‘Will do.’ Shirley hung up the phone in a bad mood. Her day had just got worse; she’d been dreading sports day as it was. The sports field had no shade on it, so she’d have to sit in the direct heat while her little darling competed. Now, to top it off, she would have to spend time talking to the police, when all she really wanted to do was go home and sit in front of the electric fan.

Slamming the door behind her, she stomped down the stairs, and away from the flat, without a thought of Janet.

‘She wasn’t very eager to come and talk to us,’ Barrett said to Palmer.

‘I wonder why.’

‘I think the phone call interrupted something. And anyway, you should remember, Joe, not everyone is on our side. Some people have a problem with the police.’

Palmer nodded, recalling times in the past when he’d had to deal with such people.

‘Still, I’d have thought she’d be keen to find out what happened to her friends.’

‘She probably is, but it doesn’t mean she is going to relish the idea of talking to us.’ Barrett twiddled his thumbs as he sat at his desk.

‘Are you going to mention the affair between her husband and Toni?’

‘I’ve not decided yet. I’ll make the decision once I’ve met her and looked her in the eye. Now that Janet Cox has also been killed, it seems unlikely that the affair is relevant.’

‘What about the abortion? We still don’t know who fathered the child.’

‘No, we don’t, but we do know that Toni Jones had been having an affair during her marriage to Mike. The abortion just goes to prove she still couldn’t keep her knickers on.’ Barrett frowned, frustrated by the lack of knowledge they were still contending with.

‘There’s no sign of her having been in contact with another man, from either her phone or her computer,’ Palmer added.

‘Well she was clearly having an affair. There must be a trail somewhere. We just haven’t found it yet.’

‘But, sir, even if that’s true, what does that have to do with Janet’s murder?’

‘I don’t know yet, I just have this feeling that it comes back to that abortion.’

Palmer had witnessed his boss’s hunches on a number of occasions and, if one thing was certain, more often than not Barrett was right, although he wasn’t so sure this would turn out to be one of those occasions.

‘Is it possible Mrs Jones had another phone? Something separate so she could contact her lover?’

‘We’ve checked and there is only one mobile phone in her name.’