Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Agostini walked into an unusually quiet squad room, belonging to the Merseyside Police"s Specialist Murder Investigation Team. Set up to investigate crimes of an unusual and particularly challenging aspect, the team had been in existence for almost eight years, ably led by Detective Inspector Andy Ross and, until recently, his trusted side-kick, Detective Sergeant Izzie Drake, now absent for at least nine months on maternity leave, with her baby expected any time soon. It was spring, 2006 and along with the change in seasons, changes were taking place in the personnel of the team.
The team had also been further depleted by the loss of Sofie Meyer, the German detective who"d been on attachment with the Merseyside Force and, her time at an end, had recently r
