Louise had been working on a different case but Jessica assumed she had been brought in to listen to everything as a fresh set of ears. ‘Do we have anything we might be able to bring him in on?’ she asked.

Reynolds waved towards Cole. ‘I don’t know. We were talking about this earlier. The guy was released from prison and served his time so we have got to be careful. In essence, he has no connection to Anthony Thompson, other than what happened in the past. It’s circumstantial that he wasn’t at the hotel. We could see if he has an alibi but we don’t want to be seen to be harassing him.’

He glanced at Jessica before continuing, clearing his throat. ‘That said, I’ve had people looking into Martin’s past and his old school was burned down a year before he was arrested for the fire that killed Alfie Thompson.’

It was the first Jessica had heard about it. ‘Seriously?’ she blurted out.

Reynolds nodded. ‘Yes. He was never a suspect and, other than the fact he went there, there’s nothing to link him to it. It’s just something to bear in mind.’

‘Let’s not forget his house was burned down too,’ Jessica reminded everyone.

All five officers looked at each other as if searching for inspiration. ‘We’re clutching at straws,’ Reynolds said. ‘Maybe someone’s trying to set Martin up? Maybe someone’s out for revenge on him or Anthony? If any of you have any theories, they would be most welcome.’

Again, no one said anything and Jessica could only think of Ryan.

Before the silence could last too long, Cole interrupted. ‘Moving on for now, I’ve got an update on our two suicides.’ He picked up a folder from his desk, before shuffling some papers around and picking up the one he wanted. ‘I think you all know the details about Sienna Todd, the first victim. Jason and Jess visited the parents of her friend, Molly North, yesterday after a second apparent suicide. We have the early results in, which basically say all the signs point to suicide.’

‘Did Molly have any self-harm marks?’ Jessica asked.

‘Nothing,’ the DCI replied. ‘No note found either, nothing untoward at the scene.’ He turned to face Rowlands. ‘David?’

Jessica hadn’t expected the constable to speak but she realised he must have been given her duties from the morning.

He looked apologetically towards Jessica for a moment and then spoke. ‘I talked to Sienna and Molly’s friends earlier this morning. To say they were no help would be an understatement.’ He nodded towards Jessica. ‘I know Jess and Jason spoke to the same girls at the school but I couldn’t get anything from them either.’

As if reading Jessica’s mind, Cole cut in, speaking to her. ‘I asked Dave to do the interviews because I thought they might have felt drawn to someone male who is a bit younger than myself or Jason.’

‘Did you get anything at all?’ Jessica asked.

Rowlands shook his head. ‘Nothing really. They all said they only knew Molly through Sienna. None of them seemed to think either of the girls were particularly depressed or anything like that.’

‘Do you think it could be some vow of silence?’ Cornish asked. ‘Like a cult or a club or something like that?’

‘I honestly don’t know,’ Rowlands replied.

Jessica thought of herself at that age and the way she and Caroline pretty much kept themselves to themselves. There were other friends they might do things with, but their secrets and worries were only shared with each other, if at all. Although she had found the other girls’ attitudes hard to fathom, she could just about understand why they might not know the intimate details of each other’s business.

‘I don’t know if it’s relevant,’ Jessica said softly. ‘But Molly was most likely in love with Sienna. She might have killed herself because of that.’

‘Did you question the parents?’ Cole asked, slightly surprised as it was the first he had heard of it.

‘I think her mother knew but her father didn’t. It’s not fair to any of them to bring it up now. If Nicola – the mother – chooses to tell her husband then it should be her decision.’ Jessica spoke firmly enough to make it clear to the others that it shouldn’t be negotiable.

For a moment, no one said anything, as if digesting her words, before Cole spoke. ‘With the coroner’s verdict confirmed on Molly North, I think we’re all aware of what tomorrow’s headlines might bring. Dual suicides of young girls and the like. I’ll liaise with the press office about what to do if we end up with the worst type of coverage. We absolutely cannot allow people to think there’s some sort of suicide cult.’

‘What if there is?’ Louise asked, quite reasonably Jessica thought.

Cole shook his head. ‘Then we’ll still tell them there isn’t.’

Jessica had rarely seen him angry but he appeared close to losing his temper before composing himself. ‘Because everything has been happening at once, we haven’t yet put together a concrete plan of who should be doing what. I know that’s my fault but let’s sort this now.’

‘Are we ruling out the possibility that everything is linked?’ Jessica asked, knowing it wouldn’t go down well.

She saw Reynolds and the DCI exchange the briefest of glances to confirm her suspicions that they had already talked about her while she wasn’t there. ‘I wouldn’t say we’re ruling it out,’ Cole said, ‘but we don’t have any reason to think they might be connected. Obviously, there was a fire at the house of Sienna Todd’s father but that could be bad timing.’

‘Or it could be relevant,’ Jessica replied, trying not to sound too aggressive. The inspector and DCI exchanged another glance, infuriating Jessica, who suddenly found herself raising her voice. ‘Look, I’m not just picking on him but you’ve got to admit there’s a link to Ryan in all of this. He knew Sienna. Molly and the other girls were nervous talking about him. He was angry over Anthony’s interview.’

There were a few moments of silence before Cornish spoke. ‘Why would he set fire to his own house? And what about the suicides? Are you saying he was somehow involved?’

Jessica’s anger dissipated as quickly as it had erupted. She slumped into her seat. ‘I don’t know. I just think we’re missing something.’

More silence.

‘What are you suggesting, Jess?’ Reynolds asked gently. She knew the inspector was trying to be delicate but she didn’t like the idea of her colleagues trying to patronise her. ‘We can’t just follow Ryan around,’ he added to emphasise his point.

‘We can’t,’ Jessica replied. ‘But I know someone who can.’

19

Andrew Hunter had been doing whatever he could to forget the case he didn’t want to be working on. He took on a job running a pre-marriage background check for a man on his potential wife. Quite what that said about ‘love’ and ‘trust’ between the couple before their big day, he wasn’t too sure. Either way, one of his contacts who worked for a credit rating agency had passed him some information which showed the woman in question had some debts her spouse-to-be didn’t know about. Andrew passed it on and took his fee, realising more and more each day that he had probably made the wrong career choice.

He was sitting in his comfortable chair, spinning himself around in the absence of anything meaningful to do, when his mobile phone rang. The name which flashed up filled him simultaneously with excitement and a little fear.

‘Sergeant Daniel,’ he answered, before being reminded to call her ‘Jess’.

‘How are you?’ Jessica asked, which was the first time Andrew could remember her asking him something similar. He was instantly suspicious.

‘I’m all right. You?’

‘Good, good,’ he heard Jessica reply. ‘Look, I’ve got something for you. A sort of “You scratch my back, I might be able to pass a few things discreetly your way”-type thing.’