‘I’m afraid so,’ he said, folding the letter in half and placing it into his blazer pocket.

‘I don’t understand,’ said Felix, genuinely perplexed. ‘Does she live in a flat above the solicitors, or …’

Mr Jones took a seat opposite Felix. ‘I’ve made a few enquiries and it seems that fourteen Ranelagh Street is split over two levels. The solicitors are based on the ground floor, with a tailor’s above.’ His lips formed a thin line. ‘I’m afraid nobody lives or indeed has ever lived there.’

‘Next door?’ suggested Felix.

‘I doubt it,’ said Mr Jones. ‘I think we’ve been spun a yarn.’

This was a new expression to Felix, who stared blankly at the older man. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Told a fib, a tale if you will,’ explained Mr Jones. ‘The Haggartys deliberately told us the wrong address so that we wouldn’t be able to contact them.’

Felix’s jaw dropped. ‘And why would they do that?’

‘Because some people just aren’t honest. I couldn’t say for certain what their motives are, but if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say free labour.’ He gave Felix an apologetic glance. ‘Sorry, son, I know you were keen on Roz.’

Felix was furious. ‘How could this have happened? Didn’t you check?’ Another thought occurred to him, ‘What about Adele? Has she gone to the right address, or didn’t you bother checking out her family’s information either?’

Reggie looked up sharply. ‘There’s no need for that. You know full well how hard it is to rehome you older ones. We don’t have the time or resources to check out everyone who walks through those doors; sometimes you just have to take folk at face value.’

Felix waved an exasperated arm. ‘Face value? If you’d checked properly then you’d have sent the Haggartys packing! A blind man could see they hadn’t two pennies between them.’

‘I thought they were eccentric,’ Reggie admitted wearily. ‘They said they owned a coal business, and to be fair they looked as though they did.’

‘Working down the mine, maybe, but owning one? Come on!’ snapped Felix.

‘So why didn’t you question it, if you thought something was up?’ Reggie said levelly.

‘I did,’ said Felix, ‘but Roz seemed certain that they were telling the truth, and she wanted to be near the Liver Building. Who was I to stop her?’ He looked quizzically at Reggie who was holding his head in his hands. ‘What?’