Kerry swayed slightly and sat down on an overturned filing cabinet. Debbie closed her eyes and leaned up against the wall as a wave of dizziness washed over her. "Bloody hell," she gasped. "How the ... did you know that was about to...?"

The child shrugged. "I heard it creak right above us. I wasn't sure, but I couldn't just keep quiet and risk..." she indicated the newly fallen pile of rubble.

"Well I think it's just as well you did," said Kerry, her voice trembling with morbid humour. "If you hear any more, do tell us, won't you?"

Debbie stepped over a pile of debris, walked down the corridor a little further and looked around. It was not far to the stairs now, though she could see that it was where a lot of the damage was, where a large part of the ceiling had collapsed. Still, if it was the only way out ...

"I don't think we should stay here," she concluded, walking back to Kerry and Eve. "If much more comes down, we're not going to have anywhere left to run to. I think we should try to clear away some of that on the stairs and try to get through. Look, here's another torch!"

"No!" Eve stood up and shook her head vigorously. "Not that way, you can't! I've got a better idea. There's ... there's another way out."

Kerry raised an eyebrow. "Another way out? Why didn't you say so?"

Eve looked nervous. "Well it might not be all that safe ... but I'm sure it's safer than that way; come on, I'll show you."

Kerry started to stand up, but Debbie gestured for her to stay sitting. "I'll go check it out. I wouldn't get your hopes up though. We won't be long, just yell if anything else starts creaking!" She picked up the second torch, switched it on, and followed the little girl.

Eve led Debbie a short way back down the corridor and through a door into a medium-sized room, which appeared to be some sort of office, but contained nothing except a table and a filing cabinet with two drawers missing. There was, however, another door at the back of the room.

"In here," said Eve, eagerly, and ran in. Debbie followed, to find herself in a much smaller room, this one with nothing inside but a large bookcase wedged in against the far wall, and a few pages of yellowing newspaper scattered around the floor. No windows ... or doors.

"There's no way out here!" Debbie exclaimed, somewhat irritably.

"Yes there is," Eve nodded reassuringly. She walked up to the bookcase and tapped it gently. "It looks like a fixture, doesn't it?"

"Isn't it?"

"No. Behind that, there's a door. It leads to a long passage that goes out of here and goes about three quarters of the way across the road. Then there's a ladder that goes up to a manhole at the side of the road."

"How on earth do you know that?"

"I told you, I knew someone who worked here, I know the layout. That was before it was all blocked off. It's been there a long time, it's pretty solid!"

"Look," Debbie began, "I know you're trying to help, but the chances of this tunnel being any good ... I mean it sounds like a death trap! If it's still up at all – which it probably isn't – "

"It's true, I swear!" Eve cried. "I wouldn't lie – I know it sounds a bit unlikely, but ..."

"Let's try the practical way first, yeah?" Debbie's patience was wearing thin. "We'll see if there's a way up the stairs; the fire brigade might be almost through and then we needn't take any risks, ok? For a start, if the passage ended in a manhole, someone would have found it by now, when they dug up the road or something?"

"That road hasn't been touched for years," Eve said flatly. "There are no pipes or electric cables anywhere close so they wouldn't need to."

"So what's the manhole for?"

"I don't know!" Eve exclaimed, exasperatedly. "I didn't build it! All I know is, it's there and it's the only safe route out of here."

"We don't have time for this, Eve ..."

"Please believe me," the girl tried again, but Debbie had already swept out of the room.

"Any good?" Kerry asked as they emerged back into the dust-lined corridor.

Debbie shook her head. "Nothing very practical. Nice idea but in practice ... nah."

"It's safe, really!" Eve protested, looking to Kerry for support. "That way's the death trap!"

Ignoring her, Debbie walked a little further away and prodded at the rubble forming a precarious roof over the stairwell. She was sure she could see some light coming through, and scraped gently at the tiny gap with her fingers.

