“Ah, Miss Marple, thank you so much for joining us.” Harry Pearce greeted the elderly lady and offered her a seat. “The rest of the team should be here soon.”

Ros and Jo greeted her warmly and Malcolm, who was listening intently to something on his headphones, gave a half-wave before resuming his note taking. Shortly afterwards Tariq appeared carrying a tray of mugs, plus a plate of shortbread biscuits.

“Thank you,” Miss Marple said. “I hadn’t expected anything different in my honour.”

“We always have biscuits at this time of the afternoon,” Jo said.

“But not, I suspect, on a plate.”

At that moment Adam and the werewolf arrived.

“Good afternoon, Miss Marple,” Adam said. “I’m glad you avoided the rain.”

“Dear Harry insisted I take a taxi to the door. You, however, seem to have been caught in it.”

“Yes, we were the far side of the park when it started. I took a bus, and left him,” he nodded at the dripping werewolf, “to run across the park and meet me at the bus stop.”

The werewolf wagged his tail and looked up at Harry.

“No, dear, I don’t think so, do you?” Miss Marple said firmly.

The werewolf rumbled in his throat, but went to pull out his towel from under Adam’s desk.

“I’m impressed, Miss Marple,” Ros said. “I was sure he was about to shake water all over Harry.”

“It’s all in the look,” the lady replied. “Very useful for both small boys and errant werewolves.”

She looked up at Harry, a twinkle in her eye, and he hastily began to explain the reason for their meeting.