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

Автор книги: Kerry Wilkinson

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Текущая страница: 53 (всего у книги 56 страниц)

‘Come on, Jess, it’ll be fun,’ Caroline pleaded.

Jessica had been friends with her for a long time and knew she was definitely not outdoor-minded. When they had been teenagers, she wouldn’t even cross the field to get to college in case she got muddy, instead making them both walk the full way around. Jessica reminded her of that but was met with a very mature raspberry noise.

‘Right then, it’s just me and you,’ Caroline said with a smile that Hugo hadn’t appeared to notice. Instead he was trying to clean the biro-drawn elephant from his skin by licking his thumb and wiping vigorously. Jessica was impressed at the level of detail given it had been drawn in pen on the bottom of his foot.

Izzy’s raised eyebrows confirmed to Jessica that they were each thinking the same thing when it came to Caroline’s excitement about time alone with Hugo.

Jessica excused herself and made her way upstairs. One of the barmen was sweeping the now-empty club but he didn’t question her presence as she entered the toilets. She was washing her face and hands when the door went and she turned to see Izzy again.

‘I’m not stalking you around the toilets of Britain, I promise,’ she said, slightly slurring her words. Jessica guessed it was the first time she’d had any serious amount of alcohol in a long time.

‘If I was going to go cottaging with any girl in Manchester, then rest assured it would be you.’

Izzy laughed and walked across to Jessica, pulling her into a hug. ‘I’ve had a brilliant night,’ she giggled. ‘I wish I could just take him home and keep him in a cupboard, then bring him out for my own amusement.’

‘I think you’ll have to fight Caroline for him, not to mention his groupies outside.’

As she tried to laugh, Jessica felt her stomach lurch but she managed to stifle the heave, instead turning it into something close to a hiccup.

‘I know I keep asking you but are you all right?’ Izzy asked.

‘Just a dodgy tea last night.’

‘Come on, Jess . . .’

‘What?’

‘Everything’s always a dodgy meal or a lack of sleep, or you’ve been drinking water all morning, which is why you’re in the toilets so much. You can’t think no one’s noticed?’

‘Who’s been talking?’ Jessica had replied more aggressively than she meant to. When Izzy didn’t answer, she asked again, demanding a response.

Izzy reached out and stroked Jessica’s hair away from her face. ‘No one, Jess, just me. I’m worried about you.’

‘Oh . . .’

‘You’ve got to talk to someone about whatever’s going on.’

Jessica blinked quickly to stop the tears and thought about telling her friend about Dave’s admission, then about Adam, before deciding to mention the biggest thing on her mind.

‘I’m late,’ she said quietly, staring at the floor.

‘What for?’

Jessica didn’t have to repeat herself before Izzy gasped and pulled her in for a hug.

28

Jessica quickly regretted saying anything to Izzy. Her friend had jumped to the obvious conclusion, telling her to go to a doctor or, at the absolute least, buy a testing kit. Jessica pointed out she had been late in the past, especially when she was young, but the constable refused to listen, asking question after question, including whether Adam knew. He was the biggest reason Jessica had held off from finding out one way or the other as she didn’t want anything to do with him – or his blonde woman.

By the time she arrived home, Adam was sleeping but Jessica lay awake, telling herself everything could be explained because she was run down by the long hours and stressful job.

The following morning, she made sure she got up before Adam’s alarm went off and got dressed in the living room before going to the station. She had a brief chat with Cole before heading out again, making sure there was no danger of running into either of the constables she was trying to avoid.

Most of their leads had gone nowhere, with nothing to link Oliver to Kayleigh to Nicholas. They had been diligently checking alibis of people who might have it in for him, despite the length of the list, but anyone realistic, including Nicky and Tia, had been accounted for. The forensics team had struggled to salvage anything useable from the scene of the businessman’s death and Jessica knew the day was approaching when she would have to revisit Owen and Gabrielle Gordon to apologise for getting precisely nowhere.

Meanwhile, the reopening of Nicholas’s club had caused problems the night before – but only because there were so many people trying to get in. Someone who Jessica assumed was Liam had hired extra security for the evening, but they had called for police when a group of men turned aggressive after being told the club was full. Nothing had been damaged and no arrests made but, because it was the council’s job to decide whether licences should be awarded, one of the councillors had requested a member of the police visit the newly refurbished club to give their opinion. It certainly wasn’t Jessica’s job but after hearing what had gone on, she volunteered anyway, if only to get out of the station for as long as she could get away with.

