Becky looked around the incident room. Everyone seemed to be slouching in their seats, and she understood why. They had nothing to work with. They had no realistic timescale to investigate yet; they didn’t know how the woman got to the Flash, or even who she was. It was difficult to know where to start. Tom was due to give a statement to the press later that day in the hope that someone had seen something – anything – but they were clutching at straws.

Just as she decided she should stand up and give a rallying speech to the team, Tom strode into the room and passed a number of photographs to Keith Sims to pin on the board. He was wearing what Becky referred to as his ‘important meeting’ suit. The very dark navy looked good on him and hung well on his broad shoulders. As Keith organised the pictures, Tom slipped off his jacket to reveal a powder-blue shirt and a tie which Becky couldn’t help thinking was unnecessarily cheerful. He unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled back the sleeves to halfway up his forearms.

Becky sat a little straighter. Something was firing Tom up. Her reaction must have caught his eye, as he looked across and raised his eyebrows a fraction. Becky had seen that expression before and she felt a tingle of anticipation.

Tom started to speak, and the room fell silent. He explained that the post-mortem had been completed and he wanted to talk the team through the findings. All eyes were on him.

‘Due to the fact that access to the Flash was very limited once the snow came, Dr Sanders believes we should focus on those hours of the night before the freeze started eight days ago. It was zero degrees by midnight, and the park was still accessible then, but by six the next morning the snow was thick and heavy. And it got colder. If our victim was driven there, our window is that night until the early hours, and it’s our starting point for checking CCTV. However, we can’t rule out the possibility that she walked there. Don’t be distracted by the lack of shoes, which might be irrelevant. We’re still looking for them. Realistically we need to expand the dates of interest for people walking into the park by three days.’

There was a general groan at the thought of the extra footage they would have to look at, but Becky’s eyes were on Tom. She had a feeling he was holding something back – she was sure of it – something that would revitalise the investigation and get the best from the team.