Текст книги "Jessica Daniel: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water"

Автор книги: Kerry Wilkinson

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Текущая страница: 25 (всего у книги 56 страниц)

8

As Jessica drove closer to the estate where Martin Chadwick’s house was situated, the air began to thicken, almost as if a cloud had dropped on top of the area. Although it was evening, it felt to Jessica like a Manchester morning, where you woke up to see heavy mist outside your window and condensation clinging to the glass.

The difference was the smell.

Even with her car vents closed, the heavy burned aroma was apparent. Jessica parked at the bottom of Martin’s road. As soon as she opened the car door, the stench hit her.

She had attended her first fire scene when she was in uniform. From various television shows and training sessions, she had preconceptions of how things might unfold – but no one ever said what the smell would be like. Jessica wasn’t sure she would be able to describe it fully to someone else who had not experienced it. Saying it was like burned toast but a lot worse was true in some ways but far too simplistic. The combination of charred bricks, fried electrical cables, melted plastic and the fire itself created an almost overwhelming odour that could be sensed as much through the mouth as the nose. Although it was evening, Jessica felt a strong sense of déjà vu from the previous time she had been called out to Martin’s house in the dark.

As she strode along towards the flashing blue lights, Jessica struggled not to gag on the taste of the fire. She could see residents lining the road, standing outside their own houses, looking nervously in the direction of the fire engines and police cars. Some of them were holding tea towels in front of their mouths and she could see flecks of ash drifting in the haze of the street lights.

A fire officer had erected a cordon around the house as she neared. Although there was still a haze of heat, she could not see any flames. On the ground, a pair of hoses snaked limply, stretching from the pair of fire engines across the pavement towards Martin’s house. Knowing fire investigators weren’t always impressed with police officers trampling around their scene, Jessica made sure she asked the officer on duty where he was happy for her to stand. If the fire had still been burning, she wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near the house. She walked around the first fire engine, noticing a small group standing in between that vehicle and another similar one. Most of them were fire officers, their heavy outfits making them appear enormous in the distorted light from the street lamps.

She could see the outlines of Reynolds and Rowlands, as well as a smattering of uniformed officers and residents. An older woman exited the house opposite carrying a tray. Even from the distance she was at, Jessica could hear the rattling of the teacups as the woman approached the fire crew and started handing out drinks. Jessica was still trying to ignore the almost overpowering smell from the scene but couldn’t resist smiling to herself. She dealt with many types of characters through her job and sometimes it was easy to forget the other side of things, where little old ladies with a tray of tea reminded you what most people were like.

Jessica turned to face what should have been Martin’s house. It was too dark to see everything but she could tell that much of the front of the property had collapsed or burned away. The side wall where she had seen the graffiti was largely intact but she squinted to check where the top floor had collapsed onto the lower one.

‘What do you reckon?’

Jessica heard Rowlands’s voice from just behind her. From the hum of activity, she didn’t notice him approach but he appeared next to her and together they looked at the destroyed property.

‘How long have you been here?’ Jessica asked, ignoring his question.

‘Maybe twenty minutes? I’m not sure. They had just finished putting the fire out when I arrived.’ As he finished, the constable let out a small cough. Jessica could feel something building at the top of her lungs too, almost as if there was something tickling her that was out of reach.

‘Did Martin . . . ?’ Jessica had been putting off approaching the other officers because she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

‘He’s in an ambulance over there,’ Rowlands said, pointing towards the other side of a fire engine. ‘I think he’s okay but no one has really spoken to him yet.’

‘What about Ryan?’

‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen him but I heard one of the fire guys shouting that everyone was out so he must be around somewhere. The neighbours are fine too.’

Jessica hadn’t noticed the attached property, largely because it was in a spot that fell between the two closest street lamps. She stepped forward, peering through the gloom. From the outline, it looked as if the house next door was in a worse state than Martin’s. While the shell of the Chadwicks’ house seemed relatively intact, the neighbouring property had almost imploded upon itself, as if someone had stood inside and sucked everything inwards. Charred silhouettes of debris were scattered across the ground in front of the house.

