Irena was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of tea when Frank let himself into the house, and he saw the fear in her eyes as she jumped to her feet.

‘What happen? I see helicopter, and I am scared you are hurt.’

‘It was for Yvonne,’ he said, slipping his coat off and hanging it up before joining her in the kitchen. ‘Her back door was open when I got there, and it looks like someone broke in and attacked her.’

‘Oh, no!’ Irena covered her mouth with her hand. ‘I hope she is not hurt badly?’

‘She’s got a nasty cut on her head, and they think she might have broken her hip, but they’ll know more when they get her to hospital. I’ve been talking to the police – that’s why I was so long.’

‘The police?’ Irena’s eyes widened. ‘You did not tell them about me?’

‘No, of course not. They were asking if I’d heard anything suspicious, or seen any strangers hanging around – stuff like that.’

‘Will they come here?’

‘Maybe.’ Frank shrugged and flopped down on a chair. ‘They’ll talk to everyone from roundabout, but I’m the closest and I didn’t hear anything, so I don’t hold out much hope of them catching whoever did it. And Yvonne doesn’t remember anything, so she’ll be no help, either.’

‘She did not see who did it?’ Irena asked, taking a cup off the draining board to make him a drink.

‘Nope.’ He shook his head. ‘She remembers going into the kitchen to get a drink, then waking up on the floor. She’d been there for a couple of days, and she was frozen stiff when I found her. I’m surprised she survived, to be honest.’

‘She is very old?’

‘A lot older than I thought,’ said Frank. ‘And she’s been struggling for a while, judging by the state of her place.’

‘Is bad?’

‘Terrible. And it’s swarming with mangy cats, and starving pigs.’

‘Ah, she have pigs . . .’ Irena said. ‘This is what I can smell.’

‘Sorry,’ Frank apologized. ‘They’re pretty clean creatures, by and large, but I don’t think they’ve been mucked out in a while.’

‘Is very strong.’ Irena wrinkled her nose.

‘I’ll take a bath and get changed,’ Frank said. ‘I’ll ring Jo first; let her know what’s happened. She tried to call me when I was talking to the police, but I had to ignore it.’

‘Ah . . . I mean to tell you,’ Irena turned round and gave him a sheepish look. ‘Phone ring while you are out.’

‘Really?’ Frank raised an eyebrow. ‘It wasn’t working this morning, so they must have fixed the line. That was fast.’