‘He had it in for me and me only. I don’t know if it was because I’m a woman and he felt threatened by me but, whatever his real reasons, he didn’t want me about.’

‘Rob said something about people thinking the whole of the CID department was corrupt.’

Wendy raised her eyebrows. ‘Corrupt? He used that word?’

‘Only quoting what others had said.’

‘I’m so glad to be out of that place,’ sighed Wendy. ‘Talk about Chinese whispers. No one in CID was corrupt as far as I know. Now, I really don’t want to talk about it any more. I’ve said far too much and we’ve somehow managed to get off the topic of what you’re doing up there.’

‘Just working.’

‘I don’t believe you for one minute,’ said Wendy. ‘You be careful, Steph. Those Sinclairs won’t hesitate to get rid of you if you’re not up to scratch or they think you’re being too nosy. They like their privacy.’

Steph might have used the word secrets but she didn’t argue with her mother. She didn’t know what it was, but everything about that family felt out of step and they seemed to be able to reach out and unsettle everything they came into contact with … Elizabeth, Cameron, Sonia, Wendy and even herself.

Without warning there was an almighty crashing noise of glass breaking from the front of the house. Both Steph and her mother jumped in fright.

‘What the hell …?’ said Steph. She sprang to her feet the same time as her mother.

‘Let me go first,’ commanded her mother, pulling at Steph’s arm and making her wait behind her. Wendy pushed open the door to the living room and poked her head around it. She let out a sound somewhere between an exasperated sigh and an angry huff. ‘It’s the window. It’s been bricked.’

Steph went into the room after her mother to see a house brick lying on the floor in the middle of the room, surrounded by shards of glass. One of the vertical blinds had been ripped and the sofa in front of the window was covered in bits of broken glass too.

‘Bastards!’ said Steph. She ran out of the bungalow and onto the street, looking up and down, but the road was deserted.

‘Everything OK?’ came a voice.

Steph whirled round and at the end of the garden path of the house next door was an elderly lady. ‘I heard something crash.’

Steph marvelled at the neighbour’s hearing. ‘It was my mum’s window,’ she explained, walking over. ‘Someone threw a house brick at it. You didn’t see anyone, did you?’

‘Oh, how terrible. I’m sorry, I was just closing my front door. I’ve been to the shops, you see. I heard the noise.’

‘But didn’t see anyone?’