Twenty minutes later she had deposited the children and driven to the new South Manchester headquarters. On the way, waiting at traffic lights, she had checked her appearance in the rear-view mirror. Dark hair with high-lights cut just below chin length which framed her face, her eyes large, mid-blue, accented by a barely discernable trace of make-up. She’d a generous mouth, full lips and a good smile. She ran a sheer lipstick over her mouth.

It wouldn’t be her first murder, she’d worked plenty of those, but her first time in charge. What if she was wrong? What if she’d been summoned for something completely different? What? What else could it be?