‘You do know you’ll never beat me in this escalating war. I outrank you so you sign me up for careers day, I get you to work your way through that giant pile of freedom of information requests no one else wants to do.’

‘Oh come on. That’s playing dirty. What did you want me for anyway?’

Jessica explained they were going to collect January Forrester for questioning but they weren’t going to arrest her. She chose two uniformed officers to go with them just in case and the four of them set off in two marked cars.

January lived in a flat above a row of shops in the Abbey Hey area. There were far worse districts in Manchester but, as they arrived, Jessica could see a grubby rank of stores with a dirty-looking and smelly pizza shop, a hairdressers and a convenience store. Each shop was separated by a single door leading to three upstairs flats. From what they could see, there was no back entrance to the properties, only loading areas for the shops.

Jessica rang the doorbell as Rowlands and the two other officers stood behind her. They had parked the cars in the alley which led to the delivery yard in order to not be too obvious.

There was no answer so Jessica rang and knocked again.

‘Did Lewis’s mother tell you if January worked?’ Rowlands asked.

‘She said she’d never known her have a job and that she was always in.’

‘It doesn’t bode well if she’s gone missing, especially with everything that’s been on the news.’

‘She could have just popped out to the shops.’

Jessica turned, leaning against the store’s window next to the front door. The other three officers were looking at her but Jessica saw a swish of long black hair out of the corner of her eye behind them. Someone had been walking towards where they were but quickly turned around. The person was moving quickly but not running. It was clearly a woman and, despite the ongoing June heat, she was wearing knee-length black leather boots with a short black dress. The woman reached the corner where the shops met the first house of a row and her head disappeared behind a hedge.

Jessica started walking quickly in the direction the woman had headed. ‘I think she was just here,’ she said as the three detectives followed her.

They got to the corner and could see the woman walking quickly away from them. As she moved, the girl turned and noticed the police officers, breaking into a run.

Jessica started sprinting too. It was a warm day and she didn’t think her dark grey work suit was really the best attire to be running in. The other officers followed, one of the uniformed constables bolting past her in pursuit, weaving in and out of the other people on the pavement. Jessica was trying to watch where she was going while also keeping an eye on the woman and officer ahead.

The figure in front dashed across a patch of grass but Jessica could see the constable was right behind her. She gave another half-look backwards and, when she saw how close the man in uniform was, stopped running, turning around and holding her hands to the side.

Jessica slowed as she neared them.

‘Are you January Forrester?’ she asked as she came to a stop, trying not to sound too exhausted.

‘Yeah, what’s it to you?’ January didn’t seem out of breath but the officer who had caught her had barely broken sweat. Jessica thought she would remember his face if she ever needed to take another team out with her.

The other uniformed officer had kept pace with her while Rowlands finally arrived at the scene and instantly bent over with his hands on his knees, sweat drenching his forehead. Jessica tried not to smile. She wanted to give him a ‘where were you?’ look but he was staring at the ground trying to catch his breath.

Jessica took out her identification and introduced herself. ‘Why did you run, January?’

‘No reason, I run a lot. I didn’t know you were chasing me.’ She pointed at the officer who had caught her. ‘As soon as I saw this guy, I stopped.’

‘Do you always go out for a run in knee boots and a dress?’

The young woman sounded defiant. ‘Sometimes. Why, is that a crime?’

‘No but we’re here to talk about your missing boyfriend.’

‘Did you find Lewis?’ January’s voice had raised an octave. She could have been putting it on but it did sound as if there was hope in the tone.

‘Not exactly, no,’ Jessica said.

January rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, right. His cow of a mum has been to see you, hasn’t she? What is it this time?’

Jessica explained that they didn’t want to arrest her but would really like it if she came with them to the station. ‘We want to ask you about your boyfriend’s disappearance, that’s all.’

January pointed out that she’d already given a statement but, after some swearing, she finally agreed to go. Jessica didn’t want to arrest her but they were allowed to keep people without charge for up to twenty-four hours. If she caused them any more hassle in the interview room, given the fact she had run as well, Jessica had half a mind to see if the custody sergeant would keep her in the cells in the hope the forensic results from the hand would be back before the time was up.

Jessica put January in the car with the two uniformed officers and let Rowlands drive her back to the station in the other vehicle.

‘I didn’t realise you were so unfit,’ she said as the man drove.

‘You guys got a bit of a head-start on me, that’s all.’

‘Rubbish. You were stood next to us. Are you sure it’s not your age?’

‘You’re older than me.’

‘Yeah and look who got to January the quickest. I’d already dialled nine and nine on my phone. I was waiting for you to drop to the floor before pressing the final nine and calling an ambulance.’

‘It was all an act to get her off her guard. If she’d started to run again I’d have been right on her.’

‘If she’d started to run again I don’t think you’d have even noticed, considering you were bent over double trying not to throw up,’ Jessica laughed.

‘You’re obviously not familiar with how we trained athletes work.’

‘In perpetual agony by the looks of it.’

The afternoon rush-hour traffic was beginning to build up as the two cars pulled into the station. The pair of uniformed officers took January through the front entrance to be processed while the two detectives went to move past them to set up the interview room. As they were walking, the desk sergeant held out a hand to catch Jessica’s attention. He was already dealing with a member of the public over the counter, so she waited as Rowlands carried on through.

Once the sergeant had finished speaking, he turned back to Jessica and reached under the desk.

‘This arrived in the afternoon post van. Dunno who should open it really. I didn’t want to send it upstairs to the DCI but the inspector is out and he’s taken the new girl with him.’

He took out a thick padded brown envelope and passed it to Jessica. The station’s address had been printed out and taped to the front while it was simply addressed ‘Senior Detective’. Jessica turned the parcel over to see if there was any return address but there was nothing. It felt fairly light in her hand and she couldn’t make out the shape of anything bulky through the packaging.

‘Why didn’t you put it through to the mail room?’ Jessica asked.

‘It only came half an hour ago or so, I haven’t had time. You should be all right to open it, shouldn’t you?’

‘I guess . . .’

Jessica tore along the strip at the top, placing the envelope on the edge of the counter as she opened the flap. She couldn’t see what was inside so turned the package upside down, emptying it onto the reception desk until an object dropped out and landed on the table top. Jessica looked at it and then glanced up to meet the desk sergeant’s horrified eyes.

The neatly severed finger rolled along the edge of the desk and fell to the floor with a soft plop.