“That’s out of order,” said Banks. “DI Cabbot was—”

Annie touched Banks’s arm. “No, boss,” she said. “It’s fine. Let him go on. I’m interested to hear.”

Carver coughed and fiddled with his tie. “It’s just that your attitude to male police officers might be seen as prejudiced.”

“Am I prejudiced against men?” Annie said. “Is that what you’re saying? Maybe I am towards some, but that prejudice doesn’t necessarily extend as far as every thick sexist oaf on the force or I’d have a hard time indeed doing my job. Your men tried to bully and intimidate us.”

“That was because you didn’t announce your presence as police detectives.” Carver’s expression took on a distinct sneer. “Not because they’re rapists or bullies. Not all men are, you know.”

“Listen to yourself,” Annie said, her voice rising. “Just listen to yourself.”

It was Banks’s turn to touch Annie’s arm. “OK, DI Cabbot, Superintendent Carver, that’s enough of that from both of you. Let’s agree to differ and leave personal slights behind us. Is that OK, Superintendent?”

Carver bristled. “Go on, DI Cabbot,” he grunted. “We’re listening.”

“We were approached by the officers in question, who informed us that we couldn’t park where we were because it was a double yellow line.”

“And?” said Banks.

“There were no double yellow lines, just a single.”

“But as I understand it, the officers were simply enforcing what they knew to be a parking law for that stretch of road,” Banks countered.

“There were no signs about not parking there, either. They said one of the lines had faded over time, and the council hadn’t got around to repainting it yet, which I thought was a load of bollocks.” Annie looked at a smirking Superintendent Carver. “I’ll bet they found time this morning, though.”

“Why didn’t you just do as you were instructed and move on?” asked Banks. “Better still, why didn’t you tell them who you were and why you were there?”

Annie bit her lower lip. She knew that in one sense she had behaved the way she had because she had wanted to provoke the officers, to push them, test their behavior. But she also knew that she had been sticking up for herself and Gerry, as members of the general public, trying to strike a blow against big hulking men who get pleasure from pushing women around. “It was their attitude,” Annie said. “Their manner was confrontational right from the get-go.”

“So you didn’t like their attitude,” mocked Carver. “Funny, that’s exactly what they said about you.”

“Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?”

Banks smiled, but Annie’s Mandy Rice-Davies imitation didn’t get her far with Carver. Perhaps he was too young to remember the Profumo affair.