Annie had brought Banks up to speed just before they started the meeting, and he took his seat with the others, including Gerry, Doug Wilson, Stefan Nowak, Vic Manson, Jazz Singh and assorted CSIs. Winsome had gone home, as this wasn’t her case, and she had plenty of homework to do on Danny Caxton. That beady-eyed bloke from the press office, Adrian Moss, who had visited her in the morning with AC Gervaise, was also present. He had been prowling the corridors a lot lately, as if he were up to something. He reminded Annie of a snake-oil salesman, not that she had ever met such a creature.

Annie surveyed the expectant faces, knowing how hard they had all worked since the body had been found on Wednesday morning. Now it was almost the weekend, and most of them would have a couple of days’ rest and some time to spend with their families, a brief respite from the world of violent death. Not Annie, and probably not Banks, either, she thought. This was the kind of case that put its hooks into you. She didn’t know how Banks felt about his high-profile investigation yet, but she knew him well enough to hazard a guess that he wasn’t too thrilled. That was being kept as much under wraps as hers for the moment. There were no meetings and little squad-room gossip, though Danny Caxton was making a splash in the media.

Gerry began by describing the CCTV searches for possible cars and vans. “We’ve made a start,” she said. “DC Wilson is coordinating the team watching the CCTV and ANPR feeds. But it’ll be slow going. There’s a lot of it. We’re also checking Bradham village itself and all the farms and villages in the immediate area, as well as having a close look at events in Eastvale that night.”

“Quite a job, then?”