He opened the booklet and read, ‘“Resolving problems, investigating and preventing crime through a more inclusive approach. ..” Now, Human Resources have been charged with bringing forward names, and from our point of view, you will agree, it is crucial that the voice of experienced, serving detectives is heard on these committees.

Especially the Crime Strategy Working Party.’

While Sharpe returned to his desk for another document, a sheaf of A4 pages clipped together, Brock thought, oh no, I’m not going to waste my time on some bloody committee.

‘The name of one of your team has come up, Brock, and I wondered what you thought. DS Kolla.’

Brock hadn’t expected this, and Sharpe saw his surprise. ‘No?’

‘I thought you’d be looking for someone older, sir.’

‘She’s got quite a few years under her belt now, and we’re after new blood. Over the next ten years the Met is going to have to recruit two-thirds of its staff over again, and people at her level are going to be crucial to that process. Besides, she’s got an excellent record at the coalface, both in crime detection and in interacting with ethnic communities. There are a couple of recent letters of appreciation here from community leaders; one from a Mr Sanjeev Manzoor of the Pakistani community in Stepney, and another from Mr Qasim Ali of the Shiite community.’

Brock was familiar with the letters. Sanjeev Manzoor had deemed it politic to be nice to Kathy, hoping to avoid prosecution for making false statements to a magistrate, and Qasim Ali probably fancied her. ‘Yes, I got copies of the letters. They were well deserved. And she’s a woman, of course.’

Sharpe smiled briefly. ‘That too. And with an ethnic partner, I understand.’

‘How did Human Resources get hold of that?’

‘We’ve run a bit of a check on her, and it all sounds good. So what do you think? You don’t look certain.’