‘Is Katie like that with everyone?’

Lloyd nodded. ‘Pretty much, unless you’re inspector rank or above. She’s probably jealous of you,’ he said, pouring hot water into his cup.

‘Jealous of me – what on earth for?’

‘KP likes attention, and being the only woman in the office, apart from the cleaner, she gets plenty of it – especially from DI Kingston. Now you’re on the scene she’s got some competition.’

‘I can assure you I’m not an attention-seeker. I’ve also learnt from experience not to mix business with pleasure,’ she added wryly. She finished her water, swilled the glass under the tap and put it on the draining board. ‘I’d better get a move on, then, before Katie gives me a detention.’

Lloyd chuckled as he put some sugar in his coffee.

‘Just be careful what you say around her as it will get straight back to Kingston and Murphy. And don’t let the Colonel niggle you. He likes a bit of confrontation and winding people up – but he doesn’t like it when he’s the butt of the joke.’

‘There was certainly a bit of tension between the two of you earlier,’ she remarked.

‘I got a lot of stick when I first came on the squad a year ago, especially as I was the first black officer to join the team, but I treated it as banter and gave back as good as I got – that way it didn’t bother me. The Colonel and me don’t always see eye to eye, but he knows not to push things too far – and he’s a good man to have on your side in a dodgy situation.’

‘From the size of him and his marines background I don’t doubt that,’ she said as she opened the kitchen door.

‘Nice to meet you, Sarge. Now you’re on the squad I won’t be the odd one out any more,’ he said with a cheeky grin and a wink.

Jane knew there were not enough black and ethnic minority officers in the force. She had certainly never worked in uniform or the CID alongside a black officer. She was also aware that despite efforts to encourage black people to join the police force, the response had been poor. Many in the Afro-Caribbean community believed, with reason, that if they joined the police they would be subjected to racism within the force as well as opposition and hostility from friends, relatives and members of the community.