The woman jumped and shrank away from his touch, scuttling against the wall and pulling the sleeping bag against her chest.

‘I’m a police officer,’ Thomas said.

The woman looked from Thomas to Dorothy then back again, trying to shake the sleep away.

‘Who are you?’ Dorothy said, because the woman definitely wasn’t Monika Belenko.

The woman shook her head, looked past them at the hatch.

‘I wouldn’t recommend it,’ Thomas said.

‘Why don’t we go downstairs and have a chat?’ Dorothy said.

‘No, thanks,’ the woman said. Scottish accent.

Thomas stood up. ‘It’s that or come to the police station.’

The woman seemed to deflate, shrugged.

‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ Dorothy said.

The woman thought for a long time then stood up.

Thomas led the way down the ladder, then the woman, then Dorothy last. The woman let herself be taken downstairs and along the hall, into the kitchen. Jacob was still sitting where they’d 279left him. He frowned when he saw the woman, then his eyes widened.

‘Amy?’ he said.

‘Hi, Jacob.’

‘You know each other?’ Thomas said.

‘She delivered my post,’ Jacob said. ‘She was my postie until a few months ago. What is this?’

Amy lowered her chin to her chest. She seemed vulnerable in her T-shirt and pyjama bottoms when the rest of them were fully dressed. Dorothy pulled a chair out for her at the table and put the kettle on, began making tea. Amy rubbed at her forehead then eventually sat down across the table from Jacob. Thomas stood near the doorway, in case she made a break for it.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said eventually, her head still down.

Dorothy put tea in front of her and Jacob, stepped back.

‘You’ve been living in my home?’ Jacob said. ‘I don’t understand.’

Amy finally looked up, held her hands out as if to say she didn’t understand it either. She scratched at the table, rubbed her hair, looked around for help.

‘Come on,’ Thomas said, not unkindly.

Amy shook her head. ‘I got made redundant by the Post Office. Cutbacks, the usual shite. Pretty soon I couldn’t pay the rent. I had flatmates, but they weren’t friends. I had nothing, just a bag of clothes. No family. It’s amazing how quickly you can just slip through the cracks.’

She touched her mug but didn’t drink. She looked around again, gave a sad smile. ‘This place looks different in daylight.’

‘How did you end up here?’ Dorothy said.

Amy turned to her and frowned. ‘Who are you?’

‘I’m a private investigator. Jacob hired me when he thought stuff was going missing.’

Amy turned to Jacob. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Jacob narrowed his eyes. ‘You didn’t answer her question, how did you get here?’280