"Careful, Sarge!" Kerry exchanged glances with Eve. "I wouldn't..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Debbie pulled a little too hard at a loose pipe and a low rumbling sounded from above her as a trickle of dust poured through the now larger gap she has created. Eve leapt to her feet and ran at Debbie, pushing her hard against the wall and pinning her there as an avalanche of debris rushed past them accompanied by a huge cloud of dust. Drainpipes, tiles, broken glass, plaster and bricks, which came to rest in a pile of, at least four feet high ... right where Debbie had been standing. What used to be the stairwell was no longer there; the stairs had collapsed and the whole exit was solidly blocked.

Slowly, Eve looked around to make sure things had come to a standstill before stepping away from Debbie and the wall, breathing heavily. Debbie didn't move and remained flat against the wall; her eyes were still wide open in shock and she wasn't sure she had breathed for the last thirty seconds, which certainly hadn't helped the nagging ache in her chest. As the dust cleared, she coughed briefly in an attempt to bring herself back to reality and calm down. Kerry, who had leapt to her feet as soon as the rumble had started, breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed back into the chair.

"Are you ok?" Eve asked faintly.

Debbie nodded briefly, knowing full well that her attempt to maintain a calm and collected demeanour was beginning to slip. She coughed again, unable to clear her throat properly.

"Yeah," she uttered, letting go of the wall at last, "Thanks for that ... are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Eve's voice trembled slightly. "That was, uh, a bit close."

"Sarge ...?" Kerry asked tentatively, "Maybe..."

"Drop the 'Sarge', yeah?"

"All right. Debbie. Maybe we should give this passage a go. I think it's our only chance." Eve nodded encouragingly.

Debbie was about to protest; all of her common sense told her to take the more obvious way out, but something deep inside her told her that Eve was right. This is crazy, she thought, how can I trust a twelve year old girl I've known for all of twenty minutes more than my own judgement?

"Well, you've been right so far," she conceded. "Ok, ok, let's take a look. Can we just take a rest first though; I don't think my nerves can take much more of this. Ideally in that room; nothing's collapsed in there yet."

The streetlights outside began to come on, one by one around the square. The Sun Hill officers were still there, grouped around the two vans watching firefighters go in and out of the building, carrying various pieces of equipment, but with no apparent results.

Meadows was doing his best to set a good example, thinking positive and trying not to pace around too much, even though inside he was becoming despondent. He zipped up his jacket and turned to the others as a chilly breeze blew around them.

"The shift's over," he nodded matter-of-factly. "You can head off if you want to; we only need the one van here now."

Nobody moved.

"Anyone?"

"It's ok Sir," Cass smiled apologetically. "I think we'd rather stay if that's alright with you."

There were nods of agreement around the huddle. Meadows nodded silently, and was about to get back into the van for a rest, when there was a sudden crash from inside the building. A fireman came running out, and shouted something to a group of others who were taking a break. Meadows walked quickly over to the doors, followed by Skase, as the fire team made their way back in.

"What's happening now?" Meadows asked a passing fireman.

"There's been another collapse," the young man panted, his hair grey with dust. "Don't know what caused it but it looks like half the stairwell's caved in. We thought we heard something for a minute but it's all gone quiet again. Sorry, I gotta go!"

"Where the hell are they?" Skase snapped. "They can't have been far behind us; there's only so many places they could be!"

"It takes time, Rod. They have to go slowly, you know that. It won't be long now; they'll find them."

"Course they will," Rod nodded, trying desperately to believe it. "You know our Sergeant McAllister; she won't let something like a collapsed basement stop her from doing her job. Neither will Kerry; they'll be back in the office first thing Monday morning, annoying the hell out of me as usual, you'll see." He stood for a moment, then shook his head and trudged back to the van.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Eve asked, as Debbie coughed again and tried to brush some of the dust off her clothes.

"For the last time, yes!" Debbie insisted, then regretted her abruptness. "It's probably just the dust," she added, with a brief smile. She then helped Kerry up and the three of them stepped back over the debris into the office room.

"Damn, no chairs ..." Debbie muttered. "Shall I ...?"

"Nah, it's ok," Kerry shrugged. "The floor'll do."

