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

Автор книги: Kerry Wilkinson

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Текущая страница: 39 (всего у книги 56 страниц)

He turned to walk back into the hallway but his foot brushed across the top of something hard. He bent down and picked up a mobile phone, examined it and put it in his pocket, stepping into the hallway. Cameron felt his stomach gurgling uncomfortably as he rested one hand on the banister at the bottom of the stairs. His house had a different aura about it in a way that was difficult to describe. He remembered when the new-born Lara was first brought home, and Eleanor spent the best part of two days sleeping. Owning a property wasn’t about the bricks and tiles, it was about those memories, and now they suddenly seemed tarnished.

Cameron held on to the banister, eyes tightly closed as he slowly started climbing the stairs. He winced at every creak, listening out for the scream of anguish he knew would soon be coming from above.

As he neared the top, Cameron opened his eyes one at a time. He fully expected to see his daughter’s bedroom door flung open with a pile of clothes or toys on the floor. Instead, Eleanor was standing in the doorframe staring inwards, illuminated by the night light in an almost identical fashion to a few hours previously.

‘Ellie?’ he said softly.

His words echoed around the hallway, unanswered. Cameron stepped closer to his wife until he was standing directly behind her. He peered over her shoulder until he could see the room clearly. He blinked rapidly, wanting his eyes to confirm it was true.

Even from the doorway, he could see Lara’s chest rising and falling as she slept soundlessly.

‘She’s okay,’ Eleanor said gently as Cameron pressed into her back. He felt his wife push into him before relaxing her muscles so he was supporting her weight. ‘I thought . . .’

‘I know.’

They stood in silence watching their daughter breathe. Cameron would have been happy standing there for the rest of the night but his wife turned and nestled her head into his shoulder. ‘Where’s Oliver?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know. He’s not downstairs.’

‘He wouldn’t have just gone home . . . would he?’

Cameron rubbed the bottom of the woman’s back soothingly. ‘His mobile phone was on the floor.’

Eleanor pulled away and met her husband’s eyes for the first time since they had left the restaurant. She asked the question they were both thinking. ‘So where is he?’

2

Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel finished chewing the chip she was eating and scowled at her friend across the canteen table in disapproval.

‘I’m not rising to it,’ she said.

Detective Constable Isobel Diamond laughed. ‘You always rise to it. There’s no way you’re going to let it go.’

Jessica picked up another chip and put it in her mouth, shaking her head. ‘I’m a changed woman.’

Izzy laughed again. ‘Not that changed if you’re still talking with your mouth full.’

Jessica swallowed. ‘That was just a treat for you. Anyway, I’m not rising to it.’

‘I’m just asking if you’re ever going to take Adam’s last name.’

‘Yes but you’re not really asking, are you? You’re stirring.’

Izzy giggled further. ‘I am a bit, yeah.’

Jessica looked across the canteen table at Detective Constable David Rowlands. ‘What’s up with you anyway? Nothing funny to say?’

The constable had been swishing his cup of tea with a teaspoon absent-mindedly for around five minutes. ‘Jessica Compton would make you sound like a farmer’s daughter,’ he concluded, not looking up from his mug.

Jessica raised her eyebrows and met Izzy’s surprised stare. ‘That’s a bit rude,’ Izzy replied.

Dave shrugged, picking up his tea and downing what was left. He offered a half-smirk as he raised his gaze to their eyes. ‘It does sound a bit farmy though, doesn’t it? It’s like you should be working somewhere in Alabama throwing hay bales around.’

‘Have you ever been to Alabama?’ Jessica asked.

‘No, you?’

‘Surprisingly no, but I doubt they throw hay bales around.’

‘Anyway,’ Izzy said. ‘Are you changing your name or not?’

Instead of replying, Jessica picked up another chip and chewed it deliberately slowly. ‘It’s your first day back, Iz,’ she eventually said. ‘You’ve returned earlier than anyone expected. Haven’t you got more important things to be getting on with?’

