‘There you are, Alice-Miranda,’ said Mr Plumpton. He walked towards the trio. ‘We need to get going. Miss Reedy telephoned to say that she’s had to reshuffle some of the group activities and we’re now scheduled to go canoeing this afternoon and have our sleep-out.’

Alice-Miranda desperately wanted to speak with her uncle in private.

‘I think your father’s in the reading room, Detective Freeman,’ Alice-Miranda said, hoping that the woman would be eager to see him.

Fenella nodded her thanks, but before she could move off, Matron Bright bustled along the hall, carrying a stack of cardboard. ‘Oh hello there, everyone,’ she warbled. ‘If you’re looking for your father, DS Freeman, he’s gone up to his apartment. He said he wasn’t feeling well and I’m afraid he’s had another one of his little episodes.’

Fenella frowned. She turned to Ed and Alice-Miranda. ‘Thanks for the tour.’ She headed for her father’s apartment, unable to shake the feeling that she’d seen that Turner painting somewhere before. Perhaps her father had pointed it out during one of their gallery visits.

‘Are the children in the craft room, Mr Plumpton?’ Matron Bright asked, eager to get started on the signs for the fair.

The teacher should his head. ‘No, I was just coming to find you. We have to head back now due to a change in the program but I believe Miss Wall’s group will be over shortly.’

‘Lovely,’ she said. ‘And how are you getting on, Mr Clifton? Is there anything you need?’

‘No, matron. I’m fine, thank you,’ Ed replied. But that was far from the truth.

Matron Bright smiled and scooted away to the craft room.

‘Say goodbye to your uncle, Alice-Miranda,’ said Mr Plumpton. ‘We’ll be back again tomorrow.’ And with that the teacher strode across the foyer and outside to meet the waiting group of students.

‘Uncle Ed, what are you going to do?’ Alice-Miranda asked urgently. ‘Shouldn’t we tell Detective Freeman?’

‘Not yet, I need to see what else I can find,’ Ed replied. ‘But how did you recognise that painting?’

Ed Clifton knew that his only niece was an incredibly perceptive child but he found it hard to believe that she could identify stolen artwork.

‘We did a project on Rubens last year and our teacher found some old newspaper articles about a robbery. I thought it was fascinating that something like that could just disappear out of a museum in broad daylight, so I did some more research. It’s been gone for quite a few years,’ the child explained.

Ed nodded. ‘It’s not the only one.’

Alice-Miranda’s brown eyes were the size of saucers. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I found another. Last night.’

‘Another Rubens?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

‘No, it’s a Monet,’ the man replied.

‘Have you told Daddy?’

‘I tried but he’s away until tonight,’ Ed replied. ‘I have to be sure that those are the only two paintings that don’t belong to Mother’s collection,’ Ed said. ‘I suspect there could be at least one more.’ He couldn’t stop thinking about the Turner landscape that DS Freeman had just spotted.

‘Alice-Miranda!’ Millie peered in from the main door. ‘Mr Plumpton’s frothing at the mouth out here. You need to hurry up!’

‘Coming!’ Alice-Miranda called back.

‘You’d better go, sweetheart. I’ll see you tomorrow and hopefully by then I might have figured some of this out,’ Ed said with a deep sigh.

Alice-Miranda gave him a hug. ‘Don’t worry, Uncle Ed. There’s got to be a sensible explanation.’

But Ed Clifton wasn’t so sure. Possession of stolen goods was a criminal offence and at the moment the paintings in that basement were in the possession of his brother and sister-in-law.