There the resemblance to the chubby Melanie Smithers, the conservation officer, ended. This woman was tall and willowy and as far as Detective Inspector Sloan could see under the hard hat, ash blonde. She was wearing white overalls and walked with the panache usually associated with the fashion catwalk. She swept past Crosby with a winning smile, calmly lifted the tape clearly reading ‘POLICE – DO NOT CROSS THIS LINE’, and advanced towards Sloan. ‘Colleen Murphy,’ she murmured in a soft Irish accent. ‘Calleshire Fire Service.’ ‘Ah, miss…that is, madam…’ he started to respond as she approached. ‘Doctor,’ she corrected him sweetly. ‘Fire Forensics Investigator.’ She gazed at the charred site. I’m told Sub-Officer Burton should be around.’ Sloan pointed to Charlie Burton, just coming into sight round a corner of the wrecked part of the building. ‘Dear man,’ she murmured. Unclear whether she meant Charlie Burton or himself, Sloan nevertheless felt curiously uplifted.
