‘Excuse the mess, I haven’t had a chance to hoover and dust in here today.’

Helen opened the door to the living room, which in fact was just as neat and tidy as the kitchen. The room was bright, with white painted Anaglypta wallpaper, a light brown carpet and a cream-coloured three-seater settee with matching armchair. The electric fire was on and the room was warm and cosy. On the mantelpiece above the fire there were pictures of Helen with a man, whom Jane assumed to be her husband. There was a family picture next to it with a couple in their thirties and a young boy and girl, as well as individual pictures of the children and a man in his early twenties.

‘What lovely pictures,’ Jane commented as she looked at them.

‘That’s my husband Ronald with me. The picture next to it is our daughter June, her husband and their eight-year-old twins.’ She picked up the picture of the young man. ‘This is our son Robert – he died some years ago after a motorcycle accident.’

‘I’m sorry for your loss.’

Helen took a moment to compose herself.

‘Me and Ronald didn’t like him riding motorbikes, but he was headstrong and loved biking. He used to go out for long day trips with his friends – they were all safety conscious and wore the proper leather clothes and crash helmets, even though you didn’t have to back then. He was going to Brighton for the day when someone pulled out in front of him and he came off his bike. There was hardly a mark on him, but he suffered a bad brain injury and died two days later in the hospital.’

Jane could see how upset Helen was getting and tried to move the conversation forward.

‘Do you know if your husband kept the garage locked?’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t, but I can ask him tomorrow morning when I visit him at the hospital.’

‘It would be helpful if you could, then I can ring you in the afternoon.’

‘I don’t have a phone, but my neighbours do and I’m sure they’d let me call you, or there’s a phone box down the road I can use.’

‘Whatever’s easiest for you.’

Jane wrote down the office number on a back page of her pocket notebook and handed it to Helen, who put it in her apron pocket. Jane looked at the house-to-house form for number 40.

‘My uniform colleague noted that you have lived here for six months and haven’t been using the garage as your husband can’t drive due to his eyesight problems.’

‘That’s right, Ronald suffers from cataracts, so he gave the car to our daughter to use until his eyesight’s better.’

‘Do you know who used the garage before you?’