Once at the station she acted as calmly as she could as Cole gave her the information she already knew. He put a hand on her shoulder and asked if she was okay. Jessica nodded and replied she was fine.

She had already decided what she wanted to do. ‘I know it’s loads of work but I’m going to take constables Rowlands and Diamond with me to look through CCTV footage from the past few mornings. Before this, we’ve only received fingers after a hand has been found so perhaps it’s still out in the open somewhere?’

‘What exactly are you going to look for?’ Cole asked.

‘Our woman in black I suppose – someone leaving the hand. If things follow the pattern of the others in that it happens early in the morning in a public place, we’ll hopefully come up with something. It’s going to be lots of locations to search through and it could have been left any time in the last few days.’

Cole nodded in agreement. ‘I have one other thing for you. The person from the labs who handled the package said the finger had a letter “A” tattooed just above the knuckle.’

Jessica crinkled her eyes in surprise. ‘Like the “love– hate” thing people put on their hands when they’re in prison?’

‘Possibly. If it’s a ring finger like the others, that could fit but the others were a right hand, so that would make it “hate” on the right hand and “love” on the left. It’s usually the other way around.’

‘You’re right. It’s worth looking at though. Can you spare me some officers?’

Cole shook his head. ‘Not many. How many do you want?’

‘Someone to update our missing persons list with anyone reported since the last time we went through it. After that, I want them to check the names against lists of former prisoners. It could end up being worthless but at least we’re ahead if it does turn out to be from a prison tattoo.’

‘Fine, you go do what you need to and I’ll set someone on this and give them your mobile number.’

After checking with the private security firm that there was space for three officers to invade their offices for an afternoon at least, Jessica drove Dave and Izzy the few miles into the city centre. She drove very carefully given it was apparently open-season on her abilities but that seemed to amuse Rowlands even more. ‘Who stole our DS and replaced her with my gran?’ he asked.

When she wasn’t having the mickey taken out of her, Jessica spent the rest of the journey briefing the constables about what was required. The company said they would set up three individual terminals so they could work separately. Between them, they put together a list of public spots in the city they would watch footage from. To start with, they were assuming the previous three locations wouldn’t be revisited.

The plan was to look at footage from dawn until eight in the morning from the past four days and to work their way through the list of places one by one. If they came up with nothing, they could either go for other locations, a wider time period or even days from further back. Jessica feared the worst in terms of wasting hours and coming up with nothing but began to feel a little more confident as they arrived. She was going to examine footage from the bus and train stations, while Izzy had the outside of the arena, theatres and the remaining public squares. Dave would look at cameras covering the streets around the shopping areas.

Jessica felt sure they would find something – it seemed too inconsistent for the finger to arrive before a hand had been found. It broke the pattern and, considering the way the person had worked in the past, that structure had been consistent.

With no second person to check what she was doing, Jessica kept the speed of the footage at double and watched two monitors at the same time. Izzy worked on two other screens at the back of the small office they were in while Dave was in the room next door. The two female detectives chatted despite having their backs to each other.

‘How was school this morning?’ Izzy asked.

‘Not too bad. All the kids just wanted to talk about shooting each other.’

The constable laughed gently. ‘My brother was all about toy guns and football until he became a teenager, then he’d lock himself in his room and play computer games all the time. Well, that and moan about girls not being interested in him.’

‘Maybe that was because he was in his room all the time?’

‘That’s what Dad used to tell him.’

Jessica had taken on one of the harder jobs because there were more people around the train and bus stations, even in the early hours of the morning. She stopped and scrolled back a piece of footage but realised the person who had grasped her attention was someone wearing a dark jacket.

‘How are things with Mal? He seemed nice enough on Saturday,’ Jessica said.

‘He’s still going on about kids. He ended up playing in this impromptu dads versus lads football game at the park while we were out. I think he was trying to make a point.’

‘I don’t know what to tell you. I’m terrified about being bridesmaid alongside two youngsters next month.’

‘It’s not just that,’ Izzy replied. ‘He wants to carry on working but for me to give all this up. I don’t know if I want to do that at all – but certainly not at the moment.’

‘Have you told him that?’

‘Sort of, it’s not easy. All our friends are expecting me to be pregnant soon as well. It’s part of getting married I suppose.’ There was a short pause before she added, ‘You got anything?’

‘Nothing. One particular cleaner who picks his nose and eats it but that’s not a crime.’

‘It bloody should be. The theatres I’ve been looking at have all had a homeless person sleeping next to them or in the doorways, even after the sun’s up. Maybe they feel safer because people can see them? I don’t know but I think I’m wasting my time with these.’

‘Do you want to start on something else? We can always go back to the theatres, I’m just wary of time.’

‘Yes, can you remember where that tech guy said the other feeds could be accessed from?’ Jessica paused her screens and walked across to her colleague. She brought up a new window with a list of available footage. ‘Thanks,’ Izzy said.

Jessica returned to her seat. ‘What are you going to go over?’

‘Hotels are next on our list.’

Jessica knew the constable didn’t mean every hotel but there were a handful around the city centre that had been converted from old buildings. The former Free Trade Hall on Peter Street was the site of a nineteenth-century massacre, as well as a place where famous musicians had given concerts and politicians made speeches. Others were actually listed buildings, while the tallest property in the city was also owned by a hotel chain.

All of that meant there were certain hotels that were almost as famous for the building they were in than for the brand. Jessica finished looking through the camera angles from outside the main Piccadilly train station and uploaded footage from Victoria instead.

‘Did you hear Erica Tomlinson and Jordan Benson were remanded this morning?’ Izzy asked.

‘I caught it just before I went to the school. If they keep blaming it on each other, they’ll both get sent down for robbery. I hope the CPS do him for it as well and don’t downgrade the charges.’

‘Did you see the statements about how she was actually caught?’ Izzy asked.

‘Sort of, it was a mad day. Some bloke hiding in the toilet, wasn’t it?’

‘Almost. I took the statements from the shopkeeper. The other guy who phoned us was his mate. His friend had let him use the staff toilet in the back and, on his way out, he’d seen the woman with the knife. He called us then shoulder-charged her.’

‘Brave thing to do considering Erica had a knife,’ Jessica said.

‘He was called Frank something. The funny thing was he kept saying he’d never hit a girl before. I was telling him he wasn’t in trouble but he was saying how he’d just got a new girlfriend and he didn’t know how she’d take it if she knew he was going around bashing women.’