‘Unless he did know there was a security visit scheduled, like you said. The damage to the door was obvious, Kenneth here was always going to check.’

‘The body’s still a long way from that busted door. And what else might give Kenneth here an idea that something was wrong?’

‘You’ve got me.’

‘Where’s Mr Evans’s car? I didn’t see one out in the car park and this is hardly on a bus route.’

‘I didn’t think of that.’

‘I think if you want someone to know you’re here you leave your car outside. Or leave your phone switched on.’

‘Maybe his car’s nearby, but he just didn’t want anyone to come checking until he did what he needed to? I’ll see if there are any cars registered to him on the Police National Computer and get a search going. That’s the sort of thing a Police Community Support Officer can do for us.’

‘That would be great.’ Joel was still looking around the room. ‘How many identical rooms did we pass to get here? Did you notice we were following the signs for the fire escape? That tells me there must be access to another set of stairs this end of the building, close to here. The fact that I couldn’t see them when I pulled in means they come out at the back of the building.’

‘You mean for an escape!’ The enthusiasm was evident in the sergeant’s voice now.

Joel was still looking around the room. ‘And the blinds, there are marks in the dust like they’ve been disturbed recently. Why pull the blinds from the window if it’s privacy you want?’ Then he pointed at the blinds still intact on the north side, which glowed white. ‘The sun’s over there if you wanted that on your face for the end. But if you had tied a man to a chair and you wanted to know if someone was coming – which window would you want revealed?’

‘The one out to the car park.’

‘And the main entrance. While giving yourself access to the fire escape that can’t be seen from the main approach.’

‘I reckon I can see why you’re a detective!’ The sergeant clapped her hands in excitement.

Joel couldn’t help but smile. ‘You might be the only one,’ he said. He was pacing now, his confidence boosted, his attention back on the seated victim. ‘The weapon looks wrong too.’ Now Joel was thinking out loud but he had a captive audience.

‘Wrong?’ the sergeant replied.