“Please.”

“Last week, I heard a child in the hallway on the floor above. I was going down in the lift to get the post from the lobby. I assumed it was one of the kids from this floor, gone up there to play. The mother at number 6D just seems to open the door and push them out every morning, lets them run around unsupervised on the stairs. Little children too. They’ve fallen in the past, and the ambulance has had to come. Mind you, they fight like rats in a cage—probably pushed each other down.”

“But you remember this incident particularly …” said Jo, gently nudging her back to the point and leaving the sentence hanging.

“I suppose I do, yes.” She pointed in the general direction of the door. “I heard a child’s voice talking to someone at the top of the stairs. When I came back up with my post, I couldn’t hear it anymore. I suppose I forgot about it until just now.”

“Did you hear what they were saying, get a sense of who it might be?”

“No, no. It was baby talk, couldn’t catch it. And whoever the child was talking to was mumbling quietly, so maybe that was why I noticed it. Couldn’t have been the woman from 6D, you see. She shouts everything, even when she doesn’t need to. I know what they’re having for dinner, usually, and whether she’s out of cider or cigs. Which she always is.”

Jo wondered if there would be anything useful to gain from questioning the neighbor any further. She looked around, and something occurred to her. “You have a really nice apartment, Sarah, do you have much help with things?” The room in which they were sitting was extremely tidy and clean.

“You mean, carers?” Mrs. Stefanidis laughed. “No. I don’t need them. I can look after myself. I’m not that old.”

Jo reckoned Mrs. Stefanidis was at least eighty if she was a day. “I meant cleaners, really. Regular domestic help.”

“I do all my own housework. I can’t see, but that doesn’t mean I’m useless. I can smell things, feel things. The spiders know not to make their webs in here. I go around with a duster every morning.”

“What about shopping? Do you do it online?”

“Online? I wouldn’t know where to start. Until quite recently I used to walk into town, but now there’s a girl from the next block who helps me. She says it’s no trouble, that she’s going herself anyway once a week, so we get the tram together. She’s great. Plays the violin for me sometimes. Beautiful.”