‘Surely, Richard can leave?’ I was sure he was longing to get back to his hotel. After taking his contact details, the officer agreed that he could go, warning him that he might need to go over his statement again in the morning.

‘I’ll call you tomorrow, Juno,’ he promised, squeezing my shoulder. ‘Try to get some rest. And don’t worry. This was probably just a random burglary. No connection to anything more sinister.’

Shortly after he’d gone, the detective arrived. Not, unfortunately, Inspector Ford, but Constable DeVille. She was accompanied by a uniformed officer, a police dog handler, and another of the white-suited aliens who went upstairs to dust my flat for fingerprints while the police dog and his handler rooted about outside in the hedge.

After briefly talking to the first officers who’d turned up, she dismissed them, read through my statement, and made me repeat it all for her benefit. I got the impression she was enjoying herself. ‘And despite the fact you didn’t see this man’s face, you are confident it was not either of these two foreign gentlemen you encountered on the moor?’

‘As confident as I can be. Wrong size, wrong shape … just not the same.’ Something about that intruder was bothering me, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I was convinced of one thing: it wasn’t Igor or Vlad.

‘You didn’t hear him speak?’

I shook my head, then regretted such impetuous movement. ‘No, not at all.’

‘Are you sure you’re all right, Juno?’ Kate asked. ‘You’re looking ever so pale.’ She turned to Detective Constable DeVille. ‘Is this going to take very much longer?’ she demanded. ‘Juno should really be in bed.’

Cruella put away her notebook. ‘No, that’s all my questions for now.’ She turned to me. ‘Do you have anywhere to stay the night, Miss Browne?’

‘Stay the night?’ I repeated dumbly.

‘Well you can’t go back in your flat until forensics have finished and that won’t be for a while, I’m afraid.’ I suppose she couldn’t help the little smirk.

‘Don’t worry, Juno, you can sleep in our spare room,’ Kate told me. ‘Now, I really think it’s time you went to bed.’

The detective constable didn’t argue. Graciously she agreed to my retiring and left the premises, warning me that she might be back to see me again in the morning.

Kate relieved me of the now soggy bag of peas and fussed over me all the way to the spare room, which lay next to their kitchen. I let myself be fussed over, I didn’t have the energy to resist. She brought me tea, aspirins and a T-shirt of Adam’s to sleep in.