‘No pocketbooks anymore?’ she said rather wistfully.

‘This is my pocketbook, Mrs Wilson. Soon we’ll be taking witness statements electronically too, but for now—’ he produced a pad of statement sheets from a case he’d brought with him — ‘it’s the old-fashioned way. I’ll write this all down and then I’ll get you to read it carefully and sign it top and bottom. Okay?’

It took a while to take the statement.

‘Now, you’re sure nothing is missing?’

‘I haven’t checked everything, I was too shaken, but as far as I can tell, nothing, and no damage at all.’

‘Are you usually a heavy sleeper?’ he asked.

She smiled. ‘Yes. I slept through that summer storm a few weeks back. Next day my neighbour told me there’d been thunder and lightning and a dreadful high wind.’ She shivered. ‘Even so, I’m usually quite sensitive to anything out of the ordinary inside the house. A small picture fell down in the hall one night — the fixing had come apart, nothing sinister — but I woke up at once.’

The policeman nodded. ‘I get what you mean. So, you think an intruder coming in would have roused you?’

‘Absolutely. He must have been as silent as a ghost.’

‘I think I know who it was, Mrs Wilson.’ PC Laker laid down his pen and drank a mouthful of tea. ‘It might help to put your mind at rest if I tell you we have a habitual intruder in the area. We’ve even got a name for him — Ratty. He’s like a spider monkey and could be up your wall and through a big top opener like yours with no trouble at all. But he’s never hurt anyone, not even touched them. It’s a bit of a game to him, just getting in is enough. But here’s the thing, he’s been doing this for years and he’s never been back to the same house twice.’

‘But you’ve never caught him?’

‘We’ve apprehended him in the vicinity many times, but never actually inside a property. It’s a very difficult crime to deal with, Mrs Wilson, grey areas between civil and police matters, and never enough evidence to get him even near a court, so each time we’ve had to let him go.’ PC Laker frowned. ‘It’s a case of we know he’s done it, he knows we know, and he also knows we can’t prove it. The law is an ass sometimes.’

‘Some game! He’s made me feel as if my home, my own private refuge, has been violated. I loved this little house, and now, well . . .’ She sighed. ‘Now I don’t know if I even want to stay here.’

PC Laker gave her a look of understanding. ‘You’ll feel better when the shock’s worn off. Do you have any family you can call? A friend who could come round? Talking always helps in these situations.’

She shook her head. ‘No family hereabouts. No brothers or sisters either. My kids are all grown up and have flown the nest. Even Luke, my oldest grandson, is at uni now. He has his own room here. He often stays as he doesn’t get on with his stepfather. Oh, my neighbour could come round, but . . . maybe not, she’s quite elderly. It might scare her.’