‘Your dad lived alone – where was your mam?’ Ray asked.

‘Oh, she died when we were little. Lung cancer.’

The inspector couldn’t help but glance at the mounting pile of butts in the overflowing ashtray. Barbara caught his eye. She tucked her short red hair behind her ear, cheeks flushing.

‘I know, I know. I don’t normally smoke like this. Would you believe I took it up when I started nursing? It’s such a bloody stressful job, you need some sort of release.’

Still, the little reminder had had a powerful effect. Barbara gave her children another cursory glance, but this time her gaze lingered. She stubbed out the cigarette.

‘You said you thought Steve’s behaviour changed after your dad died,’ Tom remarked. ‘How so?’

‘I don’t know how to say it. I’m not good with words. He changed how he acted towards Pauline. I mean, I never liked him to begin with. There was something – I don’t know – forced about him. He had to be the centre of attention, the life and soul of the party, or he got stroppy. When Dad died, everybody was making a fuss over Pauline and me. We were two orphans. I mean, we were in our twenties, but still. It’s unusual to lose both your parents before you’ve turned thirty. Steve was all right at first – happy to be getting a share of the sympathy as Pauline’s boyfriend, everybody saying it must have been hard on him too. Jesus, they’d only been going out a few months. But he revelled in it. Couldn’t do enough for the pair of us.

‘Then people went back to their own lives and I think he realised that Pauline was going to be on her own and that she was vulnerable. I’d started in the hospital at that stage, working night shifts, so I wasn’t around much. It was months before I noticed the bruises. By that stage he’d stopped giving a shit about where he was leaving his mark.’

‘And you’re absolutely sure that he was being violent towards her?’

Barbara raised a finely plucked eyebrow.

‘Inspector, I don’t just mean she had the odd little bruise on her arm. He busted her lip open. Gave her black eyes. Near strangled her at one point. I lost the plot that first Christmas, when I found out. She arrived for dinner black and blue. I was going to bleeding kill Steve. My boyfriend at the time talked me down. Said Pauline had to figure it out for herself or she wouldn’t thank me. But he had a quiet word with Steve and things seemed to ease off.’

‘But not for good?’

She shook her head.

‘Did she ever report him to the guards?’

‘No. And he kept on, all through the following year. What is it, love?’