‘Nothing. What else did Ania Kierczynska say, Poe?’
‘Estelle had a flat tyre before she left work. It’s possible that’s where the time discrepancy came from. Ania’s sending you an email.’
‘I’ll check now. What are we going to do? If the journey time has been explained, this has been a wasted trip, hasn’t it?’
He looked at the padlocked gates and said, ‘Maybe not.’
Poe walked up to the gates and gave the chain a rattle. He held the lock and peered into the keyhole.
‘Have you ever tried to pick a lock, Tilly?’
‘Don’t be absurd, Poe.’
‘I haven’t either,’ he said. He removed a pen from his pocket and broke off the clip. He stuck it into the padlock’s mechanism. ‘But really, how hard can it be?’
‘Yeah, I don’t know how to do this,’ Poe said ten minutes later. ‘For all I know I’m making it more locked.’
‘At least you tried, Poe.’
He let go of the padlock. ‘Do you think I can climb over that gate, Tilly?’
‘Why would you want to do that, Poe?’
‘Yes, Poe,’ a voice behind him said. ‘Why would you want to do that?’
He spun round.
It was Detective Chief Inspector Tai-young Lee.