When she arrived, Liam was waiting at the front door, dressed smartly in a suit. ‘Good to see you again,’ he said, sounding genuine.

As soon as he opened the door, Jessica could see that things had changed. The wall that had created the initial corridor had been ripped out, so there was one large reception room with a new bar at the rear. Scott, who was wearing a matching suit, was restocking the fridges, and acknowledged Liam as he walked through.

‘What’s with the gear?’ Jessica asked, nodding at Liam’s suit.

‘Nicky’s idea.’

‘Really?’

‘Oh yes, he’s full of ideas . . .’

Liam didn’t sound completely impressed by it but Jessica conceded that the redesign was a large improvement on what had been there before. The red carpets and walls had gone, replaced by a subtler ivory colour that made everything seem less tacky. Well, less Turkish knocking shop, more IKEA beige.

Liam led her through to the main area, which was styled in the same way. The long bar had been taken out, replaced by something half the size, and the far end curtained off. Nicky certainly hadn’t wasted any time making the place his own.

‘What’s in there?’ Jessica asked, nodding towards the curtain.

‘Private areas.’

Jessica wished she hadn’t mentioned it. Liam sat her down and got her a glass of water, talking her through what had happened on their opening night. Aside from some over-promotion, it sounded as if they had done everything more or less as well as they could, with the extra security officers largely dealing with things. If it hadn’t been for a particularly drunk group of lads, no one would have been any the wiser.

As Liam appeared happy to talk, Jessica thought she would try her luck. ‘How’s Nicky?’ she asked.

Liam glanced towards the security door before answering. ‘He’s not his father.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘He has different ideas, dangerous ideas. His dad knew what to leave at home and what to bring here.’

The statement was cryptic but Liam seemed to realise he had said too much, quickly correcting himself before Jessica could follow it up. ‘He’s a kid, he doesn’t know how things work. He wants everything done instantly and doesn’t understand they take time. I’ll give him one thing, he’s full of ideas, but for every good ’un, there are half-a-dozen dreadful ones – like shrinking the bar, for instance. That’s where all the money comes from.’

‘Aren’t you the manager?’

Liam laughed. ‘Yeah, right. I’m not sure I’ll be around much longer. He’ll drive this place out of business. Whatever you might think about what goes on in the private areas here – and it’s probably not what you think – the fact is it’s very profitable. You don’t need to go throwing around drinks promotions or free dances or whatever. This isn’t that kind of business – he’d be better off at one of the smaller pubs figuring out how everything works.’

‘Why does he focus his work here, then, if he’s running the whole empire?’

The obvious answer, especially for an eighteen-year-old, was the girls, but Jessica suspected this was also where the ‘real’ work went on.

Liam gave nothing away. He was good at playing things down, another reason Jessica guessed Nicholas had given him the job. ‘This is where his dad worked, I guess?’

‘Doesn’t Tia get a say?’

‘Pfft. I don’t know who’d be worse but it doesn’t matter anyway. When Nicky came in shouting the odds the other week, he said she was taking the house, while he got the business. For whatever reason, it was what he wanted.’

‘Where is he, then?’

Liam shook his head. ‘Oh, he’s in the back. He’ll be watching all of this.’ He nodded at a camera above the security door pointing towards them. ‘There are cameras everywhere now. The kid’s paranoid whoever killed his dad will come back for him. He doesn’t realise his dad was a somebody, but he’s a nobody.’

Jessica hadn’t completely understood how devoted Liam was to his former boss until the way he phrased his final sentence. He was clearly still full of admiration for Nicholas, with Nicky an inconvenience he hadn’t got around to walking out on yet.

‘I may as well go say hello,’ Jessica said, standing up.

‘He doesn’t usually like visitors.’

‘I couldn’t care less, I’m supposed to be making sure there’s not going to be any more trouble so let’s go.’

Jessica marched towards the door, even though she didn’t know the code. Liam hurried after her, pushing in front and shielding the numbers with his hand as he unlocked it and held it open for her.

‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ he muttered.

Jessica crossed the hallway and pulled the door handle down on Nicholas’s old office, shunting it open. In contrast to the rest of what she had seen, this area looked identical to before, the familiar row of filing cabinets on one wall and the framed newspapers on the other. Nicky had been facing away as she entered, not watching the monitors as Liam had suggested. As the door opened he spun around, swearing loudly at her to get out. Unlike when she had visited Nicholas, Jessica wasn’t trying to be provocative but the first thing she noticed was that Nicky was wearing an identical suit to the other two men. He was covering his mouth with his hand, eyes wide and panicky.

