A Voss and Pike Casefile: The Early Days
Section 24: Dismissed
You asked directly, the way the clock seemed to demand, and watched Albert's face take on the courteous blankness of a man who has seen that exact clipboard before.
"Nothing, love," he said. "I was asleep." He made you a cup of tea and talked about the weather, which is a thing people do when they've decided you aren't going to be told.
He walked you to the door, formal, upright, offering exactly as much as he'd been asked for and a good deal less.
Albert gave you the courtesy he's learned to give anyone with a clipboard: tea, and nothing else. Whatever he saw from that window leaves the room with you unheard.