‘I still say we should call it in,’ DS Rose said. ‘This could be everything.’

‘It could be nothing. We’re just going to ask a question and if we call it in we’ll have to say where we are. Then some DCI will order us back, only to send someone else out to make the same enquiry. And more time gets wasted.’

‘What if he’s there? Nicholas, I mean?’

‘Then we get to ask him personally,’ Joel said.

This time there was no immediate answer from an out-of-breath occupant as Joel beat on the door. This time there was no response at all. He stepped back to take in the frontage. He didn’t think the roughly pulled curtains at the windows had moved since his last visit.

‘I’ll try the landline again,’ DS Rose said and lifted her phone. There was no mobile phone number for Marilyn – Hannah’s notes had specifically stated that her husband hadn’t allowed her to have one. Joel moved so he was close to the living-room bay window. The curtain was bundled up at the bottom where someone had got the drop wrong. He could hear the house phone ringing. He gestured at DS Rose, using his finger along his neck for her to cut the call. She did as she was told. He moved back to her to whisper instructions.

‘Walk back to the car. Make sure you close the gate hard.’ Joel returned to the living-room window, but this time he stood to one side, his back pressed against the brick of the house while he stared intently at the curtain, ready for the faintest movement. DS Rose did her part. The gate slammed. She even threw her hands in the air and stomped out of sight towards where they had parked the car a little further down the road. Joel stayed as still as he could, the dull roar of traffic constant in front of him, the window almost against his left shoulder.

Thirty seconds passed before the curtain moved. Joel’s reaction was instant: he spun and slapped the glass right where he had seen the flash of scraggly dark hair with spreading grey. The curtains fell back instantly but it didn’t matter, now she knew he wasn’t going away.

His hammering on the door reinforced that. When DS Rose jogged back Joel was on his knees, his lips touching the bristles of the letterbox as he bellowed through.

‘POLICE! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE! WE JUST NEED TO TALK TO YOU!’ He got up again to commence another assault on the door. He didn’t need to. It opened a familiar sliver.

‘You can’t be here!’ Marilyn Luckhurst hissed out at them.

‘We need to speak to you, please.’

‘He’ll know! He talks to the neighbours, you can’t be here shouting like that.’

‘Then let us in.’