‘Not really, no. Everyone’s being particularly nice and offering to carry stuff or take work off my hands. I might have a few more children if this is what everyone’s reaction is like.’

She raised her eyebrows in a silent suggestion.

‘Don’t even say it,’ Jessica replied. ‘You either,’ she added, turning to Rowlands.

Izzy snorted with laughter. ‘It’s going to happen, Jess. You’re married. It’s kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, the lot from now on.’

‘My mum’s been dropping hints,’ Jessica confessed. ‘After she got over us flying to Vegas, she started talking about us figuring out somewhere more permanent to live so we can “sort out the spare room”.’

Izzy giggled knowingly as Dave kept a straight face. ‘Are you still living at your mate’s flat?’ he asked.

The house Jessica had lived in with her boyfriend Adam had burned down and they had been staying in an apartment owned by Jessica’s oldest friend. ‘For now,’ she replied. ‘We’re looking for places but it’s bloody boring . . .’

‘. . . And you wouldn’t know which name to write on the mortgage,’ Izzy interrupted.

Jessica tried to stop herself smiling but Izzy’s mood was infectious. ‘There’s nothing wrong with keeping your own name,’ she insisted.

‘Adam could take yours,’ Dave suggested unhelpfully. ‘Adam Daniel.’

‘I did mention that but it didn’t go down well.’

Izzy swished her long red hair behind her and tied it tightly. ‘I’ve missed all of this.’

‘What, winding me up?’ Jessica said.

‘Pretty much, yes.’

Jessica grinned. ‘At least you’re honest. How is Amber?’

Whether it was deliberate or not, Izzy shuffled in her seat until she was sitting up straighter. Her smile widened. ‘I’m missing her. I know her grandparents are looking after her fine but you get used to spending every day together.’

‘When I saw you last, it didn’t look as if you’d slept in a week,’ Jessica pointed out.

Izzy shrugged. ‘Amber’s sleeping a bit better now and doesn’t wake up so often in the night. You get used to it.’ She paused for a moment, before adding with a wink: ‘You’ll get used to it.’

Jessica ignored her. ‘My mum reckons she used to give me a tiny amount of whisky on my dummy whenever I couldn’t sleep. You should try that.’

‘I’m not giving my baby alcohol to make her sleep.’

‘It didn’t do me any harm.’

‘Aside from the chronic wine intake nowadays, you mean.’

Jessica ignored the dig. ‘Are you sure it’s not just a massive scam to get extra presents? Not only do you get gifts for Christmas and birthdays, you now get Mother’s Day stuff as well. It’s one big cycle of getting free stuff.’

‘Yeah, you’re right,’ Izzy replied sarcastically. ‘That was my first thought when I found out I was pregnant.’

Jessica grinned. ‘You’re quiet,’ she said to the other constable.

Rowlands, who was fiddling with his empty mug, shrugged dismissively. As Jessica took another chip, he locked eyes with Izzy. There was an awkward silence as Jessica glanced up and caught them.

‘What?’ she demanded, wondering what she was missing. Dave quickly looked back at the table. ‘Are you two up to something?’ Jessica persisted, although neither of the constables replied.

‘So are you going for Jason’s job or not?’ Izzy asked.

Jessica paused for a moment, wondering whether to let the obvious subject change go. After a very deliberate pause to let her friends know she was onto them, even though she wasn’t, Jessica replied. ‘I’ve been asked to apply but I don’t think it’s for me.’

Both constables groaned together. ‘Jess, you’d be perfect,’ Izzy said. ‘You practically do the job already.’

Jessica shrugged dismissively, although she knew it was true. Ever since Detective Inspector Jason Reynolds had been suspended for leaking sensitive information to the media a few months earlier, his workload had been spread out among his colleagues – with Jessica and Detective Sergeant Louise Cornish taking the brunt.

