‘I assume it was the lady who owned the flat before us. When we were buying the place the estate agent said there was a garage with it.’

‘Do you know her name or have a forwarding address for her?’

‘We never met her. As I recall, the estate agent said her name was Mrs Smith. She’d been terminally ill in a hospice and after her death the flat was sold by one of her relatives.’

‘Do you know the name or address of the relative?’

‘No, but after we moved in we had some mail delivered for a Mrs Elizabeth Smith. We didn’t have a forwarding address for any relatives and the neighbours couldn’t help, so I gave it to the postman and told him the previous resident had died. I doubt Mrs Smith had much use for a garage if she was terminally ill . . . Do help yourself to a biscuit, dear.’

‘That’s a good point, though she might have rented it out. Do you know the details of the estate agents who dealt with the sale of the flat?’ Jane picked up a Bourbon and took a bite.

‘I think it was Petty something . . . I can’t remember the full details as my husband always dealt with them. Mind you, I’m sure he kept the sales brochure.’ Helen got up and rummaged around in the side cabinet drawer. ‘Ah, here it is,’ she said, waving it in the air.

She handed it to Jane, who noted that Petty, Son and Prestwich had their offices in Woodbine Place, Wanstead.

‘I was told the flats were owned by a housing association and most of the residents were tenants.’

‘Most of them are, but I expect Mrs Smith bought hers under a “Right to Buy” scheme. We were very lucky that it was up for sale – but for her illness I doubt we’d be here now.’

Jane nodded. ‘How many keys for the garage did your husband have?’

Helen got up and walked over to the side cabinet, where she picked up a Winston Churchill Toby jug and tipped out two small keys onto the palm of her hand.

‘Just the two.’

She held them up for Jane to see.

‘May I have a quick look?’

Helen handed Jane the keys and she could see that although they were both silver, one looked more tarnished than the other.

‘Did the estate agents give you both these keys when you moved in?’

‘No, just one of them. Ronald said it’s always best to have a spare key and asked me to take it down the hardware shop and get a spare one cut – the shiny one’s the new one.’

Jane wondered if the previous owner of the flat had also had two garage keys and had given one to someone else.

‘Do you know if your neighbours were friendly with Mrs Smith?’