She’d got Ana’s number yesterday on the pretext of arranging a visit to Peter but she rang it now, doing more calculations while she waited. She didn’t know the going rate in Birmingham but in London she’d paid Naomi seven pounds an hour for after-school with Lennie. Naomi was sixteen so say ten an hour, for an adult. Two afternoons – three o’clock ’til seven, at a guess. Eight hours at ten pounds an hour – £320 a month. Even at eight pounds, it was £256, a significant chunk of two grand.

And then there was evening babysitting. They’d gone out to dinner at least once with Kath and Gareth, and Kev had seen them out on their own, too. Quite apart from the babysitting, there was the cost of the dinner itself. Given Kev’s set-up these days, Robin doubted the place had been a dive, either.

‘Hello?’ Ana’s voice sounded distrustful, reminding Robin of her wariness at the door.

‘Hi, it’s Robin,’ she said. ‘I haven’t spoken to Will yet but I’ll let you know as soon as I do, okay?’ She’d have to text him next. ‘I’ve just got a couple of other questions.’ Don’t ask if it’s okay; why give her the chance to say no? ‘You only worked for them two afternoons a week now, is that right? Two for them, three for another family. They’d cut your hours?’

‘Yes, from September, two afternoons. In the holidays a bit more. When no school.’

‘Did they pay you on time?’

‘Why you ask?’

‘I’ve heard that Josh’s business wasn’t doing so well – I wondered if they were struggling for money.’

‘They paid me on time,’ she said, defensive, as if Robin were throwing shade on their honour. ‘Always.’

‘How? I mean, did they transfer money to your account or …’

‘Cash,’ she said. ‘They paid me in cash. Okay?’

In the office, they sat on the table looking at the board. Maggie drained the last cold mouthful of her coffee.

‘I’m sorry,’ Robin said.

‘For what?’

‘Diving in too quickly, drawing attention before we could get more of a sense of the place. Or go upstairs.’

Maggie shrugged. ‘We got a couple of new things.’ She pointed the marker at The Spot, under which it now said Tarin?

‘One thing, technically.’

‘Well …’

‘Though,’ Robin said, ‘we also got confirmation of a kind, didn’t we?’

‘How so?’

‘Both times we started talking, we were referred to the manager, David, almost straight away. The barman did it and Lisa did last night. Also, she was watching us. As soon as we exchanged more than a few words with our waitress, she was over.’

‘Hm.’ Maggie was listening.