‘You’ve not gone through any of this?’

‘What? No, I only just got in here ten minutes ago or so. Farraday was walking out and said something about wondering where you were.’

25

Jessica looked across the room at her colleague. ‘You actually saw him in here?’

Reynolds seemed a bit confused but pointed over his shoulder towards their office door. ‘Sort of, he had just come out of the door as I walked into the corridor. I asked him if he had been talking to you in here but he just mumbled something and walked off. I didn’t really catch it but assumed he was looking for you when I saw you weren’t around.’

Jessica tried to calm herself and not show Reynolds there was any obvious problem. She wasn’t ready to share her ideas with anyone else just yet and still feared she was being paranoid. ‘I did tell him I was going to be in my office. Maybe he just knocked something over by accident? It’s fine.’

Reynolds looked at her with his head tilted at the angle she hated as it indicated someone was about to ask if she was all right. Before he could speak, she started walking back towards the door. ‘I’ll check with him now.’

Jessica again didn’t know what to think. Her side of the office was always a mess but she knew where everything was and could tell someone had gone through her things. What could Farraday have been looking for?

She headed for reception and then up the stairs. On the first floor, aside from the chief inspector’s office, there were only storage areas and miscellaneous rooms for officers from other districts who were working with them temporarily. If ever the superintendent was at their station for a day he would be given one of the spare rooms to work from. The floor was a lot quieter than the rest of the station and, apart from the DCI himself, very few people spent much time upstairs.

Farraday’s office had glass that ran all around it and Jessica could see instantly he wasn’t there. She hadn’t even known what she was going to say to him but, given Jason had said he was looking for her, it would at least be a start. She stopped and motioned to turn back towards the stairs but then had a thought. Jessica walked towards the door of the office and pushed the handle down. The office would usually be locked overnight but the grip allowed her to open it. She paused at the door knowing she shouldn’t go in but the theories in the back of her mind urged her forwards.

She didn’t know what she was looking for as she stepped carefully behind his desk. Jessica realised she was on tiptoes even though she had no reason to be creeping; it wasn’t as if someone downstairs would hear her. At first she fingered through some papers on the desk and then looked on top of the filing cabinets behind her. There was nothing of any significance but she turned back to the desk and tried the drawers.

The top one was full of pens, rubber bands and paper clips, and she closed it quietly before opening the middle one. There were a few documents inside and Jessica looked through their contents. They related to a separate case that was being worked on but there was nothing untoward in him having them.

Finally, she pulled out the bottom drawer. There was an A4 writing pad on top with two more files underneath. She thumbed through the first one, which had some financial figures relating to their budget, and then picked up the final cardboard wallet at the bottom of the drawer. She opened the front cover and blinked furiously at the top sheet of paper.

It was Detective Constable Carrie Jones’s personnel file.

Jessica found it hard to believe what she was holding. She skimmed through the contents and could see all of her friend’s personal details. Her full name, date of birth, place of birth, current address and contact numbers were on the top sheet. There were details relating to her parents and education plus underneath were the test results from when she had joined the force. The sheets that had been filled in when she was interviewed were included and so were the results of her physical exams. There was a hard copy of her Criminal Records Bureau check, showing she didn’t even have a driving conviction.

She didn’t read the contents word for word but everything you could have wanted to know about the constable was present.

Jessica’s heart was racing as she returned the contents of the drawer and walked out of the office, closing the door behind her. The personnel department were based on the floor below and, while everyone’s records were also stored digitally on the computer system, there were hard copies too. All of the information was supposed to be private and Jessica had no idea how the DCI would have managed to take the file, let alone why he would do so.

Having the file could well be a disciplinary offence but Jessica knew she had to tread carefully. Perhaps he had taken the file after the killing because he was looking for a lead himself? Without talking to Cole or her it would be an odd thing to do but it was possible.

Jessica quickly made her way down the stairs and went to see if Cole had arrived. Despite what she had just seen, she was desperate to act as normal as possible. The whole team would be waiting for the morning briefing and, suspicions or not, she and Cole were going to have to meet with the DCI at some point to get all the details together.

As she was walking towards the offices, Rowlands was coming towards her. ‘There you are. Reynolds said you had gone to look for the DCI.’ Jessica didn’t want to say anything so simply looked at him, asking him with her eyes what he wanted. He took the hint and continued talking. ‘I’ve spoken to one of the officers at the scene and they say there are still Scene of Crime officers at Carrie’s house.’

‘Did they find her phone?’

‘The guy said they’d found her footprints leading towards Mills’s house so they know she walked across her neighbour’s garden to get there. According to the person he spoke to they didn’t find a phone.’

‘What about the taxi?’

‘It took a few calls but I found the company that operate from the rank by the pub. They checked the records and found the journey from last night. They checked with the driver but he says there was nothing left in the back of his cab. It was his last journey of the night too so it’s not as if anyone else could have picked it up.’

Jessica took her phone out of her jacket pocket and pressed a few buttons. ‘May as well try it,’ she said. The number she called didn’t even connect, instead going straight to voicemail. Jessica felt sick as she heard the cheery Welsh voice at the other end.

‘Hey, it’s Carrie. I’m busy or something, leave a message.’

Jessica hung up, trying to keep her composure. ‘It’s off.’

Half an hour later, Jessica was sitting back in Farraday’s office. She nervously looked at the desk she had searched through not too long ago but, if she had left anything out of place, it hadn’t been mentioned. Cole was sitting next to her as Reynolds stood. The chief inspector was drumming his fingers.

‘Before we start, I was given some news this morning to pass on to you, Daniel. Graham Hancock has been bailed. You know he pleaded not guilty to wasting our time and had been kept in but some soft-arse magistrates let him out on appeal this morning. Christ knows when he’ll be on trial but until then that sicko’s free to walk around.’

With everything that had happened during the morning, Jessica had forgotten about the man who had confessed. She didn’t feel in danger from him but the idea he could be back on the streets was certainly not what she expected. He had initially been remanded but, because he could only get six months in jail as a maximum punishment, the magistrates had decided he should be let out.