Jessica first called the college to check the details they would need. The Manchester College largely served sixteen- to nineteen-year-old school-leavers and they had half-a-dozen campuses dotted around the city. Sienna had been studying health and beauty at the Openshaw site which, Jessica noted from the website, was the closest to where Ryan lived. As the receptionist passed on the information, Jessica asked authoritatively which course Ryan was involved with. Although she wasn’t entitled to that information, she knew that, if you used any of the words ‘officer’, ‘detective’ or ‘sergeant’ and asked with enough confidence, most staff would happily tell you what you wanted to know, thinking they were obliged to do so.

Ryan was studying masonry and brickwork on the same campus but the key piece of information Jessica discovered was that both he and Sienna shared the same form tutor. It had been a while since she had been in education but the receptionist told her that every student – regardless of course – was assigned to a set adult who would monitor their attendance. They were required to sign a register each day and attend bi-monthly meetings with the tutor to talk about their overall progress. Jessica noted the teacher’s name – Aidan Barlow – and asked the receptionist if they could organise a time to speak to him that day. Jessica figured he would be one of the few adults to actually see Sienna and Ryan interacting.

Much of the local traffic had cleared by the time Reynolds drove them to the college but Jessica’s frustration at the hours she seemed to have spent in a car that day didn’t abate as they endured fifteen minutes searching for a parking spot at the campus. Her suggestion to ‘just run him over’ as a gormless-looking student wandered in front of them was ignored, as was her idea to ‘just block him in’ when they drove past the head teacher’s marked space for the third time.

By the time they had reached the reception area, only to find a queue of people, Jessica was ready to snap. After another ten minutes of listening to the group of girls in front blathering on about which type of hair extensions they should get, Reynolds had resorted to resting a reassuring hand on Jessica’s shoulder. The pain had largely subsided from the previous evening but she could still feel a twinge as her supervisor gave her a wide-eyed ‘be calm’ look.

Jessica did lots of things well. Calm was not one of them.

Despite her annoyance, she had to admit the receptionist was helpful when they reached the front. She phoned for a support staff member, who led both officers out of reception across the car park they had spent so long navigating. Although the signs proudly displayed the area as a ‘campus’, Jessica wasn’t sure the large two-storey grey building that stretched for a hundred metres or more could really be classed as anything other than a giant warehouse with windows.

The member of staff swiped them through a set of double doors and led them up a flight of stairs that opened onto a cream-coloured corridor that looked identical to the one below it.

Eventually, they reached a door with Aidan Barlow’s name printed on it and, after knocking and being called in, Jessica and Reynolds were offered seats in his office.

Aidan greeted them with a handshake and a smile, although Jessica struggled to identify his accent. At first she thought it was Irish but she also wondered if there was a hint of Scottish. The man was somewhere in his mid-thirties with a mop of straggly brown hair. He was wearing a jumper over a shirt, with thick-rimmed glasses which perfectly suited his face. In terms of looks, he wasn’t as striking as Sebastian but there was definitely something about the man which Jessica felt drawn to.

She did figure that part of the appeal could be the state of his office. While his desk was placed in the centre facing the door, piles of papers and files littered the edges of the room. Some were in boxes, with others piled on top of each other. It reminded Jessica of her own ‘filing system’.

‘How can I help you?’ Aidan asked when they were all seated and the two officers had turned down the offer of tea.

Given the way Reynolds had tried to calm her in reception, Jessica didn’t know if he would want to take the lead. Usually there was something unspoken between them – between her and pretty much anyone at the station in fact – that she would ask the questions. Even Cole gave way to her, although she had never asked him why. As the inspector stayed quiet, Jessica took the cue.

‘Obviously you know what occurred with Sienna Todd a few days ago,’ Jessica said. ‘We wanted to talk to you as her form tutor about anything that might have led up to it.’

Aidan nodded gently, ready to help. ‘I heard it was suicide?’

‘We’re not completely sure yet.’

‘Have you spoken to her friends? I’m not sure how much use I can be.’

‘That’s our next stop,’ Jessica assured him. ‘Any background you can give us would be great. Is it right Sienna had been in your form since September?’

Aidan pushed out his bottom lip, nodding. ‘Yes, just this year.’

‘What did you make of her?’

‘Sienna? I’m not sure. She had one of those names that’s a bit different, so you remember them. She seemed to be very friendly with everyone. Her course progress was good according to her marks. Generally she was here on time. She seemed very normal.’

Jessica asked for any particular friends that Aidan knew she hung around with but he didn’t offer any names other than what they had from the earlier inquiries.

‘What about boyfriends?’ Jessica asked.

Aidan gave a knowing smile but quickly suppressed it. ‘I’m not sure about a boyfriend,’ he said. ‘She was certainly very friendly with a few of the male students but I’m not sure I knew enough about her to answer that. You would have to speak to her friends.’

From what Andrew had told Jessica about Sienna’s abortion, Ryan’s claims, and now her form tutor’s insinuations, a rather disturbing picture of the young woman’s relationships was emerging. Jessica knew Sienna’s friends might be her best bet for finding the truth although, from her own experience of adolescence, she wasn’t convinced she would get the answers she needed.

‘What are her friends like? Are they in your form?’ she persisted.

Aidan scratched his chin and nodded. ‘A couple of them. I’m not sure if it’s the fairest term to use but she was in a sort of clique with four or five others. I believe they were on the same course. Every time I saw them around campus, they were together.’

The man didn’t know all of the names but two of them were the girls who had already been spoken to.

‘Did she ever come to you with any problems?’ Reynolds asked.

The man shook his head. ‘Why would she?’

‘Because you’re her tutor,’ the inspector observed. ‘Perhaps she mentioned to you problems at home, or issues with her work or something like that?’

Aidan continued to shake his head. ‘We didn’t have that kind of relationship, I’m afraid.’

Jessica tried to word the question in a slightly different way. ‘Did you ever see her upset or depressed?’

The man continued to look blankly back at them. ‘Sorry.’

Jessica could feel Reynolds trying to catch her eye, as if to say he didn’t think they could get any more from the man, but she still had something else to say. Jessica asked the question already knowing the answer. ‘Is Ryan Chadwick in your form?’

‘Ryan? Er, yes . . .’ The query had clearly taken Aidan by surprise. Jessica felt Reynolds tense slightly next to her but he didn’t say anything.

‘What’s he like?’

‘Um, I’m not sure what that has . . . ?’ From sitting coolly in his seat while discussing Sienna, the man began to fidget and he looked nervously towards the wall.

‘No reason,’ Jessica said. ‘We just know he was friends with Sienna.’