Jacob stumbled to his right, not knowing entirely where the taxi rank was but realising he had a fifty per cent chance of being correct. Before he could get to the junction he felt a hand on his shoulder. He started to turn but felt a blow hammer into the side of his cheek. His vision was spinning anyway but started to go black from the ferocity of the attack.

Jacob fought to stay standing, throwing a punch of his own, but he couldn’t see where the blow had come from. His swing connected only with warm air as something smashed into the back of his head. He tried to stay focused and upright but a final blow was enough to make everything go dark.

13

Jessica was sitting at her desk, looking at the two constables in front of her. ‘Where’d you get the chair from, Dave?’

Rowlands shrugged. ‘Nicked it from downstairs. I figured that if we’re going to keep meeting in your office, I should at least have somewhere to sit.’ He looked accusingly at Izzy.

‘All right, kiddies,’ Jessica said, looking from one constable to the other, ‘who wants to go first?’

Izzy flicked her hair back behind her ears and started to tie it in a ponytail. ‘Me and the boy wonder have visited everyone we know that has any association with January. Everyone claims they don’t know where she is, which isn’t a surprise, I guess.’

Rowlands nodded, taking his colleague’s cue to chip in. ‘I reckon she’s hiding out with a friend somewhere. There are a few people we think might know more than they’re letting on but there’s not much we can do. Aside from sounding a bit shifty we don’t have any reason to suspect anyone specifically.’

Jessica knew he was right. ‘Next time I see the super I’ll ask him to get onto the Home Secretary about bringing in a law so we can arrest shifty-looking and -sounding people. Personally I’m all for it.’ She again looked from one constable to the other. ‘You both know about the package I was sent a couple of days ago. Because of the similarity in print on the front I didn’t even touch it and the lab boys came to take it. I got a phone call and email with the results this morning. As I thought, it contained a finger belonging to Lewis Barnes.’

‘Why do you think it was addressed directly to you?’ Izzy asked.

‘No idea really. The case has been in the papers and the details are on the website so someone could have taken it from there. Maybe it’s someone like January we’ve spoken to who knows me? There weren’t any fingerprints on the envelope so it’s a bit of a dead end. The labs couldn’t give us anything specific about printer or ink types but it was always going to be a long shot.’

‘Are you okay with things?’ Izzy asked, referring to the fact it had been Jessica specifically who had received the latest parcel.

Jessica was still having the odd flash of the first finger in her dreams and was relieved she hadn’t opened the second package. If she was honest she was a little concerned that whoever was sending the parcels apparently knew who she was but she didn’t want to show those feelings to her colleagues. Cole and Reynolds had both asked her the same question the previous day.

Jessica shrugged. ‘Not much I can do, is there? Every piece of mail I get is being screened before it gets to me now. If someone could do the same with my bills at home I’d be laughing.’ Her two colleagues exchanged a look as if to tell each other they knew she was putting a brave face on it. She pretended she hadn’t seen it and changed the subject. ‘Have either of you managed to dig up anything on Michael Wright?’

Rowlands and Diamond both shook their heads. ‘Me neither,’ said Jessica. ‘I know you guys didn’t see him but I think he’s a bit of a red herring anyway. He didn’t seem bitter to me, just sad. The poor guy loved the job and enjoyed his students’ success. He’s a little unconventional but nothing more.’ Jessica had almost used the word ‘weird’. Even though the man wasn’t present it would have felt as if she was bullying him.

‘Where does that leave us?’ Rowlands asked.

Jessica puffed her cheeks out, shrugging. ‘In a bit of a mess. The rugby players live all over the country and I’m not convinced that’s our link anyway. If they all went to the same school, there’s every chance they did other things together. I think we’ll have one more day going back over what we’ve already got and then, after that, it’s working our way through every name on that list of school-leavers. I don’t think any of us want to be doing that. Iz, take an officer and go see Vicky Barnes. You know what she’s like but keep her calm and see if she knows anything about where January could be. We know Lewis played rugby but what else was he involved with? Did he play any other sports or was he part of other clubs and so on?’

Izzy had taken her notebook out and was writing. Jessica looked to Rowlands. ‘Dave, there are two other players from the rugby team who live in this area. I spoke to the pair of them on the phone but go and do your blokey thing with them. Take another male officer and try to get them off-guard. I’m not convinced Jacob told us all he knew. It’s probably nothing but ask them about tours and celebrations and so on. See if anyone remembers Lewis and Ed being friends or find out if they’re linked in any way aside from the rugby.’

‘Anything else? Dave asked.

‘No, when you’re done talking you can both nick off but don’t take the piss and rush. I’ve got some bits to do here but then I’ve got to leave early too.’

Rowlands grinned. ‘Oh yeah . . .’

‘You can take that smug look off your face.’

‘What’s going on?’ Izzy asked.

Jessica went to speak but Rowlands cut in ahead of her. ‘Tomboy Jess has a dress-fitting for that wedding today. It sounds bloody hilarious.’

‘What’s so funny about that?’ Jessica said.

‘Just you in a big fancy dress thing. I’d pay to see that.’

‘You’d pay to see women in their underwear trying on clothes? That’s not a surprise to anyone.’

‘No, I’d pay to see your face. How long have I known you now? Four years? Five? I think I’ve only ever seen you in a dress a couple of times.’

‘What are you, my stalker?’

‘In your dreams.’

Jessica saw Izzy’s knowing look but swiftly glanced away. ‘Right, let’s get going. The quicker we get all this done, the quicker we can all get home then come back tomorrow ready to wade through a list of over a hundred school-leavers.’

After they left, Jessica took her shoes off in an effort to cool down. It was still hot in the station but the weather that day wasn’t as warm as it had been. For the first time since the case had fallen into her lap, she was beginning to feel a little stuck. They had spent a couple of weeks moving from one minor lead to the next but, aside from now knowing the identity of the victims, none of it had really advanced the case. They still didn’t know if Lewis Barnes and Ed Marks were dead or alive, although she had been working from the assumption they were deceased. They also had no idea who was leaving the hands, or why.

The prominence of the case surrounding Christine Johnson’s disappearance was both a stroke of luck and a total inconvenience. In relation to Jessica’s situation, it allowed her to get on with things without too much scrutiny from above. The command structure where she would have to pass things through DI Reynolds to DCI Cole had been completely sidelined because both men were under huge pressure from DSI Aylesbury to get results. Although that suited her and left her with two constables she actually liked to work alongside, the downside was becoming apparent. Given their difficulties in tracking down January – or any other kind of lead relating to the woman in black or a connection between the two victims – their usual course of action would have been to get the media as heavily involved as possible. Unfortunately the journalists were only interested in one case and it wasn’t hers.