One of the children had come in, and stared at the two detectives, awestruck.

‘Drink,’ he said, without taking his eyes off the strange men in the kitchen.

‘Ask your … oh, he’s gone to work. There are juice bottles in the fridge. Grab two.’

The child sourced the purple bottles from the refrigerator, still eyeballing Tom and Ray.

‘Are you policemen?’ he asked, eyes wide.

‘Yes,’ Ray said.

‘Do you have guns?’

‘Eh, yeah.’

‘Do you shoot people dead? Do you blow their heads off? Could you beat Captain America in a fight? Could …’

‘Outside!’ Barbara barked at the child, waiting until he’d gone before resuming her story.

‘Sorry about that. He’s obsessed with Marvel heroes. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. See, Steve – he picked just the right time in Pauline’s life. That’s what they do, isn’t it? Abusers. Steve must have seen something in her. My sister and I were alike in many ways. We both have the caring gene, that’s for sure. She stepped into minding Steve after Dad had gone without pausing for breath. But we were chalk and cheese in other respects. If my husband ever raised a hand to me, I’d lob his mickey off in his sleep.’

The inspector had only spent a short time in Barbara’s company, but he didn’t doubt her.

‘Steve knew Pauline needed to mother somebody and that she was devastated when we lost our father. He took advantage of those things. He’d drink, hit her, then start sobbing about how shit his life had been.’

‘And had it been shit?’ Tom asked.

Barbara shook her head dismissively.

‘Not at all, from what I knew. He said his dad drank when they were kids, but from the sound of it he was a few-nights-a-week drinker, not a bottle-in-the-pocket-of-his-anorak type. I don’t know what shite he was feeding my sister, but she ate it up. Until that second Christmas, anyway.’

‘What happened then?’

‘She wanted to have a family Christmas. I was nearly due that little git you just met – I know, I was only a year in my shagging job and I got pregnant by a night porter. Couldn’t even land a junior doctor. We’re still together, mind, so it’s not all bad news. Anyway, Pauline wanted to fuss over me and had bought all these pressies. We knew I was having a boy and she’d got every blue baby blanket and teddy bear she could lay her hands on. Then Steve got pissed on Christmas Eve, tore her flat asunder, ripped the gifts to bits and left her with two cracked ribs.’

‘Did she try to leave him then?’ Ray asked.