Kate babbled on like a little stream. ‘The thing is … well, the thing is … I think I must have heard him – the intruder – coming in. Only I thought it must be Juno, creeping up the stairs so as not to wake us.’

‘Coming in through the front door? Are you sure?’

‘Oh yes. I’d left it unlocked.’

The policeman paused and gave her what I can only describe as an old-fashioned look.

‘I nearly called out goodnight,’ she rattled on, ‘but I didn’t.’

The policeman cleared his throat. ‘And what time was this?’

‘Well, it couldn’t have been long before Juno came in, because I swear I’d only just dozed off when we heard the rumpus … perhaps, half an hour?’

Half an hour? For half an hour that man had been lurking in my flat? Doing what? Robbing me, or just waiting? I thought I’d better speak up, ‘I didn’t get a chance to see what state the flat’s in. I don’t know if anything’s been taken … not that there’s anything up there worth stealing.’

The police officer taking statements nodded to his colleague who disappeared upstairs to check things out.

‘You were just unlucky, Juno,’ Richard said. ‘You surprised an opportunist thief, that’s all.’

‘Opportunist?’ Kate raised her eyebrows, ‘with a torch and in a ski mask?’

‘Fairly standard burglar equipment, I would have thought,’ he answered.

The police officer came back to report that, apart from the broken lamp, everything in the flat appeared neat and tidy. If there had been a search, it must have been a careful one. But of course, I’d need to go up myself to see if anything was missing.

I didn’t want to, my head ached and I was longing for my bed, but I knew I had to come clean. I didn’t believe that the person I’d encountered in my flat had been either Vlad or Igor, but I knew I had to tell these officers about them, of my connection to Nick and the investigation into his murder. I also threw in the murder of Bert Evans.

It was as if I’d pressed an alarm bell. Suddenly, everything moved into a different gear. The policeman started speaking into his radio. He was answered by a disembodied alien parked on Mars, but he seemed to understand it well enough.

‘A detective will be on the way from headquarters,’ he informed us, ‘and someone to dust for fingerprints.’

‘Now?’ Adam asked in disgust. He had to be up early, to start preparing breakfasts at Sunflowers, and it was already close on one in the morning.

‘I’m afraid so. Now sir, perhaps you could show us where this potential murder suspect disappeared through this hedge?’