The alarm buzzing at the far side of the bed shocks me back to the present. I didn’t drift off to sleep until the early hours and now I would love nothing more than to stay here wrapped up in the duvet for the rest of the day. Still more asleep than awake, Lucas lifts his arm out to quieten the buzzer. He always does that, sometimes two or three times. I check the phone one more time before shuffling out onto the cold wooden floor and heading for the ensuite. I’m knackered, hopefully the shower will wake me up.

Slightly refreshed, I step out of the shower thinking how Lucas and I have already formed so many habits. I’m always first into the shower in the morning. Lucas waits until I’m back in the room before he gets out of bed. Then he goes to the kitchen and switches on the coffee machine. It’s almost twenty minutes before either of us verbally acknowledges one another. But today is different. I walk back into the room and Lucas says, ‘Are you expecting a delivery or something?’

‘Not that I know of. Why?’

‘There’s someone downstairs. They asked for you on the intercom.’

‘Can they not just leave whatever it is in the lobby box?’

‘Maybe you have to sign for it.’

‘For fuck’s sake, at this hour of the morning?’ I run a brush through my wet hair and throw on the nearest tracksuit I can find.

‘Be a doll and toast me a bagel,’ I say, leaving the bedroom. This had better be good, I think. Dragging me down to the front door at this hour!

‘I’ll toast you a bagel but I won’t be a doll.’ Lucas laughs out loud as I pull on a pair of slippers and stumble out of the apartment door. I’m halfway down the stairs when I realise I forgot my phone. What if Faye rings back and I miss her call again? Damn it. In the lobby I am walking to the front door when I hear a deep voice call my name.

‘Tara Moore.’

I turn to see a man and a woman standing over near the letterboxes. She’s about four inches taller than he is and standing with her legs apart and her arms behind her back. She’s wearing a blue suit, and a white shirt. If she wasn’t also wearing such a poker face, she’d actually be very pretty. The man isn’t as stern. He takes a step closer to where I’m glued to the floor. If I move, I’m going to collapse. I know exactly what I’m looking at.

‘Detective Evan Mullins and this is Detective Siobhan Lee.’ He looks around at the lobby, clearly deciding it is an inappropriate space for an interrogation as he says, ‘Is there somewhere we could have a word?’