‘It’s okay,’ Jessica said.

‘Are you any closer to . . . ?’ Kayla didn’t finish the question but she didn’t have to.

Jessica shook her head without committing herself to anything specific. ‘We’re trying.’

‘I saw on the news that someone else had gone missing. Have you . . . ?’

‘Not yet.’

From the look on the woman’s face, it seemed as if Kayla was closely following Lloyd Corless’s disappearance. Jessica guessed she believed that finding Lloyd’s abductor would be the key to Isaac’s murder. She tried to offer a reassuring smile but false sincerity was something Jessica had never been good at. Kayla nodded and gripped Jessica’s hand as she shook it. Her palms were still feeling raw from the fall a few days previously but she tried not to wince. Kayla’s long black hair was clean and neatly tied back and she looked better than when Jessica had last seen her, although there were still heavy dark bags under her eyes, despite the concealer she had used.

‘Can you do something for me?’ Kayla asked.

‘What?’

‘Call if anything happens. If you find him or whatever, the other boy, can you let me know?’

‘I’ll try.’

Jessica didn’t want to promise because if they did find Lloyd, whether he was alive or dead, there would be a lot of people who would need to be spoken to. Kayla seemed to accept what Jessica was saying.

‘Okay, thank you. Are you coming to the hall?’

Jessica glanced across towards Mike, who was still staring at them. ‘I’m not sure that’s really for the best.’

Kayla looked behind her. ‘You’re probably right.’ She stared directly into Jessica’s eyes before turning and the look said more than her words could: ‘I need to go, but please find whoever did this’.

As she walked away, Jessica looked to her colleagues. ‘Are you off back to the station?’ she asked. Jack nodded but didn’t speak. Jessica had known him for years and he was looking older than ever, the stress of the past few days and lack of progress weighing on him heavily.

‘We’ve got more meetings later this afternoon,’ Reynolds said. ‘Are you coming?’

‘I think I’m going to visit Rachel Corless again and maybe Adrian too if you don’t mind.’

The truth was Jessica wasn’t enjoying the atmosphere at Longsight. To outward appearances, nothing had changed but everyone was feeling the pressure to make a breakthrough.

‘Are you on to something?’ Reynolds asked.

Jessica shook her head. ‘I’m just going to check in.’

She hadn’t told any of her colleagues but she had been text-messaging Esther each evening to swap accounts of what their respective departments had found out that day. There was very little but Jessica felt she probably knew as much as anyone given the tension between CID and the kidnap team. To the media they were presenting a united front but behind closed doors, they were blaming each other for not being able to find Lloyd. It was typical internal politics.

Jessica made her way back to where she had parked. The weather had been getting colder, the rain replaced by morning frosts and flimsy flurries of snow. None of it settled but each day seemed to be chillier than the one before.

As she sat in the driver’s seat, Jessica took out her phone and called Esther. After making sure she was at Rachel’s and not too busy, Jessica drove to the house. The giant Christmas tree and inflatable Santa across the road were still present and had been joined a few doors down by a huge snowman that looked as if it was made of polystyrene. Jessica shook her head and allowed herself a small grin, wondering how Esther had taken to the new oversized piece of tat.

She rang the doorbell and Esther answered. Before going inside, Jessica nodded across the road towards the snowman. ‘I know,’ Esther said with a wicked grin, stepping out of the house and pulling the door closed without locking it in place. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, and the suit had been replaced by a pair of jeans and woollen jumper. Because she was staying with Rachel as a permanent support figure, it made sense for her to dress more informally. ‘Still cold out then?’ Esther added, walking along the path with Jessica next to her.

‘Bloody freezing. I was up in Sunderland the other day and it’s worse up there.’

‘I heard you fell over . . .’ Esther turned, grinning.

‘Who told you that?’ Jessica was stunned the other woman knew.

‘Oh, I have spies everywhere.’

‘If we could channel all the energy that’s spent gossiping about me into actual police work, we’d have wrapped this all up weeks ago.’

‘Are you all right?’ Esther asked.

‘Fine. How’s Rachel?’

Esther let out a small sigh. ‘She’s just . . . difficult to read. I think she’s coming to the realisation Adrian isn’t involved after all. She’s been really calm because I think she was convinced Lloyd would be back any day and his dad would be in trouble. She was a bit upset last night and I think it’s dawning on her that it’s not going to happen like that.’

‘Does she know anyone else who might be involved?’

The two women stopped at the end of the pathway. ‘No, it’s difficult to get much of anything out of her. Having her friend around helps but she can’t be here all the time. She spends all day cleaning then watching TV in the evening. Then she keeps talking about getting the place ready for Christmas, as if everything’s normal.’

‘What about the other son?’

‘Marcus? He spends a lot of time in his room. I had a bit of a chat with him the other day but you’ve got to be careful talking to minors. I think he’s coming to terms with it better than his mother. How’s it going at your end?’

Jessica was perfectly happy to tell Esther the truth, knowing it wouldn’t go any further. ‘Shite. We’ve got nothing and, worse still, the papers know it. Everyone’s assuming they’re getting ready to lay into us. The chief super was around yesterday but it’s not as if he can do much. He’s putting loads more officers out onto the streets to make it look like we know what we’re doing.’

‘Sounds about right. Shall we go in? It’s bloody freezing out here. I’ve got this jumper on but it’s boiling in there. The heating’s permanently on full. I’d hate to be paying those gas bills.’

‘I was going to but it sounds like you’ve got enough going on. I think I’m going to nip up and see Adrian again. He might have some ideas now he knows we’re not looking into him.’

‘Have you formally ruled him out?’

Jessica blew into her hands to warm them. ‘More or less. You know what it’s like, you do as much digging as you can and, if you can’t find anything, you just assume they’ve hidden it well. The official line is “not a suspect”, the unofficial one is “keep looking”. The even more unofficial one is that we don’t have the officers to “keep looking” because they’re all out on the streets.’

Esther turned. ‘All right, let me know how you go.’

Jessica drove steadily up the motorway, not wanting to push her car too hard, and arriving just before sunset.

Adrian opened the door and invited her in. ‘No one’s been telling me anything,’ he said and Jessica knew he had good reason to complain. While Esther had been sent to stay with Rachel, Lloyd’s father had been left almost entirely out of the loop. The man offered her tea and Jessica waited in the kitchen with him while he made it. ‘Can you tell me what’s going on?’ he asked.

‘We’re still looking for your son, Mr Corless,’ Jessica said.

‘Just call me Adrian. Are you having any luck?’

Telling the man the truth would be fairly unprofessional, so Jessica fudged the issue as best she could. ‘We are following a few leads.’

‘That sounds like classic police-speak. “Proceeding in a westerly direction” and all that crap. Have you at least moved on from trying to go after me?’

‘You’re not on our list of suspects.’

‘That’s one thing at least.’