‘Because my neighbour – that’s you, Grace – is an absolute gem. Come on, give us a hug.’

I held my arms out and took a step towards her. She crossed her arms and pretended to shiver at the very thought.

‘Have you been to see that girl? You have, haven’t you? What a dozy prick you are.’

My face gave away the truth and Lassoo delivered an exaggerated sigh.

‘I’ll pop round in fifteen minutes and you can tell me just how much of a fool you have made of yourself. Is that fish and chips in your carrier bag?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, save some for me.’

And off she toddled back into the flat, banging Lassoo in the face with the door as he followed behind her. He looked up at me as if to say, ‘That’s your fucking fault.’

Grace and Lassoo arrived exactly fifteen minutes later.

‘I’ve just remembered why I wanted to see you,’ said Grace with a certain joy in her face at the remembrance. She took the corn cob dongle out of her pocket and continued:

‘I’ve worked really hard trying to hack the password for this and I’m getting nowhere. I even tried to source an identical corn cob memory stick on the internet to see how the password instructions are programmed but couldn’t find one anywhere. I found a picture of a similar-looking one from China but nothing for sale. It’s a shame. The dongle doesn’t even have a manufacturer’s name.’

‘Grace, it doesn’t matter anymore. Just forget it.’

‘Not a chance. The thing is, if it’s just a combination of random letters and characters, then I might not have the computer capacity to crack it. The other possibility is that it’s something personal to the person who set the password – you know, his birthdate, his wife’s name, his pet’s name, his house name, that sort of thing. You need to tell me as much of that sort of information as you can, then I can have another go.’

‘Grace, Brendan is still alive and kicking, so I can just give it back to him when we next meet.’

‘He’s alive?! Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I was going to tell you last night, but you wouldn’t answer the door.’

‘How do you know he’s alive? Have you spoken to him?’

‘No, but I was at the police station today and I asked a detective about the murder. He checked around and told me they had no idea what I was talking about. I can’t get hold of Brendan by phone, all I get is that “phone not in service” message, but I emailed his office and they confirmed that he was working away at the moment. So, yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s still alive. Sorry, I should have told you earlier.’