Jessica could feel the edges of her phone digging into her palm as she squeezed it tightly. She looked at the screen, unlocking it and scrolling through to Adam’s name on her contact list. Pressing the button to call him, Jessica watched as he broke off mid-conversation and reached into his pocket. He took out his mobile phone and glanced at the screen, presumably seeing her name and then pressed a button. Jessica was ready to start speaking, thinking he had accepted the call, but instead her phone beeped and went silent. The words ‘call failed’ appeared as Adam put his phone back into his pocket.

Jessica stared at the now-blank screen wondering what she should do next. In the moment it took her to breathe in, the rain started as suddenly as it had done when she had been watching the schoolchildren play lacrosse earlier in the day. She found it hard to believe that so much had happened in such a short period of time. That morning, she had been a different person, wondering how she could play a part in bringing down Nicholas Long. Now he was dead, one of her best friends was in love with her, Adam was copping off with some other woman, and Moss Side was seemingly on the brink of a riot.

And she was getting wet.

Jessica pocketed her phone and stood still, watching Adam and the blonde from across the car park, the rain dribbling down her face. She closed her eyes and breathed in the cool air, allowing her body to shiver as the freezing rain ran down her back.

By the time she looked up, the waiter was back at the table with two plates of food. The one he placed in front of Adam seemed to consist mainly of meat and chips; the woman’s was a big bowl of salad which made Jessica hate her even more. At least if someone was going to steal him away from her, they should have the good grace to get fat in the process.

Jessica ran her hands through her hair, pulling it away from her face and apologising silently to Izzy for getting the interior of her car wet as she opened the door and climbed back inside. She watched as Adam and the woman ate their meals, chatting, smiling and laughing the whole way through. Jessica continued staring, not knowing why she didn’t march into the restaurant and demand to know what was going on. The rain continued to rattle off the metal of the car, deafening her until, finally, they finished eating and stood.

There was a tiny inkling of solace as Jessica realised neither the woman nor Adam had brought a proper coat but even that was ruined as she watched him handing the blonde his jacket. The final straw came as they dashed side by side to the hotel next door, clattering through the front door to get out of the rain.

Jessica couldn’t describe how she felt, any anger she expected to have cancelled out by a feeling in her stomach of wanting to be sick. She continued to stare at the hotel but there was no movement.

Her throat was so swollen that it was hard to breathe but Jessica composed herself to turn the key just as the rain began to ease off.

The radio jumped into life halfway through the newsreader’s sentence but his message was as clear as it could be – the threats of the teenage protestors that morning that they would ‘smash the place up’ were in the process of coming true.

24

Moss Side was separated from Longsight by the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. With the high number of battles between youths from estates belonging to the two communities, that meant the medical facility was in the perfect location a few years back. When Jessica worked in uniform, every officer knew Whitworth Park at the back of the hospital was the place where the gangs of Moss Side would square up against their rivals from Longsight every few weeks.

Since then, much of the gang warfare had died down, or at the least the lower-scale trouble. But while stabbings, drug charges and public disorder figures had decreased, firearms offences were up.

There were specialist teams in Greater Manchester’s Police service trained to deal with gang-related crime but neither they, uniform, or anyone else had been prepared for what happened on the night of Nicholas Long’s death.

After arriving back at the flat, Jessica watched the news on the television in the bedroom, before turning it off, rolling over and pretending to be asleep the moment she heard Adam’s key in the lock. He whispered an apology for being late and she struggled not to tense as he kissed the back of her head.

The following morning, Jessica headed straight to Moss Side, where smoke was still rising. Police had cordoned off the roads heading in and were checking each car attempting to enter and exit, leading to long queues in the surrounding district. Jessica parked Izzy’s car a short distance away and walked. She struggled not to shiver, her decision to stand in the rain the previous evening returning to haunt her. Her hair was still matted and knotty, despite the fact she’d had a shower.

The morning itself was dry and bright, although the air smelled of burning as one of the uniformed officers waved her through and told her where the rest of the team were.

Jessica saw the initial burned-out car at the end of the road – the first of half-a-dozen. There was a host of officers crowded around, with a fire engine parked on either side blocking the roads. Stones and broken glass littered the tarmac as Jessica tried to step around the debris.

She realised quickly that the only reason Cole had asked her to attend was to keep up appearances. The chief superintendent was strolling around the scene with two news cameras in tow and there were officers massed throughout. She could guess the way things had happened that morning, with the high-ups requesting every district from across the city send an officer or two to at least make it appear as if they were reacting to what had gone on the previous evening.

A man in a suit Jessica recognised as a detective sergeant from their neighbouring North division caught her eye and she weaved her way around one of the vehicles, making sure she stayed out of the camera’s view.

‘You got the short straw too then?’ he asked. He was at least fifteen years older than Jessica with curly grey hair and a slouch that made it look like he’d long since given up.

‘I’m thinking of changing my middle name to “shat upon”,’ she replied with a weak smile.

The man laughed. ‘If nothing else, it will get you funny looks at the airport.’

‘What are we even doing here?’ Jessica asked.

‘Just follow me and look busy.’ He turned and walked away from the cars. ‘I’m Geoff,’ he said, offering his hand.

‘Jessica,’ she replied, shaking it.

Geoff began pointing at rocks as they walked. ‘If we stay together and walk around pointing at rocks and bottles like this, anyone watching from a distance might think we’re gathering vital evidence, rather than simply making up the numbers in a show of force.’

Jessica copied him, pointing at a broken piece of glass. ‘Haven’t we got specialist teams to go through scenes like this?’

He crouched, picking up a rock and showing it to Jessica, then holding it up to the light as if he had noticed something important. ‘They’ve already got most of them in custody, it’s just kids, teenagers and young blokes who fancied a tear-up. We’re only around because the cameras are here – people will want to see lots of officers on the news this evening and in the papers tomorrow.’

Geoff stood again, walking back towards the cars with Jessica by his side.

‘How long do you think we’ll have to hang around?’ she asked.

He nodded towards the chief superintendent. ‘As soon as the cameras go, he’ll be off within five minutes, then we’ll get back to some proper work five minutes after that. Then the local lot can get on with things without us trampling around in the way.’