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trying to see what was happening. There was a sudden guffaw of laughter.
    “Well,” chortled Collins. “It’ll give us a laugh, at any rate. You’ll look like a clown if you put those on, Rec. You should go and join that circus of yours. They’d have you like a shot!”
    The circus? Rémy thought, startled. Why would they mention the circus? Then the moon cleared a patch of cloud and the two men passed into light, just for a moment. She clamped a hand over her mouth to cut off a gasp as she recognised one of them.
    It was the man from last night! The one who had tried to save her!
    “You can laugh,” she heard him say, “but just you wait. You’ll see. There was someone up here, I swear. And with these, I’ll be able to see them, even in the dark. The shadow passed right overhead – over there, by that skylight.”
    The footsteps became louder, nearer. Rémy peered from her hiding place, and her heart stopped altogether. The boy with the mismatched eyes had put on the strangest pair of glasses she had ever seen.
    And he was looking straight at her.

Three
    Sleight of Hand
    The moon passed once more into shadow, casting the corner where Rémy crouched into an even deeper darkness. She dared not move. Had he seen her? The boy with the odd eyes – Thaddeus, his companion had called him, Thaddeus Rec – had seemed to be staring right at her. But how could he have seen anything in this gloom?
    Seconds seemed to stretch into hours. Rémy thought the two policemen were about to move towards her. But then, suddenly, the silence of the night was split by a loud crash, followed by the piercing sound of an alarm bell. It came from below, exploding through the open skylight from the Long Hall.
    “What the bleedin’ ‘eck is that?” shouted Collins, over the noise.
    “It’s the alarm on the jewel case,” Rémy heard Thaddeus reply. He sounded panicked. “Quick – let’s get back down there!”
    Rémy peered after them as they rushed back to the steps, her heart pounding. Surely someone hadn’t beaten her to it and stolen one of the diamonds already? The moment she heard the door leading inside clang shut, she scrambled out of her hiding place and ran to the skylight, taking care not to lean far enough over to be seen from below.
    The alarm fell abruptly silent, but below she could see a scene of total chaos. The plinth bearing the Darya-ye Noor had been knocked over and lay in pieces on the floor, the glass case housing the diamond smashed to smithereens. Guests were gathered around it in a wide circle, pushing forward and chattering loudly as guards and policemen in plain clothes tried to hold them back. In the middle, spread out on the floor, his head touching the fallen plinth as if he had collided with it, lay the old man who had unwittingly helped Rémy get into the Tower – Lord Abernathy. Of the Ocean of Light, though, there was no sign.
    “Let me help him!” shouted a voice from the crowd. “He’s an old man, and he’s clearly ill. I’m a doctor, let me through!”
    “Let him through, you brutes!” called a lady dressed in a beautiful, rich-looking dress. “The old man needs help, can’t you see?” A murmur of angry agreement passed through the crowd, and the doctor was duly let through. He knelt beside Abernathy, holding two fingers to his pulse and nodding to himself.
    Rémy watched as Thaddeus and Collins entered the fray, pushing through the crowd until they reached one of the other policemen – a large, portly man in a tailcoat, who seemed to be in charge and who was standing directly below Rémy.
    “Ah, Rec, there you are,” Rémy heard him say, over the noise of the crowd. “It’s all right, nothing to panic about. It’s not a burglary, just an accident. Lord Abernathy has been taken ill. He fell against the exhibit, breaking the glass.”
    “And the Shah of Persia’s diamond, Chief Inspector?” Thaddeus asked urgently. “Is it safe?”
    “Quite safe,” the other man answered.