‘Are you all right?’ Jessica asked.

Nicky looked angry but didn’t take his hand away. ‘Yes, piss off,’ he shouted, although it was muffled.

Jessica was about to turn when blood began dripping from Nicky’s hand onto the desk.

‘Get out,’ he shouted again, although that only sent more blood spitting across the desk. When it was clear Jessica wasn’t leaving, he eventually reached across to pick up a tissue, revealing a mouthful of blood.

Nicky dabbed inside his lips with the tissues, eyes full of anger that she hadn’t left.

‘What did you eat?’ she asked.

Nicky threw a blood-covered tissue towards her. ‘Eat? You stupid bitch. I didn’t eat anything, I’ve just got bleeding gums. Now get out, you’re not supposed to be here.’

As he threw another tissue at her, Jessica walked backwards out of the room, closing the door and moving into the main part of the club.

Liam was sitting on a bar stool. ‘I did warn you,’ he said.

Jessica shook her head. ‘He was bleeding.’

Liam shot up, about to rush to the door, but Jessica held out a restraining hand.

‘Nothing’s happened, well, I don’t think so. He says his gums are bleeding.’

Liam eyed her suspiciously before sitting again. ‘His dad was the same. He’d get nosebleeds all the time and sometimes there would be dried bits of blood around his mouth. At first I thought he was eating all sorts of weird stuff. It’s not the kind of thing you’d ever ask about but it got to the point where you couldn’t ignore it.’

‘What did he say?’

‘Not much, he said he had some disease.’

‘What disease?’

Liam stuck out his bottom lip, puffing loudly. ‘Von something or other. I couldn’t tell you.’

‘Did he say what it did?’

He shook his head dismissively. ‘You met him, would you have wanted to ask? Do you think that was what killed him?’

Considering he’d been suffocated, Jessica didn’t think that at all but she did have an idea that made Liam’s question not quite as stupid as it sounded.

She said goodbye and hurried to her car, taking her mobile phone out of her pocket and wishing she could think of a better way to get things done. Adam answered on the second ring with a cheery ‘Jess’.

Jessica didn’t bother with niceties. ‘Do you know any doctors at the university who might specialise in blood disorders?’

‘Why? You’re okay, aren’t you?’

‘I’m fine, it’s not about me – I just need to speak to someone quickly.’

‘We’ve got a couple of people who might be able to help. If you drive over to the uni, I’ll see if I can get someone to talk to you.’

‘Great, text me the names so I can go straight to them.’

‘Don’t you want to stop by for a coffee?’

‘I don’t have time, sorry.’

Jessica was about to hang up but Adam said, ‘Jess?’

‘What?’

‘We’ve not had an evening together in ages . . .’

‘I’ve been busy.’

‘Are you going to be home later?’

‘Why?’

She heard him take a deep breath before responding. ‘I think we need to talk.’

Jessica knew it was the moment she had been waiting for. She swallowed hard, told him it was fine, then hung up.

The academic Adam had set Jessica up with ticked every stereotypical box you could hope for if you were trying to picture a professor. He had black velvet patches on the elbows of his brown corduroy jacket and wild grey hair which seemed to be in a constant battle to prove the laws of gravity didn’t actually exist.

She didn’t know what Adam had told him but by the time Jessica arrived in the reception of the university, a man was already waiting for her, springing to his feet and shaking her hand vigorously. He introduced himself as Professor Kenyon, although he assured Jessica she could call him Ken. Jessica wondered if that was a nickname relating to his surname or if he was genuinely called Kenneth Kenyon, then figured she didn’t want to know the answer.

Ken led her to the cafe and insisted on buying her a coffee, despite her protests. She didn’t know the technical term, especially as he was the supposed medical expert, but her layman’s opinion was that he was slightly mad.

He did at least appear to know his stuff though. After finally settling at a table, Jessica sipped her coffee as he enthused about the jam roly poly and custard he had bought himself. As soon as she mentioned a blood disorder that was called ‘von something’, the man’s eyes lit up.

‘Von Willebrand disease,’ he said matter-of-factly, shovelling a spoonful of custard-covered cake into his mouth.

He started to speak about a Finnish scientist but Jessica hurried him on to what concerned her. ‘What actually is it?’ she asked.

Ken spoke far too quickly and, before she knew it, he was talking to her about platelets. She interrupted, asking him to put it into language she could understand.