‘What on earth happened?’ Jessica said to herself more than anyone. She was afraid of what the answer might be. Rowlands sensed her discomfort, taking a step closer to her but not replying. ‘Do you know how Martin is?’ Jessica asked.

‘No idea, sorry.’

‘Let’s go see.’ Jessica and the constable walked around the front of the fire engine towards an ambulance which was parked in such a way that the rear doors were facing the other vehicle, shielding the inside from both the rest of the street and any overlooking properties. Jessica could see a paramedic standing next to the open doors talking to someone inside. As he spotted her walking towards him, he motioned to wave her away but she could hear Martin’s voice from inside the vehicle.

‘Can I just . . . ?’ Jessica began before the paramedic cut her off.

‘He needs space, you’ll have to come back.’

Reluctantly Jessica halted but Martin’s voice called out. ‘Sergeant Daniel?’ She didn’t want to defy the medical worker, who looked inside the ambulance and then back to Jessica before moving to one side.

Jessica and Rowlands approached the rear of the vehicle, where Martin was sitting on the end of a bed wrapped in a thick warm-looking blanket. On the bed next to him was an oxygen mask, which his hand was twitching towards.

‘Are you okay?’ Jessica asked.

Almost as if on cue, the man launched into a guttural cough before picking up the mask and taking a deep breath. ‘We can leave you . . . ?’ Jessica added. Martin’s face had a smudge of black on one of his cheeks, as if someone had tried colouring him in with a piece of charcoal. Even from where she was standing, Jessica could see the man’s eyes were painfully bloodshot.

Martin shook his head rapidly and his ‘No, it’s fine’ came out as one hurried word.

Jessica took a few moments to understand what he had said. ‘Is Ryan okay?’

The man nodded. ‘He wasn’t in.’

She wanted to go easy on Martin, knowing full well he would have a proper interview at some point. There was only one question that seemed to matter. ‘What happened?’

Martin took another breath from the mask and, surprisingly, smiled gently. ‘I was watching TV and must have fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room. All of a sudden I heard this bang from the letterbox. I was in a bit of a daze and thought it was just the postman being loud or something, so went out into the hallway. By then, the door was on fire. I’d only just woken up so I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming but it was so hot and I was coughing. Then I thought that I couldn’t be dreaming if I was coughing.’

The man had obviously experienced fire in the past but Jessica couldn’t begin to imagine how terrifying it must be to be on the inside. Alfie Thompson popped into her mind and it was impossible not to think about how he would have gone through something similar when Martin had set fire to the building he was in.

Could it really be his father who did this as some sort of revenge?

Jessica tried to push the thoughts of Alfie out of her mind. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of what had happened in the past, she knew she had to deal with what was in front of her.

‘How did you get out?’ she asked.

‘Out of the top window at the back. I had to jump.’

‘What about the back door?’ For the first time, his eyes widened in fear. ‘It was blocked,’ he said solemnly.

Jessica didn’t mean to sound so abrupt but the word just spilled out. ‘How?’

Martin spoke as quietly as before. ‘I only saw when I landed. Someone tied the door handle to the window handle, meaning neither of them could be pulled down.’

Jessica felt a chill run through her that didn’t relate to the temperature. Someone hadn’t just set fire to the house as a scare tactic, somebody had deliberately tried to burn it down with Martin inside.

‘Are you okay?’ she repeated, rather feebly.

Chadwick nodded. ‘I landed on my ankle and I’ve got a bit of a cough but . . .’ Jessica didn’t hear the end of the sentence because of a man’s voice shouting from somewhere near the front of the ambulance. The paramedic who had been standing behind her walked around but Ryan’s voice was distinctive and his anger obvious.

