I’m first in and Rashid waves me over. He’s excited. In fact, he’s beaming from ear to ear. He points to the reason: a new coffee machine glinting like some alien spacecraft that came in to land during the dead of night.

‘They paid up?’

Rashid’s still grinning, unless he’s had a stroke and his face is now paralysed. He grabs a cloth and fusses over the machine, rubbing off an imaginary smudge then standing back to admire it again.

‘No, I told you, I took a loan. This was delivered first thing this morning. Is beautiful, no? Is Elektra Belle Epoque,’ he says as if that means something, before taking me through the highly technical features. When he’s finished I ask him how much. He tells me. Now I really need a coffee. I hope the insurance company pays up in full, and soon.

I take a table by the window and find a socket in the wall. There’s a moment of indecision: I’ve only got one charger cable and both a phone and a vaporizer that need electrons pooling inside them. Reluctantly I choose the phone. Rashid’s already at it, the hiss and scream of the new machine even more serious than the previous models. Once my phone’s live I pull up Sabine’s text. I hesitate for a moment, then fire one back. I find my heart’s beating a little faster as Rashid brings over the coffee. He hovers whilst I take a sip.

‘It’s like engine oil,’ I say.

Rashid looks worried. ‘You don’t like? I can –’

‘Rashid, I’m kidding. It’s the best cup you’ve done me yet.’

I need sunglasses for his smile. He goes off to serve a couple who’ve just stumbled in looking even more in need of coffee than me. I check my inbox, and buried in the usual onslaught of junk there’s one from Jansen, saying he’s following up my discussion with Vermeer last night and he’s getting someone to drop the full Kleine file at the houseboat this morning. Before I can stop myself I’ve tapped out a quick message telling him to leave it behind the cluster of flowerpots on deck if I’m out. Whereas I should have told him not to bother. Was Sander Klaasen innocent? Is Marianne Kleine’s death my fault?

I finish up and leave a large tip for Rashid. To exit I have to step under a ladder which has appeared over his front door. I hope it’s not bad luck. I turn to see a man at the top of it fixing a CCTV camera to the wall. It’s good he’s getting it done, but really Rashid should have had one before.