‘It’s varied,’ I said. ‘You never know what you’re going to be doing when you go on shift.’

‘I was thinking of joining the army,’ he said. ‘But then Hannah came along and I couldn’t do that to the girl.’

‘I can see that,’ I said.

‘Plus I wasn’t keen on the whole notion of killing people,’ he said.

‘He’s such a softy,’ said Joanne as she sat down next to her husband.

‘Do you believe Hannah?’ asked Andy.

‘There’s something going on, but I’m buggered if I know what it is,’ I said.

‘Yeah,’ said Joanne. ‘But do you believe her?’

‘It’s not about what I believe,’ I said. ‘Let’s just say that it’s going to form part of an ongoing investigation.’

They gave me the look I’ve seen from Brightlingsea to Bermondsey, in council flats and interview rooms, from people who remember the Blitz and from kids that are below the age of criminal responsibility. Yeah, the look says, we’ll believe it when we see it.

‘The important thing is that everyone stays calm while we get to the bottom of this,’ I said and, because the universe likes a bit of irony, it was just then that the wheels came off.

‘Mummy,’ called Hannah from the front room. ‘There’s people outside.’

There’s no other sound on earth like coppers turning up mob-handed outside your door, two to three vehicles drawing up but leaving their engines running, multiple car doors creaking open in quick succession and then not being closed, the sound of heavy people in big boots piling up with muffled efficiency outside your front door.

‘Peter,’ said Joanne. ‘What’s going on?’

Through the kitchen windows I saw flickers of light in the back garden as officers with torches quickly made their way up the side passage to block the rear entrance.

‘Peter?’ asked Joanne again – rising panic in her voice.

The doorbell rang, twice, three times – insistent.

‘Stay here,’ I told Joanne and Andy and walked up the hallway to answer the door. I opened it to find DCI Windrow and DS Cole on the doorstep. Behind them waited a line of uniforms.

Windrow was surprised to see me.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he asked.

‘Joanne said she had information,’ I said.

Windrow nodded quickly to himself.

‘Who’s inside?’ he asked.

‘Joanne and Andy in the kitchen. Hannah is in the living room with Ryan and Mathew,’ I said. ‘Ethan is upstairs in his cot in the master bedroom.’

‘Any sign of firearms?’

What the fuck?

‘No, sir,’ I said.

‘Are you sure?’ asked Windrow.

I thought very carefully about everything I’d seen that evening and made damn sure.

‘Yes, sir,’ I said.

‘Good boy,’ said Windrow. ‘Go out the front and stay with Dominic until I have a chance to come and see you.’

‘Yes, sir,’ I said and got out of their way.