But she needn’t have worried. The moment she put the phone to her ear, she recognised PC Swinburne’s voice.

‘Trudy, that you?’

‘Yes, Walter. What’s wrong?’

‘You’re a very popular person, and no mistake,’ Walter Swinburne said, somewhat grumpily. ‘I’ve got two messages for you. First, do you know someone called Patsy Arles?’

Trudy frowned. The name sounded vaguely familiar. She covered the phone receiver with her hand and said to Clement, ‘Do we know a Patsy Arles?’

‘She’s on the guest list for the party.’ It was Vincent who spoke. Since getting detective fever, just like his old man, he’d been studying all the case files and notes in some detail. And he had a sharp memory.

Clement, who hadn’t remembered the name, felt his spirits drop. Once, and not long ago, he too would have remembered that detail.

Trudy nodded her thanks, removed her hand and spoke once more into the telephone. ‘Yes, Walter. What about her?’

‘She wants to speak to you. Urgent, like. She keeps phoning and leaving messages. She says it’s important. Something to do with your dead motorist.’

Trudy’s heart leapt. ‘Really? Did she give an address?’ As she asked this, Vincent leaned over and drew a notepad and a pen closer to her so that she could use it.

Clement watched this solicitousness with a definite twinkle in his eye.

‘Got it,’ Trudy said triumphantly. Only a short while ago she’d been hoping something might break, but hadn’t believed that it would. And now it sounded as if something promising had come up after all. ‘Thanks, Walter, that’s great!’

‘Hey, hold on, there’s something else, just come in from the impound yard,’ Walter said hastily, thinking she was about to hang up on him. ‘The constable on duty there found someone breaking into the car.’

‘The car?’ Trudy repeated blankly for a moment. Then, more sharply, ‘Do you mean the car that Terry Parker died in?’

‘Yes, that car,’ Walter said testily. ‘That’s why I’m passing the message on to you. The inspector told us you and Sergeant O’Grady were handling the case, right?’

‘Yes, sorry, Walter,’ Trudy said meekly. ‘Do they know who it was?’

‘Of course they do,’ Walter said, still inclined to be somewhat tetchy. ‘The cove had papers on him. Do you know a Geoffrey Thorpe? He’s claiming that the car is his property and that he had a right to look it over.’

Trudy smiled widely. ‘Did he now? Is he still at the impound yard?’

‘Yes, but we’ll be bringing him down here.’

‘Great – it’ll be easier to speak to him if he’s brought to the station,’ Trudy said, and after saying that she’d be right over, she hung up.