Jessica followed the medical worker to see Ryan stomping towards her, pointing furiously. The paramedic started to say something before Rowlands added a stern, ‘Listen, mate . . .’ Ryan shoved him aggressively to one side before moving to within a few inches of Jessica.

‘Where’s my dad?’ he stormed, spit flying from his mouth and landing on Jessica’s chin.

She winced in disgust but tried to stay calm. Ryan didn’t seem to notice. ‘He’s fine, Ryan. Can you . . .’ Jessica didn’t get a chance to add anything else as the young man barged past her, his shoulder connecting painfully with hers as he stomped over to the rear of the ambulance.

Jessica looked up to see Rowlands staring at her, clearly stunned by what had happened.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked. She didn’t say anything but her eyes must have given her anger away because the constable followed it with a gentle, ‘Stay calm, Jess.’

If she hadn’t been looking directly at him, there was every chance Jessica would have snapped but the constable’s gaze was composed and she knew he was right. She spun around, returning to the rear of the ambulance where Ryan was sitting on the floor next to his father. He looked as if the fury in his dark eyes was helping to hold back tears that could begin at any moment. His fists were balled and shaking. Martin was muttering something under his breath that Jessica didn’t catch but he stopped speaking as she neared.

Jessica caught Martin’s eye and he stared from her to his son. ‘Is everything all right?’ he asked.

‘A word,’ Jessica replied sternly, adjusting her eye line so she was glaring at Ryan. She could feel a dull thudding pain in her shoulder but didn’t want to let on.

The younger man looked up but didn’t move until Martin added a curious, ‘Ry?’

Clearly not wanting his father to be involved, Ryan clambered to his feet, finally unballing his fists. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said, not looking at either Jessica or his father.

She walked backwards until she was on a clear piece of tarmac twenty metres away from the ambulance. No one could overhear them but Jessica could see that Rowlands was standing midway between them and the emergency vehicle, watching nervously.

Ryan was staring at his house which was no longer there. ‘Are you okay?’ Jessica asked.

‘What’s it to you?’ he replied, not meeting her eyes.

‘I know this must be quite a shock to you . . .’

‘What are you going to do about it?’ Ryan turned to face Jessica. His face was half in shadow but she could see him shaking.

‘We’ll do what we always do. We will investigate what happened and hopefully, at the end of it, we will find out who did it and prosecute them.’

Jessica spoke as calmly as she could, deliberately slowing her words. On the previous occasion they had met she had wanted to see how Ryan might react to a gentle bit of winding up but this time she needed him to stay composed.

Ryan turned back to the house and replied, barely moving his lips with his teeth clenched tight. ‘You know who did it.’

‘No we don’t.’

‘It was in the paper. He said he was going to do this.’

Jessica stifled a sigh. ‘He didn’t, Ryan. I promise we will go talk to Anthony but you’ll have to be patient.’

The man said nothing for a while and Jessica watched the plume of air from his nose evaporating into the cold evening air. He was still staring at the destroyed property. ‘He could have killed my dad.’

‘There’s something else I’ve got to ask you about.’

‘I wasn’t here. I was out with friends.’

Jessica spoke firmly. ‘That’s not what I was going to ask. Can you come for a walk to my car?’ Ryan looked over his shoulder. ‘Your dad will be fine. He’s being well looked after.’

He seemed reluctant but silently followed Jessica as she headed along the road towards where she had parked. Jessica heard Rowlands jogging behind them to catch them up before appearing at her side.

‘Where are you going?’ he muttered quietly so only Jessica could hear.

‘Stay close.’

As they walked, she could see that even more people were outside the houses than when she had first arrived. Some were taking photographs on their phones as others chattered away. She smiled as she saw a burly fireman sipping from a small teacup, thinking he could crush it with one hand if he so chose. The older lady from before was standing next to him gossiping as if it was a coffee morning at a local church, instead of a major residential fire.

Jessica unlocked her car and reached into the passenger seat, picking out a cardboard document wallet. She put it on her bonnet, separating out the contents, the overhead street lamp offering enough light for what she needed.

