Lights twinkled in the village and on the mountainside as dusk fell. Alice-Miranda stomped up the front steps of the Grand Hotel Von Zwicky. An old man with a bright smile greeted her at the door. ‘Good afternoon, young lady,’ he said.

‘Herr Schlappi!’ Alice-Miranda beamed. ‘It’s lovely to see you again.’

The man dipped his top hat, now flecked with snow. ‘It is lovely to see you too.’

‘Have you seen Mummy and Daddy?’ she asked.

‘They have been in the boardroom with the Baron and Baroness for most of the day,’ the doorman replied. ‘Would you like me to get them?’

‘If you wouldn’t mind,’ the child said. ‘I really need to talk to Mummy, and I shouldn’t walk through the hotel in my ski boots.’

The man nodded and disappeared through the doors. He promptly returned with Cecelia, who had an anxious look on her face.

‘Is everything all right, darling?’ she asked.

‘Yes, we had the most wonderful day. The snow is beautiful and Michaela took us on lots of secret trails. We found big jumps and we had a race and Nina won,’ the child prattled on excitedly. ‘Oh, and we found Caprice by herself near the top of the mountain. Is it all right if she stays with us?’

‘Caprice?’ Cecelia looked out at the children, who were standing together a little way off. She counted the heads and saw that there were indeed eight children instead of seven.

Michaela waved and skated over to join Cecelia and Alice-Miranda.

Cecelia smiled at the woman. ‘I hope the children weren’t any trouble.’

‘No, not at all,’ Michaela replied. ‘But I do have an extra one for you. I am afraid the cable car had closed and I wasn’t able to take her back over to Cervinia to her parents.’

‘Oh, goodness, they’ll be beside themselves,’ Cecelia gasped. ‘I’ll call her mother right away.’

Cecelia whipped out her phone and scrolled through her list of contacts. She quickly found Venetia Baldini’s number and dialled, hoping that she wasn’t out of range.

‘Hello Venetia, it’s Cecelia Highton-Smith,’ she began. ‘Before you say anything I’ve got Caprice here with us in Zermatt and she’s fine.’

Michaela and Alice-Miranda heard a high-pitched squeak on the other end of the line, and winced.

‘It’s all right,’ Cecelia said, trying to calm the distraught woman. ‘She can stay with us tonight and we can meet you somewhere tomorrow. Don’t worry another minute. Let’s talk in the morning, shall we?’ The women spoke for another couple of minutes before Cecelia said goodbye and hung up. ‘Thank you, Michaela. I suspect you’ve earned your keep today.’

Michaela’s mouth turned up at one side. ‘It’s okay. She’s not the worst I’ve ever come across.’

Cecelia grimaced. ‘Really?’

‘Well, she’s close,’ Michaela conceded with a chuckle.

‘Right, let’s go and get everyone sorted,’ Cecelia said, walking out onto the snow. ‘Hello Caprice. This is a surprise.’

‘Hi Cee,’ the girl replied sweetly.

‘I’ve just spoken with your mother and everything’s fine. We’ll get you some spare pyjamas and you can stay here tonight. Actually, do you want to talk to her? I can call her back.’

‘No,’ Caprice snapped. She paused and took a deep breath. ‘I mean, no thank you.’

‘I had better get moving,’ Michaela said. ‘I’ll meet you all at the ski school in the morning.’ She gave them a wave and skated off into the fading light.

‘Bye,’ the children chorused.

‘I should go too,’ Nina piped up.

‘Can you ski with us again tomorrow?’ Alice-Miranda asked. She turned to the others. ‘I wish you could all see Nina’s grandfather’s museum. He is so clever. I promise you won’t have seen anything like it before.’

‘Perhaps you can come later,’ Nina suggested, although she knew her father would disapprove of her playing any of the instruments. He had caught her a couple of days ago, when he returned from work a little early, and was not at all pleased. He worried that she would break something, not realising that her grandfather had taught her well.

‘Nina!’ her father called as he trudged along the roadway towards the house.

‘Hello Papa,’ she said.

