he saw anything. I told them it wasn’t him!”

Helged relayed this to Anith.

“If that’s the case, he would have been interviewed at home,” Anith said explosively. “If he was taken to the police station it means they suspect him of something, mum said!”

Linua hadn’t known about that distinction.

After Anith had rung off, Linua paced up and down the hallway, horrified guilt churning in her stomach.

“I shouldn’t have told them about him!” she said to Helged.

Helged cast a worried eye at the closed library door, and gently ushered Linua towards the kitchen.

“It wasn’t your fault, lovey,” she said. “If you had hid it and it had come out afterwards—which it would, no doubt about it—they would have been even more suspicious. It’s better if they clear him as a suspect now, rather than later.”

Linua let herself be chivvied. She wanted the warm, cosy comfort of Helged’s kitchen just now. Before they reached it, there was a smart rap on the front door. Helged and Linua looked blankly at each other.

“We’re not expecting anyone.” Helged looked worried. “What could it be now? My goodness what a day!”

Linua peered through the thick glass by the side of the door. She could see two dark, wavery shapes. It wouldn’t be the police again—when they had visited, they had come to the back door.

“Ask them who they are,” she said to Helged. “But don’t open the door. I’ll go and check it out.”

“Wait—”

She ignored Helged’s protest and jogged down the passageway into the kitchen, where the back door was. Once outside, she crept silently around the corner of the house until she could see the front door.

Standing on the steps were a man and a woman in smart, professional suits. The man was bending forwards a little, speaking through the door to Helged. The woman stood further back, with her feet at hip distance apart, and her hands clasped behind her back, in a sort of parade rest. They were both Shang. After a moment, Linua recognised them.

They were retainers of the Yi family.

The male Yi retainer stood in the sitting room, having declined the offer to be seated, while the woman prowled around the house, inspecting the windows and doors. Grandmother sat stiffly next to Linua on the sofa.

“We’re very glad that Lord Yi has seen fit to send some assistance,” Grandmother said. She didn’t sound glad. It was clear that she was simmering with resentment. She had never forgiven the Yi family for contesting custody of Linua.

The man inclined his head. His had introduced himself as Zhong Ren. He was small but compact and wiry, with an inscrutable face. His eyes roved over everything constantly, but never showed any discernible emotion.

Linua found herself going over the story from the night before for a third time. Once again, Grandmother kept interrupting and derailing the interview, until Zhong Ren said, pleasantly but implacably; “Excuse me, Lady Leylan, but please allow Tai Geng’s Daughter to answer in her own words.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

During this particular retelling, Linua managed to straighten her story. She had woken up in the middle of the night and not been able to go back to sleep. She had gone downstairs for a book to read. She hadn’t switched on the light in the library because the curtains had been slightly open and the moons had been shining through. The effect had been pretty, and she’d gone to look out of the window when the man had attacked her.

Zhong Ren was much more interested in her retelling of the fight, specifically in the kinds of moves the assailant had made, and the pattern of his face paint.

Linua also told him about the missing artefact from the museum.

“If that is the case,” Zhong Ren asked, “How did the assailant learn of your investigations?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

Once again, she left out any mention of Bead. She was planning to ask the rest of the Astronomy Club if they had any ideas—assuming she could get onto the computer to check the bulletin board after Grandmother had followed PC Fellow’s instructions on making it more secure.

After they’d questioned Linua, the Yi family retainers had informed Grandmother that there would be a rotating schedule of guards in pairs, until the situation was resolved.

“How long will that be for?” Grandmother asked—rather ungraciously, Linua thought.

“That is in the hands of Lord Yi.” Zhong Ren, in return, had been scrupulously polite all the way through.

“Thank you for coming,” Linua said hurriedly, since someone ought to say it.

Zhong Ren bowed, and she saw a slight hint of approval softening of his face.

“You are welcome, Tai Geng’s Daughter.”

By then, it was time for lunch. Helged served them as usual, while Grandmother muttered about the constant interruptions.

“The house might as well be a circus!”

Linua nodded and hmm’d when appropriate, as she usually did. The Yi retainers had declined lunch themselves, but Linua would be willing to bet all her remaining money that Helged would at least have managed to persuade them to drink a cup of tea before they were replaced with their counterparts on the evening shift.

She wished Grandmother had thought to cancel Mdm Patoni as well. It was alright for Grandmother, who had professed herself thoroughly exhausted and gone off to have a nap, but Linua would have liked to relax that afternoon herself. Instead, Mdm Patoni had another practice exam paper for her to complete.

Linua wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or annoyed when the police turned up again midway through her study session.

