The street outside was still damp from the rain that had passed through during the night. The kind of rain that darkens the brick and leaves the shopfronts gleaming under the early light. I arrived before anyone else and let myself in, locking the door behind me and pausing in the middle of the boutique for a moment before touching anything.

It was always quiet at this hour. No footsteps overhead. No hum of voices. Just the faint ticking of the clock in the back room and the muffled sound of ...