CHAPTER TWENTY
The paved steps led Stella to a lower level that was concealed from view by another sheer wall. Between the walls ran an alleyway. Here, the paving was not as well cared for as it was in the rest of the house. It was uneven and she noticed a few of the tiles were broken.
On the right of the alleyway were five doors, spaced just a few yards apart. Again, she was surprised by how ordinary they looked. These modest doors, scratched and scuffed, wouldn’t have been out of place in a tenement building. What were they doing at the back of this showpiece home? She felt disoriented all over again, that another small world existed within this house that she’d never dreamed could be there.
Her foot squelched into a puddle, and she stepped hurriedly around it, approaching the first w
