1 The Cuckoo's Calling

“How long were you away from the desk when you helped put the roses in
Flat Two?”
“Mebbe five minutes; ten at most. After that, I was on the desk all day.”
“You mentioned packages for Macc and Lula.”
“Yeah, from some designer, but I gave them to Lechsinka to put in the flats. It
was clothes for him an’ handbags for her.”
“And as far as you’re aware, everyone who went in that day went out again?”
“Oh yeah,” said Wilson. “All logged in the book at the front desk.”
“How often is the code on the external keypad changed?”
“It’s been changed since she died, because half the Met knew it by the time
they were finished,” said Wilson. “But it din change the three months Lula lived
there.”
“D’you mind telling me what it was?”
“Nineteen sixty-six,” said Wilson.
“ ‘They think it’s all over’?”
“Yeah,” said Wilson. “McLeod was always bellyaching about it. Wanted it
changed.”
“How many people d’you think knew the door code before Lula died?”
“Not that many.”
“Delivery men? Postmen? Bloke who reads the gas meter?”
“People like that are always buzzed in by us, from the desk. The residents
don’t normally use the keypad, because we can see them on camera, so we open
the door for them. The keypad’s only there in case there’s no one on the desk;
sometimes we’d be in the back room, or helping with something upstairs.”
“And the flats all have individual keys?”
“Yeah, and individual alarm systems.”
“Was Lula’s set?”
“No.”
“What about the pool and the gym? Are they alarmed?”