‘I wouldn’t get too excited.’

The constable waved her hand dismissively. ‘Aah, stop moaning. You’re the only one who hasn’t got dressed up.’

‘I was busy at the station and only got here a few minutes ago.’

It was a half-truth; she had only just arrived but, instead of being busy at the station, she had deliberately waited around in order not to have to go home.

‘You look nice,’ she added quickly, changing the subject.

Izzy did a twirl and was clearly delighted. ‘It took me ages to find a dress the same colour as my hair.’

‘You are very purple,’ Jessica conceded. ‘But you do know the worst thing to do in a comedy club is stand out?’

‘Really?’

‘Everyone who comes on stage will single you out.’

‘We’ll have to sit near the back then. What time’s your friend on?’

‘Hugo? I don’t know, last I think.’

Izzy stepped into a cubicle and locked the door behind her. Jessica was ready to leave when she heard her friend shouting over the top. ‘Dave said he’s really funny.’

‘It depends on whether you mean funny-weird or funny-ha-ha.’

‘Have you seen his act?’ the yelled reply came.

Jessica realised her friend was happy to conduct a full conversation, regardless of where they were. It was the exact kind of thing she would have done as a teenager with Caroline. She peered closer into the mirror, rubbing her eyes.

‘Hugo’ was the stage name for a friend named Francis she had met through Dave. ‘Not this act,’ Jessica said. ‘But pretty much everything he does is a sort of act.’

‘How do you mean?’

Jessica untied her hair, letting it fall behind her, then combed it with her fingers, trying to pull out a few of the knots. ‘He’s a bit different. You’d really like him.’

‘Do you like him?’

‘In small doses.’

As she pulled out a loose hair, Jessica could hear Izzy laughing from the cubicle. ‘Like Dave then?’ Jessica didn’t share the enjoyment. Possibly taking her lack of an answer the wrong way, the constable added: ‘Cheer up, it could be worse, we could be at a different club tonight.’

After his talk at the boxing club, Nicky had launched himself into his father’s business as he had promised. Jessica had no idea if he had any experience, but knew Liam was sensible enough to show him the basics. Driving to work a couple of days previously, Jessica couldn’t fail to notice the huge banner hanging across the road advertising the ‘grand reopening’ of Nicholas’s club. There were tackier versions on posters around the city with a silhouette of a half-naked girl and an unfunny play on words, which Jessica knew would attract younger men, and they were also offering buy-one-get-one-free on all dances. Business-wise, Jessica had no doubt it would be a big success but there was something monumentally distasteful in the women’s services being offered as if they were a supermarket product. With the business front being relaunched, Jessica couldn’t help but wonder how much of his father’s other activities Nicky might also be involved in.

Just as Jessica was beginning to feel uncomfortable, she heard the toilet flushing and the cubicle door opened. Izzy breezed towards the sinks and washed her hands. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked. ‘You’re not yourself.’

There was so much Jessica could have told her but instead she shook her head, offering a conciliatory, ‘I’m just a bit tired.’

Izzy put an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the bathroom, where Jessica gasped in surprise.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, as Caroline approached and hugged her.

Jessica hadn’t seen her in a couple of months, with most of the text message conversations they had revolving around the flat. Jessica insisted she didn’t want to keep being a burden, with Caroline saying she didn’t mind.

‘You invited me,’ Caroline replied, as Jessica returned the hug.

Caroline was looking as dressed-up as she always did when she went out, wearing a tight bright blue dress exposing her exotic olive skin, her dark hair hanging loosely.

‘Did I?’

Caroline stepped back and put her hands on her hips in mock indignation. ‘It’s nice to be wanted. You emailed a few weeks back, saying you were all going out. You asked if I wanted to catch up.’ Jessica suddenly remembered doing just that – it was at a point when she thought Adam would be coming to see Hugo’s show.

‘Where is Adam?’ Caroline asked.

‘He couldn’t make it,’ Jessica blurted out, before realising she had told Izzy a different lie.

‘Aw, that’s a shame, I’ve just been catching up with Dave.’

Caroline placed a hand on Rowlands’s chest in a way Jessica didn’t appreciate. She then said hello to Izzy.

‘Is anyone else coming?’ she added.

Izzy answered: ‘Jason was going to but ended up saying it wasn’t his thing, my husband is looking after our baby, Jess says Adam couldn’t make it, Dave’s perpetually single, so, unless you’re bringing anyone, I think this is us.’

Caroline nodded, grinning. ‘Right, who wants a drink?’

Dave went for his usual pint and Izzy asked for a glass of wine. Caroline suggested they get a couple of bottles but Jessica said she only wanted a soft drink.

Jessica had only agreed to come because of Izzy. She certainly hadn’t fancied an evening with Rowlands, but then it was just as awkward hanging around Adam. The fact Hugo had asked her to watch his new act was a draw too. He had been doing various magic shows around the city regularly since they had met but had never asked her to attend anything. Now he had a regular night at the comedy club on Deansgate Locks, she figured she owed him at least one.

The upstairs bar had largely emptied, everyone making their way down to the lower levels as the show was due to begin. Because they were running a little late, it at least brought about Izzy’s wish that they could sit at the back, hopefully out of harm’s way.

The place was built into the arches underneath a railway bridge and, although the bar at the top was on street level, the comedy club was underground. It was arranged with the stage at the bottom, tightly packed seats stretching up and around to form an amphitheatre. Jessica had never been before but it took some getting used to as the entire building shook every time a tram passed overhead.

Izzy’s theory that sitting at the back wouldn’t get them noticed hadn’t worked too well as there was a row of dim spotlights above them, which only made her purple dress seem shinier. The compere had certainly noticed, first trying to chat her up from the stage, then joking about her ‘grumpy friend’, which Jessica didn’t appreciate.

Although the early acts were funny, Jessica couldn’t bring herself to laugh in anything other than a forced way. Caroline seemed to be enjoying herself – a bit too much when the host was joking about Jessica – and Izzy was definitely having fun.

A row of women at the front who Jessica assumed were part of a hen party were shrieking by the time Hugo stumbled onto the stage.

For the whole time she had known him, Jessica had never been able to figure out how much of him was an act, and how much was simply him. His hair was long and tied back into a short ponytail and he was wearing a brown striped suit with a blue trainer on one foot and a red one on the other. It would look ridiculous on anyone else but, on Hugo, it kind of worked.

Jessica knew he was a talented magician but the first part of Hugo’s act consisted of him getting tricks drastically wrong. He asked a woman a few rows back to choose a card at random from a pack he offered her. As he shuffled nonchalantly with one hand, he dropped the whole deck and then, after she had chosen, he ripped open his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with a three of diamonds on the front. The woman held her queen of spades up for everyone to see.

After that, he asked a man towards the back to think of a number between one and a thousand, then took off his shoe to reveal a number printed on the bottom of his sock which read ‘666’, even though the man had chosen ‘243’.