Which was fine by O’Grady, even as Jennings had thundered away at him that he was going to do it strictly by the book. So far, far too many liberties had been taken – which included the old vulture acting as their ‘medical’ expert.

True, the outstanding weather conditions, coupled with so many people being off sick, had made it necessary to cut some corners. But that had only been when the case had seemed so cut and dried – and thus breaches in protocol were unlikely to raise too many eyebrows. Now, O’Grady could tell that the inspector was much more worried that, if the case did turn out to be more sinister, he would be hauled over the coals by the powers-that-be for being so lackadaisical. Which was harsh, since nobody came equipped with hindsight, not even detective inspectors – but that was life, O’Grady supposed.

Not that any of this made his own life any easier. He’d been ordered to take over the reins, which meant sending Dr Clement Ryder packing back to his office, where he belonged, and WPC Loveday back to her beat or filing paperwork, where she belonged.

Which was all very well, Mike O’Grady thought now, but he’d barely had time to start reading the files on the Terrence Parker case before he’d been called to the front desk where a suspect in that very same case had been caught attempting to tamper with evidence.

Using the time it took to book the suspect in, he’d tried to speed-read as much of WPC Loveday’s reports as possible, but even so he knew he was woefully unprepared and ill-equipped to interview the man. He hadn’t had the chance to absorb even the bare bones of the case yet.

So finding, on entering the interview room, that Mr Geoffrey Thorpe was already clearly downcast was a definite bonus. At least he didn’t look as if he had the spirit or gumption to try and run rings around a police officer. Nevertheless, the sergeant was aware of a feeling of relief when, almost as soon as they’d established Geoffrey Thorpe’s identity, address and place of work there was a tap at the door, and WPC Loveday showed her face.

She seemed, O’Grady thought with a hidden smile, slightly apprehensive as she looked at him. ‘Hello, Sergeant. I, er, heard that Mr Thorpe was here, and wondered …’

‘Come in and sit down,’ the sergeant said gruffly. Unlike the inspector, Mike had a more generous attitude towards the WPC. He found her intelligent, diligent and willing to work, which were all bonuses as far as he was concerned. And whilst he agreed with his superior officer that she was far too junior to be working an important case on her own, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth either. Right now, she knew more about what was happening than he did.