Lee rang the doorbell. Mrs. Compton leaned over the railings above him.

‘I’ve been down there ringing the doorbell since early this morning. I can assure you no one is there.’

Lee waited and rang the bell again. He could hear a scuffling sound and a whine, then a hoarse, pitiful bark.

‘That’s his dog,’ Mrs. Compton said. ‘He does have two others, but they’re not always in his flat. One’s a Jack Russell cross and the other is some kind of whippet. It’s quite vicious.’

Lee lifted the lion’s head knocker and banged it repeatedly. Inside the dog attempted to bark feebly.

Lee bent down, lifted the brass letterplate and peered in. He could see a rolled-up newspaper lying on the doormat, which had probably been delivered that morning. A little dog was staring at him and whining pitifully, and he noticed that the newspaper had been shredded at one end. More disturbingly the dog and the newspaper both seemed to be splattered with what looked like blood.

Lee stood and looked up at Mrs. Compton.

‘Do you have access to this flat?’

‘No, I do not – I made that clear to the detective I spoke to on the phone earlier.’

Lee climbed the stairs back to street level.

‘Is there a back entrance, or a garden area?’

‘Yes, Mr. Foxley has his own garden, but no other tenant can gain access to it.’

‘So, there’s no back door from the main property?’

‘I thought I just made that quite clear to you. Mr. Foxley is the only person who has access to the back garden, through his French doors.’

‘Have you noticed anything suspicious recently?’

‘No, I have not. The only reason I’ve been concerned is that the dog has been barking all night and morning, and Mr. Foxley is nowhere to be seen.’

Lee thanked her and walked down the road, hoping that Mrs. Compton would go back inside. He called in to the station and the switchboard transferred him to Jane.

*

Jane listened to his update and made notes, instructing Lee to remain at the property. She then went up to the canteen to find Spencer, who was sitting eating a sandwich.

‘You may just have got what you wished for, Spence. I just took a call from the PC who went over to the long-haired dachshund’s property.’

‘Don’t tell me – he was viciously attacked by the dog?’ Spencer said through a mouthful of sandwich.

‘No, he couldn’t get into the flat, but when he looked through the letterbox the dog appeared to be covered in blood.’

Spencer’s jaw dropped. ‘You’re fucking kidding me.’

She shook her head. ‘I think you need to get over there, Spence.’

He stood up and walked briskly out of the canteen. Ten minutes later he was on his way to the flat in one of CID’s unmarked red Hillman Hunters, accompanied by DC Gary Dors.