Unperturbed, he took another spoonful of custard, before having another go. ‘When you get a cut, the blood clumps together and forms a scab,’ he said, which Jessica nodded along with. ‘When you have von Willebrand’s, your blood doesn’t clot in the same way, which means you continue to bleed for longer.’

‘How long?’

‘It depends on how serious it is.’

‘How do you catch it?’

‘It’s usually inherited from a parent.’ Ken used the spoon to slice himself another piece of cake, blowing on it, before putting it in his mouth.

‘So if your dad has it, you’ll get it?’

Ken shook his head, still chewing. ‘Not necessarily, it’s about a fifty per cent chance.’

‘So if one child has it, another one won’t?’

He looked at her sideways as if she was a student who had asked a stupid question, although the smear of custard around his lips didn’t give him the gravitas he was perhaps trying for. ‘Not at all, it’s like tossing a coin. Each time you flip it, it has half a chance of coming down tails, regardless of what happened last time.’

‘So two children could both end up with it?’

Ken picked up the final piece of cake. ‘Exactly, but not just two. You could have ten children and all of them inherit it – or none of them. It’s an equal chance every time.’

Jessica nodded, fairly sure she understood, and watched while the man finished his dessert before glancing towards the food-serving area, presumably wondering if there was any more.

‘I met someone who I think had it,’ Jessica said. ‘He got this bad nosebleed.’

‘Sounds about right.’

‘Would it be right that his son’s gums could bleed?’

Ken nodded emphatically. ‘Probably, yes, if he had inherited it. You can have some really impressive bruises too that are all sorts of colours. It can create problems during surgery of course because it’s hard to stop the bleeding, while aspirin is off limits. It’s particularly bad for females, for obvious reasons.’

Jessica squirmed uncomfortably, thinking he couldn’t have picked a worse time to tell her that. She took a notebook out of her jacket, ensuring she had asked everything she wanted to. She then got Ken to spell out the name of the disease so she could look it up herself.

As she stood to leave, Jessica realised there was something else. ‘Can I ask you one final thing?’ she asked politely.

The man was running his finger around the edge of the bowl but looked up, grinning widely. ‘Of course, dear.’

‘Is your first name Kenneth?’

‘Oh no, of course not.’ He looked at her with the same ‘are you stupid look’ he had before, although she had little time to query why he had asked her to call him by a nickname when he added: ‘It’s Kendall.’

‘Kendall Kenyon?’

He licked the remaining custard from his fingers. ‘That’s right,’ he confirmed, as if it was the most natural revelation. ‘Perhaps you’ve read one of my theory papers?’

Jessica shook her head and said her goodbyes, thinking that, if that’s what the custard did to you in this place, she had made a wise decision turning it down.

Kendall’s information had given Jessica something to think through but without checking more details, she only had the inklings of a theory. She would much rather have continued to work but, seeing as Adam had apparently chosen tonight as the night he was going to finally come clean, Jessica figured it was as good a time as any to get the showdown out of the way.

Wanting to avoid both Dave and Izzy, she went to a restaurant around the corner from the university and treated herself to some chicken and chips, at least wanting to confront Adam on a full stomach.

She ate slowly, keeping an eye on the clock as she wanted to ensure he would get home before her. Usually she would have gone out of her way to avoid the main roads but now Jessica willingly sat in the evening traffic, crawling a few car lengths at a time.

By the time she had parked and taken the lift up to their floor, Jessica was ready for whatever Adam might have to say. She had worked out a few different speeches, some more venomous than others but ultimately she wanted to tell him that she understood. As much as she hated him for lying and going behind her back, she couldn’t deny that she was hard to live with. She deliberately worked long and late; she didn’t sleep well, she had a short attention span, she swore a lot and it was her who had originally broken up with him a few years ago.

Whatever he had done, she accepted she deserved at least some of it.

Jessica took a deep breath and entered the flat, ready for anything except for the scene in front of her. Adam was sitting on the sofa grinning, as the blonde woman from the restaurant sat next to him cradling his face in her hand.

29

Although Jessica had been prepared to forgive him and go their separate ways, she wasn’t ready for the outright slap in the face of him inviting the other woman around. Jessica stood, staring in furious disbelief as the pair gazed into each other’s eyes.

‘I think yours are darker,’ the woman said, before Adam noticed Jessica in the doorway.

‘Jess, you’re back,’ he said, jumping up from the sofa and bounding across the room.

Jessica hadn’t closed the door but she was glaring daggers at him. ‘Who the hell is that?’ she shouted.