‘Herr Ebersold,’ Cecelia said, stepping forward to shake the man’s hand. ‘I am so sorry to hear about your wife,’ she added quietly.

‘Thank you,’ Sebastien replied. He put his arm around his daughter’s shoulders and gave a squeeze. ‘Did you have a good day?’

Nina smiled up at him. ‘The best.’

‘I can’t wait to hear all about it, but we should probably rescue Frau Gisler from your grandfather first,’ the man joked.

Nina and Sebastien bade farewell to the group and walked across the street.

‘So, is anyone hungry?’ Cecelia asked.

‘Starving,’ Lucas replied.

Sep nodded like a jack-in-the-box. ‘Me too.’

‘I could eat a horse,’ Millie said, then thought for a second. ‘They don’t eat horses in Switzerland, do they?’

‘No, only in France and Belgium,’ Alice-Miranda replied.

Millie nodded. ‘Phew!’

‘Come inside,’ Cecelia said, ushering them over to the hotel steps. ‘I’ll order you hot chocolate and cake while you put your skis and boots in the drying room.’

The children headed around to the side of the hotel where there was direct access to the ski shop and storerooms beneath the hotel. As Lucas and the others disappeared inside, an explosive whinny sounded from the stables. Millie nudged Alice-Miranda.

‘Look,’ she said, pointing to a group of men in black. ‘It’s those maniacs who nearly ran me over.’

Alice-Miranda looked over and frowned. ‘I wonder what they’re doing,’ she said.

Millie stood her skis up in the rack beside the door. ‘Come on, let’s see what they’re up to.’

Alice-Miranda followed suit, and the two girls trudged through the garden. It was impossible to scurry in ski boots but the soft snow disguised their footfalls.

There was another loud whinny and the sound of a horse stomping its foot. Alice-Miranda and Millie hid behind a hedge, craning their necks to see what was going on. The horses were hitched to the carriage and they could see Marius Roten around the back. One of the men in black was standing in front of Hazel, slapping the horse’s nose with a glove. Millie gasped and was about to run over to stop him when Alice-Miranda grabbed her and held her back.

‘Would you leave her alone?’ Marius shouted.

‘Why? She likes my tickles,’ the young man retorted.

Marius stalked around to the front of the carriage. ‘Stop it, Dante!’

Alice-Miranda glimpsed two men struggling to carry a big white box out of the stables. They lifted it into the trailer that was attached to the back of the carriage. Another two men followed behind them, carrying an identical box.

‘Hurry up, this weighs a tonne,’ one of the men groaned.

‘Do you think it’s the boxes of Fanger’s Chocolate?’ Millie whispered. ‘I thought Marius said they were empty, and eating them is like nibbling clouds, anyway.’

Once the second box was loaded, they saw Marius shut the lid of the trailer and secure it with a large padlock. ‘Take your backpacks and get out of here,’ he barked.

A deep line appeared on the bridge of Alice-Miranda’s nose. She wondered why anyone would take such care to lock a trailer filled with empty boxes.

‘Are you ready for the big shipment?’ one of the men said.

Marius shrugged. ‘The contract hasn’t been signed yet, so I know as much as you.’

‘Well, things had better be in place by the end of the week or there will be hell to pay,’ another man said. ‘We need somewhere more secure than this for the amount that is coming.’

The two girls looked at each other.

‘Millie, Alice-Miranda, are you out here?’ Jacinta called into the night.

The men stopped and glanced over. ‘What was that?’ one of them said.

‘Go and look,’ Marius ordered, pointing in the girls’ direction.

‘Come on,’ Alice-Miranda whispered, grabbing Millie’s arm. The two of them backed away from the hedge, then turned and dashed through the garden.

The man walked through the archway and spotted fresh footprints leading to the side entrance.

‘Just kids,’ he said, noting the size of the prints.

Marius narrowed his eyes. He had a strong suspicion it was that pesky little brunette and her red-haired friend, who had arrived yesterday. She was the most curious creature he had come across in a while. He made a note to put a stop to her snooping. He had been working too long and too hard for her to come along and ruin things now.