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on that Wednesday morning … she had a key and the agreement was that she could let herself in if her knock upon her arrival wasn’t responded to within a reasonable time. There used to be an old-fashioned metal ring knocker, a massive thing. It’s most likely still there. I swear you would have thought it had been purloined from a cathedral or the ruins of a monastery, and when it was used without any effort put into it, the sound it made would echo all over the house. There was no mistaking it and there was no missing it. So she would have let herself in if the knocker wasn’t responded to within a minute or two and then call out, announcing her presence. If there was still no response she would make herself a cup of tea, have a short rest after her exertion in getting out to the house and then start her cleaning. Here I should add that Mrs Graham would take the bus out and back in particularly bad weather but usually she would use her bike. So that morning she entered the house, found what she found and then left the house to summon the police from the home of the nearest neighbour. She intuitively knew, she said, that she must not enter any further into the house, knowing that she should not be in the house under such terrible circumstances, good woman that she was and I earnestly hope she still is.’
    â€˜Yes, indeed. As I said, we’ll have to talk to her,’ Ventnor mused, ‘if she is still with us. Twenty years on … she might have passed away by now, but we have her address as it was at the time, in Tang Hall.’
    â€˜Really?’ Noel Middleton smiled. ‘I never knew that … I never knew that Mrs Graham was a “Tangy”.’
    â€˜You clearly know Tang Hall, sir?’ Ventnor returned the smile.
    â€˜Well, really only by reputation. As I said, I am a lawyer,’ Middleton explained, ‘and a criminal lawyer to boot. I specialize in crime rather than in civil law. I do a little family law work but I am perhaps, I could say, nine fingers in crime and one little finger in the family courts … so I know Tang Hall, whether because of the accused or because of the victim. I am certain that there are many good people who live on that estate but it does seem to keep the police in gainful employment.’
    â€˜Yes … you could say that,’ Carmen Pharoah offered with a smile and raised eyebrows. ‘There are an awful lot of good people on that estate but a minority has given it a bad name. It sounds like Mrs Graham was, and possibly still is, one of the good ones. I mean, having a key to the house indicates that she had earned your parents’ trust.’
    â€˜It does indeed … it does indeed,’ Middleton replied with a slight nod of his head. ‘And, in fact, I never felt any dislike or distrust or suspicion of Mrs Graham at all, not even in the slightest, even as a child, and children are very intuitive. Children have an intuition which evaporates as they grow older, especially in the males. Women tend to retain a certain intuition and I would never dismiss a woman’s intuition. My sister and I left the house on Wednesdays, when we were not at school anyway, to escape the whirlwind that was her cleaning presence, not because of any ill feeling towards Mrs Graham – whom we had to address as “Mrs Graham”, by the way – nor because of any fear of her. Father disliked first-name terms in such circumstances – the cleaning lady would never be “Annie” but always “Mrs Graham”, and she addressed us and referred to us as “Master Noel” and “Miss Sara”. It was all very proper,’ Middleton advised. ‘It was just that sort of household.’
    Driving away from Noel Middleton’s house, back towards York, as a slight and brief rain shower began to fall from a low, grey cloud base, Thompson Ventnor in the front passenger seat said, ‘Look, I’m sorry for