‘No. But I could tell it was her. You get to recognize the noises when you live so close together. You can identify all the familiar sounds. I know the way she closes her door, and the way her footsteps sound in the corridor.’

‘And unfamiliar ones?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Any unfamiliar sounds. Any sounds of anybody visiting Miss Crew, anybody you didn’t recognize?’

‘I don’t believe so. Not that I’ve been aware of.’

‘Nobody hanging around the flats?’

‘No.’

Fry looked at the window. She felt drawn to it in a way she hadn’t in Maggie’s apartment. The view was the same, but when she stood close to the window, she could see down into a paved courtyard that had been turned into a car park for residents.

‘She leads a quiet life then, Miss Crew. Would you say so?’ she asked.

‘Oh, very quiet,’ said Mrs Dean. ‘Very quiet indeed. These days.’

The two PCs had been deployed on a routine patrol in the Ringham Moor area. They were cruising as a visible symbol of positive police action, designed to make the area safe for law-abiding members of the community. And they were bored out of their minds.

On Hanger Hill, though, they found a little bit of excitement. A Renault coming down the hill too fast had braked on the sharp corner and skidded sideways in a scum of wet leaves. A stone wall had made a serious mess of its near-side front wing, and fragments of glass from a shattered headlamp littered the road. The officers stopped, and got out to help. The female half of the team went to talk to the driver.

‘Had a bit of trouble, sir?’

The driver looked dazed rather than injured. He was trying to straighten out the wheel arch where it had crumpled against the wall and been pushed on to his wheel.

‘Are you a member of the AA or RAC? If not, we can organize a garage to send someone out.’

‘Oh, thanks. It’s not too serious, but . . .’

‘It needs to be made safe, sir.’

‘Of course.’

The second PC had done a spell in Traffic. Since then, he had automatically looked at things like tyres and number plates. The thing that drew his attention to the rear plate of the Renault was the fact that it was white. He knew that front plates were white, but rear plates were supposed to be yellow. Car owners themselves often failed to notice this.

He looked a bit closer. He saw that there was a thin strip of clean paintwork showing around the edge of the number plate. He concluded that it had recently replaced a previous plate that had been slightly larger.