Palmer always wondered why people said that. There was never a good time for anyone to die, was there? Would it have been more convenient if someone had strung Dennis up in the middle of July? Perhaps March was a better time to learn that your husband had been murdered.

‘I am terribly sorry.’ He stood, holding onto his tie and making sure it didn’t fall into the puddle of tea that was creeping closer to him. ‘We’ll leave you in peace.’

‘Inspector, now that my sister is out of the room, please tell me, how badly do you think Andrew is injured?’

‘We can’t know for sure. His car obviously hit the tree at some speed.’

‘But if he was really hurt, I’m sure he would have taken himself to hospital,’ Elly interrupted, wanting to be encouraging. ‘It’s probably just a scratch.’

Francesca stopped wiping the table and stared at the sergeant. ‘Do you have children?’ She asked in an accusatory tone.

‘No, I don’t.’ Elly blushed.

‘Then you will never know the pain a mother feels for her child.’

‘Thank you again for the tea,’ Palmer cut in, wanting to protect his colleague from a verbal bashing. He guided Elly out of the house leaving Francesca scowling.

‘Wow. She’s a piece of work,’ Elly said once they were outside.

‘She’s a fire-cracker.’ Palmer smirked.

‘It’s good to know that Mrs Wade has someone there for her, though.’ She reached over and brushed a snowflake off Palmer’s shoulder. The pair looked at each other for a moment and said nothing. There was something between them, and Palmer could feel it growing.

‘Right.’ He led the way back to the car, crunching through the newly fallen snow. ‘Back to the station.’

Elly followed behind, stepping in his footprints, knowing that she had feelings for this man and that he was married. She wasn’t a homewrecker but spending so much time together was making it difficult to ignore the attraction she felt towards him. She suspected that he felt it too and that only made the situation worse.

As they got into the car, grateful to be out of the bitter cold, Palmer’s mobile phone began to ring. Barrett’s name was on the screen. Pulling off his gloves he fumbled in a hurry trying to answer it in time. ‘Sir?’

‘We’ve got a situation. I need you and Hale back here now. We’ve had reports from the French authorities that Andrew Wade is staying in a hotel in Vaas, north of Tours. They are on their way there now.’

When Elly and Palmer returned to the station, they were surprised to find Tilly Edgely in reception. She looked like she hadn’t slept for a week. Her hair was a mess, she wore loose-fitting clothes that did nothing for her figure and her once bright eyes were sunken in her face.