The sight of the two uniformed police officers momentarily throws her and she instinctively wraps her robe tightly around her frame.

‘Can I help you?’

‘Hello, I’m PC Burns and this is PC Choudrhi. Sorry if we’ve caught you at a bad time. Can we come in for a quick chat?’ The policewoman smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Her male counterpart remains expressionless.

‘Yes, of course, please come in. I just need to turn the bath off, won’t be a moment… Has something happened?’

They enter her apartment as she hurries into the bathroom reassuring herself that they’re not here to arrest her; she’d be in cuffs by now.

‘It’s Danni-Jo isn’t it?’ PC Burns asks.

‘Yes, that’s right. Daniella, Danni-Jo to my friends, or DJ to the really lazy ones.’ She grins. ‘Can I get you both coffee, tea?’

‘No, no thank you,’ Burns says, ‘we won’t keep you long, Danni-Jo.’

‘This is about Kizzy, next door’ she says, ‘about her cat, Esmerelda?’

‘Yes,’ Burns replies, taking a notebook from the top pocket of her shirt and beginning to write.

Bloody filth. Haven’t they got anything better to do than investigate the death of a fucking mangy old moggy? It was a good job she didn’t pay her taxes.

‘She told me she’d died. She was so upset, poor Kizzy,’ Danni-Jo explains, pouting.

‘Poor Esmerelda,’ Burns says.

‘She loved that cat like a baby,’ she says, ‘bloody evil thing to do… I mean, what psycho kills a cat for God’s sake?’

PC Choudrhi is looking around Danni-Jo’s kitchen, just looking, but it’s still making her uncomfortable.

‘Karen has reason to believe that her cat was poisoned. Have you seen anyone unfamiliar in the building recently, anyone acting suspiciously, hanging around outside maybe?’

Danni-Jo sighs, padding over to the kitchen, allowing her robe to briefly fall open and expose a little thigh as she passes PC Choudrhi. She’s not sure if he notices. ‘No, can’t say I have,’ she says. ‘But I’m not here that much anyway. I’m a student, I’m studying, and I sometimes work nights.’

Burns writes in her notebook.

‘Where do you study, Danni-Jo?’

‘ECL… Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be on the stage. It’s in the blood, my dad, he was an actor.’ Worthy of an Oscar. She’s oversharing and tells herself to stop.

‘Love a good musical myself, went to see Wicked recently – absolutely brilliant.’

‘Isn’t it!’ Danni-Jo agrees. Great. Burns is onside: panic over. ‘I loved Wicked too,’ she says. She’s never seen it. Never intends to. She despises musicals, all that… joy.

‘Did you see Esmerelda – the cat, often? I believe it was a house cat and it never left the building?’

Danni-Jo lights a cigarette as she begins to make coffee. It’s what she’d normally do. Cigarette with coffee. ‘I don’t even think you’re supposed to have them here,’ she says, biting her bottom lip, ‘I hardly saw it myself, just a few times when I popped round to Kizzy’s for coffee and a quick chat, you know? Lovely little thing it was, very fluffy… We’ve become quite good friends since she moved in, me and Kizzy I mean, not the cat. It’s so nice to have friendly neighbours, rarer than rocking-horse shit in London. I mean, the couple who lived there before her never said more than a hello to me.’

Burns smiles and nods. ‘Karen says you have a key to her apartment, is that correct?’

‘Yeah, she gave me a spare one when she got locked out once, had to get one of those emergency locksmiths out – cost her a fortune. That’s how we first got talking actually, she locked herself out one evening… daft as a brush she is, but she’s been so lovely to me, looks out for me, stops by every once in a while for a cup of tea, or a glass of wine.’ Danni-Jo tops up her coffee from the freshly brewed pot. ‘I don’t know her very well, but like I said, it’s nice, you know, to have friendly neighbours—’

‘Have you ever had cause to use it? The key?’

She takes a sip of coffee, folds her legs up underneath her on the sofa and adopts a thoughtful look. ‘No, not yet, thankfully. It’s just for emergencies. In case she gets locked out again or something like that. She’s a bit, well, scatty you know… in the nicest way.’ She smiles affectionately.

Burns continues to scribble in her pad. ‘Well, we’re going to ask security to check the CCTV in the communal staircase, see if anyone entered the building who shouldn’t have last Tuesday.’

Danni-Jo feels a flutter in her lower intestine. CCTV. In the staircase?

‘Didn’t know we had it in the staircase?’ she says, genuinely surprised, ‘I thought it was just in the entrance downstairs.’

‘No, actually there’s a small camera, hidden behind the big painting, just on the stairwell outside. It captures both these apartments’ entrances. Didn’t you know?’

No, she fucking well didn’t! ‘Really? Well, that’s good… good for safety.’

‘These are lovely apartments, Danni-Jo, and security is very important. The building’s management company had it fitted, only recently in fact, after a suspected burglary was reported.’

She nods. She’s still thinking about the CCTV, what it might have captured. How did she not know about the bloody CCTV in the stairwell? She glanced over at the small table by the front door, at the pile of unopened letters and bills. There was probably a notification letter in there somewhere… stupid, stupid girl…

Burns returns her notebook to her top pocket.

‘I hope Kizzy’s okay,’ Danni-Jo says, sensing the police officers’ imminent departure and standing to see them out, ‘she’s been through so much and this has been a real blow to her. And she was doing so well since her breakdown as well.’ She moves closer to Burns, lowers her voice. ‘Kizzy thinks her ex poisoned Esmerelda you know… she told me he was abusive, beat her up and all that, sounds like a right nasty piece of work, apparently he was always threatening to hurt the cat because he knew how much she loved it.’

PC Choudrhi is already by the door. He looks disinterested, like he’s keen to leave. Makes two of us, Danni-Jo thought. ‘I just hope it doesn’t push her over the edge because, you know, Kizzy’s been really kind to me, motherly you know, but I sense she’s pretty fragile underneath it all.’

Burns nods like she’s drawn the same conclusion herself.

‘Yes, she did mention an ex-husband. We’ll be looking into it. Thanks for your time, Danni-Jo, sorry again to have disturbed you.’

She smiles earnestly. ‘Not at all… if I can help in any way whatsoever… like I said, Karen… Kizzy… she’s been, well, like a mother to me.’