Tyler looked impatient. ‘You haven’t actually answered my question.’

Jane thought for a moment. ‘It was Edward Montgomery’s reaction to learning about his daughter’s sexual assault. He said that if he could have got hold of Charles Foxley he would have strangled him. Maybe Yasmin’s father felt the same. We just need to find out who her father is.’

Tyler stood up. ‘Right, no need to continue. Your job this morning is to re-question Julia Summers, and I will send one of the officers into the agency to bring back the photograph of this young girl Yasmin. I don’t need to tell you we need to move quickly.’

‘I’ve already put in a call to Julia Summers, sir, and she is at home.’

‘Then I suggest you go there straightaway.’

Tyler walked over to Spencer. ‘There will be two officers on round-the-clock surveillance at Mandy Pilkington’s address and they can tail Farook from there to establish his home address and other places he visits. I have one officer prepared to time the journey from Mandy Pilkington’s property to collect Michael Langton from the care home, drive to Charles Foxley’s flat and back to Mandy Pilkington’s. This is where we need the timeframe to be exact. There must be no signal given to Ahmed Farook that he is under suspicion.’

Spencer nodded. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘I want you to return to Michael Langton’s care home and arrange transportation to accommodate his wheelchair. I want him to be brought to the station for questioning.’

*

Jane rang Julia’s doorbell and waited. She was about to ring again when the door was opened, not by Julia but by a very tall, skinny, barefooted girl with giant rollers in her hair. She was wearing what looked like a man’s shirt and was holding a bowl of cereal.

‘Who are you?’ she asked rudely.

‘Detective Sergeant Jane Tennison from the Metropolitan Police,’ Jane replied.

‘Oh wow, is it about that parking ticket?’

‘No, it isn’t. I’m here to see Julia Summers.’

‘You’d better come in then. She’s in her bedroom.’

‘And what is your name?’ Jane asked as the girl closed the front door with her bare foot.

‘Tanya Midhurst.’

She sauntered down the hall in front of Jane, calling out for Julia as Jane went into the untidy sitting room. Jane found it hard to believe that anyone could live in such a mess of discarded clothes, food cartons and empty wine bottles. Tanya went into the small, equally disgusting kitchen and put her cereal bowl on top of a pile of other dirty dishes in the small sink.

She loudly called out ‘Julia!’ again, then slipped past Jane and screamed out, ‘Are you deaf?’

Jane was left sitting alone for a while, until eventually Julia, in an extraordinarily bright quilted dressing gown and fluffy slippers, walked in with a mug of coffee. She didn’t look happy to see Jane.