‘Do you want a pint?’

It was clearly not the answer to the question Adam had asked. ‘Sorry?’

‘Do you want a pint? Let’s pay up here and go get a proper drink.’

‘All right.’

Jessica signalled for the bill. Adam went to pay with a card but Jessica insisted on giving him half the money back in cash. They stood to leave and, as they were walking out, Adam tripped over the step that led back onto the pavement. Even though he had relaxed, he still had that awkward streak.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked, again trying not to laugh.

‘Yeah, sorry.’

‘What did I say about that word?’

They crossed the road and Jessica ordered two pints of lager. They found a round table near the front door where no one else was sitting.

Adam looked at his watch as they sat. ‘All right?’ Jessica asked.

‘It’s just Grandma. She tells me not to worry but you still do. I got her a mobile phone so she could call if there was a problem but she doesn’t have a clue. I programmed my numbers in for her but she’ll only call my work number from the landline. She thinks a mobile can only call another mobile, even though I’ve told her. Then if she wants me, she’ll do this thing where she rings once and quickly hangs up before the call connects. She reckons it costs a fortune to call anyone.’

‘Do you want to go after this one then?’

‘Yeah, sor . . . I mean, er, I’ve had a good time . . .’

‘Me too.’

‘Honestly?’

‘Believe me, Adam, if I hadn’t, you would be the first person to know about it.’

Jessica felt a little guilty and drank up as quickly as she thought she could without looking like an alcoholic. Adam followed her lead and they placed their empty glasses on the table and left.

‘How are you getting back?’ he asked.

‘The bus stop over there,’ Jessica said, nodding across the road. ‘It takes me straight home. What about you?’

‘One of the tram routes runs pretty close to my house.’

It was an awkward moment. Adam was looking a little nervous again, so Jessica took the initiative, reaching out and taking his left hand in her right. ‘I really have had a good evening,’ she said.

‘Me too.’

She leant in to kiss him but he seemed surprised by her movement and tilted his head the wrong way. They ended up softly bumping foreheads.

Jessica pulled back but carried on holding his hand. ‘You’ve not done this too much, have you?’

‘Not for a while.’

The second time around, Jessica made sure she was in control, kissing him gently and then pulling away. ‘We’ll do this again. I’ll send you a text or something, okay?’

‘Great.’

Jessica crossed the road and stood at the bus stop as Adam walked up the main road. The traffic was light but, as she squinted into the distance to see if there was a bus with the number she was waiting for coming towards her, Jessica’s thoughts drifted back to the case. She thought about Adam’s question she had dodged.

She was lost in her thoughts when the bus eventually pulled in. She paid the fare and took the first seat on the lower level. She hadn’t focused on the journey down the main road out of the city but, as they reached the junction where the bus would turn towards her house, Jessica noticed flashing blue lights in the other direction.

Just because she was a police officer, it didn’t mean she had to intervene in every incident she ever saw but Jessica had a feeling. The driver had stopped anyway and she asked him to let her out. At first he mumbled something about not being a proper stop but she told him she was a police officer and he opened the doors.

She walked quickly down towards the scene, recognising one of the uniformed officers standing nearby.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked.

The officer looked back at her, clearly not realising who she was at first. He would have only ever seen her in her work suit with her hair tied back.

‘Oh, right, sorry,’ he said when she stood next to him. ‘I didn’t recognise you looking like a girl. The call came in half-hour ago – there’s another body.’

15

DCI Farraday’s words were spiralling around Jessica’s head. She remembered them exactly: ‘If this guy’s for real we might get lucky and have another piece of shit off the streets by Monday’.

She said the first thing that came into her head. ‘Who’s dead?’

The officer was clearly confused. He pointed towards one of the flats on the opposite side of the road. ‘I don’t know. One of the people who live there phoned it in. They said they’d heard a disturbance and saw some man running off. I don’t think she knows who the body is though. The woman didn’t realise someone was dead until after she had called us. She was only reporting a fight.’

Jessica had made a rash assumption that, because the first three bodies had been well known to the police, this one would be too. It dawned on her that this could be nothing to do with the ‘vigilante’ and instead some disturbance that had got out of hand. ‘Where is she?’

‘In her flat. Someone’s up there talking to her now. She had come down but the Scene of Crime team will be here in a minute and won’t want anyone around the body.’

Now she looked properly, Jessica could see there was a small tent-type structure over the top of what was presumably the body. It wasn’t a full white one like the SOCO squad would use to walk in and out of, just something temporary to prevent anything being contaminated.

Jessica nodded towards it. ‘Can I have a look?’

The officer blew out through his teeth. ‘Up to you, I’m not authorising anything.’

Jessica walked over and pulled down the zip to look inside. She instantly looked towards the corpse’s neck for a knife wound but there wasn’t one. There was a lot of blood though. Glancing back towards the face, Jessica realised she didn’t know if the person was male or female. She would have guessed a man but the face was battered and very badly bruised. There was no way she would have been able to recognise who it was, even if they were a well-known local criminal. She zipped the cover back up and checked the number of the witness’s flat with the officer before crossing the road.

She was aware she wasn’t really dressed for the moment and didn’t have her identification but Jessica knocked on the door and was relieved when it was opened by one of the uniformed female officers she knew. ‘You were quick,’ the officer said, eyeing Jessica’s attire.

‘Just luck. I was on a bus and saw the lights. How’s the witness?’

‘Shaken but okay. Do you want to come in?’

The officer led Jessica through to the living room where a woman was sitting with her feet underneath her on a brown leather sofa. She stood as Jessica entered, looking to the officer for assurance.

‘This is one of the local sergeants,’ the officer said. Jessica introduced herself properly and apologised for her outfit. After deciding she was happy the woman was in a fit state to talk, Jessica asked her what she had seen. At some point a proper witness statement would need to be taken but she was feeling impatient.

‘It was pretty dark out and I couldn’t see completely because of where the street lights are,’ the woman said. ‘You could hear some sort of scuffle though and some guy was shouting – that’s what made me get up and look.’

‘Could you hear what was being shouted?’

‘No, I’m not sure they were even proper words, just noises.’

‘What happened while you were watching?’

‘One man was on top of the other, punching him over and over.’

‘Did you see a knife?’

‘I don’t know, I don’t think so.’

‘Then what happened?’

‘Eventually he stopped and ran off. That was it really. I didn’t realise the one on the floor was dead. I phoned you because there was a fight and I thought whoever was on the ground would need an ambulance. I would have gone out but you never know who’s out there at night, do you?’