The three of them sat around quietly for a while, as comfortably as they could manage; Debbie on one side leaning up against the wall and Kerry on the other, beside Eve who sat upright with her head resting on her knees; her eyes closed. Eventually, in an attempt to distract them from their predicament, Kerry cleared her throat and looked enquiringly at Eve. "I didn't ask," she began, cautiously, "How do you know about the secret passage at all?"

Eve didn't reply, and for a moment, it seemed as if she was asleep, but then she sat up slowly and took a deep breath. "I guess it's time to tell you the truth." She paused for a moment. "I was about to say, back there, but it's hard ..."

"I told you I used to come down here with someone I knew," she began nervously, "But that isn't ... that's not really how it was." She stopped and breathed deeply for a moment.

"Take your time," said Kerry gently. "You can trust us, you won't be in trouble."

"I said that a friend of the family worked here and that's true, he did. Sometimes when my mum was working late he'd pick me up from school and I'd go back to his house, or here for a while; the boss was quite lenient, then he'd take me home ..."

Debbie sat up slightly as the child's voice began to tremble.

"He'd play games with me and get me presents sometimes. I liked him, I thought he was my friend, but then he started doing something I didn't like."

Kerry glanced at Debbie, who was beginning to look worried. "It's ok, Eve," Kerry smiled encouragingly. "You're not going to get into any trouble, I promise."

Eve nodded and blinked back tears. "He ... he made me take my clothes off ... and then he'd ... touch me ... and do things I didn't want him to do ..." Her voice wavered, but she seemed determined not to cry. Kerry moved closer and put an arm around her, closing her eyes as what she had feared was confirmed.

"I should have told someone before it was too late," she continued, almost apologetically. "But he said nobody would believe me, my parents would be cross and everyone would call me a liar, and ... and ..."

Almost oblivious to their situation now, Kerry watched the little girl fight back her tears, hardly able to believe how brave she was being. Half of her wanted to ask Eve more questions in the hope that she could name him, but the other half was afraid to say anything in case it upset her even more. After a moment though, the child carried on without needing prompting.

"Then one day I decided I had to say something ... it had been going on for ages and by now I knew it was wrong and he shouldn't ... do ... what he was doing and I thought maybe if I asked him to stop he would...I told him I didn't like it and I didn't want him to do it any more ..."

Kerry did her best to gather herself before Eve could see how horrified she was. She shuddered, unable to stop the thoughts of what the poor child must have been through, but silently told herself that this was one pervert she would see put away, no matter what.

"Eve," she said quietly, "Who is the man? Do you know where he is now?"

The girl wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and smiled weakly. "His name was Graham. And I know where he is. Don't worry; he can't hurt me any more."

Kerry and Debbie exchanged glances, then looked back to Eve.

"He died," she murmured. "He died of cancer a while ago. I don't know all the details; all I know is that he's dead and he can never do that to me again. It was a bit strange at first because he used to be my friend, and I felt a bit guilty that I'm not sad he died."

"Oh love, don't feel guilty," Kerry brushed a lock of hair out of the child's pale face. "That man wasn't your friend. He had no right to do what he did, and people like him ... well, I know they make it seem like they're your friend, but really they're very bad people and mustn't be allowed to do things like that."

"I know that now," Eve looked at the floor. "I just wish I'd realised that before ... before it got too late."

"Have you told your parents about this?" Debbie asked.

Eve shook her head awkwardly. "I couldn't. He said they wouldn't believe me and until I realised that wasn't true ... it's complicated. Don't worry though, my mum'll find out before long." She sat up and sniffed, then smiled sadly. "I'm glad I told you. I just had to find the right people to tell, and at the right time."

"I'm glad you told us," Debbie nodded reassuringly, only just managing to contain the anger and disgust building inside her. "You don't have to worry about anything now; we're going to get this all sorted once we're out of here."

"Speaking of which ..." Kerry raised an eyebrow and looked up at the ceiling with fresh determination. "I don't think this supposed rescue party's having much luck. I reckon we ought to get moving."