Their bosses had already been looking for an additional inspector but whoever got that position would end up doing it in place of DI Reynolds instead of alongside him. That was until the results of his disciplinary were through, which would be months, if not longer.

‘They’re interviewing over the next few weeks,’ Jessica said. ‘But I don’t want to end up sitting around here all day. I’d rather be out there annoying people.’

‘You are very good at being annoying,’ Rowlands replied.

Jessica wiped up the remaining brown sauce with her final chip and bit it in half. ‘Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment.’

‘So you’re definitely not going for it?’ Izzy continued.

As she finished the final part of her lunch, Jessica pushed the plate away. ‘Nope. I’d be jealous if anyone else got to order Dave around. That’s my job.’

‘It’s not because you’re thinking about the pitter-patter of tiny feet, is it?’ Izzy asked with a smile.

Jessica rolled her eyes. ‘You’re not going to let it go, are you?’

Before Izzy could reply, Jessica saw Detective Chief Inspector Jack Cole striding into the canteen. He didn’t need to speak before she was on her feet. ‘What’s up?’ she asked.

He was biting his bottom lip, unsure how to phrase his words. ‘I’m not sure,’ he finally admitted. All three officers were now standing. ‘It’s good to have you back,’ he added, turning towards DC Diamond.

‘Thanks, Sir.’

‘What do you need?’ Jessica asked.

The chief inspector cleared his throat. ‘You know the usual policy on missing persons is to wait a day but we’ve had something this morning that is a little different . . .’

Jessica kept one eye on the road as she tried to glance sideways to see Izzy’s expression. ‘Are you going to tell me?’ she asked.

‘What?’

‘What’s going on with you and Dave? Or, more importantly, what’s going on with Dave? He’s been moping around for ages now.’

Izzy sighed slightly. ‘You should probably ask him.’

‘I have, he gives that blokey “nothing” reply, then carries on sulking.’

‘It’s probably just the Chloe thing. Ever since he split up with her, he hasn’t quite been himself.’

Dave had broken up with his girlfriend a few months previously but Jessica hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to him about it because she had been dealing with her house fire at the same time. She flicked on the indicator and turned left, impressed by the fact she knew where she was going.

‘Didn’t he break up with her?’

‘Yes.’

‘So what’s the problem?’

Izzy replied after a short pause. ‘I don’t know.’

Jessica didn’t think it sounded too convincing but didn’t want to push her friend so soon after her return from maternity leave. She manoeuvred her way through a selection of side streets, pulling up outside the address Cole had given her. With the absence of anywhere to park, she blocked in whoever was on the driveway and then, with Izzy a few steps behind, walked up the small set of steps before ringing the doorbell.

Almost instantly, a man opened the door. He was tall, with slightly greying hair tucked behind his ears. He was attractive in the way some men were when they reached a certain age, his delicate wrinkles displaying a wisdom and kindness as he stood hesitantly on the top step. He pushed himself up onto tip-toes looking over the officers towards the road and then, eventually, inviting them in.

Jessica had been on many call-outs with Izzy in the past and, given the woman’s bright red hair and good looks, she was almost always eyed – even briefly – by the men they visited. After confirming his identity as Cameron Sexton, Jessica knew instantly something strange had happened because he barely gave the constable a second glance. Instead, he invited them into the living room, pointing them towards the sofa and continuing to pace.

‘Are you all right, Mr Sexton?’ Jessica asked.

He was wearing a jumper over a shirt, which was half-untucked from his jeans. He fiddled with his sleeve for a moment before stopping and sitting in an armchair opposite, fixing Jessica with a stare. ‘I don’t know if we should be angry or worried,’ he said.

Cameron went on to explain that he and his wife had come home from an evening out to find their front door open and the babysitter missing.

‘I understand your child is fine?’ Jessica asked.

Cameron nodded. ‘She slept through it all last night. We took her to the hospital this morning, just in case, but everything is fine.’

