Jessica remembered the envelope she had found in the bin.

‘The computer . . . ?’

Adam reached out an arm and although Jessica didn’t allow him to embrace her, she didn’t push him away either. After letting his arm drop again, he sighed and apologised.

‘When I got that letter, it had an email address and phone number at the bottom. I wanted to believe it was true but Georgia didn’t know all the details either. We started emailing each other, piecing together the timeline of what might have happened but I suppose it was a bit too much for me. I’ve spent my whole life thinking I was on my own and then this happened. I wasn’t ready to talk to you because I wasn’t ready to admit it to myself either.’

Jessica was also an only child and tried to think how she might react if someone turned up claiming to be related to her. Would she keep everything quiet until she was absolutely sure? She tried to tell herself she wouldn’t, but the fact she hadn’t yet told Adam what she had told Izzy only proved she was no different.

‘So is she actually your sister?’

Adam smiled in the way that had first drawn her to him; it changed his face from being someone she would look at and forget into her Adam.

‘Yes, she’s three years older than me and was born in Manchester. Her dad took her down south around a month before my parents got married.’

‘Why?’

‘We don’t really know. In the letter she found, it’s just from our mum telling her dad never to contact her again. It sounds like they had some sort of affair. For whatever reason, our mum didn’t want her in the same way my dad . . . didn’t want me.’

Adam’s voice cracked as he finished his sentence and Jessica reached out towards him, pulling him towards her as he grasped at her.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he sobbed.

Jessica wanted to apologise herself but the lump was bulging in the back of her throat, tears streaming down her face.

It felt like hours before Adam finally released her, taking her hand. ‘We should probably introduce you properly.’

Jessica snorted half a laugh, realising what a horrendous scene she had made. ‘She’s going to hate me already, isn’t she?’

Adam shrugged. ‘I’ve seen you make worse first impressions.’

Jessica giggled, more tears running down her face. She started to walk towards the lifts but realised Adam hadn’t moved and was still holding her hand. She turned to face him but his expression had changed as he looked into her eyes.

‘Do you trust me?’ he asked.

His voice sounded so aggrieved that Jessica didn’t know where to look.

‘Yes . . . I mean . . .’ She paused, trying to find the words, before admitting: ‘I don’t know what I mean.’

Adam nodded, knowing she was being honest. ‘We’ve got to trust each other.’

‘You didn’t trust me enough to tell me about Georgia when your letter arrived.’

‘I know.’

They stared at each other before Adam cracked first, his giggling soon spreading to Jessica.

‘I thought I was coming home for you to break up with me,’ she said as they walked slowly across the car park.

‘Why would I do that?’

‘I don’t know, that’s just what I thought. Isn’t that what “we have to talk” is code for?’

Adam shrugged. ‘Can we make a pact to tell each other things in future?’

Jessica hesitated as Adam pressed the button for the lift. The voice told them it was ‘coming down’. ‘I’ve got something to tell you,’ Jessica said.

‘Anything.’

Adam squeezed her hand to tell her he meant it.

‘Can you trust me for a day or two?’

The lift doors pinged open as Adam pulled her close and kissed her on the top of the head. ‘Whenever you’re ready.’

Adam stepped into the lift but this time Jessica kept hold of his hand, not moving. ‘I’ve got something I need to do,’ she said.

‘For work?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you have to do it tonight?’

Jessica thought of what she had found out that day and who she needed to see next. The photos of Oliver and Kayleigh’s bodies flickered through her mind.

‘I don’t know, maybe.’

‘Can you come and meet Georgia first and do everything tomorrow?’

Jessica kept hold of his hand, thinking of all the times she had run off, prioritising work ahead of Adam and Caroline, not to mention her parents. Adam’s eyes were asking her to put him first, even if it was just for this one time. As he let go of her hand, Jessica stepped into the lift a moment before the doors pinged closed behind her.

Jessica set her alarm for early the next morning but it was Adam who eventually woke her with a gentle shake and whisper in her ear.

‘What time is it?’ Jessica mumbled, rolling towards him.

When Adam told her, Jessica kicked the covers off, dashing towards the wardrobe.

‘Why didn’t my alarm go off?’

‘It did.’

Jessica had a blouse halfway off the hanger as she turned to face him.

‘You slept through it,’ he added.

‘Why didn’t you wake me?’

‘Because you needed a rest.’

Jessica was ready to protest but knew he was right – everyone had been telling her that and for the first time in weeks, she had slept completely through the night. Even hearing the words made her feel more alert, as if the realisation she had slept well was more invigorating than the sleep itself.

‘Do you want to talk tonight?’ Adam asked, as Jessica reached into the wardrobe.

‘Maybe.’

‘Last night didn’t go so bad in the end, did it?’

Jessica dressed quickly as she spoke. ‘When is she coming back up north?’

‘I’m not sure. We could visit her?’

Not knowing exactly what the day might entail, Jessica crouched and hunted for a sensible pair of shoes. ‘I’ve never been to Bath.’

‘Me neither but Grandma came from that area.’

‘Aren’t they all farmers around that way?’

Adam laughed and put on a fake accent. ‘Ooh arr. I guess we’ll find out.’

By the time he kissed her goodbye, Jessica was fully dressed, phone in hand, ready for the day.

As Jessica sat in Eleanor Sexton’s living room, she realised she should have been prepared for the questions the woman might ask, instead of focusing on what she needed to find out. The look on the woman’s face was more one of bemusement than pleasure but Jessica couldn’t have held it against her if she had been pleased.

‘He’s really dead?’ Eleanor said, cradling a mug of tea exactly as she had the last time Jessica had visited.

‘Yes he is.’

‘Did you see him?’

‘Yes.’

Eleanor paused for a moment, thinking, then she smiled. ‘I saw it in the papers and heard it on the news but he was just one of those guys you think can’t die. I know it sounds mad.’

Jessica understood what she meant. ‘I’ve got one other thing I need to ask,’ she said.

‘Okay.’

‘When you and Kayleigh left Nicholas’s casino, which of you suggested that you needed a way out?’

Eleanor scratched her head, narrowing her eyes. ‘Why?’

‘It might be important.’

‘I don’t know, maybe me?’

‘Really? Think about it. Did Kayleigh come to you to ask for help getting away, or did you see she was in trouble?’

‘I suppose I knew she was in trouble, so I suggested we left.’

‘And it was your suggestion to give her money to pay off the debts?’

Eleanor shook her head. ‘I don’t remember. It might have been the type of thing where she said she still owed him money, so I offered.’

‘But it was her telling you she was in trouble that made you offer?’

‘I suppose . . . but it was my idea after that.’

Jessica knew the key to getting your own way was to make the other person do what you wanted, all the time thinking everything was their idea. She didn’t point out that suspicion but could not stop thinking about what Eleanor had told her the last time she was there.

‘. . . With the customers and men, he’d break your bones – or get one of his men to. He’d hurt you, or threaten to hurt you to make you pay. With us women . . .’