‘Let’s go in here.’

Reynolds led Jessica into his office. She shared with DS Cornish but the inspector had one to himself along the corridor. Usually it was tidy but, as they entered, Jessica could see a row of files on the floor to her right pressed up against the wall.

‘You’re going to be as messy as me soon,’ Jessica said, pointing to the items on the floor.

‘No one in here is as messy as you,’ the DI fired back, as he sat in the chair behind his desk. ‘That’s the report from the investigating officer from the fire at Martin Chadwick’s house.’

Jessica sat in the chair across the desk from her supervisor. She glanced at the top of the document. ‘Arson?’

‘As we thought. At least it’s confirmed now.’

‘Is there anything about Martin’s claims that his back door and window had been obstructed?’

Reynolds nodded. ‘It might be hard to prove completely but there was a singed rope recovered on the ground at the back. There’s so much damage to the property that we wouldn’t be able to say where it came from but it might be true.’

‘Someone actually tried to kill him then?’

It was the theory they had been working with but, now it was as confirmed as they were going to get, it was still a shock for Jessica.

‘Yes but I don’t think we can start looking at an attempted murder investigation just yet. Maybe that will come when we pick someone up for the fire?’

‘What about the blaze at Harley Todd’s? It sounds like the report is going to be similar there – except that he was out when it happened.’

Reynolds shook his head. ‘Aside from the fact they both appear to have been started deliberately, we don’t know of another link. A known arsonist comes out of prison and we have had two houses burned down within a couple of weeks – including his. Door-to-door has given us nothing, we have no witnesses, no footprints, no anything.’

They looked at each other and Jessica knew neither of them had a clue where to go from there. They laughed gently at their situation. ‘I’ve had Dave making a list of known arsonists in the local area. Everyone from kids upwards. I’ll go see if he’s managed to link any of them to the rest of the information we have.’

‘What about Ryan?’ Reynolds asked as Jessica stood.

For a moment she wondered if he somehow knew she had hit the teenager the previous day. ‘What about him?’

‘The other day you seemed convinced he had something to do with Sienna Todd’s death and the fire.’ The inspector was staring at her.

Jessica met his eyes. ‘I can’t find anything concrete.’

‘Anthony Thompson?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I had an officer drive past his house last night and there were lights on. I think he’s back at home.’ The DI paused before adding: ‘Just so you know.’

Jessica started to walk towards the door but the inspector had another question. ‘Why aren’t you thinking about Martin Chadwick?’

It was a question she had been wondering herself. There was an insurance policy on his house which would likely pay out – although, according to him, it was now in Ryan’s name.

‘I don’t think it’s him,’ Jessica said. ‘I don’t think he would burn his own house down and I don’t think he torched Harley’s either.’

Reynolds spoke precisely. ‘I checked with the hotel Martin is staying in to see if he was in his room on the night Harley Todd’s house was burned down.’ Jessica felt a chill go through her, knowing what he was about to say. ‘The person who was working on reception told me he left the hotel early evening and didn’t return until after midnight.’

Jessica walked back across the room and leant on the back of the chair she had been sitting on. ‘You can’t think he burned his own house down? Why would he do that?’

‘Not a bad cover, is it? If your place has been destroyed, everyone sees you as the victim.’ Jessica knew he was speculating, trying to get her opinion on something he’d had in his own mind. She had been the only person to witness the emotional side of Martin as they sat in the rear of the van and couldn’t see how he could go from that to burning down buildings.

‘I’m getting someone to look into his background,’ Reynolds added. ‘We know what he went to prison for but maybe there were arson attacks before that?’

‘Will you let me know if you find anything?’ Jessica asked.

Reynolds tilted his head to one side, fixing her with the protective stare she used to see a lot more often when they shared an office. ‘Don’t get involved, Jess,’ he said firmly.

Jessica met his eyes and gave a small nod, before turning and leaving his office. She didn’t know why she cared so much that whatever was happening was not down to Martin. It wasn’t often that she allowed herself to become attached to the people she was supposed to be investigating but there was something about the moment she shared with him in the back of the van that she wanted to believe was real.

With all the people she dealt with and the horrific things she saw, it gave her some comfort that there was genuine remorse out there.

She chewed on her lip, hurrying along the corridors to the main floor where she could see Rowlands at his desk frantically clicking the mouse next to his keyboard. Jessica slid herself in front of him, blocking his view of the monitor.

‘How are you getting on?’ she asked.

Rowlands scowled at her. ‘This computer system is absolute shite. I’ve crashed twice today already.’

‘Yeah, yeah, a bad workman blames his tools and all that. What have you got?’

Rowlands shook his head but Jessica could see he was suppressing a smile. ‘You’re all heart, Jess.’ He pointed to a lever-arch folder on his desk. ‘These are the records of everyone in the area with priors for arson or anything similar. There aren’t as many as I thought. I’ve been trying to do it through the computer but it’s not having it, so it’s back to paper. I’ve had two others going through the lists with me but we can’t connect any of them to either of the Chadwicks, the Todds or Anthony Thompson. The best I’ve got is that one of them was in the same prison at the same time as Martin Chadwick. I checked their records and they were on different wings. It’s tenuous at best.’

Jessica knew it was always going to be a long shot but it was something that had to be done. She stood, feeling another jolt of pain shoot through her back, but stopped herself from touching it to avoid any further age jokes.

‘All right, good work,’ she said.

Rowlands raised one of his eyebrows and grinned. ‘Is that praise?’

‘Let’s call it an anti-bollocking.’

Jessica couldn’t figure out if the man who was boring her was wearing a suit or a uniform. It was a little of each, with a red handkerchief sticking out from his pocket and matching sash around his waist that was the same colour as the hotel’s logo. Jessica realised she hadn’t listened to anything he had told her for at least the past five minutes, if not longer. She felt Adam’s arm snake around her waist and heard him say, ‘Can you give us a few minutes?’, before leading her back towards the main doors of the hotel.

‘What do you think?’ he asked.

‘As a wedding venue?’

‘What else?’

Jessica struggled to hide her lack of enthusiasm, biting her bottom lip and shrugging. ‘I don’t know.’

Adam’s face broke into a knowing smile and she was aware he had dealt with her apathy many times in the past. ‘What don’t you like?’ he asked, smoothing the hair down on the side of her face, before sitting on the stone steps.

Jessica sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. ‘I dunno. I think it’s that bloke to be honest.’

Adam put his arm fully around her and laughed. ‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘He’s just so bloody happy and enthusiastic. Everything’s “wonderful”, “great” or “brilliant”. Either that or “fab”. Honestly, anyone that uses the word “fab” without being ironic deserves shooting.’