‘How long have you been using Oliver Gordon as a babysitter?’ Jessica asked.

‘Six or seven months? He would come over once a month or so and we would pop out for something to eat. It wasn’t even necessarily for us to have an evening away, more so that Lara could get used to being with other people and also, I suppose, to get Eleanor used to not being with her all the time.’

‘Why Oliver?’ Izzy asked, before adding: ‘I mean, why not a relative?’

Jessica wondered if the constable was thinking about her own child and how she had left Amber with her parents-in-law.

Cameron continued to tug nervously at his clothes. ‘No reason really. Ellie’s parents aren’t around any more and mine live quite a distance away. Oliver is the son of one of Ellie’s friends so we’ve known him a bit as he’s grown up. It was just one of those things.’

Izzy nodded, apparently satisfied.

‘Is it always Oliver that you use?’ Jessica asked.

Cameron responded with another nod and then continued, ‘We phoned his parents last night to see if he had gone home but obviously he hadn’t. That’s when they called you.’

‘And you found Oliver’s mobile phone?’

Cameron stood and walked around to the doorway to show the two officers exactly where it had been left on the floor, then took the device out of a drawer underneath the television and handed it across before sitting back down. Jessica put it in a plastic bag just in case but the fact it had already been picked up and handled meant it was unlikely they would be able to get anything useful from it.

‘I was really angry last night,’ Cameron said. ‘At first we thought he had just left and gone home. Then, when we called his parents, we realised he wasn’t there. They said to call his mobile but I had already found it here. Then they started panicking.’

‘Is he usually reliable?’ Jessica asked.

‘Always. I mean, he’s like most people that age; he’s a bit quiet but that’s just being a teenager, isn’t it? He gets here early and there have never been any problems in the past. Plus Lara always liked him. She can’t say his name properly and giggles about it. She calls him “Dolly”. We keep saying it’s “Ollie” but she can’t seem to say the word without putting a “D” at the front.’

Jessica already had the briefest details of Oliver’s past but he had no record of anything, other than being born and attending a private school just outside the city.

‘Have you spoken to his parents?’ Cameron added.

‘Officers have been there,’ Jessica replied. ‘We’re heading there next. We wanted to visit you first to establish exactly what happened. What was the house like when you got home?’

Cameron shook his head, as if not wanting to remember. ‘It’s hard to describe. It looked normal but it didn’t feel right. Have you ever walked into a room and thought, “Something’s gone on here”? It was like that. As soon as I got in the front door, I had this feeling.’

Jessica had an inkling of what he meant.

Cameron shivered, perhaps recalling the moment, before continuing: ‘After I saw Lara sleeping upstairs, I didn’t know what to think. I was angry, then worried. Then I thought maybe someone had broken in.’

‘Did you check to see if anything was missing?’

‘We went all around the house. All the obvious stuff is here: the televisions, our stereo, things like that. Then we checked the drawers in our bedroom to see if any of Ellie’s jewellery had gone. None of it is expensive anyway but there’s no reason for a burglar or someone else to know that. I can’t say for certain nothing’s missing but, if it is, we don’t know what’s gone.’

‘Did you check his phone when you found it?’

Cameron tugged at his eyebrow guiltily. ‘I . . .’

‘You’re not going to be in trouble if you did,’ Jessica assured him. She was hoping there might be an easy solution.

‘I had a look, that’s all, but I couldn’t even get to the keypad bit because it had this lock screen thing. I thought he might have called someone or something like that.’

Jessica knew their experts would be able to check but it did seem strange that Oliver had left his phone behind when leaving the house.

‘Does anyone else have a key for the property?’ she asked.

Cameron shook his head. ‘Just me and Ellie. We don’t even keep a spare with the neighbours or hidden in the garden. I guess that’s pretty stupid in some ways, if we ever were to lose ours. We’re not that friendly with the neighbours but would be able to call them in an emergency. It’s not that we don’t get on, we just don’t talk that much.’ He pointed to one side, then the other. ‘They moved in about six months ago, while they’ve been here for years. You wave to say hello but that’s about it.’

