‘But you’ve not got anywhere yet?’

‘Jess . . .’

‘There haven’t been any other suicides, have there?’

‘No, but . . .’

Jessica was too annoyed at his stalling to let him finish his sentences. ‘Will you call me if you find anything?’

Rowlands sighed again. ‘Jess, don’t put me in this position. Just get yourself better and we’ll see you soon.’

Jessica knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere. ‘All right, fine. Bye.’

She hung up and put the phone in the bag she was being forced to carry because there were no pockets in what she was wearing. She went back into the reception area and sat looking around at the various posters on the wall.

‘Are you all right, love?’ asked the female receptionist. She was only a teenager herself and Jessica could see her holding a puzzle book as she stared over the counter.

Jessica nodded. ‘Fine, thanks.’

‘You seem familiar.’

Jessica looked at the coffee table she was resting her feet on and noticed a copy of that morning’s Herald with her photo on the front. She stood, stepping between the table and reception desk. ‘Do you watch morning chat shows?’ she asked.

The woman put her puzzle book down and beamed. ‘Oh God, yeah. I love ’em.’

‘I was on one a few weeks back. You probably know me from there.’

‘Oh wow, you’re famous! Which one were you on?’

Jessica turned around and picked up the newspaper, casually folding it over as if she were reading but shielding the picture from view before turning back to face the woman. ‘It was called “My brother’s really my dad”.’

The woman’s eyes were wide with surprise. ‘Really? Your brother’s your dad?’

‘Yeah and my aunt’s my uncle. It was this big thing they did over two days. My brother, who is really my dad, ended up having a fight with his brother, who’s really his cousin.’

‘I think I remember that one.’

Jessica had made it up but, if it had been a real subject, she wasn’t surprised. ‘Anyway, that must be where you saw me. I was sat at the back.’

The woman’s mouth was open, staring at Jessica. ‘Can I have your autograph?’

‘Really? I was only at the back.’

‘Yeah but you were on TV.’

The woman held out her puzzle book and pen. Jessica dropped the newspaper in the bin next to the desk but the woman was so in awe, she didn’t notice. Jessica took the pen and signed ‘Davina Rowlands’ on the back of the book before handing it back.

‘I’ll get it framed,’ the woman said, staring wide-eyed at the signature.

‘You’re welcome,’ Jessica replied, before taking her seat, while thinking England really was a strange place.

28

Jessica’s attempts to involve herself in the investigation were not going well. Shortly after her conversation with Rowlands, Cole had called to tell her to take an extra day off on top of the week he had already ordered. For most people, the time off work would be a blessing, but he knew Jessica wanted to get back as soon as she could. He said that each time he heard a report of her speaking to anyone at the station he would make her take another day off. He also reiterated that the next phone call would come from the superintendent, the one after that from the chief constable.

She knew there would be the offer of counselling sessions when she did return – but even so she wanted to get back as soon as possible. Even if they did force her to work on other cases, she would still easily be able to catch up on the gossip.

The next morning, she put her focus on Adam, although what was going on at Longsight was constantly in the back of her mind. It hadn’t helped that the day’s news coverage, although not entirely devoted to her, extensively recapped recent events. It linked all of the blazes and mentioned that Martin’s release from prison had preceded everything.

Outside the hospital, Adam was determined to get into the passenger seat of her car by himself but she saw him wince as he crouched. Aside from the coughing, she pretty much felt back to her old self but Adam’s voice was still deeper and rougher than it should be.

‘You’re going to like Caroline’s flat,’ Jessica said. ‘There’s a great view.’

‘I’ll sort something out so we don’t have to burden her.’

‘Take it easy, you know what the doctor said.’

‘You’re one to talk.’

When she had first seen the flat, Jessica was relieved that her friend had good taste. Much of Caroline’s furniture was still there, which she suspected was because no one was too keen on trying to get it back downstairs in the lift. Caroline said they could treat the place as their own and that, as yet, there were no offers so they would have a couple of months at least to sort themselves out.

After they arrived, Jessica showed Adam around but, as much as she tried to talk up the benefits, she knew they would never be able to call it home. For Adam, the destruction of the house had meant he’d lost many of the memories from his childhood and beyond.

As they settled into Caroline’s wide leather sofa, Jessica pulled a pair of boxes out from under the coffee table. ‘Look what I found.’

Inside were the photographs and certificates that had been in the attic. She heard Adam cough gently but he was grinning as he began to look through the items. She knew there were photographs of his grandma from when she had been younger, as well as ones of Adam as a child too. ‘Aww, look at the little thing,’ Jessica said, pointing at a photo of a naked Adam as a baby.

Before Adam could reply, her phone began to ring, Rowlands’s name flashing up. Jessica stood and walked into the open-plan kitchen.

‘Look who it is, Judas Rowlands.’

‘Hey, I didn’t tell Jack you were calling me yesterday. I was in a meeting with him when you rang.’

Jessica thought his story sounded plausible but she wasn’t entirely convinced. ‘Adam was released today,’ she said. ‘You remember my friend Caroline? We’re staying in her flat that’s up for sale over on the Quays.’

‘Did you get a call from Hugo?’

Jessica laughed. ‘Hugo’ was the stage name for a magician friend of Rowlands who she had come to know well. ‘He said me and Adam can go stay in his flat any time we like.’

Dave snorted. ‘You know he’s still living above that bookies’?’

‘I know. I said we would let him know if we needed somewhere. For one, it’s just a one-bedroom place so who knows where he thought we’d all sleep. Secondly, he’s still got all those stuffed animals and everything. There’s no way I’d be able to sleep there. I’d be terrified of one of the mice coming back to life or something. Nice of him to offer though.’

‘He’s got a one-night-a-week residency at this comedy club in town. He does tricks and stuff. We should go some time.’

‘I’ll see what Adam says. I’m not sure either of us are in the mood for much comedy at the moment. Anyway, what’s going on?’

‘Jess . . .’

‘Just tell me, you’ve called anyway.’

Dave sighed. ‘All right, fine, but don’t tell Jack. We’re trying our best. We have been going as far into Martin’s background as we can but there’s nothing there that couldn’t be explained away through coincidence.’

If they delved deeply enough, Jessica knew they would find most people could be linked to a crime simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just because a person was in a town when there was a robbery or a fire, that didn’t mean they had anything to do with it – but when the police looked into histories as thoroughly as they were examining Martin’s, something would come up.

‘Did you link him to the fire at his old school?’

‘Nothing that would stick. He was released from hospital today. I wasn’t there but apparently it’s mainly cuts and bruises. They did all the brain scans and everything and he’s fine.’