Once again, she sat on the sofa opposite DC Sipps—to her credit, DC Sipps had been visibly aghast at the idea of Linua being made to do a study session when she was still injured, which made Linua feel a bit more well-disposed towards her. That didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about what DC Sipps was going to say. Luckily Grandmother was still having her nap, but Zhong Ren had informed the police that Linua was not to be questioned without an adult representative present. He had then nominated himself as her representative.

“I’d like to talk about your visit to Bead’s Boats last night,” DC Sipps said.

Linua was very grateful that Grandmother wasn’t in the room. She slid a glance at Zhong Ren. She couldn’t tell from his expression what he thought of this.

“Okay,” she said.

DC Sipps took her through the visit. Linua described everything except for Eret’s panic attack. DC Sipps asked questions and scribbled notes in her little notebook.

“Why didn’t you mention the visit to Bead’s Boats earlier?” she asked finally.

Linua found herself fidgeting and stopped.

“Because you would have suspected him, and I knew it wasn’t him. He doesn’t have the right build to be the intruder.”

“I see.” DC Sipps closed her notebook and considered Linua. “Linua, you mustn’t withhold information from an investigation. It’s up to the police to determine the innocence or guilt of a suspect. That’s our job.”

“Okay.” Linua stared at her hands.

“While I agree that Bead doesn’t have the right physical characteristics to be your assailant, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved. He might have asked a third party to break into your house. Do you understand?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you pinpoint exactly what makes you think Bead isn’t involved?”

Linua thought about this.

“He told us off. He thought what we were doing was dangerous. He wouldn’t have said that if he’d been the one who stole the artefact.”

DC Sipp tapped her pen on her notebook again. She seemed to do that whenever she was thinking.

“Eret feels differently,” she said at last. “He told us about the visit to Bead straight away.”

“Bead and Eret didn’t like each other.”

“Oh?” DC Sipps raised an eyebrow.

“Eret was rude to Bead, and Bead was rude back.”

“I see.”

Was that a glimmer of amusement in DC Sipps eyes? Possibly she had experienced Eret’s rudeness for herself. Linua could only hope that Eret was being his usual rude self—that would be better than if he was on the edge of a panic attack at being hauled off by the police and questioned. Although, on second thought, maybe not, if that would encourage the police to suspect him of wrongdoing.

DC Sipp took herself and her notepad off, leaving Linua alone with Zhong Ren. She’d thought that was the end of the questioning, but then Zhong Ren stood in front of her.

“Tai Geng’s Daughter,” he said. “Please tell me about this young man called Eret.”

He wanted to know where they had met, exactly what relationship lay between them, and whether Grandmother was aware of it. Linua was flushed right to the roots of her hair, but she explained about the Astronomy Club, that Grandmother had unjustly blamed them for some things Linua had said earlier in the week, and then she mumbled that they didn’t have a relationship, they were just sort of friends.

“Does Eret have permission to court you from Lady Leylan and Grandfather Yi?” Zhong Ren asked. “He will need to approach both and ask for their blessing.”

Linua stared at him with her mouth open. What a horrifying thought! Why was her family so hidebound and complicated?

By the time evening rolled around, she was sick to the back teeth of nosy, prying adults wanting to turn her life inside out.

Linua normally had her dinner in the kitchen before she went to the Observatory, but today Grandmother had decreed they would have it together in the dining room. Helged lured Linua into the kitchen by dint of asking for help with carrying a heavy tray, and told her quickly that Anith had called back that afternoon while Linua had been with the police for the second time. Eret had been released and cleared of any suspicion. The heavy weight that had been pressing down on Linua all day seemed to lift a little.

“Thank you!” She gave Helged a hug, and took the tray back into the dining room.

“That’s a very pretty outfit, lovey,” Helged said, bustling in behind her, possibly as much for the benefit of Grandmother as for Linua.

“Thank you!” Linua took her place at the table.

Earlier, Linua had had an idea. It had been percolating ever since Pickle had mentioned the online archaeology forum. Now seemed the perfect time to implement it, not least because she probably no longer had secret access to Grandmother’s computer.

“Online forums?” Grandmother asked blankly. “What’s wrong with the journals I buy?”

These arrived on a weekly basis, and Linua was expected to keep up to date with the latest research.

“Online is where everyone collaborates these days,” Linua said, attempting to project confidence.

“But paper is so much nicer to read,” Grandmother said fretfully.

“Oh well, I suppose I won’t miss out on that much.” Linua injected a measure of doubt into her tone.

This tactic proved phenomenally successful. An hour later she had access to the computer again, and permission to use it.

“You may use it for one hour per day,” Grandmother informed her. “Anything more than that may compromise your exam preparation.”

Exams? Linua felt stupid for not realising. Of course that’s what the practice papers had been for.