‘Looks like my kinda place!’ DS Rose quipped. Straight ahead a tired-looking skittle alley stole a good portion of the car park while the bridge still stood like a slab of passive aggression on their right. DS Rose nosed the car into the closest space and silenced the engine.

They needed to walk back the way they had come. Joel noted the double doors of the Phoenix Railway Club’s entrance were covered in wooden boards and secured with a shiny metal clasp. The windows along the front were largely boarded now too. At the far end some of the boards had been pulled away and the glass behind either bore the scars of thrown stones or was missing completely.

‘Doesn’t look like it’s been closed down too long. Any downturn takes these types of places out first,’ DS Rose offered as Joel still studied it.

‘It’ll rise up from the ashes with a name like that.’ Joel grinned at his joke and only got a shake of the head from his colleague.

Back on the pavements of Crabble Hill their pace quickened. Joel led as they walked up the slim garden path and he banged on the door.

‘Yes?’ The woman’s appearance was quick, her chest heaving like she might have run.

‘Marilyn Luckhurst?’ Joel said, and the woman just stared back, the gap in the door decreasing slowly. Joel made introductions, and by the time he had finished there was just enough of a sliver for him to make out a single, glinting eye.

‘Police?’ she said, finally.

‘Were you expecting someone else?’ Joel replied.

‘What do you want?’

‘May we come in?’

‘What about?’ she asked through the remaining crack.

‘It’s a sensitive matter. I was hoping you might be able to help us out.’

‘I can’t help, what is it about?’

‘Is your husband here?’ Joel asked.

The eye got wider, then she said, ‘No.’

‘That’s good to hear. I’m glad you took DC Ribbons’s advice.’ The woman’s attention had moved to his colleague, but it snapped back to Joel now.

‘What do you want?’

‘DC Ribbons, you spoke to her a lot.’

‘Who says I did?’ Marilyn asked, and Joel waited her out. It was just a few seconds before she started up again. ‘I never said anything to her that was on record, she gave me her word.’

‘And she kept her word. She took it to her grave, in fact.’ Again Joel waited. This time for his meaning to sink in. It took a little longer but the door suddenly shifted open wider. It was enough for Joel to see that behind Marilyn was thick shadow. She turned to step into it and both detectives took it as an invitation to follow.