Andrew walked as quickly as he thought he could get away with without attracting further attention. He dashed between two more parked cars before reaching the walkway and striding past Sienna’s friends in the opposite direction. At first he couldn’t work out where Sienna might have gone as there didn’t appear to be a gap between the buildings. As he neared the corner, Andrew saw what had happened. One of the young men had Sienna pinned up against the wall. One of his hands was inside her tracksuit top and she had a hand hooked around the back of his neck pulling him into her. For a moment, Andrew thought about taking a photograph but he realised there wasn’t enough light unless he used a flash. He took a few steps closer to establish the male involved was the bottom-squeezer and then turned and walked back to his car, taking extra care not to stride in front of any other vehicles.

Back in the driver’s seat, Andrew picked up his camera and skimmed through the images he had taken, half-watching the pillar to make sure no one emerged from behind it. He eyed the photographs of the male, wondering if he should take them to Harley. They offered no proof of who had got his daughter pregnant – but they showed that Sienna was in a relationship of sorts with someone.

He was beginning to wonder how much longer the couple could get away with such a public display of affection when he saw Sienna emerge from one side of the post walking back towards the fast-food restaurant. She was on her own, moving quickly and smoothing her top down. The man was walking in the opposite direction, towards where their friends had headed. Andrew’s fingers hovered over the key in the ignition, unsure of where Sienna was going. She strode past her friend’s car in the direction of the bus stop but then cut diagonally across the car park towards a large electrical store.

He took the keys out of the ignition and stepped quickly out of the car. Because of the speed and direction in which Sienna was moving, she had moved out of his line of vision. He jogged towards where she had headed, looking from side to side to see where she could have gone. She had been out of his eyesight for less than thirty seconds and there wasn’t enough of a crowd for her to have disappeared into. Andrew reached the front of the store, thinking her pale blue outfit was distinctive enough that he couldn’t miss her, even with the fading light.

With no obvious idea of where she could have gone, Andrew entered the store. Three washing machines were stacked in a pyramid directly in front of him and a female shop assistant with a smile that may as well have been painted on lurched towards him asking if she could help. Andrew ignored her, striding past the tills before attempting to peer over the top of the display cases to see if Sienna was anywhere obvious. He walked as quickly as he thought he could manage without drawing unwanted attention, bounding along the width of the store, checking the aisles for any sign of the woman. After retracing his steps, it became clear she wasn’t in the shop.

Andrew exited and continued walking in a straight line off the pavement onto the car park. He stopped and turned, trying to see what he had missed. If Sienna hadn’t entered the store, he couldn’t see where else she might have gone. Even if she had sprinted, she wouldn’t have reached another shop before he saw her and there was nowhere else for her to have gone unless she had got into a car.

The area of the complex he was standing in was relatively empty, with fewer than two dozen parked cars. Andrew was confused, wondering if Sienna somehow knew he was watching her, when he noticed a narrow gap between the store he had just exited and the one adjacent to it. Because of the angle he had approached the shop from, a pillar with the same brickwork as the store had obscured his view.

Annoyed with himself for missing it, Andrew walked purposefully towards the alley, not knowing exactly what he was planning to do. He had no idea where it came out or, if Sienna had headed through the gap between the buildings, how he could explain his appearance if she was waiting at the end.

Without a plan, Andrew broke into a run. The alley was only a metre wide with gravel underfoot. He crunched his way to the end, where it opened out into a concreted yard. Ahead, Andrew could see tall metal gates where he guessed delivery lorries would enter. He squinted towards the corners of the yard, trying to look for any sign of Sienna but the light had faded to such a degree that he could barely see the shape of anything except the gates. One spotlight hooked high on the store illuminated the middle part of the area – but there was nothing there, except an upturned plastic crate.

Andrew stood still, frustrated with his own carelessness. He didn’t have a brief to follow Sienna wherever she went but something about the way she had left her friends and moved away from the path didn’t seem right.

He walked along the length of the gates and then followed the wall they intersected with. The corners were dark and disorientating and Andrew took out his mobile phone, using the screen as a light. He had no idea what he might be looking for but continued to trace his way around the yard.

As he neared the corner closest to the alley’s entrance, Andrew could see a pile of wooden pallets. He flashed the light across them before realising they were arranged in a U-shape, meaning there would be a gap in the middle. The investigator walked steadily around the objects, being careful not to trip over any of the scattered pieces of wood.

As his foot squelched and skidded slightly, Andrew felt his heart jump. He shone the light of his phone towards his feet where deep, dark liquid was pooled around his black leather shoes. Time seemed to slow as Andrew lifted his phone upwards, following the trail of liquid to Sienna, who was sitting on the floor, bent over and slumped against one of the pallets. The hems of her tracksuit bottoms were stained with the same liquid as his shoe and, as Andrew scanned the light across her, he could see the slash marks diagonally across her wrists and a pair of scissors splayed on the floor.

6

Jessica was halfway back to Salford after finishing for the day when the call came through on her mobile to say an eighteen-year-old woman had been found with her wrists slashed. She didn’t necessarily have to return to deal with things – especially after being called to Martin Chadwick’s house in the early hours of the morning – but, for a reason Jessica didn’t want to think too deeply about, she wasn’t that desperate to get back to Adam’s house.

Adam’s house.

Jessica pulled her car over to the side of the road and sent a text message to tell Adam she was going to be late, and then turned the vehicle around, heading back the way she had come.

If she hadn’t left work, it would have barely been a five-minute journey from Longsight Police Station to the entertainment complex on Hyde Road. Having reached the city centre before turning around, it took her closer to forty-five. By the time Jessica arrived, three police vans and two ambulances were parked in front of an electrical store. Two uniformed officers were blocking the entrance to a narrow alley which separated two shops. One of the officers recognised her, offering a ‘didn’t you go home for the day?’ look which Jessica ignored.

‘Are they out back?’ Jessica asked.

The officer nodded towards the alleyway. ‘There’s a service yard back there and a separate road where delivery lorries come down. Scene of Crime are already here.’

‘What’s it like?’

The officer didn’t answer but the sideways glance he gave his colleague told Jessica all she needed to know: it was messy.