‘Christ, that sounds like hard work.’

‘I know. All that and he’ll be charged with polygamy at some point in the next week. I don’t know what is worse – that, or having to admit what he’s been doing to both of his wives. They’ll chop his boll . . . bits off.’ Jessica toned down her language as a few uniformed officers walked by. It wasn’t something she’d usually care about but, with the story of her falling over flying around the station, she was trying to keep a low profile.

‘How long has he been doing all that?’ Izzy asked.

‘Fifteen years or so. When I spoke to Harry, he said there was something not quite right about the guy and I guess it was this.’

‘Rather him than me. I find it exhausting just having one husband and . . .’ The constable tailed off but held a hand just below her stomach.

‘Are you telling people yet?’ Jessica asked.

Izzy leant in, whispering, ‘About my peanut baby? Soon.’

‘At least I’ve not blabbed it yet. How’s it all going?’

‘Not too bad. We’re just beginning to get things sorted. There’s so much to think about. There’s all the obvious stuff like a cot and that kind of thing but we need a child seat ready to take him from the hospital back to our house because you’re not supposed to just carry them. I only found that out yesterday.’

‘Did you see that story in the news about the woman who had a twelve-pound baby girl the other week?’

Izzy pulled a face. ‘Why would you tell me that?’

Jessica held a hand up to concede she had said something stupid. ‘Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I’m sure yours will be a normal size.’ Before making things worse, she hastily tried to change the subject. ‘What happened around here yesterday while I was up north being an idiot?’

‘The chief super was in. He was upstairs for most of the day with Jack and Superintendent Aylesbury. Everyone was shitting themselves about looking smart and all that kind of stuff.’

Jessica knew DSI William Aylesbury from when he was a DCI at the station. He had been her boss but, since his promotion which meant he oversaw the wider area instead of just their station, she rarely saw him. Their relationship had been awkward at first but she had come to respect him before his elevation.

‘Have you ever met the chief super properly?’ Jessica asked.

‘No, I didn’t even see him yesterday. It was just what people were saying. You?’

‘I’ve met him a couple of times. There was some function thing last year. I’m always worried when senior people know my name.’

Izzy grinned. ‘He knows who you are?’

‘Yeah, the DSI probably told him because they’d worked together but it’s like being at school. The headmaster only knows who you are if you’re a really good student, or really naughty. I’m definitely not one of the really good ones, so I dread to think what he’s heard.’

‘I wonder if he’s heard about you falling over?’

‘If he has, I’m going to start my own internal investigation into information leaks.’

Izzy laughed again. ‘What time did you get back?’

‘About one in the morning, then back in first thing today for a meeting. From what was said, things will pretty much carry on as normal for us. Orders will be coming from on high through the DCI though.’

‘So what’s going on at the moment?’

Jessica leant closer to her colleague, lowering her voice. She wasn’t uncomfortable telling the constable information but didn’t want to be overheard just in case. ‘Basically, not much. There’s no sign of Lloyd. Nothing’s come back from the students at the school, the CCTV cameras didn’t see anything and the traffic cameras are still being viewed, although no one’s really expecting much from those. The dig at the woods is crawling along because of the weather but they’ve not come across anything yet. They’re looking for remains of Toby Whittaker but I’m not sure they’ll find him. Meanwhile, the allotment lead, along with the hunt for the Glenn Harrison guy, has turned into a bit of a dead end. The most important thing is to find Isaac’s murderer but that’s going nowhere either. How have you been doing with that Ian Sturgess teacher guy?’

Izzy finished off the contents of her mug and put it on the table. ‘I’ve not really had time. First we had people coming in to help with the workload, then they were taken away. I’ve been working on other things. All I know is that there’s no one called “Ian Sturgess” who matches the age group we’ve been looking for. I can’t find any teacher in the country called that either. It’s like he vanished.’

‘Just like Lloyd . . .’

Jessica spoke without really thinking. After the experience they’d had chasing one loose end with Simon Hill, it seemed unlikely her bosses would let her work on another. ‘How busy are you at the moment?’ she added.

Izzy smiled. ‘About sixty per cent of my time is being taken up with telling people about you falling over. Other than that, I really am snowed under.’

‘It’s nice to know I have the support of my colleagues,’ Jessica said sarcastically. ‘Is there any chance you can keep hammering away at this Ian Sturgess guy when you get some time? Don’t do anything that could get you in trouble but, if you find anything, let me know.’

‘Do you think he’s important?’

‘I don’t know, probably not. I think mobilising most of Sunderland’s police force to find a guy guilty of polygamy has probably soured things a little when it comes to following these old leads. The word from this morning’s meeting was to focus on finding Lloyd and we can come back to the rest.’

‘Aren’t we doing that anyway?’

‘Yeah, but it’s all about appearances. Kid goes missing and the press want pictures of police officers trawling through fields or walking the streets. It looks better than a load of people sat at desks . . .’

‘. . . or falling on their arses,’ Izzy interrupted.

‘Yeah, or falling on their arses. Either way, it’s all about looking good at the moment. We could do with people here to follow everything up but instead they’re going around in circles hoping for the best. I think they’re worried about news of that list of children getting out too. There wasn’t much else we could do other than tell the parents to be vigilant – which we did – but if it gets leaked we had Lloyd’s name before he was taken, everyone’s in trouble.’

‘What have they got you on?’

Jessica allowed herself to smile slightly. ‘I’m sort of being allowed to do my own thing. As long as I stay broadly within the remit of looking for Lloyd, I’ve got a bit of freedom. It’s all because the kidnap squad are also involved. Neither side wants to hand over jurisdiction to the other. They’ve got an officer staying with the mother while we’re doing the legwork. Like most things, I think it’s all about budgets. If we give way to them or the other way around, it could seem like we’re passing on responsibility, meaning the other side needs more money. You know what it’s like, everyone’s really laid back until money comes into it, then they just scrabble for whatever they can get.’

‘Have you met the kidnap person?’

‘Yeah, she’s called Esther. She’s pretty sound. We’ve got each other’s numbers. I don’t think she’s too arsed about office politics either.’

Izzy sighed and checked her watch. ‘I’m going to head back. Are you okay?’

Jessica looked at her scuffed palms. Her hip had been stiff that morning but considering how hard she had hit the concrete, she was actually feeling all right. ‘I’m fine, just a couple of grazes.’

‘I meant, are you okay?’

Jessica knew her colleague was talking about her state of mind. They had become good friends and, although it wasn’t something she would talk about, Izzy knew Jessica could become emotionally involved in cases.

‘I’ve just . . .’ Jessica paused to sigh. ‘. . . I’ve just never known a case with so many leads before. Usually if you had half of what we’ve got, we’d have someone charged in the cells and be moving on. Here, there’s almost too much: Toby, Isaac, Lloyd, the woods, the allotment, the driver, “Glenn”, Toby’s clothes, Ian Sturgess, that list of names and so on. I’ve worked on cases with no leads where I’ve felt like I’ve got more idea what I’m doing.’