In the village where she’d grown up, there would always be a summer fair once a year. The whole population would descend on their local park where there would be a funfair, stalls selling homemade cakes and biscuits, various tables offering jumble-sale items for charities and all sorts of games going on. It was probably selective memory but it never seemed to rain on those days and she could remember her father with his big tanned arms carrying her around on his shoulders.

Jessica thought it was amazing how one thing could give you flashes of another. It was the smell of candyfloss as she walked through the park gates that most reminded her of the village fetes where she used to live. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d eaten any but the stall next to the entrance had a queue of children and she could almost see herself as one of the younger girls in line.

Jessica had arrived early and didn’t know where the police’s stall was so decided to go for a walk. She had her work suit on as it wouldn’t have seemed right representing the force wearing her everyday clothes but she was feeling a little sweaty given the heat. A small ferris wheel was the obvious thing Jessica noticed as she strolled around. It was playing a cheesy fairground tune but the other noise that stood out was laughter. In doing a job that could be so dark at times, it was easy to forget the little things like this. Children weaved in between adults, running around excitedly as parents pushed empty pushchairs. A group of youngsters had started a game of rounders against a hedge and Jessica couldn’t help but smile.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and Izzy stood there grinning. She wasn’t in her work clothes, instead wearing a long flowing white skirt and pale vest top. Jessica thought the woman’s hair looked a brighter red, most likely because it wasn’t tied back or perhaps because her clothes were lighter than usual. She was arm-in-arm with a man she introduced as her husband, Mal. He was a little older than her with greying patches of hair above his ears.

‘You not on the stall today?’ Jessica asked.

‘Nah, just thought I’d come down and have a look at everything seeing as the sun’s out.’

‘Do you know where we’re based?’

Izzy pointed towards an area on the far side of the park. ‘It’s over there. Jack’s on the stall but not looking too happy. I think his wife and kids are around somewhere. It’s mainly uniform but there are a couple of other detectives from the area there too. It’s not just our lot.’

‘Was it looking busy?’

‘The press office team have got some games set up and are taking photos for the website. You can tell they’re mad keen to make us look good in all of this. They’d just collared one of the local newspaper photographers too.’

Jessica didn’t think it sounded her type of thing. ‘I’ll hide over here for a bit then. If they’re looking for a good impression, the last thing they need is me telling off a bunch of kids.’ Jessica remembered her colleague talking about the dispute over children she was having with her husband and saw what looked like an awkward glance sideways from Mal to his wife. ‘I’ll leave you to it,’ she added.

Izzy said goodbye and the couple walked away still arm-in-arm. Jessica slowly made her way around the rest of the park towards the direction the constable had said their stall was in. The ambulance service and fire brigade had setups of their own and Jessica watched as the paramedics showed people how to perform CPR. She nodded at one of the workers she recognised and they shared a ‘What are we doing here on a Saturday?’ look.

The fire officers had a much larger stall and were showing people the dangers of chip-pan fires by deliberately pouring water on hot oil. Huge flames shot into the air and Jessica saw a group of gathered youngsters gasping at the heat. She wondered if the display was aiding awareness or simply putting ideas in the minds of potential young pyromaniacs. She concluded her suspicious mind was getting the better of her.

Eventually she saw the force’s stall. Cole was handing out pencils to children and she could see the forced smile on his face. With the rota he had sent around, she was due to do a two-hour shift on the stall which would take them up to the day’s end. He seemed relieved she was there, wiping the sweat away from his forehead as the line of children thinned.

‘Are you all right?’ Jessica asked.

‘Yes but I’m glad you’re here.’ The man explained that press officers were running games of cops and robbers every half hour and there was a big pile of certificates for her to sign and give out to the participants. He said the day had gone well but his tired eyes told a different story. ‘Did Jason call you last night? He said he was going to.’

‘Yes, he told me about the stills from the camera. What do you reckon?’

Cole shrugged. ‘I’m not really sure. The quality isn’t great but the lab boys reckon they can enhance them. I guess we’ll find out on Monday.’

‘How is Jason?’

‘Between you and me, I think he needs a day off. He’s gone to the labs today just to watch.’

‘Maybe he didn’t want to get stuck here?’

The chief inspector knew her well enough to know she was joking and smiled back. ‘I know it’s a pain but the idea behind all of this is a noble one.’ He nodded towards the children running around nearby. ‘If we can get this lot not hating us from an early age it will be better for everyone.’

Jessica knew he was right. ‘Are you off home now?’

‘No, I said I’d help put everything back down later. The super was around earlier too. I’m going to nick off for a bit. My kids were definitely around here somewhere. I’ll be back later, have fun.’

Jessica wouldn’t have said she had ‘fun’ but the afternoon wasn’t as bad as she thought it might have been. During a round of cops and robbers, two young boys collided with each other and the game had to be abandoned. It was the type of accident that would have health and safety officials filling in forms for the rest of the day but, with the ambulance service just a few stalls down, there was no harm done except for two bumped heads. At first, Jessica had to force herself not to laugh because of the comical way the youngsters had fallen over. They had both been racing in one direction while looking in another and run head-first into one another before bouncing and falling to the floor. There was an audible gasp from onlooking parents but Jessica was convinced she saw other adults trying not to laugh as well.

The DCI had been correct in that there were plenty of questions about her job from young people. The uniformed officers had the attention from the youngest children and they had a police car parked on the grass for people to sit in and look at the equipment they used. While the younger ones were drawn to the other officers, the teenagers who weren’t hanging around in small groups pretending they were too cool to be there came to talk to her. One girl in particular wanted to talk about becoming a detective and although Jessica wanted to tell her the pay, hours and expectations were all terrible, she stayed on-message and gave a balanced assessment, telling her it was a hard profession that had its good days and bad days – but that the successes felt so good they outweighed everything else. Jessica wasn’t sure if she believed it herself but it didn’t seem right to go out of her way to put someone off just because she was feeling cynical.

After the accident, the head press officer decided to stop any further games. The idea of the day was to engage with the public and perhaps get a nice few photographs of the event into the local papers and, if they were really lucky, on the local television news. A picture of two boys crying with blood pouring from their heads didn’t exactly give the right impression.