Adam was within touching distance of her but took a step back in surprise at the spite in her voice. ‘Jess . . . ?’

Jessica didn’t wait for him to say any more, turning and running out of the door and along the corridor. She hoped the lift would still be there but as she pressed the button, the annoying voice taunted: ‘lift coming . . . up’. Seeing Adam racing towards her, Jessica stormed through the door next to the elevator, rushing down the stairs two at a time. She could hear him calling after her but wasn’t interested in whatever he had to say.

By the time she reached the bottom, his voice had grown silent and she barged through the double doors, heading towards her car. She was practically running as she rounded the corner to find Adam, who had presumably waited for the lift, sitting on her car bonnet. Blinking back tears, she ran at him, ignoring his outstretched arms and punching him hard in the chest. He staggered backwards, his eyes telling the story of surprise.

‘Jess . . . ?’ he protested again, but she wasn’t ready for excuses.

‘Why did you bring her here?’ she shouted, pushing him away as he tried to reach for her.

‘Georgia?’

‘I don’t care what her name is – I saw you. I followed you that night you were working late when you went out with her instead. I sat and watched you chat and laugh in that restaurant.’

Adam’s eyes widened as he moved a loose strand of hair away from his face. ‘It’s not what you think.’

‘I saw you going into the hotel afterwards.’

Jessica swung an arm out towards him, catching him in the sternum before he reached out and grabbed both of her hands to restrain her.

Jessica struggled but his grip was firmer than she had ever known it. She wanted to be strong but instead she felt the tears streaming down her face.

‘Jess, I was only checking the room where she was staying, honestly, that’s all.’

‘Why were you there at all?’

Adam continued to grip her wrists as she flailed. ‘Because she’s my sister. Well, half-sister . . .’

Jessica finally stopped struggling as Adam released her. She couldn’t stop the tears but shoved her hair out of her face. ‘You’re an only child.’

Jessica remembered standing in the kitchen of Adam’s grandmother’s house when he first told her the story of how his mother had died during childbirth. His father had killed himself not long afterwards because he was only interested in his wife, not his son.

It was that day she knew she was in love with him.

There were tears in Adam’s eyes as he responded. ‘That’s why I didn’t tell you before – I didn’t know if it was true either.’

As she leant against her car, Jessica couldn’t stop crying. She used her sleeves to try to dry her eyes but the tears kept coming. Eventually Adam pulled his jumper over his head and handed it to her. ‘Just don’t blow your nose,’ he said with a forced laugh.

The lump in Jessica’s throat was so large that she could barely breathe, let alone speak. In her head, she was trying to put the pieces together but it didn’t seem real.

‘I had a letter out of the blue a little while ago,’ Adam said. ‘You never know nowadays if it’s someone trying to scam you. It was from a woman named Georgia who had an address in Bath. She said her father had recently died and she had been sorting through his things. She found a letter that had come from her mother. She was brought up all these years thinking her mum had abandoned her.’

Jessica used the jumper to wipe her eyes but the tears continued to come. ‘How did she find you?’

‘The letter came from someone named Janet Boyes, which was my mum’s maiden name. It told Georgia’s dad to stop contacting her but because her full name was there, Georgia started digging into things and found a marriage notice for my mum and dad. When my mum died, it was in the papers, so she discovered a son named Adam Compton and started trying to find me. She saw on the university’s website there was someone with my name working there, so wrote to me on the off-chance.’

Jessica remembered the envelope she had found in the bin.

‘The computer . . . ?’

Adam reached out an arm and although Jessica didn’t allow him to embrace her, she didn’t push him away either. After letting his arm drop again, he sighed and apologised.

‘When I got that letter, it had an email address and phone number at the bottom. I wanted to believe it was true but Georgia didn’t know all the details either. We started emailing each other, piecing together the timeline of what might have happened but I suppose it was a bit too much for me. I’ve spent my whole life thinking I was on my own and then this happened. I wasn’t ready to talk to you because I wasn’t ready to admit it to myself either.’

Jessica was also an only child and tried to think how she might react if someone turned up claiming to be related to her. Would she keep everything quiet until she was absolutely sure? She tried to tell herself she wouldn’t, but the fact she hadn’t yet told Adam what she had told Izzy only proved she was no different.

‘So is she actually your sister?’

Adam smiled in the way that had first drawn her to him; it changed his face from being someone she would look at and forget into her Adam.

‘Yes, she’s three years older than me and was born in Manchester. Her dad took her down south around a month before my parents got married.’