Jessica knew it was pretty much the same everywhere. After she had moved into her old flat, her father had told her during one of their almost-regular phone conversations to go and meet the neighbours. He had then told her off when she admitted two weeks later that she hadn’t bothered. ‘That’s why the country’s going to the dogs,’ he insisted. Jessica didn’t necessarily disagree but, dogs or not, she still couldn’t be bothered with saying hello to complete strangers.

After checking they had the correct details for all the timings, the officers said their goodbyes and indicated they would be in contact when they had news.

Back in the car, any awkwardness had disappeared. ‘What do you reckon?’ Izzy asked as Jessica drove.

Jessica began to speak then stopped herself. ‘You tell me. First day back, let’s see how much you’ve forgotten.’

Izzy laughed. ‘Well, I believe him for a start. He didn’t look shifty as such, just uncomfortable.’

‘They’ve probably chopped him up and buried him under the patio,’ Jessica replied, joking.

Izzy didn’t laugh. ‘Why send us? Why not uniform?’

‘I don’t know but I can guess it’s the usual reason – covering our arses. There’s no point in sending a Scene of Crime team because, as far as we can tell, no crime has taken place. Nothing’s been taken, the child is still there. On the surface, it’s just a teenager who has disappeared – and he’s not even been gone that long. The only problem is, if something major has happened and we hadn’t looked into this stuff now, we’d get huge stick in the future. If Oliver turns up tomorrow and he’s just stormed out after an argument with his girlfriend, then no harm done.’

‘Is that what you think has happened?’

Jessica didn’t speak for a moment, not because she didn’t know her own mind, simply because saying it out loud made it seem more real.

‘I think someone’s taken him.’

3

Jessica had no firm reasons for thinking someone had taken Oliver but had worked on enough cases, and interviewed enough people, to recognise the high likelihood that something bad had happened. Without knowing much about the teenager, she could guess his type simply because of who Cameron and Eleanor were. They weren’t the sort of people who would dump their daughter with anyone, which meant Oliver must at least appear to be conscientious and mature. Still, some people probably thought that about her, so that in itself didn’t prove much.

When she had been younger, she could vaguely remember the daughter of their old next-door neighbours coming to keep an eye on her every now and then. Usually, it involved the babysitter letting her stay up slightly later ‘as long as you don’t tell your mum and dad’ and then, presumably, the girl sitting downstairs watching television and drinking copious amounts of alcohol before hiding the evidence. Regardless of the small amount of work involved, it was still a position of trust and, while some parents might be happy to leave their children unsupervised or with someone unsuitable, the Sextons certainly did not fall into that category.

Oliver’s parents were everything Jessica expected them to be. Their semi-detached house was immaculately kept with a nearly new car on the driveway. Owen Gordon was dressed in almost identical clothes to Cameron and his wife Gabrielle was the epitome of middle-class with dyed hair, perfectly manicured nails and the vague air that she could be worked up into a moral outrage about pretty much anything.

After the two officers were invited into the Gordons’ house, Jessica eyed the surroundings. She could guess from the walls that Oliver was an only child – and a spoiled one at that. There were photos of him at every age all over the hallway, with nothing of anyone else.

In the living room, after confirming much of what she had already been told by Cameron, Jessica moved the topic from the events of the previous evening to Oliver himself. Both of his parents insisted he had been acting normally over the past few days.

They were sitting closely together on the sofa, with Owen holding an arm around his wife’s shoulders. She was close to tears. He clutched a tissue in one hand, nervously brushing at seemingly invisible flecks of dust on the armrest with the other.

‘Has he ever not returned home in the past?’ Jessica asked.

‘Never,’ Owen replied. ‘He isn’t late for anything.’

