‘Oh God, you couldn’t see . . .’ Garry didn’t answer but the look on his face made Jessica explode with laughter. She went to put the empty food cartons in the kitchen and get the other bottle of wine Garry had brought. By now she was feeling decidedly tipsy but refilled both of their glasses and let the journalist continue.

‘Then I finally ended up speaking to you,’ he said, flicking through pages and pages of notes. ‘You were very, erm . . . revealing.’

Jessica felt a bit embarrassed remembering her phone confessions to him. ‘You took advantage of a distressed young woman, Garry. You should feel ashamed of yourself.’

‘Young?’

‘Oi, you cheeky . . .’ For the second time that evening Jessica playfully punched her guest in the shoulder. ‘How did you end up talking to Kim Hogan?’ she asked as Garry opened another notebook.

‘It was an accident. I was at the house talking to the neighbour who was spilling everything. The other girl stormed up and started swearing at the both of us.’ Jessica thought that sounded familiar. ‘Anyway, I said that she could put her own version across if she wanted. She asked if there was money involved . . .’

‘Really?’ Jessica interrupted.

‘Yeah. Sometimes people are like that, no matter what the circumstances.’

‘Did you pay her?’

‘I gave her twenty quid. It was all I had on me. I ended up walking back to the office because I didn’t have anything left for the bus.’

‘Doesn’t the paper pay for things like that?’

‘You must be joking. You’re lucky if they pay for notebooks and pens.’

‘What was she like?’

‘I’ve had worse interviews but not many. She was okay really but it was hard for her. There was just lots of swearing. She hates your lot and kept going on about kids bugging her mum and how you never did anything.’

‘What about Paul Keegan?’

Garry let out a massive sigh. ‘It was horrible. I didn’t want to knock on his door but the editor basically told me to do it. I thought the guy would tell me to get lost but instead he invited me in and went to put the kettle on. It was surreal.’

Jessica had thought that the whole time she had spoken to Paul Keegan. She could see that inside his heart was broken but outside he was almost normal. Some people in the force would see that type of behaviour as how guilty people acted. She just thought everyone was different but did wonder how he was really coping behind closed doors, especially with what had happened regarding his stepson.

‘He talked and talked,’ Garry added. ‘He said they had only been married a few years ago. He showed me all the photos and told me everything that ended up in the article. He was a really nice guy and told me to call back if I wanted to check anything, He phoned on the day of the article to say “thanks”. He said he was going to keep the paper and reckoned it was a perfect tribute to her.’

‘Poor guy.’

‘I know. I felt so sorry for him. You don’t know what to say, do you? He said they’d had problems with kids in the area but he thought your lot had done your best. Bit of a difference to Kim and Marie.’

Garry gave a small laugh but Jessica didn’t. ‘Hmmm,’ she said.

‘You all right?’

‘Yeah, just too much of this,’ she said holding up an empty glass. ‘Shall we call it a night? I’ll even pay for your taxi.’

‘It’s okay. I reckon I’ll get another story out of the bits you’ve told me. “Senior source”, yeah?’

‘Source.’

‘Whatever.’

Garry packed his things back into his bag and gave a little wobble as he stood up. Jessica could feel the alcohol inside her too. She walked him to the door and found herself giving him a little hug as they said goodbye. She thought his cheeks had reddened slightly afterwards but it could have been the booze for him too.

‘Thanks for your help tonight, Garry.’

‘No worries, Det . . . Jess.’

‘Good night.’ Jessica closed the door but instantly took her phone out and typed a reminder into the calendar for the next morning. It was probably nothing and possibly just the wine doing her thinking but she’d had an idea and didn’t want to forget it when she woke up.

34

Jessica had never had big hangovers in her life. There was always the odd morning after when Caroline had been at university and the two of them had gone out but nothing crazy and she had never lost days or anything silly like some of the stories people could tell.

She woke up on the Saturday morning with an aching neck, a world-class headache and the distinct taste of last night’s curry in her mouth. The room was ridiculously bright and she again cursed herself for not contacting the landlord. She fumbled her way out of the cocoon she had made of her duvet and realised she was still wearing the clothes she’d had on the whole of the previous day and evening. Craving water, she staggered out of her bedroom and made her way groggily towards the kitchen.

‘Caroline?’

She hadn’t heard her friend and Randall come in the previous night but, considering how much she had drunk, that was no particular surprise. There wasn’t any answer anyway, so presumably the two of them had stopped the night at the new flat.

Jessica turned on the sink’s tap and almost hypnotically watched the water gush out and hold her attention. Vague memories of her chat with Garry the previous evening came flooding back. Had she hugged him? She saw the three empty bottles of wine next to the bin.

She shook her head and snapped her gaze away from the water, snatching a glass from the draining board and filling it up. She downed the whole glass in one and filled it back up again. After that, she hunted around in the drawer under the sink for some aspirin and took three along with another full glass of water. She was pretty sure the recommended dose was two tablets but that was surely for a standard headache?

Regardless, she fumbled her way back to bed and lay down. The ceiling was still spinning but not too badly and she could hear a buzzing noise from somewhere. She looked from one side of the bed to the other, confused by the sound, before realising it was coming from her phone, which was face down on the nightstand. Her head had started to clear slightly but she still struggled to pick her phone up, unable to figure out what the specific tone was. It was definitely a different noise to her alarm and text message sounds. Her fingers didn’t seem to want to do what her brain was willing them to but she eventually managed to unlock the screen and saw there was a calendar alert and a separate text message.

She read the text first: it was from Caroline.

‘Been called into work CU later. X’

Jessica then pressed the button to read the note she had left herself the previous evening.

It may have been the ramblings of a drunk woman but she had nothing better to do – as soon as she’d had a shower, Jessica resolved to follow the note up, even if she did end up looking stupid.

‘Sorry, who are you?’

Jessica was listening to an irate voice from the other end of her phone.

‘Kim, it’s Detective Sergeant Daniel. We spoke at the station. Do you remember?’

‘What do you want?’ Kim Hogan’s tone didn’t indicate she was overly receptive to being called by a member of the police.

‘I just wanted to clarify a point or two with you if that’s all right?’

‘I read yesterday your lot had been booted off the case or something like that. Some super cop people brought in to clean up your mess and find that Collins psycho.’

‘That’s not really true, Kim.’ Jessica realised that in essence it actually was correct but she still wanted the girl to answer one question.

‘What do you want? I told you everything last time.’