‘What’s going on here?’ she asked.

Ryan picked up the piece of paper with a puzzled look on his face. ‘Where did you get it?’

‘I’m asking the questions, Ryan. What’s going on?’ Jessica kept a firm but steady tone.

He didn’t answer for a moment and she wondered if he was thinking of what the best answer to give might be, rather than simply telling the truth.

‘I’m feeding one of my friends a chip by the look of it,’ Ryan said.

Jessica couldn’t detect any emotion in his voice. ‘Do you know she’s dead?’

‘Sienna?’

‘She killed herself last night some time after this was taken.’ Jessica knew this hadn’t been confirmed but was watching Ryan to see if he would react. They hadn’t tracked down all of Sienna’s friends from the previous evening, largely because they didn’t know the names. At least initially, they hadn’t had Andrew’s photographs to work with. Jessica wondered if Ryan knew. With mobile phones, news travelled quickly among friends.

Ryan didn’t react to the news that the young woman he apparently seemed very friendly with had died, continuing to stare at the photo, apparently transfixed.

‘It wasn’t anything to do with me.’

‘I never said it was. In fact, I said she killed herself.’

‘I know what you were thinking though. Why aren’t you out arresting Anthony Thompson instead of harassing me?’ Ryan’s tone had risen again and he thrust the picture towards Jessica.

‘Were you in a relationship with Sienna Todd?’

‘No.’

‘Then why is she sucking your fingers?’

Ryan shrugged dismissively. ‘I dunno.’

Jessica passed him the next photo, the one that had a male squeezing Sienna’s backside. ‘Who’s this?’ she asked. They already had a name because one of the witnesses they had spoken to that morning passed it on. At the time, they hadn’t known he might be romantically involved with Sienna, given that Andrew had seen them kissing, but Jessica wanted to know if Ryan would tell her who it was.

He glanced at the picture, before quickly looking up. ‘I can’t tell from that photo.’

‘Are you sure? I’ve been told you turned up in a car with whoever this is. You must have a pretty good idea who it is?’

‘Have you got someone watching me?’

Jessica didn’t want to spell out explicitly that she didn’t. ‘Who says they were watching you? I just happen to know a keen birdwatcher who was taking pictures of the creatures perched on the roof of the building you were in. Unfortunately their aim wasn’t too good.’

‘Is he in trouble?’

‘I don’t know. I just want to know who he is.’

Ryan bit his bottom lip before finally relenting. ‘It’s Finn. Finlay Pierce. We went to college together but he finished last year.’

Jessica knew that matched the name they already had. ‘Was he Sienna’s boyfriend?’

‘Not really.’

‘Were you?’

‘No.’ Ryan handed the photo back to Jessica. ‘Can I go see my dad now?’

He went to step away but Jessica held out an arm, although she didn’t touch him. Rowlands, who had been standing silently, stepped sideways to block Ryan from moving.

‘Why do you think she killed herself, Ryan?’

‘What?’

‘Sienna. Why do you think she killed herself? You seem pretty close in these pictures.’

Ryan laughed, a snort that sounded genuinely menacing. Until that moment, Jessica had seen him as something of a troubled teenager but the way he dismissively cackled was unnerving.

‘Close? Sienna was close to everyone.’

Jessica wasn’t sure she wanted to hear any more but couldn’t stop herself. ‘How do you mean?’

The man raised his eyebrows mockingly. ‘You need me to spell it out? She fuckin’ loved it. Finn might have been her boyfriend yesterday but he was one of many. She was absolutely filthy.’

Jessica didn’t know if any of what Ryan had said was true but she was disgusted with the spite with which he had spoken.

The teenager seemed to sense that he had got to Jessica as he broke into a smile. ‘Can I go now?’

