She spent the next forty-five minutes half-watching the house, half-playing with her phone. Once again she and Reynolds had little to talk about, while the street was as quiet as could be. She was wrapped in Adam’s coat trying to keep warm but Reynolds appeared oblivious to the conditions, wearing his regular suit and not even bothering with a pair of gloves.

Jessica was once again looking through her old text messages when she heard the sound of a car coming from behind them. She turned to see a small black vehicle passing them before it swung sideways across the road and the reverse lights came on as it eased back onto the driveway they were watching. Jessica touched the handle of the door but Reynolds spoke quickly to prevent her from opening it. ‘Wait, let’s just watch.’

She removed her hand and focused on the man getting out of the car a few metres ahead. He was wearing a pair of heavy boots with jeans and a puffy dark blue jacket which Jessica thought looked particularly warm and inviting. He was wearing a pair of gloves and a woollen hat which he pushed away from the top of his eyes as he reached into the back seat and removed two large carrier bags. ‘Wait until his hands are full,’ the inspector said, although Jessica had already thought the same thing. She sat waiting with one hand on the handle as the man put the bags on the floor and locked the vehicle before picking them up again and walking towards his front door. ‘Now,’ Reynolds said forcefully.

The two officers opened their doors in unison and Jessica again carefully stepped over the mound of slush. She walked quickly but steadily towards the man along the path, while Reynolds rounded his vehicle and slotted onto the pavement behind her. Their target got to his front door just a few moments before Jessica reached him. He spun around, surprised, as they scrunched their way up his pathway.

‘Nathan Bairstow?’ Jessica asked. He looked sideways, before focusing back on the officers. From the small wrinkles around his eyes, Jessica would have guessed he was somewhere in his forties.

‘Who?’ the man said.

‘Are you Nathan Bairstow?’ Jessica repeated.

He put the shopping bags on the floor next to the front door and pointed to the house on the other side of his. ‘Wrong house.’

Jessica looked at Reynolds who had a puzzled look on his face. ‘Nathan Bairstow lives next door?’ the inspector asked.

‘Yeah, sorry.’ The man reached into his pocket and unlocked the front door, placing the two bags of shopping inside as the two officers looked awkwardly at each other.

‘Who checked it?’ Jessica asked.

‘I don’t know, one of the constables.’ Reynolds began edging away from the door, clearly not wanting to be heard by the homeowner.

Jessica followed his lead. ‘We should phone in,’ she said. The two detectives backed away to the pavement while the front door closed with a bang. The inspector took his phone out and started to press buttons as Jessica watched the house. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the downstairs curtains twitch. She took a few steps to the side and looked along the gap that led to the back garden. A waist-high metal gate separated the front from the rear and Jessica walked towards it, slowly at first, still watching the front window where she had seen the curtain twitch.

Her slow walk turned into a run as she heard the sound of a door banging. Reynolds’s shouting behind her only confirmed what she already knew as she leapt the gate and ran into the back garden just in time to see a man disappearing over the top of a fence panel.

27

Jessica ran as fast as she could across the crusty half-frozen lawn towards the wooden panel she had seen the man climb over. She jumped and grabbed the top, heaving herself up with a grunt that reminded her quite how unfit she was feeling after a week of turkey and alcohol. Reynolds dashed into the garden and shouted ‘He’s Bairstow’, as if straddling a six-foot fence panel in a stranger’s garden was something Jessica did every day.

If she hadn’t have been struggling for breath and trying to look below her to see which way Nathan had gone, Jessica would have replied with something withering and sarcastic. Instead she just about managed to exhale loudly before dropping down onto the other side, landing in an alleyway. She looked from one side to the other and saw a flash of dark blue running into another passageway far to her right. Cursing, Jessica turned and ran. The alley was covered in frost, overgrown branches flapping around her as she tried to dodge them. She skidded around the corner where Nathan had turned and saw the man running across a grassy area not too far ahead. Despite his head-start, Jessica could see he was struggling because of the size of his coat.

She tried to up her pace but her lungs were screaming out for air as Nathan glanced over his shoulder before veering off to his left. She kept moving as best she could but could feel a stitch developing in her abdomen. Despite the pain, she was slowly gaining on the man. Nathan’s change of direction took him towards a children’s play park where he stopped and stepped over a low red metal fence. He picked up pace as he ran across the soft black matting but Jessica hurdled the fence to gain a few more metres. From somewhere behind her, she could hear Reynolds’s voice shouting but she drove forward, jumping the fence on the other side of the play park, taking her within ten metres of Nathan.

He had another look over his shoulder and Jessica could see the anguish on his face. The stitch was burning through her body as she dashed across the solid grass, before launching herself forward and crashing into the back of the man. She tried to wrap her arms around him but she bounced off the man’s coat, falling painfully onto the back of his boots. She heard the crunch of her jaw before she felt the pain but Nathan’s feet clipped together and he tumbled forward as she clung on to the bottom of his jeans and together they fell and rolled into a shallow ditch.

Jessica felt a thin layer of ice shatter as the pair fell the yard or so into the gap. She could feel mud and water sloshing around her as Nathan tried to get to his feet but she clung hard to his ankles, heaving herself up his body. She was seeing stars from the dual pain of the stitch and the ache from her jaw but held on, shoving the man into the dirt and reaching under his coat, pushing the base of her palm hard into the bottom of his spine. He screamed in agony as Jessica crawled on top of him, pushing her forearm across the back of his neck. She was careful not to apply too much pressure but he stopped wriggling. Jessica tried to keep her cool but found herself shouting at him, the adrenaline of the chase flowing through her.

Moments later, Reynolds arrived, out of breath and unable to speak, then three more officers raced into view just behind him. The inspector pointed them towards Jessica and she released her grip on Nathan, leaning backwards and sitting with a plop in what she knew was a shallow muddy stream. The officers shouted instructions at Nathan, who held up his hands open-palmed into the air, allowing two of the other officers to pull him out. He was lying face down on the floor having his hands cuffed when one of them reached towards Jessica and helped pull her back onto the grassed area. She could feel wet hair plastered to her face and a shiver went through her from the suit trousers stuck to the back of her thighs.

‘Christ, you look a mess,’ Reynolds said none too helpfully.

Scraping her hair behind her ears, Jessica tried cupping her chin, wincing as a sharp pain ran through her. ‘Where were you?’

‘Calling for help then trying to catch you. You’re quicker than you look.’