‘What about your eBay activities?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I never use eBay.’

‘Do you have a PayPal account?’ asked Guleed.

‘No, I have a credit card,’ said Phoebe, who was perfectly happy to buy online and perfectly happy to buy second-hand – just not at the same time.

‘It’s so much more fun getting clothes from charity shops,’ she said. ‘I once almost grabbed a genuine Nicole Farhi jacket in a charity shop in Chelsea but this woman beat me to it.’

She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to have done on eBay, but Dean, formerly known as Crew Cut, seemed to think she’d tried to sell a book.

We asked what kind of book.

‘An old book,’ she said. ‘Really old, like centuries old. A ledger – that’s what boss American called it.’

‘Did he mention a title?’ I asked.

Phoebe said not, but when we pressed she thought that Dean might have referred to it as the ‘Last Ledger’. This all seemed a bit pat to me – suspects often can’t resist dropping in little bits of detail in the hope that it adds veracity to their statement, when all it actually does is make us more suspicious. I made a note to pursue this question in a later interview and we retraced the timeline leading up to the Americans’ arrival.

‘I was in the kitchen getting a drink and—’ Phoebe frowned. ‘Then I went downstairs. Somebody knocked on the door.’

She didn’t know the exact time, but it wasn’t that long before the cleaner left. We’d had the door under observation by then and definitely hadn’t seen anyone. Nobody sneaks past Guleed – she says it’s a talent you acquire if you’re the eldest child in a big family.

‘Was the knock at the front door?’ asked Guleed.

‘Must have been,’ said Phoebe, but she didn’t seem so sure.

‘Did you answer it?’ asked Guleed.

‘No,’ said Phoebe.

‘Was it a knock or the doorbell?’ I asked.

‘It was a knock,’ she said hesitantly and then, with more confidence, ‘definitely a knock.’

So it could have been the back door, not the front – perhaps that’s how Dean and co planned to make their escape.

‘What did you do next?’ asked Guleed.

‘I went downstairs,’ said Phoebe.

‘Did you go for a swim?’ asked Guleed.

‘I must have done,’ said Phoebe. ‘Why else would I go down there?’

She’d looked bone-dry to me when I’d seen her.

‘What were you wearing when you were in the kitchen?’ asked Guleed.

‘Is that important?’

‘Helps us establish a timeline,’ said Guleed.

‘Jeans,’ said Phoebe. ‘Or maybe tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt.’

‘Not your bikini?’

‘No,’ said Phoebe.

‘Not under your other clothes?’ asked Guleed.

Phoebe looked at me and rolled her eyes at Guleed.

‘No,’ she said.

‘Do you keep it downstairs by the pool?’ I asked.