‘Why?’

‘We don’t really know. In the letter she found, it’s just from our mum telling her dad never to contact her again. It sounds like they had some sort of affair. For whatever reason, our mum didn’t want her in the same way my dad . . . didn’t want me.’

Adam’s voice cracked as he finished his sentence and Jessica reached out towards him, pulling him towards her as he grasped at her.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he sobbed.

Jessica wanted to apologise herself but the lump was bulging in the back of her throat, tears streaming down her face.

It felt like hours before Adam finally released her, taking her hand. ‘We should probably introduce you properly.’

Jessica snorted half a laugh, realising what a horrendous scene she had made. ‘She’s going to hate me already, isn’t she?’

Adam shrugged. ‘I’ve seen you make worse first impressions.’

Jessica giggled, more tears running down her face. She started to walk towards the lifts but realised Adam hadn’t moved and was still holding her hand. She turned to face him but his expression had changed as he looked into her eyes.

‘Do you trust me?’ he asked.

His voice sounded so aggrieved that Jessica didn’t know where to look.

‘Yes . . . I mean . . .’ She paused, trying to find the words, before admitting: ‘I don’t know what I mean.’

Adam nodded, knowing she was being honest. ‘We’ve got to trust each other.’

‘You didn’t trust me enough to tell me about Georgia when your letter arrived.’

‘I know.’

They stared at each other before Adam cracked first, his giggling soon spreading to Jessica.

‘I thought I was coming home for you to break up with me,’ she said as they walked slowly across the car park.

‘Why would I do that?’

‘I don’t know, that’s just what I thought. Isn’t that what “we have to talk” is code for?’

Adam shrugged. ‘Can we make a pact to tell each other things in future?’

Jessica hesitated as Adam pressed the button for the lift. The voice told them it was ‘coming down’. ‘I’ve got something to tell you,’ Jessica said.

‘Anything.’

Adam squeezed her hand to tell her he meant it.

‘Can you trust me for a day or two?’

The lift doors pinged open as Adam pulled her close and kissed her on the top of the head. ‘Whenever you’re ready.’

Adam stepped into the lift but this time Jessica kept hold of his hand, not moving. ‘I’ve got something I need to do,’ she said.

‘For work?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you have to do it tonight?’

Jessica thought of what she had found out that day and who she needed to see next. The photos of Oliver and Kayleigh’s bodies flickered through her mind.

‘I don’t know, maybe.’

‘Can you come and meet Georgia first and do everything tomorrow?’

Jessica kept hold of his hand, thinking of all the times she had run off, prioritising work ahead of Adam and Caroline, not to mention her parents. Adam’s eyes were asking her to put him first, even if it was just for this one time. As he let go of her hand, Jessica stepped into the lift a moment before the doors pinged closed behind her.

Jessica set her alarm for early the next morning but it was Adam who eventually woke her with a gentle shake and whisper in her ear.

‘What time is it?’ Jessica mumbled, rolling towards him.

When Adam told her, Jessica kicked the covers off, dashing towards the wardrobe.

‘Why didn’t my alarm go off?’

‘It did.’

Jessica had a blouse halfway off the hanger as she turned to face him.

‘You slept through it,’ he added.

‘Why didn’t you wake me?’

‘Because you needed a rest.’

Jessica was ready to protest but knew he was right – everyone had been telling her that and for the first time in weeks, she had slept completely through the night. Even hearing the words made her feel more alert, as if the realisation she had slept well was more invigorating than the sleep itself.

‘Do you want to talk tonight?’ Adam asked, as Jessica reached into the wardrobe.

‘Maybe.’

‘Last night didn’t go so bad in the end, did it?’

Jessica dressed quickly as she spoke. ‘When is she coming back up north?’

‘I’m not sure. We could visit her?’

Not knowing exactly what the day might entail, Jessica crouched and hunted for a sensible pair of shoes. ‘I’ve never been to Bath.’

‘Me neither but Grandma came from that area.’

‘Aren’t they all farmers around that way?’

Adam laughed and put on a fake accent. ‘Ooh arr. I guess we’ll find out.’

By the time he kissed her goodbye, Jessica was fully dressed, phone in hand, ready for the day.

As Jessica sat in Eleanor Sexton’s living room, she realised she should have been prepared for the questions the woman might ask, instead of focusing on what she needed to find out. The look on the woman’s face was more one of bemusement than pleasure but Jessica couldn’t have held it against her if she had been pleased.