When the car parked outside Winfield Hall, Harry took a deep breath. It had been such a long time since the last time she came here. She glanced at the huge mansion towering on her right and got out of the car. She knew James was observing her and she wouldn't show any sign of weakness.

In the back seat, Thomas nudged his sister. The girl had been brooding, her eyes unfocused, and she hadn't realised the car had finally parked until her brother brought her back to present. Seeing he was fixing something open-mouthed through the window she leaned to have a better view. She frowned. Where were they? They both got out of the car and stopped near their mother at the bottom of the huge staircase.

"What is this place?" asked her son, but Harry didn't answer, she didn't look at him; she knew she mustn't allow anything to distract her. She had to stay focus on her next actions. She climbed the stairs and James jerked to their kids to follow her. He was glad to see that the situation had drawn his daughter's attention and brought her out of the melancholy torpor in which she had been languishing during the journey.

Once inside, Jess and Tommy turned their head in every direction. The grandeur of the place wowed them, but the most intriguing part was that their father had told them they were to hide in their grandfather's house. Surely this couldn't be it.

"I thought..." Tommy began, but he stopped as an old man approached them. He went directly to Harry and bowed slightly. "Welcome home lady Harriet."

"Abbott" she smiled weakly. "It's good to see you again."

"Indeed, even though I would have much preferred the circumstances to be different."

Harry nodded and turned to her family. "You remember my husband James Dempsey."

"Of course" he shook James' hand with a warm smile that the American reciprocated.

"And here are our children, Jessica and Thomas."

"They're young adults now. Milord would have been so proud."

Harry's eyes got lost in the vague for a second as she felt herself transported in a whirl of painful memories, but almost immediately she forced herself to answer "Yes." Her voice was shaking. It was so strange to be back here after all those years and the current situation did nothing to lighten her mood. She inhaled a good gulp of air to steady herself. "Will you take care of the luggage please?" she was glad to hear her voice was back to normal. Inclining his head, Abbott walked past them and disappeared through the door.

"Who's this guy?" Tommy wondered aloud.

But Harry wasn't paying attention. Her eyes had found a frame put on a pedestal table in the corner. She swallowed hard and took a few steps in its direction. It was a picture of her and her father taken years ago. She felt her eyes prickling as tears threatened to flow out. She traced the line of the old man with a finger before turning her back to the picture. She was a bit taken aback to find her husband and children staring at her.

She didn't give them time to say anything, she had to keep control of the situation. She led them to the first floor and after showing them the bedrooms where Jessica and Thomas were to stay and the way intercoms worked to call the kitchen or Abbott, she took them to a small living room. There she explained that she had to check the arrangements and the luggage with Abbott and advised them to rest a bit while she did so. She left quickly without a glance towards her husband.

"Ok, so what's this place? It doesn't look like a safe-house!" Jessica asked the moment the door closed behind Harry.

"Winfield Hall." James stated. "This was your grandfather's home."

"This is not a house, this is a castle." Tommy exclaimed.

"Actually, your mother would call it a stately home." He grinned, remembering the time when they were still coming here. His children were still gaping at him, clearly waiting for a longer explanation. "Come on, you know your grandfather was a lord."

"Yeah, mum said so. She said she inherited lots of money from him." Tommy remembered the few things his mother had told him and his sister about his grandfather.

"But mum never said she used to live in a castle!" the girl complained.

James pulled a face. "She never meant to hide it from you. It's just that... it was too hard for her to talk about it." He sighed and sat on the couch with his children. "Your grandfather died abruptly when you were only a baby Jessica. He was a remarkable man, and your mother loved him a lot. His death hit her hard and after his burial, your mother refused to come back to Winfield Hall. She had already lost her mother here, and I guess the place swarmed with too many memories. I never insisted on coming back here, I thought she needed time, but years went by and it was even harder for her. Of course she could never bring herself to sell the place, she paid for it to be taken care of, but… We never came back."

"So mummy owns a castle." Tommy said slowly.

"Yeap, she's a real lady!" James grinned, he could remember the day he had learnt that she was the heiress of a castle; he had wanted to murder her so much.

"I can't believe you hid this place from me when you know how much I love old buildings. I mean, come on I'm studying architecture!" Jessica complained.

James was so glad to see that fire burn in her daughter's eyes. It had been gone since his return from New York and it felt so good to see she could still become impassioned.

"Like I said, there were too many memories for your mum, so don't be hard on her. I'm sure that in time she'll be happy to talk about old stuff with you. Restoration, knights, Mania… Magna…" he tried to remember things Harry had told him, but his mind went blank as it always did when it came to history. Seeing Jessica was immersed in her surroundings again, he gave up; he probably wouldn't have remembered anything else anyway.

"This place is incredible, look at the architecture, the tapestries, the furniture! It's wonderful." She was walking around the room, taking in every detail. She stopped to observe an old secretary.

Tommy wasn't fussed by the medieval style. "It's nothing but a bunch of old stuff to me. Unless you love the restoration style." Dempsey smiled. 'That's my son!'

"Anyone with half an eye would recognise this as Victorian!" Jessica retorted with a haughty look that only her mother mastered better. James' smile was broadening at the thought when he spotted something that made him scowl.

"Yeah and any policeman with twenty-twenty vision might see this as a cell phone" Dempsey grumbled, leaning to grab the incriminated object from his daughter's pocket. "Come on Jessie, we said no phones and first thing you do, you steal mine!"

"Mine is dead." She sulked. "Anyway I was just about to give it back to you." She lied.

"I'm sure!" he said dubiously.

"Oh and stop this police thing! I'm your daughter not a criminal!"

"It's for your own safety Jess!"

"My safety!" She shook her head "And what about Maggie's safety? Did you do something about that! D'you think locking us up in the middle of nowhere with no phone will make any difference! You think it will bring back my best friend! Or my life! I don't want to be here, I didn't ask for any of this, I didn't ask to have parents who run out in the streets and risk their life when it's the police's duty! Your duty is to stay here with us!" She bellowed, turned round and slammed the door behind her.

Wow, she had her mother's fiery temper when she was crossed. But Dempsey couldn't really blame her; it was no easy situation. He only hoped she wouldn't do anything stupid. "You'll keep an eye on her, ok?" he checked.

"Sure." The boy accepted half-heartedly.