When the celebrity football match was abandoned just before half-time, Bartonshire police had no way of knowing that the swirling, choking fog had concealed much, much more than the striker's fancy footwork.
But by the end of the evening Chief Inspector Lloyd and Inspector Judy Hill were looking for a rapist - and a killer.
And, somewhere in Stansfield, Melissa Whitworth was just beginning to discover the truth about her husband . . .