They found Marilyn in the first room off the hall. It was a small living room with exposed floorboards that creaked under her incessant pacing. Both detectives hung by the door to give her space. There was a long sofa pointing at a mantelpiece with a clock in its centre and a small television sat on the floor in the corner. Nothing else was in place. Instead there were stacks of cardboard boxes and two large plastic crates under the window. Thick curtains were drawn. Joel flicked a switch and an exposed bulb hanging down by its wire made Marilyn react like she preferred the gloom.

‘Sorry,’ Joel chuckled, ‘poor eyesight and a clumsy nature! I wouldn’t want to trip on one of the boxes and break anything. Are you moving?’

‘No. I just never … Where did you park? Are you in one of those police cars?’ She stopped her pacing to lock onto Joel, her face flushed with fear, her lips tightly pursed. She had tied-back mousy brown hair that frizzed at the edges, and grey roots that looked to be spreading out as Joel watched. She wore casual jeans and a long-sleeved top, both tight enough to show how thin she was. Frail even. And tired.

‘We’re in a plain car, it could belong to anyone. We’re parked in a space behind the house, there’s a closed-down club—’

‘You can’t stay there. Not long. You only get residents’ cars down there now and he knows all of them.’

‘He? Your husband?’

‘What did you mean? Hannah and her grave?’

Joel took a moment. He needed the conversation to slow down for the woman to be able to focus on one thing at a time. ‘Hannah Ribbons was caught up in an incident while she was on duty. She’s dead, Mrs Luckhurst, and we’re trying to find out why.’

‘Dead …’ Her voice was nothing more than a whisper now. Her eyes moved around in her head like she was looking for something to rest on. Finally she settled back on the inspector.

‘I left her a message … I told her that I couldn’t speak with her anymore. I thought that was why I hadn’t heard back.’ Marilyn started pacing again, her words mumbled towards the bare floorboards, her head shaking.

‘Why could you not talk to her anymore?’ DS Rose asked. The woman’s answer was instant.

‘She’d moved on! I shouldn’t have been talking to her anyway.’ Marilyn stopped at the closest point of her circuit to the officers, close enough for Joel to naturally want to step back, but he held his ground.

‘Did she tell you that? Did she say that you couldn’t talk to her anymore?’ DS Rose said. This time the answer wasn’t so quick. She took her time, still stood close to them both, looking like she was studying DS Rose closely.