Jessica had expected as much. She had no reason to believe there was anything untoward from the response – but her parents never knew about the odd occasion she bunked off college with her friend Caroline when they were younger. Teenagers always kept some things back from their parents.

‘Does he have many friends who might know where he’s gone?’ she added.

Oliver’s parents could only offer two names between them. ‘We called them last night and this morning,’ Owen said. ‘Ollie was always good about leaving details just in case.’

After confirming the young man had no particular after-school interests and no part-time job, Jessica was left wondering what he actually did when he wasn’t studying or in his bedroom. From what she had been able to gather, Oliver only had two close friends and rarely left the house. Her standard questions about whether he had ever run away before, or whether they had fallen out recently, were all met with firm denials.

If everything was as claimed, Oliver had been an angelic child since birth who never got into trouble.

‘Does he have a girlfriend?’ Jessica persisted, desperately trying to hear something she could work with.

‘He’s focused on his studying,’ Gabrielle insisted, leaving Jessica to wonder if the woman remembered being a teenager herself. Admittedly Jessica hadn’t been a young male but, from her recollection, seventeen-year-old boys usually only had one thing on their minds – and it certainly wasn’t college work.

Although it wasn’t something she would usually push, Jessica wanted to see if she could get a reaction. ‘Boyfriend?’ she asked, making sure she met both parents’ eyes. She saw a second or two of panic in Owen’s face before he stumbled over a reply.

‘I don’t think he’s into that,’ he said, before clarifying quickly, ‘not that it would be a problem.’

‘I’m just trying to establish something that may have made him upset,’ Jessica said, trying to stay empathetic. ‘Usually when teenagers disappear, it might be because they’ve fallen out with someone, maybe a friend or a parent. Or perhaps they are worried about something?’

Both parents looked on blankly.

‘Do you mind if we have a look around his room?’ Jessica asked. ‘I know you’ve probably checked already. We’re looking for anything that could help.’

Owen untangled his arm from his wife and stood, pointing towards the door, before leading them up a flight of stairs. More photos of Oliver lined the walls: there he was on the beach, in a park, in the garden. Always by himself, always smiling. As they reached the top, the man must have noticed Jessica’s interest because he answered the question she hadn’t asked.

‘There were complications when he was born,’ Owen said. ‘Gabby couldn’t have any more children after Oliver. I know you probably think we’re a bit over-protective but he’s our only child.’ He tailed off before adding: ‘He’s all we have.’

Jessica felt Izzy’s hand touch her gently on the back. No one spoke for a few moments before Owen turned and pointed to a doorway.

‘It’s that room there,’ he said.

The two officers entered and then waited until they had heard the man reach the bottom of the stairs.

‘Are you all right?’ Jessica asked.

Izzy pressed herself up against the back of the door. ‘It’s hard to describe. It’s probably because I’ve been off for so long but, before, it was easier to take a step back and see everything as a case. Now, everyone is someone else’s child.’ She ran her hands through her hair and shook her head dismissively, as if telling herself not to be so stupid. ‘What are we looking for?’

They both knew the question was rhetorical and Jessica didn’t reply. Instead, she stood in the corner and took in the room.

The walls were clear, except for two posters; one that seemed to relate to a video game, the other a print of a Salvador Dalí painting. Oliver had a king-size bed to himself, which was facing a flatscreen television on top of a wide dresser with a games console next to it. A few hardback books were on a bookcase in the opposite corner with a small telescope, but it was mainly occupied by stacks of films as well as a few computer games.

‘Tidy, isn’t it?’ Izzy said.

‘My personal hell,’ Jessica replied. ‘I don’t know what kind of person can put everything away neatly. It’s unnatural.’

As if to emphasise the point, she slid back the door on a wardrobe to reveal orderly rows of shoes and trainers underneath lines of shirts that had been ironed and hung.

‘Anything?’ Izzy asked as she poked through a drawer underneath the television.

