‘This was our song,’ Jade said, failing to stop her voice cracking. ‘We used to play it when we were getting ready to go out.’

The poor neighbours.

Tea and tissues at the ready, Jade settled on her sofa opposite Jessica. ‘She was my best mate,’ Jade said, just about holding herself together as she twiddled the large hooped earring in her right ear.

‘And you were out with her on Thursday?’

‘We were at this place just off Tib Street for one of our other friend’s birthdays. It was supposed to be a quiet night – Italian and a few drinks – but we’d ended up staying out a bit later, even though we both had work the next day.’

Jessica took the details of the other friends who were there, as well as the places they had visited. ‘How was the evening?’ she asked.

‘It was good, a bit like the old days. We’ve all known each other since school and have been going out since then. We used to get dressed up and head to town to try to get into places. Some would serve you, some wouldn’t . . . although . . . I probably shouldn’t tell you that, should I?’

Jessica smiled, remembering her own youth. ‘I was young once too.’

Jade coughed a sombre smile through the still-near tears. ‘Right, so you know what it’s like?’

‘Too much make-up, shoes you can’t walk in, push-up bra, try not to make too much eye contact, in you go.’

‘Exactly – you have the best time of your life . . . well, you tell yourself that at the time. Back then, you scrape together a few quid and go out when you can, then get one of your dads to come and pick you up if you don’t have enough left for a taxi. Things begin to catch up with you, though, because you get jobs and boyfriends – two of our old mates, Jane and Vee, have little girls – slowly you drift away.’

‘But you’d stayed friends with Cassie?’

Jade let go of her earring and blew her nose loudly. ‘She was my best mate.’

Jessica thought of her friend Caroline and the relationship they had now. Since first meeting as teenagers all those years ago, they’d travelled together, lived together, drifted apart, back together and then, to a degree, apart again. Life did that. On some level, they’d always be a part of each other’s lives. In different circumstances, this could have been her giving the interview.

‘How often did you see each other?’

‘Once or twice a week? She worked at this office near the Printworks and I’m at a tanning salon in the centre. We’d go for lunch now and then. Even if we didn’t have time, we’d text all the time.’

‘How frequently would you all go out?’

Another sad smile slipped onto Jade’s face. ‘Not often enough. Once a month? Maybe not even that. If one of us had a birthday, we’d try to make an effort. Yasmine was turning twenty-three and we’d managed to get everyone together for the first time in ages. Even Jane and Vee were there.’

‘Talk me through the evening.’

‘We’d arranged to meet at the Italian place for eight but Cassie, me and Yasmine had gone to this pub around the corner first.’

‘What time did you get there?’

‘Seven. It was pretty busy – a load of lads in suits out after work. It’s always like that.’

‘Did anyone show any particular interest in you?’

Jade curled her feet up on the chair and shook her head. ‘I don’t think so; we had a booth in the corner and shared a bottle of wine. We were talking about work and TV – the usual things – having a laugh.’

‘Was she happy at work?’

A shrug: ‘You’re never that pleased at work, are you? It’s just what you do to get a few quid. I don’t think she was unhappy.’

‘What time did you leave?’

‘Just after eight. We were laughing because I’m always late for things and this time it wasn’t even my fault. We were just chatting and lost track of the time.’

‘What was the restaurant like?’

‘Normal – everyone was waiting for us. We had more wine in the bar bit while we were ordering, then we ate.’

‘Was there anything unusual?’

‘Only that the food came out really quickly. We chatted and laughed. Zoe fell off her stool because she was so pissed. It was one of those evenings. The waiters are friendly but that’s just because they’re after a tip, isn’t it.’

Jessica was making notes on the places that had been visited. She knew the area and it was only a few hundred metres from the pub to the restaurant. There would be CCTV cameras nearby, hopefully inside the places too. When she’d finished with Jade, she’d get someone onto tracking it all down. Officers would interview the people behind the bar in the pub and the waiters at the restaurant. No one would remember anything; they never did.

‘What time did you finish eating?’

‘I don’t know but because the food had come out so quickly, some of us were up for going on somewhere else. We all paid and said our goodbyes, then Cass, Zoe, me and Vee went on to this cocktail bar across the road. They have a little dance floor.’

‘Was it busy?’

‘Sort of – not packed but not empty. It’s nice going out in the week because there’s a good atmosphere but you can still move around. They were playing some good tunes and the barman was giving Zoe the eye.’

‘What about Cassie?’

Jade stopped to dry her eyes again but only succeeded in making a bigger mess of the mascara that had already smeared across her face. ‘I should’ve let her go.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘She wanted to go home to Carl after the restaurant but I persuaded her to stay out for one more. Then it was two more. If I’d let her go in the first place then . . .’

What an awful thing to live with.

‘You can’t blame yourself.’

Jade closed her eyes but there were tears again. She waved a hand dramatically in front of her face, whispering: ‘It wasn’t just that.’

Jessica reached across the pile of celebrity magazines and grabbed the box of tissues, joining Jade on the sofa. ‘Someone did this. I want to find out who.’

Jade pulled out three tissues and dabbed at her face again; the result made her look like a painting of a panda that someone had spilled a mug of coffee over.

‘What happened next?’ Jessica asked.

Jade slowly composed herself. ‘There’s a taxi rank on the main road, so we decided we’d all go together and then split it. I took my shoes off because they were bloody hurting and I was feeling a bit pissed. Zoe was just giggling.’

‘What was Cassie like?’

‘I think she wanted to go home.’

‘What happened?’

Jade gulped deeply. ‘I’m seeing this lad, Ben. He’s a dick. I know he’s a dick, Cassie knew he was a dick, the other girls know he’s a dick. I know he’s only using me for . . . well, y’know . . . but sometimes you don’t care, do you? I know I should but I’m getting stuff out of the relationship too – if you can call it that. It’s not as if I’m going to be settling down with him.’

‘Cassie didn’t approve?’

A shake of the head sent rogue tears splattering onto Jessica’s arm. ‘She’s my mate, so of course not. She was always saying he wasn’t good enough for me and that I should dump him for someone better. It’s not as if I disagreed but I guess I was so drunk that it touched a nerve.’

‘So you had an argument?’

The reply was so quiet that Jessica almost missed it, even though she was next to the other woman. ‘Yes.’

‘What happened?’

‘We were right next to the taxi rank. Vee said something about wanting to get home because her lovely boyfriend would be there. She reckoned he always waited up and that she was going to jump him. Zoe was saying she might go back to see if she could cop off with the barman and Cassie was smiling. She really loved Carl – they were beginning to think about getting married and the like. Usually, that would make me happy, but just for a moment I felt so angry. It was like I was someone else, I was so furious. I was thinking, “You bitch”. How dare she be so happy when I was stuck with that prick Ben. It must have been the booze, I’m not usually like that, honest.’