The middle-aged woman waiting in reception raised Kate’s hackles immediately, but not, she hoped, too visibly. ‘Mrs Duncton?’

‘Oh,’ she said, making no effort to get up, though Kate knew from experience that the chairs were not designed to encourage sitting, ‘I expected someone – you know …’

Kate did know. Punters wanted avuncular men, not young women dressed with more regard for the weather than for sobriety. Punters wanted Sergeant George Dixon of Dock Green, not Sergeant Kate Power of Kings Heath.