With no other obvious ideas, she dialled Garry Ashford’s mobile number and waited for him to answer. ‘Hello,’ he said gloomily.

‘All right, cheer up, I could be calling to tell you someone’s handed in a hundred grand that was left on the street and it’s your name on the envelope.’

‘Have they?’

‘No, but you didn’t know that.’

‘Sorry, it’s just bloody hot,’ Garry sighed. ‘I’ve spent most of the last fortnight camped outside George Johnson’s house. It’s not as if he even comes to talk to us and your lot never have anything to say. I think I’ve got sun stroke.’

‘Why don’t you go back to the office then?’

‘Christ knows. The editor wants someone here in case anything happens. There are about half-a-dozen of us sitting around in our cars like complete prats on the off-chance his wife comes home. I don’t suppose you know anything, do you?’

‘Naff all.’

‘Can I quote you on that? “A senior police source said they knew ‘naff all’ about the case”.’

‘Take out the word “senior” and you’ve got a deal.’

‘Hardee-har. What are you after?’

‘January Forrester.’

Garry sighed again. ‘I told you last week, the editor’s not interested. You got the picture printed the day after she went missing but there’s not much more I can do.’

‘So it’s only news if someone married to somebody a bit famous goes missing, not if someone who could be a serial killer disappears?’

‘Do you think she’s a serial killer?’

‘That’s not the point. She’s a suspect who’s gone missing and we could do with help finding her.’

‘Sorry, but it’s not up to me.’

‘Look, if I feed you a whole load of quotes on the record will you write something up for me? I’ll email you the photos to go with it and you won’t have to do very much at all.’

‘What’s in it for me?’

‘My eternal gratitude?’

Garry laughed. ‘Sod off. How about a future exclusive of my choosing?’

‘Done. I thought you were going to ask for one of my kidneys or something.’

‘Not with the amount of wine you can put away.’

Jessica tried not to but found herself laughing. ‘All right, funny man. If I email you a load of information can you just take some quotes out of that for me? Fill in the gaps if you want but don’t make me sound like a dick.’

‘So you want me to make you sound literate? I thought you said there wouldn’t be much work involved?’

‘Yeah, yeah, just think of the juicy exclusive you’ll have coming your way someday. How’s Mrs Ashford anyway? A big spiky-haired birdie named Dave told me you had a girlfriend.’ It had taken Jessica a few years to get him to admit it but Rowlands and Garry Ashford were old university friends. At first they had kept it very much to themselves with the constable acting as a source for his mate. Jessica had put a stop to that but kept the nature of their relationship to herself to prevent Dave getting into any kind of trouble.

Garry sounded a little embarrassed. ‘She’s all right. I don’t know why he’s going around telling people though.’

‘I think it’s sweet. Is she blind and deaf or just blind?’

‘All right, sod off, do you want a favour or not?’

‘Yeah, I’ll get typing it now. I’ll even run a spell-check just for you.’

‘Cheers, I’ll text you later to let you know if it’s going in.’

Jessica hung up with a smile on her face. She didn’t know many journalists directly but Garry would usually do things for her, even if she did have to threaten, bully or promise him things.

With the dress-fitting in the late afternoon, Jessica skipped lunch and continued working from her desk. First she sent Garry the information he might need, then started to sort the list of college-leavers. Even with the girls taken out and the rugby players crossed off who they had already spoken to, there were still just under a hundred names. Having to contact everyone individually was the last thing she wanted to do. It would no doubt be an enormous waste of time but if the two constables came back with nothing, they would have little other option.

Feeling bored and frustrated, Jessica eventually gave up and walked to the bus stop at the end of the road the station was on. Caroline had asked her a couple of weeks ago to keep the date free and said there would be free wine at the dress shop. With that in mind, Jessica had used public transport to get to work that morning. The buses and trams around the centre of Manchester weren’t too bad in general but were always overcrowded at peak hours and, from her experience, had at least one idiot on board during others. Sometimes she would flash her identification to shut them up, others she would sit in silence with everyone else. From speaking to people she knew, most officers found it hard to reconcile their post with having a ‘normal’ life when they weren’t working. When you saw someone acting unsociably, you were supposed to step in but it wasn’t quite that easy when you were on your own. Her general rule was that she would intervene if someone was causing someone else distress, otherwise she would stay quiet.

The back of the bus had a group of kids playing music loudly through their phone but she did her best to ignore them as the vehicle moved slowly towards the city centre. Rowlands had struck something of a nerve earlier when he had spoken about her wearing dresses. He was right but it wasn’t really a conscious choice of hers in quite the way he had insinuated. The idea of the fitting was for Caroline, Jessica and the other bridesmaids to collectively make a choice about what would best match the bride’s dress. Realistically, having known Caroline for as long as she had, Jessica was aware only one person would be making that decision – and it had probably already been made.

The dress shop was staying open late specifically for them and as Jessica arrived at the store a couple of streets away from the Arndale shopping centre, she could see people hurrying to catch their buses and trains home for the evening.

She went through the front of the shop and was met by a woman in her late fifties. ‘You must be the main bridesmaid, yes? Here you go, dear.’ The woman offered Jessica a glass of wine then locked the door behind her. She then pointed to an area towards the back of the shop. ‘Everyone’s in there.’

Jessica walked through a curtain and almost gasped as she saw Caroline fully trussed up in her wedding dress. Even for someone who wasn’t a fan of the pomp, Jessica had to admit she was impressed. The gown was white satin and fitted her friend perfectly. It wasn’t too over the top in terms of frills and size but was just right.

Caroline gave a little squeal as she noticed Jessica. ‘What do you reckon?’

‘Bit scruffy,’ Jessica said with a massive grin. ‘Aren’t you getting dressed up?’

The two women laughed. Jessica gave her friend a gentle hug before being shooed away from the dress. She glanced around and, aside from the shop workers, she could only see one girl who seemed around thirteen and looked pretty grumpy, plus a much younger child of about five who was playing with some Lego on the floor. ‘Where’s everyone else?’ Jessica asked.

‘What do you mean?’

It suddenly dawned on her. Caroline had told her she was going to be one of three bridesmaids. For whatever reason, she had assumed that meant adults but instead it now looked like she was going to have to supervise these two children on the day. Jessica tried not to look too disheartened. ‘Oh, er, nothing . . . so what is it you want us to wear?’

Caroline smiled broadly. ‘I think you’re going to like them.’ One of the shop workers walked to a rail and picked off three light blue satin dresses. She handed one to Jessica and then beckoned the two children through to separate dressing rooms. The two adults were alone in the main area at the back of the shop. Jessica held her dress at arm’s length. The colour was actually quite nice but she wasn’t sure about the height of the neckline.