The station seemed deserted. She was so used to seeing old Walter Swinburne at his desk, drinking tea or hogging the fire, that it felt quite odd how quiet it was. She guessed that the few officers who had managed to make it in were now out and about attending to their many duties – even poor old Walter!

She supposed that, given all the parties that must have been going on last night, the drunk tanks all over the city were now probably full to bursting, and the paperwork for that alone would be mind-boggling. She hoped that wasn’t what she’d been called in early to help with.

‘Go on in, the inspector’s been in since six. He’s in a foul mood though, so watch out,’ Rodney advised her gruffly.

Duly warned, Trudy checked her cap was on straight, knocked on Inspector Jennings’s door, and heard the familiar bellow for her to come in.

She flinched, but put a bright smile on her face.

Harry Jennings raised his head as she entered and gave her a jaundiced look. He was a fair-haired man of medium height and build, with a rather large nose and hazel eyes. Right now, his eyes appeared rather bloodshot and Trudy wondered if he’d been partying himself last night and now was suffering from the subsequent hangover.

‘Oh, so you’re here at last,’ he said flatly.

‘Sir,’ she said smartly. She wondered, briefly, if she should point out that she wasn’t due in for a good six hours yet, but knew better.

‘Well, you’d better get yourself off to Five Mile Drive then,’ he said grimly. ‘We’ve got a dead body.’

Trudy blinked and stiffened in surprise. Had he really just said what she’d thought he said? ‘Sir?’ she asked timidly. Usually the inspector wouldn’t let her handle cases more important than shoplifting or old ladies mugged for their pension money. Well, apart from the odd occasion when Dr Clement Ryder needed her official police services, and the inspector was given no other choice but to comply.

Was it possible that the inspector was taking her seriously at last?

‘Oh, don’t get excited, Constable,’ Jennings said wearily, catching the excitement in her eye. ‘We’ve got reports of someone being found dead in their car in a snowdrift. Almost certainly he was out drinking and partying last night, crashed, and either died of his injuries or exposure. If I had the men, I’d send—’ He broke off and sighed as he contemplated his depleted forces. ‘Bloody snow!’ he muttered.