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Tiff took another gulp of tea and paused in writing her report. The statement was to be passed to Dudley CID as a record of the conversation with Olivia and Logan Dench.

It was meant to be objective and factual, but Tiff kept wanting to add in her own senses, her own unease. Despite her training, she wanted to start each sentence with ‘I feel’ or ‘I think’.

‘Look lively, Tiff,’ Sergeant Kendrick said from behind as he entered the canteen. ‘Your shift’s nearly over.’

‘Sorry, Sarge. I’ll be done in a minute. Just trying to put stuff into words.’

He paused his journey to the counter and took a seat. ‘Why, what’s up? You do these every day.’

She shrugged. She was wondering the same thing herself. But the meeting with Olivia Dench and her son just kept playing over in her mind. She had felt a tension in the house from the moment she’d walked in. Nothing that had taken place afterwards had changed that.

‘Just record the facts, Tiff. We did our job. It’s up to CID now. Although I’m not sure when they’re gonna fit in the identification of the body. Our lot are busy with the murder of the woman in Stourbridge, and Dudley are tied up in court for the next few days on that big armed robbery case. It’ll probably be sent over to?—’

‘I can do it,’ Tiff said quickly. ‘I’m off shift in fifteen minutes. I’ll do it on my own time. Just to help out. Is that against any rules?’ she asked, not wanting to end her CID career before it had even begun.

Kendrick frowned, and Tiff could see that his first instinct was to refuse, but then he shrugged.

‘It does need doing quickly, and CID will end up going over our tracks anyway. It’ll be one job less for them.’ He smacked the table before getting up. ‘Okay, give that Logan kid a call. Show him the body and then do up your report before shift in the morning.’

‘Thanks, Sarge,’ she said, taking out her phone.

‘Don’t mention it. Happy to let you take on extra jobs any time. Eventually, CID will be lucky to have you.’

Tiff smiled her appreciation. She certainly hoped so.