Sim picked up a book from the bedside cabinet – a hardback copy of Witchfire with a red tasselled bookmark about halfway through. She flipped it open. ‘Signed and everything.’ Then she put it down again. ‘Tell you, I had nightmares for weeks after reading that bit in the tower block.’ A shudder. ‘Baby oil. . .’

‘Something’s wrong.’

‘Apparently he based the three old witches on real people. Think they tried to sue Hunter for putting them in the book, but it all got settled out of court.’

Logan turned slowly on the spot. There was nothing here. Chalmers had just headed off to work like any other day, and never come back. And the only thing she’d definitely done was ask about the people who’d been to see the home where Anthony Chung died. God forbid she’d have to share the glory. . .

Sim tucked her hands into the armholes on her stab-proof vest. ‘So. . .? ’

‘Time to go see a man about a house.’

‘I really don’t understand how we can be of any more assistance.’ Mr Willox fiddled with the buttons on his desk phone, shoogling them from side to side. His grey hair was piled up into a combination comb-over and quiff on top of his wide head, a dark-blue suit and a thick purple tie making him look as if he’d just fallen through a portal from the early eighties.

Logan tapped a finger on the glass desk, leaving a smudge. ‘Agnes Garfield and Anthony Chung got the keys to that property from somewhere.’

‘Do you have any idea how much it’s going to cost to clean the kitchen in the Abernethy house? And even if they can get all the stains out, who’s going to want to buy a house where someone was tortured to death in the kitchen? It’s not like we can make a feature out of it.’

‘And you’re sure everyone who viewed the place was on the list? ’

He waved a hand at the lever-arch file on the desk. ‘You’ve seen the paperwork. That’s everyone.’

‘So who else had access to the keys? ’

‘Well, I did, obviously; Jennifer on reception; Jake Smith, my partner; our trainee, Duncan Cocker; and a couple of people we use for viewing rural properties when it’s simply not convenient to send someone out from the office.’

Cocker. Cocker. . .

Logan pulled out his notebook and went flipping back through the days until he got to Monday when they were interviewing Anthony Chung’s friends. ‘Duncan Cocker – young, bit vague, sounds as if he just wandered off the set of some awful American teenage rom-com? ’

A sigh. ‘At Willox and Smith we pride ourselves on quality and service. Duncan’s. . . He still has a lot to learn.’

Damn right he did. ‘I need to see him.’