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Alice-Miranda said, studying the temperature controls on the side of the sturdy-looking boxes.
    â€˜Fancy another taste?’ Lucas asked as he undid the clip locks on one of the carriers. Inside were rows of beautifully wrapped chocolate bars. He reached in to take one. ‘Whoa, look at the size of them.’
    â€˜Lucas!’ Alice-Miranda scolded. ‘They’re not for us.’
    The boy looked at his cousin and then at Jacinta, who shook her head at him. He sighed and put the lid back on. ‘I guess we couldn’t eat that much chocolate, anyway.’
    Millie wrinkled her nose. ‘I’d have given it a try,’ she muttered.
    â€˜Come on, we should go,’ Sep said. The parents would be wondering where they had got to, and he was beginning to think guests probably weren’t supposed to hang out in the loading dock.
    As the children turned to leave, the large roller-shutter at the end of the room sprang to life. Thebeeps of a reversing vehicle filtered in from outside. Panicked, Jacinta grabbed Lucas’s hand and ran to the lift. ‘Let’s get out of here!’ she whispered.
    â€˜Keep your hair on,’ Sloane said, scampering after the pair. ‘I thought I was the one who was supposed to be scared.’
    Alice-Miranda, Sep and Millie quickly hid behind the mountain of chocolate boxes and watched as the tail-lights of a van came into view. A tall man with a spindly moustache wearing a thick parka and grey beanie jumped out of the driver’s seat. He was talking to himself in German and he didn’t sound happy.
    â€˜ Wo ist die blöde Kuh? ’ he grumbled as he opened the back doors of the van.
    â€˜Hurry up, you lot,’ Jacinta hissed from inside the lift.
    The man spun around and peered into the storeroom. ‘ Wer ist da? ’ he called out. ‘Frau Doerflinger?’
    Millie grimaced. ‘I really don’t want to see that woman again, and I have a feeling she won’t be thrilled to see us down here, either.’
    The man grunted, then turned back to the van and began to unload the chocolate boxes.
    Millie, Sep and Alice-Miranda silently crept towards the lift to join the others. The doors closed,and before anyone could work out which button to press, the lift jolted into action. It came to a halt just one floor up. As it stopped, the children could hear a familiar voice outside.
    â€˜I have told you I am about to make an offer he cannot refuse,’ the woman said confidently. ‘Of course I am aware of what will happen. I do not take kindly to threats.’
    The doors sprang open and the children came face to face with Frau Doerflinger. The woman looked as if she had just seen a ghost – or six of them.
    â€˜What are you doing in here?’ she rasped.
    Recovering quickly, Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘Hello Frau Doerflinger. We thought this might be a short cut to the lounge but I’m afraid we’re a little lost.’
    The veins in the woman’s neck seemed to be pulsating with her every breath. ‘This area is private!’ she said accusingly. ‘The doors are marked as such and they are locked too.’
    â€˜I’m so sorry, but we didn’t see a sign on the door downstairs,’ Alice-Miranda explained. ‘And it was open.’
    â€˜Liar.’ Delphine suddenly remembered the phone in her hand and raised it to her ear. ‘I will call you back. I have some children to deal with first.’
    The way she said ‘children’ sent a shiver up Jacinta’s spine.
    â€˜Alice-Miranda’s not a liar!’ Millie objected. ‘There wasn’t a sign and the door wasn’t locked. Was it, Lucas?’
    The boy shook his head, though it occurred to him that perhaps he’d caught it before it had closed properly.
    â€˜This is my hotel and you will play by my rules,’ Delphine snapped, her face fast taking on a crimson hue.
    â€˜What happened