She chooses more reels. Demonstrations, Beatlemania, women’s rights. Local crime, a burglary or two, a story about a sixteen-year-old boy called Peter who had a penchant for pickpocketing. Marina smiles at the alliteration. She is still smiling when she reads about a spate of robberies in south London – a post office, a jeweller’s, a builder’s yard, a bank. The last apparently went badly wrong: a security guard had disturbed the gang and was viciously attacked. The offenders were subsequently caught. There are three captioned mugshots, and Marina recognises Kenneth Quip. He seems older than the other men. The first has short cropped dark hair, the second has lighter hair and ears that stick out like handles.

Marina leans forward examining this second man and another memory chimes, from reading through various newspapers when she was younger, trying to find out what happened to her mother: a body pulled from the lake at Tooting Common. She remembers staring at the photo of the victim – a mugshot, an ex-prisoner. She’d reread the story many times, like all the stories she’d found then, searching for some kind of connection. Now she feels a link between that memory and the man in the picture before her. What date had that been? It must have been some time in 1964 because that was the year she’d been researching.

Quickly she grabs another reel and scrolls through. Finding nothing, she tries again and this time she comes across the headline. Body Found in Lake Identified. She leans closer and stares into the face of the victim. Frank Dennis. Was his death an accident, the paper asks, or was he murdered? There are details of the robberies he’d been involved in, including the bank job. Frank had initially been charged with attacking the guard, but afterwards the accusation had been rescinded. All three members of the gang had done time, and one of them had died in prison. Most of the money had been recovered, but not all of it. What had happened to the rest?

Marina rubs her eyes. Maybe she needs glasses. Neither Ruth nor David have bad eyesight, but of course, that is irrelevant. Two out of three men dead. What are the chances of that? The facts coincide with what Victor told her, although he didn’t mention the possible murder of Frank Dennis. What had he actually said? That his death had been convenient.

The woman in charge announces that there are thirty minutes until the library closes. People get ready to leave. Quickly, Marina positions the article correctly and prints.

On the way home, Marina takes a detour and parks close to Crystal’s shop.

Inside, there is a smell of burning incense. Crystal is sitting at the counter reading a manuscript, but when Marina comes in, she greets her warmly.

‘Have you come to teach a class?’

Marina smiles. ‘Not exactly, but I did think about it.’