After three unanswered rings she peers through the letterbox. A door in the inner hallway opens. A pair of legs covered in pink leggings appear. The owner of the leggings opens the front door and a short woman frowns at them. She is holding a furious red-faced baby with streaming eyes and a snotty nose.

‘What is it?’ asks the woman, her eyes darting nervously between Archer and Quinn, her accent unmistakably Eastern European.

Archer shows her ID. ‘Detective Inspector Archer and this is my colleague, Detective Sergeant Quinn.’

‘What do you want?’

‘May we come in?’

‘Why?’

‘We’d like to speak to Josef Olinski, please,’ says Archer.

‘He is working. Why you want him? What has he done?’

‘May we come in?’

The woman seems unsure and considers this for a moment before reluctantly leading them into the living room, which is sparsely furnished but tidy and clean, with an overpowering scent of fake pine. On the wall above the fireplace is a framed family photo of the woman, the child and a slim man Archer presumes is Josef Olinski. He is smiling with his arms wrapped tightly around the woman and child. It’s a happy scene.

Archer notices the wedding band on the woman’s fourth finger. ‘Are you Mr Olinski’s wife?’

The baby starts to cry. The woman sits on the edge of the sofa and tries to comfort it with soothing words.

After a moment, she responds, ‘Yes.’

‘What’s your name?’ asks Quinn, politely.

‘Agata.’

‘Can you tell us where he is, Agata?’

‘Why?’

‘We would just like to ask him a few questions.’

‘But what did he do?’

‘We’d just like to talk to him. That is all,’ says Quinn.

The baby squirms and tries to break free from her grip.

‘He isn’t here.’

‘Where is he?’

‘Working.’

‘Can you give us the address?’

‘He works with his brother Herman. They have delivery firm.’

‘Is he there now?’

‘He could be.’

The baby is becoming more restless. Agata sighs heavily and places the child on the floor, allowing it the freedom to crawl around and do its own thing. There is a small cabinet to the side of the sofa, with a mobile phone on top. The woman reaches across and retrieves a folded sheet of glossy paper from the top drawer. She hands it to Archer. It’s a flyer containing the address and contact details of the Anytime Delivery Brothers.

‘Thank you.’

Agata looks down at her phone. ‘My husband is good man. He isn’t criminal.’

‘We just want to ask him a few questions,’ repeats Archer.

‘Whatever you think he has done, he hasn’t done it. He is honest man.’

‘Please do not phone your husband, Agata,’ says Quinn.

The woman’s neck flushes. Her hand tightens on the mobile phone.

‘It will only make things worse.’

Agata pales and reluctantly places the phone back on the cabinet.

*