Elaine nodded once then. "Will you wait? Unless you have someplace to be. Leave a note if you have to go. Help yourself to the kitchen, the pantry is open." She gave him a fixed look, committing him to memory, then lifted the key to the lock and turned it. The door swung open silently, for the hinges were oiled to move like silk.
"I'll be back soon," she said cheerfully. "Don't shut the door on me!" And she climbed inside the wardrobe.
One moment she was there, and then she just wasn't, as if the darkness at the back of the wardrobe had swallowed her up. And she didn't come back for nearly three hours.