‘But . . . don’t you think you should take the time off? Is your fiancé doing all right?’

Jessica knew the newspaper article, and presumably the news broadcasts, had only made a passing reference to someone other than her being involved in the fire.

‘We both slept in the hospital last night,’ she said. ‘I saw him before leaving this morning and dropped in again before coming here. The doctor says he’s doing okay but he probably won’t be released until tomorrow.’

Andrew spoke nervously. ‘Maybe he’d like to spend the week with you . . . ?’

Jessica knew what he was saying was true. She had been telling herself the same thing but above that was an overriding feeling that she wouldn’t be able to feel safe until whoever had set fire to her house was caught. She ignored him, finally moving onto the reason she was there.

‘What have you got on Ryan and the people he hangs around with?’

The investigator seemed surprised by her abruptness, certainly by the fact she had changed the subject so quickly. His eyebrows shot upwards as he looked off to one side as if thinking. ‘I’m not sure. Only what I’ve told you. I gave you the number plate of the girl but never heard back from you.’

Jessica knew she shouldn’t be passing on the information but, given what had happened, didn’t even hesitate. ‘It belonged to a nineteen-year-old woman called Lara Sullivan. I visited her house and although I didn’t specifically ask about the money, I did ask her about Ryan.’

‘What did she say?’

‘Not much. Every girl I mention his name to has a similar response. I’m not sure if it’s fear or unease but there’s something there.’

‘I don’t have anything else. I’ve not been following him everywhere but I’ve kept an eye on him in the evenings. He’s not been doing much.’

Jessica gave him Lara’s address and the details she could remember. ‘Will you see if you can find anything on her?’ she asked.

‘Wouldn’t it be better if someone you knew from the station did that?’ he asked.

‘They won’t work with me, let alone help.’

‘I’ll do what I can but it won’t be much.’

‘I want you to keep following Ryan too. I would but he knows me. If he meets this Lara again, call me.’

‘Do you think he was the one who . . . ?’ Andrew tailed off, clearly not wanting to say, ‘burned down your house’.

‘I don’t know. But there’s no one else I can think of. His dad was in hospital. I know my colleagues are going over his past to see if there’s anything else but they either haven’t got anything – or won’t tell me.’

‘What’s he got to gain though?’

Jessica didn’t want to mention that she had slapped him. She wondered if that was reason enough.

‘Say fire was his thing,’ Andrew continued, ‘I guess that could be a reason but what about the other things you were talking about with the girls and everything? What could he be involved in?’

‘Money and girls have always made the world go around,’ Jessica said.

‘True but what would he have been paying Lara for? Sex? How would that connect to the other girls? Do you think he paid them too?’

‘I don’t know but everything has happened since his father was released from prison. That can’t be a coincidence.’ Andrew shrugged as if to say he couldn’t think of a reason to disagree. ‘Is Harley still paying you?’ Jessica added.

‘Sort of. He is but I’m putting all the money in a separate account and I’ll either give it back if he’ll take it or give it to charity. I’ve told him there’s nothing I can do. He’s been so different. When he first hired me, he was short and to the point, now he wants to have conversations. I don’t know what to say. He’s lost his house and daughter, it’s not like I can take him down the pub to drink it off. He keeps asking what can possibly happen next.’

‘When was the last time you saw him?’

Andrew shrugged sadly. ‘Not for a while. He’ll call but I think he’s embarrassed about being seen. I asked if he wanted to meet and he couldn’t get off the phone quickly enough. I think the biggest thing is that he has no closure because he doesn’t know why it all happened.’

It was something Jessica could understand as well as anyone. ‘Perhaps if you can get to the bottom of everything that’s happening with Ryan, Lara and whoever else, you’ll find him an answer after all?’

There was very little that annoyed Jessica more than having to act girly. In order not to be recognised from the morning’s coverage in the papers and on television, she wore her hair down and found a low-cut top in the pile of clothes salvaged from the house. Rather than wear something over it, as she would usually, Jessica wore just that and a skirt to ensure the garage owner would be looking at her chest and legs as opposed to her face.

She kept her phone in her hand just in case Andrew called, explaining to the person who worked there that her vehicle was making ‘a funny sound’. She giggled and flirted in a way that disgusted her but it at least had the desired effect as she noticed the man’s gaze constantly drifting down towards her chest before he realised what he was doing. If he knew the amount of padding that was being used to create the illusion, Jessica suspected he wouldn’t be quite so impressed.

‘Do you want us to give you a bell when it’s ready, love?’ he asked.

‘I’ll just wait around, it shouldn’t be long, should it?’

The mechanic took one final glance across at her chest before replying. ‘No, I’ll start on it right away.’

Jessica’s plan to poke around the garage Ryan worked at wasn’t exactly high-tech. Andrew was keeping an eye on the college waiting for him to leave, while, after dropping her clothes off at Caroline’s flat and checking in on Adam, she had driven to the garage and made up something that sounded plausible. Andrew had pointed out the flaw in the idea that her face was all over the news and someone could recognise her, which had led Jessica to the current position she found herself in.

She remembered her old vehicle and thought that, if she had brought that by, it could have been a good two or three days before she saw the beloved thing again. With her new car, she knew there was nothing wrong with it.

As the mechanic and someone else went to work under the bonnet, Jessica looked carefully at the surroundings. There were large plastic cans marked ‘petrol’ and ‘diesel’ pushed into the far corner and another area held cans of spray paint. Jessica didn’t check them any more closely but it didn’t really matter if there was a yellow one now because there could have been at some point. She wondered if Ryan could have tried to frame Anthony by leaving the items in his back garden and the shed. Could he have burned down his own house for the same reason? It seemed far-fetched but then there was a likely insurance payout to come – and it could have landed Thompson in trouble. It didn’t explain why the back of the house had been blocked to try to keep Martin inside but she was sure there would be a reason somewhere.

Jessica made her way through to the garage’s reception area and then outside into a small car park. She took out her phone and called Rowlands. As it rang, she huddled close to a wall, trying to keep warm. Although the late afternoon wasn’t exactly cold, her outfit wasn’t really suitable for the time of year.

‘What took you so long?’ Jessica said, showing her agitation when the constable answered.

‘Sorry, I was busy. What’s up?’

‘That’s what I was phoning you to ask. What’s going on?’

Rowlands paused for a second. ‘Jess . . . you’re supposed to be off.’

‘Sod off, Dave, just tell me.’

He sighed. ‘You know I shouldn’t but we’re all working hard for you. People are going over your statement, we’re checking the times, we have spoken to your neighbours. We have got the initial report from the fire investigator. Honestly, we’re doing everything we can.’