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grim. I watched, not sure how I could help or if I should try.
    Godley turned around then, looking for me, and I knew it was bad, whatever he was hearing. He snapped his fingers to get me to come closer and shielded the phone so the person on the other end couldn’t hear what he was saying. ‘Go and get Derwent. Right now.’
    I went. I dumped the glasses on a nearby table and hurried out to the sweet-smelling garden, going as fast as I could though my heels were slowing me down on the gravel path. After a few steps I slid my shoes off and ran on the grass instead, heading for the car park.
    The area where the cars were parked was deserted and badly lit, but I could see straightaway I’d been wrong about the car bonnet. No one was even near Derwent’s car, let alone sprawled across it. I slowed down, looking around. I’d been so sure …
    As I got closer, I realised I wasn’t as wrong as all that. They were in the back seat.
    Without my shoes I was completely silent. I moved around to the window closest to Derwent’s head, and I used the heel of the shoe I was carrying to rap on the glass, hard. His head came up fast and I saw him swearing as he reached over to open the door. Beth was frantically trying to readjust her dress, tugging the top half up and the bottom half down.
    ‘What the fuck, Kerrigan?’
    ‘We’ve got a call.’ For Beth’s benefit, because Derwent already knew, I added, ‘We have to go.’

Chapter 2
    ‘It goes without saying that I’m sorry for spoiling your evening.’ Godley looked around the small circle of his team, the five of us who had been pulled out of the party to stand and wait for our orders. We were standing a little way from the marquee, on a paved area beside a small pond. Frogs chirped in the darkness. I checked the time: after one and there was no sign of the wedding reception winding down.
    Godley went on: ‘We’ve been asked to investigate the murder of a police officer.’
    There was an intake of breath from most of us, but no actual surprise. If we were being brought in to investigate in the middle of the night when we were miles from London, it had to be something serious and complicated. That was Godley’s remit after all.
    ‘Who?’ Derwent demanded.
    ‘A sergeant who works out of Isleworth. Terence Hammond is his name. Have any of you come across him?’
    Five heads shook in unison.
    ‘Good. That’s a help.’ Godley took a paper napkin out of his pocket and checked the notes he’d taken earlier. ‘He was forty-two. Married, with two children. He was shot in the chest.’
    ‘On duty?’ Chris Pettifer this time, barrel-chested and gravel-voiced.
    ‘He was coming off duty. On his way home, around a quarter to one.’
    ‘While he was driving?’ I asked.
    ‘No. He’d stopped his car in Richmond Park. His home address is on the Kingston side of the park. I assume he used the park as a shortcut to get home.’
    ‘But why did he stop?’ I asked.
    ‘No idea. He was in a side road near the Pen Ponds car park.’ Godley read out the GPS location so we could find it. Richmond Park was the biggest area of open ground in London, a diamond-shaped wilderness that sprawled for more than 2,500 acres. I’d worked smaller crime scenes.
    Godley went on: ‘I don’t know any more than that, except that he was found almost immediately so we can be fairly sure about the timings. His family still hasn’t been informed. This came straight to us because of his job.’
    ‘Are you sure there’s a connection? Was he killed because he was a copper?’ Derwent asked. His face was watchful, his concentration total. I found it hard to imagine he had been up to his elbows in a bridesmaid minutes before. His gaze flicked to me for a second and I cut my eyes away from him, staring at Godley as if I had to memorise every detail of his appearance.
    ‘Not sure of anything yet. I’m not even sure of the details. That’s why we need to get there. I don’t like getting everything