She looked to her right. There was a large bay window. The curtains were open, but there was a blind drawn halfway down. Through the gap she could see a floral couch and a large television. To the left was a garage; it was closed, and no car was in the driveway.

She rang the doorbell again.

PC Edwards nodded at the side of the house. ‘Want me to take a look around the back?’

‘Give it another minute,’ she said. A few seconds later, she heard footsteps, then the sound of a chain being put in place. The door opened the length of the chain.

‘Yes?’ a man’s voice said. ‘How can I help you?’

Wynne gestured to Edwards to step back so that he would be visible to anyone looking through the side window. She wanted the occupant to see that it was the police.

‘We’d like to talk to you, Mr Best,’ Wynne said. ‘There’s something you might be able to help us with.’

‘What’s it about?’

‘It’s an ongoing inquiry.’

‘I’ve done nothing,’ Best replied.

‘I only want to talk to you.’

‘I have nothing to say. And you’re not coming in without a warrant. You can’t, and you know it.’

Wynne was expecting his answer. People like Best knew the system. They knew their rights, and they claimed them at every turn.

At least, they thought they knew the system. The system had some tricks of its own, and Wynne was not above using them, especially with people like Best.

Especially when something so important was on the line.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘You’re right. We can’t come in. We’ll go.’ She turned to PC Edwards. ‘But we might need to come back. My colleague thinks he may have heard a noise from inside this abode. Sounds like possible domestic violence. And it wouldn’t be the first time there’s been a complaint about this address.’ She rubbed her forefinger on her lips, as though thinking. ‘And that would be grounds for a warrant, I’m pretty sure of it.’