9

Jessica changed gear and pushed down on the accelerator, missing how her old car would have made a crunching sound in protest. There had been something intensely satisfying about punishing her previous vehicle’s gearbox and driving the newer one just wasn’t the same.

‘Why is it always you?’ Rowlands asked with a gentle laugh. Jessica eased onto the brake as the set of traffic lights ahead flicked over to red. She knew that there was a lot of truth in what her colleague was saying despite his amusement. It did frequently seem to be her that brought out the aggression in people. Was it because she was a woman and some found that intimidating? Or was it something more intrinsic to her personality? Jessica didn’t want to think too deeply, fearing what the truth might be.

‘I didn’t see you stepping in,’ she replied.

‘I didn’t know what was going on,’ the constable protested. ‘I didn’t know what those photos were of, or what you were asking him about.’

Jessica felt a pang of regret at the way she had spoken to Ryan. She had to keep reminding herself that he hadn’t had the upbringing she had. Her parents had always been there to support her and, if anything, showed too much interest. She found herself ignoring their calls when their number appeared on her phone because she didn’t want to put aside an hour of her day. Ryan had never had that and it was no surprise he was upset having just lost his house and almost his father. But there was something about the way he talked of Sienna that didn’t sit right. He had a harsh, unforgiving attitude towards a young woman who had killed herself without giving any indication of why he felt like that. With that and his general attitude towards the police, something had snapped inside her.

The content of what he had said also didn’t ring quite true. Sienna had cut herself high on the inside of her thighs, presumably to hide it from anyone else. If she was as ‘easy’ as Ryan claimed, lots of different people would have known about them.

‘It’s green,’ Rowlands said gently. Jessica snapped back to the present, wondering if she had dozed off for a second or two. She eased the car away from the lights. ‘Have you heard from Iz?’

Detective Constable Isobel Diamond was their colleague and friend who had recently gone on maternity leave. ‘She texted me earlier to say that she and baby Amber are doing fine,’ Jessica replied. ‘Apparently her husband is waiting on her hand and foot, so there’s a lesson for you.’

Dave snorted. ‘If I ever have a kid, I’m going to make sure it’s a boy. I read this article about how you can guarantee the sex of your child if you eat certain things.’

‘What’s so special about boys?’

‘You can take ’em to the park and play football, things like that. They get all the cool toys.’ Rowlands spoke as if his argument was the most obvious one going.

‘You can do that with girls too. Or, better yet, you could let them develop their own interests, then get involved with that,’ Jessica pointed out.

‘Nah.’

‘You just want a mini you, don’t you?’

Rowlands laughed and replied in a put-on accent that was either American or Australian. Jessica wasn’t sure which. ‘There’s only one of me, baby.’

She couldn’t stop herself from giggling, observing that she was laughing at him, not with him and adding: ‘You’re such an idiot.’

After a few moments, Dave spoke again, but more seriously. ‘What are we going to do when we get to Anthony’s? We can’t keep turning up at his house.’

Jessica knew he was right. ‘We can’t do much else at the moment. The fire investigators say they won’t have even the basics from Martin’s house until tomorrow, although they are pretty sure it was arson. Regardless of what they end up with, the fact the back door and window were secured to try to keep Chadwick in shows it was a deliberate act. This was attempted murder. None of the neighbours say they saw anything – at least not yet – so he’s our only lead.’

‘How do you think he’ll take it?’

She didn’t reply, instead reaching forward to turn up the heaters. Jessica didn’t know if Anthony was responsible but felt trapped in the middle of a dispute between two sides which was only going to end with one or both parties either locked up or dead. From her only encounter with him, Anthony seemed too eccentric to get through to, while Ryan was fuelled by hatred. Martin was also caught between them – although it was down to his actions.

Jessica parked a few doors away from Anthony Thompson’s house and the two officers got out of the car, although not before Jessica had reached onto the back seat for the jacket she hadn’t yet returned.

‘Is it just us two?’ Rowlands asked.

Jessica slammed her door and walked around to the pavement where he was waiting.

‘For now. We still have no evidence that Anthony is involved, so we can’t go stomping in. I want to make sure that everything I told him the other day has sunk in. It won’t do any harm to ask where he was this evening either.’

She led the way to the house, pointing towards the front window as they walked along the short path. ‘Curtains open but no lights on,’ Jessica said.

She knocked as quietly as she could on the door so as not to disturb the neighbours. Given the time of the evening, she didn’t want to draw attention to what they were doing. As she knocked a second time, Rowlands edged along the window frame, pushing his face up to the glass.

‘See anything?’ Jessica whispered loudly.

‘No. Why are we whispering?’

Jessica noted that he had lowered his own voice. ‘Because it’s dark and we don’t want to annoy the neighbours.’

The constable stepped away from the window, walking backwards across the small patch of lawn. ‘I can’t see anything upstairs,’ he said out loud.

Jessica knocked a third time, although she knew it wouldn’t be answered. Rowlands rejoined her at the door. ‘It doesn’t look good, does it? This guy threatens revenge and is nowhere to be found on the night the other person’s house burns down.’

‘Anthony didn’t threaten revenge,’ Jessica said. ‘He said that people had to pay for what they had done.’

‘What’s the difference?’

Jessica sighed. ‘At the moment, I don’t know. He might have been referring to the price Martin had already paid by being in prison.’

She was hoping there was a simple explanation for the man not being at home. Hopefully he was somewhere public where his presence could be checked. Jessica nodded towards the path that stretched around the side of the house.

‘Let’s check around the back,’ she said, leading the way.

A high overgrown hedge shielded their trespassing from any potential onlookers as Rowlands helped to lift Jessica over the top of a wooden gate that was taller than she was. Landing with a grunt on the other side, Jessica unbolted the lock to let the constable through.

As they walked into the back garden, the hedge height dropped, allowing a row of houses at the end of the property to be clearly visible. One of them had a light shining through a top-floor window.

‘Should we go back?’ Rowlands asked, nodding towards the house.

‘Nah, it’s too dark for anyone to see,’ Jessica replied. The light of the moon, along with a faint glow from a street lamp on the other side of the hedge, gave them just enough illumination to see the area. A roll of carpet had been left directly ahead of the side entrance and Jessica stepped over it, attempting not to stand on anything that could show they had been there. She turned to check there were no lights on at the rear of the house as Rowlands again peered through the window.

‘Nothing,’ he said without prompting.

The garden was a mix of uneven paving slabs and overgrown, muddy grass areas with seemingly no plan of what should be where. A flower bed ran the length of the hedge near to the discarded carpet but, although it was spring, Jessica could see nothing was sprouting. Instead, it comprised piles of earth and a bush which had been hacked back in the corner.