Palmer spent the rest of the morning filing his report on the crash that had taken place the previous Monday. The hazardous weather had instigated the problem and a lorry had lost control on the ice, careering into a number of cars before ending up tipped over on the side of the road. There had been no fatalities but three people had been seriously injured. It was an open and shut case but that didn’t mean there was any less paperwork, and cuts to the budget meant that every single officer was spread very thinly across a number of on-going investigations. It was a part of the job they all resented but something they couldn’t control.

By lunchtime the DI was feeling bad tempered and took himself outside for some fresh air. The incident room could get very stuffy, even if the temperature outside was only three degrees.

As Palmer stood on the pavement overlooking Parker’s Piece, he watched a young family trying to make the best of the now grey-brown slushy snow. Their attempts to build a snowman were hopeless.

The large square green had looked so pretty when the snow had first landed. Now it was turning into a dirty bog. Palmer sank his hands into his coat pockets and turned his back on the view. The sight of the filthy snow had done nothing to lighten his mood at all. As he made his way up the stairs to the incident room, which was at the top of the building on the fourth floor, he hoped that the team had found some useful information that would shed light on the case.

Much to his pleasure, when he opened the door to the large open-plan incident room, he discovered a flurry of activity. Had he missed something in those few moments he’d spent out on the street? Wanting an answer to his question he went over to Elly’s desk and asked her what all the excitement was about.

‘Interpol have been in touch. They think they have a lead on Andrew Wade. It seems he crashed his car into a tree somewhere along the AutoRoute heading in the direction of Tours. Local police found the car abandoned. There’s been heavy snow in France, too, apparently. It appears there is some blood on the steering wheel and some on the driver’s side of the windscreen. French police are mounting a search of the area as we speak.’ Her dark eyes smiled with excitement and Palmer’s bad mood quickly melted away. Finally, it looked like luck might be on their side.

‘Good news.’ A satisfied smile lit up Palmer’s face. ‘I’m still not convinced he’s our man, but he ran and he lied, so we will need to talk to him again. Let me know the minute you hear anything else from Interpol.’ Palmer patted Elly’s shoulder and went to deliver news of the development to his boss.