‘You do remember we’re meeting tonight, don’t you, darling?’ said her sister, not bothering with any of the usual introductory niceties.

‘Hello, Connie, how are you?’ said Sasha, making a point.

Con ignored her and said, ‘You won’t let me down again, will you?’

Sasha gave herself a quick once-over in the rear-view mirror, clawing her fingers and dragging them through her white hair. Clamping the phone as best she could between her ear and shoulder, she pulled the long bob into a ponytail, accentuating the perfect point of her widow’s peak against her olive skin, and tied it in place. Then she opened the driver’s door as far as she could in the tiny space between her Spider and the patrol car – it was incredibly tight, and in hindsight she maybe should have parked somewhere else – ignoring the smirks of the uniforms and forensics team who watched her trying to squeeze into the gap between the vehicles.

‘Are you there, darling?’ asked her sister impatiently.

Shuffling sideways along the slice of space, Sasha swallowed her irritation. She and Con had been meaning to catch up for weeks now, had several times arranged a time, date and location, but Connie always bailed at the last minute, and blamed Sasha for postponing.

‘I’m going to have to play it by ear, Con.’ A late night in the office could be on the cards if the death of the man on the rail track proved suspicious. ‘But I promise I’ll do my best.’

‘Good morning, ma’am,’ said a uniformed officer, who came over with a clipboard.

‘Hello.’ She showed him her ID and he signed her into the scene cordon log. ‘Good to see you.’

‘What did you say?’ Connie asked on the phone, but she didn’t wait for Sasha to answer. ‘I really need to see you… well, the fact is, I need a favour.’

Stepping out of the way of the stream of emergency personnel walking to and from the building, Sasha lifted her eyes to the blue, cloudless sky. Connie’s requests for favours usually involved loans or financial support for her boyfriend Barry’s doomed business ventures. And besides, Sasha couldn’t remember the last time Connie had done her any favours in return, hadn’t even offered to babysit her kids when they were younger. Getting help from Con, for anything at all, was like getting blood from a stone.

Perhaps sensing Sasha’s reticence, Connie added quickly, ‘And of course, I’m so looking forward to seeing you, it’s been ages.’

‘As I say, Con—’

‘Shall we say seven at that new bar in Leigh? See you then, Sash. Can’t wait.’

And then Connie hung up. Sasha was still staring at her phone when Detective Sergeant Ajay de Vaz, already suited in his forensic coveralls, came over.

‘Sorry I’m late, but my son lost his school bag in his tip of a bedroom.’ She offered him an amused eye-roll, intended to make light of her tardiness. Sasha’s timekeeping wasn’t the best; at her most recent work appraisal she had promised to be more punctual. But she also knew that nobody in her Major Incident Team would drop her in it. She nodded towards the station. ‘Tell me now, is it bad?’