‘No – everything’s on a computer or phone nowadays. If he’s still missing in a day or two, we’ll have to get the tech guys in.’

‘We’re wasting our time, aren’t we?’

Jessica sat on the bed, almost bouncing because of the softness of the mattress. ‘Maybe; at least we’ve got a good idea of what he’s like. I reckon his mum still cleans his room, so I doubt he’d leave anything dodgy around. Also, look at the movies, they all have safe age ratings. There’s the odd fifteen or eighteen, but they are mainly things which wouldn’t offend.’ Jessica stopped to feel under the pillow and run her hand along the length of the mattress. ‘I don’t know the kid but it all seems a bit too homely.’

Izzy had turned around to face Jessica and was leaning against the dresser. ‘You’re very cynical,’ she said. Whether it was deliberate or not, Jessica thought her friend’s tone sounded a little harsher than usual.

Before she could reply, the constable apologised. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought that, maybe, it’s nothing to do with Oliver at all. Say he is a bit naive, maybe that’s what attracts other people who might want to harm him? Or use him for something? We don’t know if he left the Sextons’ house voluntarily, if he was taken, or if something else happened.’

‘Actually, that’s exactly what I was thinking too.’

‘Really? I know what you said in the car but I thought that, with the questions downstairs, plus the room, it sounded like you were saying he couldn’t be that sheltered. I thought you were hinting that Oliver was up to something?’

Jessica shrugged. ‘Maybe he is but I doubt it. I think that’s why Jack sent us out here.’

Izzy picked up a snow globe from next to the television and tipped it upside down, before turning it over. ‘Adam’s changed you,’ she said with a smirk.

‘Bollocks he has.’

The constable laughed. ‘Before you would’ve been annoyed at Jack, wondering why he was sending you out to a missing persons case after less than a day. Then you would have been suspicious of Cameron, wondering if he or his wife had somehow killed Oliver – not just joking, really speculating about it. Or thinking it was a big set-up. Then you would have come here and kicked up a stink. Now you take a step back and absorb it all.’

Jessica felt defensive. ‘Are you saying I’ve lost my instinct?’

Izzy put the snow globe back down and paced across to the window. ‘The opposite, actually. I’m saying it’s better because, instead of barrelling in, you’re a little more . . . refined.’

Arching her eyebrows, Jessica replied: ‘Refined means boring.’

The constable laughed again. ‘Only you could think that. Maybe you haven’t changed after all.’

Jessica patted the corners of the sheets back into the bed to ensure she hadn’t made too much of a mess. She had a look underneath but there wasn’t even a rogue pair of shoes, let alone a stack of animal porn or snuff videos. She didn’t want to rummage too deeply through the teenager’s possessions but a quick glance through the dresser and the rest of the wardrobe revealed nothing interesting, aside from the fact that he folded his boxer shorts too neatly.

Izzy was in the process of checking each of the film cases individually when Jessica stopped her. ‘We may as well go. There’s not much we can do here. We’ll have to talk to his friends and then check whatever CCTV we have from the streets near the other house to see if he was caught anywhere.’

‘His poor parents.’

Jessica let the words hang for a few moments. ‘What’s it like being a mum?’ she asked.

Izzy grinned, although her eyes looked tired. ‘It’s great. I never thought I’d want kids, it was always Mal. But now, I can’t think of a world without Amber.’

‘Why did you come back to work then?’

The constable pulled a face and, for a moment, Jessica thought her friend had taken offence. ‘Because I don’t want to be defined by it.’

It wasn’t the first time Jessica felt as if someone else was the adult in the room as she somehow struggled to keep up.

‘I love being a mum but I don’t want to just be “Izzy, the mother”. I want to be “Detective Constable Isobel Diamond, the police officer”, “Mrs Diamond, the wife” – all those things and more. I love Amber and I love being with her but I didn’t want to become someone who spends so long being at home that I’m incapable of doing anything else.’