‘Can’t you keep the old vulture under control?’ he snapped. Even as he said it, though, he realised the unfairness of the question.

WPC Loveday was just a slip of a girl. Why should she be able to keep the old sod in line when chief constables, mayors, and for all he knew, the president of the local branch of the WI couldn’t do so either? (And that woman, so it was rumoured, was such a dragon that she was known to literally breathe fire.)

‘Never mind, forget that,’ he corrected himself testily, waving an impatient hand in the air. ‘Just tell me exactly what you’ve been up to whilst my back’s been turned,’ he gritted, ‘and don’t leave anything out, no matter how insignificant.’

Trudy took a deep breath and filled him in. As ordered, she went into close detail on all the interviews, as well as the conclusions that she and Dr Ryder had drawn from the facts they’d unearthed so far. She couldn’t tell if he was pleased by their thoroughness or not, but as she talked, his face certainly grew darker and grimmer. When she’d finally finished, he sat in silence for a moment or two and then drew in a slow breath and let it out again.

She’d made it clear that both she and Dr Ryder believed that something untoward had happened at Millie Vander’s New Year’s Eve party, and that everyone’s original assumption that Terrence Parker’s death was the result of an unfortunate accident due to bad weather conditions was now in serious doubt. But whether or not her superior officer agreed with her, she was about to find out.

Inspector Jennings watched her sardonically. He saw a young police officer tensed for a well-deserved rollicking, and for a moment he was seriously tempted to just let rip. But he was tired, stressed out with the weather, overworked, and, most of all, mindful that Dr Clement Ryder had a lot of friends in high places. Even this lowly WPC had her admirers now among some of the senior echelons.

There was no denying she and the old vulture had pulled a few rabbits out of the hat over the past two years or so, and who was to say this wasn’t another bunny to add to the collection? And if they had uncovered something sinister, he’d look a right fool if he didn’t handle it properly.

So he simply sighed, swallowed his anger and weariness, and sorted out what needed doing. ‘As I understand it, the autopsy on Parker is being performed even as we speak,’ he began heavily, glancing at his watch.