‘I’m not stalking you around the toilets of Britain, I promise,’ she said, slightly slurring her words. Jessica guessed it was the first time she’d had any serious amount of alcohol in a long time.

‘If I was going to go cottaging with any girl in Manchester, then rest assured it would be you.’

Izzy laughed and walked across to Jessica, pulling her into a hug. ‘I’ve had a brilliant night,’ she giggled. ‘I wish I could just take him home and keep him in a cupboard, then bring him out for my own amusement.’

‘I think you’ll have to fight Caroline for him, not to mention his groupies outside.’

As she tried to laugh, Jessica felt her stomach lurch but she managed to stifle the heave, instead turning it into something close to a hiccup.

‘I know I keep asking you but are you all right?’ Izzy asked.

‘Just a dodgy tea last night.’

‘Come on, Jess . . .’

‘What?’

‘Everything’s always a dodgy meal or a lack of sleep, or you’ve been drinking water all morning, which is why you’re in the toilets so much. You can’t think no one’s noticed?’

‘Who’s been talking?’ Jessica had replied more aggressively than she meant to. When Izzy didn’t answer, she asked again, demanding a response.

Izzy reached out and stroked Jessica’s hair away from her face. ‘No one, Jess, just me. I’m worried about you.’

‘Oh . . .’

‘You’ve got to talk to someone about whatever’s going on.’

Jessica blinked quickly to stop the tears and thought about telling her friend about Dave’s admission, then about Adam, before deciding to mention the biggest thing on her mind.

‘I’m late,’ she said quietly, staring at the floor.

‘What for?’

Jessica didn’t have to repeat herself before Izzy gasped and pulled her in for a hug.

28

Jessica quickly regretted saying anything to Izzy. Her friend had jumped to the obvious conclusion, telling her to go to a doctor or, at the absolute least, buy a testing kit. Jessica pointed out she had been late in the past, especially when she was young, but the constable refused to listen, asking question after question, including whether Adam knew. He was the biggest reason Jessica had held off from finding out one way or the other as she didn’t want anything to do with him – or his blonde woman.

By the time she arrived home, Adam was sleeping but Jessica lay awake, telling herself everything could be explained because she was run down by the long hours and stressful job.

The following morning, she made sure she got up before Adam’s alarm went off and got dressed in the living room before going to the station. She had a brief chat with Cole before heading out again, making sure there was no danger of running into either of the constables she was trying to avoid.

Most of their leads had gone nowhere, with nothing to link Oliver to Kayleigh to Nicholas. They had been diligently checking alibis of people who might have it in for him, despite the length of the list, but anyone realistic, including Nicky and Tia, had been accounted for. The forensics team had struggled to salvage anything useable from the scene of the businessman’s death and Jessica knew the day was approaching when she would have to revisit Owen and Gabrielle Gordon to apologise for getting precisely nowhere.

Meanwhile, the reopening of Nicholas’s club had caused problems the night before – but only because there were so many people trying to get in. Someone who Jessica assumed was Liam had hired extra security for the evening, but they had called for police when a group of men turned aggressive after being told the club was full. Nothing had been damaged and no arrests made but, because it was the council’s job to decide whether licences should be awarded, one of the councillors had requested a member of the police visit the newly refurbished club to give their opinion. It certainly wasn’t Jessica’s job but after hearing what had gone on, she volunteered anyway, if only to get out of the station for as long as she could get away with.

When she arrived, Liam was waiting at the front door, dressed smartly in a suit. ‘Good to see you again,’ he said, sounding genuine.

As soon as he opened the door, Jessica could see that things had changed. The wall that had created the initial corridor had been ripped out, so there was one large reception room with a new bar at the rear. Scott, who was wearing a matching suit, was restocking the fridges, and acknowledged Liam as he walked through.

‘What’s with the gear?’ Jessica asked, nodding at Liam’s suit.

‘Nicky’s idea.’

‘Really?’

‘Oh yes, he’s full of ideas . . .’

Liam didn’t sound completely impressed by it but Jessica conceded that the redesign was a large improvement on what had been there before. The red carpets and walls had gone, replaced by a subtler ivory colour that made everything seem less tacky. Well, less Turkish knocking shop, more IKEA beige.

Liam led her through to the main area, which was styled in the same way. The long bar had been taken out, replaced by something half the size, and the far end curtained off. Nicky certainly hadn’t wasted any time making the place his own.

‘What’s in there?’ Jessica asked, nodding towards the curtain.

‘Private areas.’

Jessica wished she hadn’t mentioned it. Liam sat her down and got her a glass of water, talking her through what had happened on their opening night. Aside from some over-promotion, it sounded as if they had done everything more or less as well as they could, with the extra security officers largely dealing with things. If it hadn’t been for a particularly drunk group of lads, no one would have been any the wiser.

As Liam appeared happy to talk, Jessica thought she would try her luck. ‘How’s Nicky?’ she asked.

Liam glanced towards the security door before answering. ‘He’s not his father.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘He has different ideas, dangerous ideas. His dad knew what to leave at home and what to bring here.’

The statement was cryptic but Liam seemed to realise he had said too much, quickly correcting himself before Jessica could follow it up. ‘He’s a kid, he doesn’t know how things work. He wants everything done instantly and doesn’t understand they take time. I’ll give him one thing, he’s full of ideas, but for every good ’un, there are half-a-dozen dreadful ones – like shrinking the bar, for instance. That’s where all the money comes from.’

‘Aren’t you the manager?’

Liam laughed. ‘Yeah, right. I’m not sure I’ll be around much longer. He’ll drive this place out of business. Whatever you might think about what goes on in the private areas here – and it’s probably not what you think – the fact is it’s very profitable. You don’t need to go throwing around drinks promotions or free dances or whatever. This isn’t that kind of business – he’d be better off at one of the smaller pubs figuring out how everything works.’

‘Why does he focus his work here, then, if he’s running the whole empire?’

The obvious answer, especially for an eighteen-year-old, was the girls, but Jessica suspected this was also where the ‘real’ work went on.

Liam gave nothing away. He was good at playing things down, another reason Jessica guessed Nicholas had given him the job. ‘This is where his dad worked, I guess?’

‘Doesn’t Tia get a say?’

‘Pfft. I don’t know who’d be worse but it doesn’t matter anyway. When Nicky came in shouting the odds the other week, he said she was taking the house, while he got the business. For whatever reason, it was what he wanted.’

‘Where is he, then?’

Liam shook his head. ‘Oh, he’s in the back. He’ll be watching all of this.’ He nodded at a camera above the security door pointing towards them. ‘There are cameras everywhere now. The kid’s paranoid whoever killed his dad will come back for him. He doesn’t realise his dad was a somebody, but he’s a nobody.’