‘Thanks, you’re slower than you look.’ Jessica tried to smile but her jaw was hurting.

‘I’ll get one of these guys to drop you home,’ Reynolds said.

‘I want to do the interview,’ Jessica protested, trying not to show how much pain she was in.

‘I’ll have to—’ the inspector began to say but Jessica cut him off.

‘I was the one who got kicked in the face. Just give me some time to go home and get changed.’

Two of the officers escorted Nathan, who wasn’t struggling, to their car while Jessica went with another.

As they were walking, Nathan called across to her. ‘I’m sorry about your face.’

Jessica wasn’t used to fleeing suspects talking to her, let alone apologising. ‘What?’

‘About your chin, I didn’t mean to kick you,’ he added. Jessica glanced sideways at the man. His coat and jeans were covered in mud, his bobble hat skewed to one side, revealing short dark hair with touches of silver.

Noticing Jessica looking at him, Nathan tried to catch her eye but she turned away. It didn’t stop him speaking loud enough for them all to hear. ‘It’s not what you think.’

A constable drove Jessica back to Adam’s house. Her phone had been in her pocket as she landed in the ditch and wasn’t responding when she tried to call him, so he was surprised as she walked through the door.

She squelched into the hallway and heard him call out, ‘Hey, you’re home’. Adam walked into the hallway, his arms wide to greet her before quickly withdrawing them. ‘Whoa, what happened to you?’

‘I fell in a ditch.’

Adam smiled but Jessica wasn’t feeling in the mood to respond and she saw him straightening his face before saying, ‘Why?’

‘I didn’t do it on purpose.’ She felt herself wince as she spoke.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I got kicked in the face.’

‘Ouch. So you’ve not had a good day then?’

‘I’m not finished yet, I’m getting changed then going back.’

Adam smiled gently at her. ‘Want a hug?’

‘I’m all wet.’

‘Never mind, I’ll live.’ Adam opened his arms again and pulled Jessica in close. She could feel her clammy clothes sticking to her and felt bad about getting Adam wet too, so released herself.

‘This is weird,’ Jessica said.

‘What is?’

‘I don’t know . . . someone being nice to me. I don’t like it.’

Adam laughed. ‘Would you prefer if I kicked you in the face too?’

Jessica giggled but quickly stopped because of the pain in her jaw. ‘I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.’

Even though she had taken time to change before heading back across the city from Adam’s house in Salford to the Longsight station, Jessica was still stuck waiting for Nathan Bairstow to be brought up from the cells to be interviewed. Reynolds told her the suspect had been given clean clothes from a store that was kept on site. The replacement garments were effectively jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt and were usually handed out to the weekend drunks who were left in the cells to sleep off the alcohol but ended up losing control of their bladders or vomiting over themselves. It wasn’t nice but it did leave some officers with cracking stories to tell at the Christmas party which, for whatever reason, had become a New Year’s Eve celebration this year. When he was cleaned up, Nathan had been allowed to meet his solicitor, which was also taking some time.

Most of the rest of the CID team were either on leave or had left for the day. Jessica knew Cole was in his office upstairs but she hadn’t gone to see him, leaving it to Reynolds to be the middle man. She was aware of not being the most patient person at the best of times but with her jaw stiffening up as the afternoon turned into evening – and a phone that wasn’t working – she spent around an hour balling up pieces of paper and trying to throw them into the bin on the other side of her office.

Eventually, Reynolds knocked and entered. ‘We’re ready,’ he said before noticing the large pile of paper next to the door. ‘How old are you?’ he added with a grin.

‘All right, old man, calm down,’ Jessica replied with a smile of her own. ‘Just because you were outrun by a girl.’

They walked through the nearly deserted hallways towards the interview room where the inspector checked the recording equipment. Shortly afterwards there was a knock at the door and Nathan was led into the room by a man in a grey suit. Everyone sat as Reynolds ran through the formalities. As he spoke, Jessica took in Nathan’s appearance. The wisps of grey hair she had seen as he was being escorted earlier were far more prominent under the white fluorescent light above them. He’d appeared youthful when she first saw him wearing a hat but his silver hair made him look his actual age. Before she had wasted an hour throwing paper balls into her bin, Jessica read the small amount of information they had on Nathan Bairstow and, among other things, she knew he was forty-six years old.

He refused to meet Jessica’s gaze, instead staring at a spot on the table between them. When the inspector finished talking, Jessica went to start but Nathan interrupted. ‘I just want to say I’m sorry for kicking you. It was an accident.’

Jessica didn’t want to give him any kind of upper hand, so ignored him. ‘How do you know Benjamin Sturgess?’ she asked.

‘Ian Sturgess?’

Jessica kept as straight a face as she could manage. ‘Yes, Ian.’

‘We taught together years ago.’

‘How long ago?’

‘I don’t know, maybe thirteen or fourteen years?’

‘Which? Thirteen or fourteen?’

Nathan seemed slightly distressed. He lifted his cuffed hands to scratch at his face. ‘I don’t know. I’ve been at St Jude’s for six years, I was temping for two before that, then I did two years with Our Lady’s. We were at the same school before that so some time between ten and fourteen years. I don’t really know because he left.’

‘Do you remember Toby Whittaker?’

‘Toby? I . . . I know the name. Was he the boy who went missing?’ Jessica stared at Nathan, waiting for him to meet her eyes. She didn’t answer with her words, instead letting him see it in her face. ‘I’m not sure what you think that has to do with me,’ he added.

Jessica checked the sheet of paper in front of her and read out the phone number. ‘Is that yours?’ she asked.

Nathan nodded slightly. ‘I think so. I don’t really know it properly.’

‘Let’s make it easy then. Have you ever had a phone conversation with Ian Sturgess?’

‘Yes, once or twice.’

Jessica read him the date and time of the call they had traced. ‘Does that sound about right?’

‘Yes.’

‘So you’re admitting you spoke to him?’

‘Yes but it’s not what you think.’ Nathan’s voice had a pleading tone.

‘What am I thinking?’ Jessica asked.

The man’s solicitor motioned to step in but Nathan lifted his arms up. ‘No, it’s fine. I know what you’re thinking because I saw on the news that Ian had been arrested but you were calling him Benjamin. I know it was something to do with that other kid going missing, Isaac. I saw it all and I knew I should have called you then . . .’ He tailed off and sighed before continuing. ‘I think I knew you would be coming for me at some point. I . . . I don’t know why I ran. I’m sorry I kicked you.’

Jessica felt her jaw stiffen as he spoke. It was the third time he had apologised and she wasn’t going to give him any satisfaction of acknowledging it. ‘You’ve not answered my question.’

Nathan held his head in his hands, ruffling his fingers through his hair. ‘You’re thinking I had something to do with the kid going missing, or being . . . killed.’

‘Did you?’

He spoke quietly. ‘No.’

‘So what were your cosy little phone chats about?’

‘Nothing . . . I mean it was all theory. Well, I thought it was.’

Jessica continued to stare at Nathan, although he wasn’t looking up from the table. ‘What was?’