When she didn’t respond, Ryan took a step forward but Jessica acted without thinking. She grabbed his arm, yanking his thin frame around so she was forcing him up against the side of her car. She could still feel pain in her shoulder from where he had barged her but ignored it, digging her elbow into his chest. Almost involuntarily, he let out an ‘ow’ before correcting himself and pushing back. Jessica felt Rowlands’s hand on her shoulder.

She leant in so Ryan had no choice other than to look at her and spoke firmly but ruthlessly, letting him know she was serious. ‘I’ll let you off the way you spoke to us the other day and I’ll forget the fact that you shoved Constable Rowlands and barged me with your shoulder. But this is your final warning. If I come across you being a shit once more, there will be trouble. And not just, “We’ll come knocking at your door and ask you a few questions” trouble but big, bad, “I will kick your arse in front of all your mates” trouble.’

Jessica stepped back, allowing Ryan to straighten his clothing. She kept her eyes on him. ‘I’ve taken on much bigger, much meaner people than you in the past and I’m still here,’ she added, spreading her arms as if to prove the point. ‘Now go look after your dad and stop acting like a dick.’

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.

As she traced her way along the hedge at the end of the garden, Jessica’s eyes were drawn to a shed in the far corner that was largely hidden in the shadows. The only thing that gave it away was the sloping A-shaped roof, with long windowless sides almost camouflaged against the background.

Jessica was edging towards the outhouse when she felt a jolt shoot through her. At first she thought it was pain from her shoulder but then she heard her phone’s ringtone start, and realised it was the vibration of the device through her jacket pocket that had made her jump. Desperate not to draw the attention of a nosy neighbour, Jessica fumbled for the phone, stabbing at the screen.

‘Adam?’ she whispered loudly.

‘Er, yeah. Are you okay?’

For some irrational reason, Jessica felt him talking at full volume could expose where she was and shushed agitatedly into the phone.

‘I’m fine,’ she said, trying to keep her voice down. ‘I’m sorry I’m late, I’ll be home soon. Do you want me to pick up a takeaway?’

Adam had lowered his voice when he next spoke. ‘I’m going to sort myself out. You’re definitely going to be home soon?’

‘Yes but I’ve got to go.’ Jessica ended the call abruptly. She remembered a few weeks previously when she had been in the station’s canteen and caught the tail-end of Rowlands finishing a phone conversation with Chloe as each refused to hang up on the other. He eventually relented when he noticed Jessica watching but public displays of affection were another part of being in a relationship she hadn’t come to terms with.

Jessica returned the phone to her pocket and stood silently in case a neighbour had noticed. As she was about to continue towards the shed, she heard Rowlands’s voice hissing from somewhere close to the house. ‘Jess.’

His tone sounded urgent and she walked as quickly as she could towards him, careful not to leave footprints on the grassed areas. He was standing by one of the windows at the rear of the house looking at her.

‘What?’ Jessica said.

‘Look.’ Rowlands pointed to a small alcove underneath the bay window, where the frame curved out, leaving a gap underneath. ‘I’ve not touched it,’ he added.

Jessica took the phone out of her pocket and crouched, turning on the screen’s light. In the white glow, she could see a faded green plastic petrol can pushed towards the back, lying on its side. The lid was unscrewed, resting on the ground, attached by a thin synthetic strip. There were a few drops of liquid on the concrete next to it but it otherwise seemed empty.

Jessica stood up as the light on her phone turned itself off. ‘Shit.’

‘It doesn’t look good, does it?’ Rowlands said.

She leant against the window, facing the rest of the garden, and breathed out deeply, watching the steam drift upwards into the air and then evaporate.

‘Maybe . . .’ Jessica replied, pausing. ‘But, if Anthony set fire to the other house, why would he come back here, leave the can and then disappear? Also, it’s sort of hidden where you found it but, if he wanted to properly hide it, why wouldn’t he dump it in a bin, a hedge, a field or anywhere on his way back? It’s only a plastic can, so it’s not as if it can have any sentimental value.’

‘True but why would it be here at all? Why wouldn’t it be in the back of his car where anyone else would keep it?’