He stopped again and it seemed like the time for me to say something. ‘Do the tenants have leases?’

‘What? Oh, no. Month to month. The place’s got a few plumbing problems, roof’s not too good. The rent’s reasonable to take account of that. I wasn’t rushing anybody. When they came vacant I just let them lie. I would’ve made some arrangements for anyone who was left when I wanted to get moving. I’ve got other places. Wouldn’t have been any problem.’

I nodded, but he was going to need prompting. ‘What about flat one, Mr Wise? What’s the story?”

He sighed and stopped looking through the dirty glass. Another sigh and a rub of his hard jaw and he was ready to talk. ‘That’s the one Carmel was using. She had a TV set there and her video collection.’

‘Collection?’

‘Yes. Old movies mostly. Foreign, a lot of them. It was her hobby as well as her work. She had a flat in Randwick but I suppose the videos took up too much space. Look, I’m not saying she was normal, but she wasn’t a freak. She…’

I clicked my tongue the way you do to soothe an angry dog. ‘Okay, okay.’

He fought for control and got it. ‘Right. Anyway, she asked me if she could use the flat and I said okay. Christ, I wish…’

‘I don’t understand. This flat-what about it?’

‘It’s been vacant the whole time I’ve had the building.’

‘Well, no difficulty then.’

‘I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have let her use it and I meant to do something about it. I never did. Busy. You know how it is?’

‘I’m not with you,’ I said. ‘Sounds like you didn’t need the rent.’

‘That’s the point. The rent’s been paid, on the knocker, every fortnight. Regular as clockwork and no-one ever spent a night there. Not for three years.’

2

I crossed the courtyard, ducking my head to avoid a plane tree branch, and pushed open the glass door that led to the small lobby and the stairway of the Greenwich Apartments.