‘How did you break your arm?’ Jessica asked.

The constable looked away, wanting to downplay things. ‘It was trapped between me and the table as I fell.’

Jessica met Izzy’s eyes and knew they were both thinking the same thing. The constable said it first. ‘So basically, you broke your arm because you’re a bit of a fatty?’

Rowlands looked at Cole, annoyance on his face. ‘This is workplace bullying.’

The chief inspector nodded before breaking into a grin. ‘Noted, although as you are on injury leave and this isn’t our workplace, I’m not sure I can take any action . . .’

Jessica was stifling a laugh but Izzy didn’t hold back, cackling so loudly the receptionist on the far side of the room shushed them.

‘Can we go for a walk?’ Jessica said quietly, standing and looking at Rowlands.

Izzy and the chief inspector took the hint and didn’t move, although Cole told her she would have to give a proper statement when she’d had some sleep. She knew that would only be the start. Scott would now never be able to respond to their unanswered questions. She wondered what she would be able to tell Oliver’s parents for closure.

Rowlands stood gingerly, with Izzy smacking his backside and telling him to stop faking it. Jessica led him through a set of double doors, following the signs towards the cafe. Inside there were half-a-dozen people sitting around tables. Although it was the early hours, Jessica could smell bacon as they approached the counter.

‘What do you want?’ she asked.

‘Are you buying?’

‘Yep, you can have whatever you want up to a maximum of four English pounds and fifty pence.’

The weary-looking server filled two bread rolls with bacon and although the bread was slightly stale and the meat overcooked, it was as good as anything Jessica could remember eating.

She sat opposite Rowlands but neither spoke as they ate. When she had finished, Jessica pushed back in her chair, watching Dave closely. It was impossible not to smile given the state of his bandage.

‘What?’ he said, licking his fingers.

‘That’s ridiculous.’

Dave nodded, although he looked tired and his expression was serious. ‘What are we going to do?’

Jessica didn’t know how to phrase things, so instead spoke without thinking. ‘I love you too, just not like that. We’ve been mates for ages, we’ve done all sorts together but I don’t see you in that way.’

‘I know.’

‘I’m in love with Adam.’

‘I know.’

‘But we can still be mates and have fun working together.’

‘We can’t go back to the way we were though, can we? I can’t un-say something.’

Jessica picked at a rogue piece of meat between her teeth. ‘I’m sure we’ll live, there’s no way I’m going to be able to look at that bandage and not take the piss.’

Rowlands didn’t reply and Jessica realised she had gone too far. ‘You’ll be able to talk to someone,’ she added more softly.

‘I will if you will. He pointed the gun at you too.’

Jessica didn’t reply, standing and offering her arm to help him to his feet. ‘Come on, it’s bedtime.’

Rowlands smiled, heaving himself up. ‘You know what’s happening this weekend, don’t you?’

‘No.’

‘Hugo and Caroline are off camping. I think she thinks he knows what he’s doing. He’ll do what he always does and wing it. The last I heard, he’d bought this pop-up tent from a charity shop for three quid.’

As they began walking towards the exit, Jessica laughed. ‘I think she’s had a fascination with him ever since he drew her on that napkin at her wedding. I lived with Caroline for almost ten years and if there’s one thing she’s not suited to, it’s outdoor life. Let alone in a tent that cost under a fiver.’

‘I’ll tell you his side of the story if you share hers?’ Jessica held the door open for him, linking her hand through his good arm as they walked.

‘You’re on, DC Rowlands.’

35

Jessica sat opposite Cole peering around the walls of his office. The framed certificates and commendations were the same as ever but something felt different. The chief inspector put his desk phone down and apologised before fixing her with a gaze she could only describe as fatherly. She wasn’t sure if she liked it.

‘It wasn’t your fault,’ he said gently.

‘It was.’

He leant back in his seat and put his hands behind his head, speaking firmly. ‘I hate to be the one to tell you this but things at this station don’t actually revolve around you. Regardless of what your opinions were, if I didn’t agree, I wouldn’t have suggested anything to the superintendent. If he didn’t agree, it would have occurred differently.’

‘What’s going to happen?’ Jessica asked.

‘We’ve got a few results back from the gun. They can’t be sure because it exploded but our people reckon it was old and hadn’t been looked after properly. They say it’s incredibly rare but, if you don’t keep them clean, the bullet or cartridge can become blocked in the barrel. The pressure still has to go somewhere, so it explodes. A piece of the barrel went through Scott’s skull, another just below his heart. You and Dave are lucky none of it came your way.’

‘What else?’

‘We’ve confirmed that Nicholas was Scott’s father and Kayleigh his mother.’

‘What about Oliver?’

The chief inspector shook his head sadly. ‘We’ll never know. He was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

Jessica said nothing, although the silence seemed apt. There was no way she was going to let anyone else have the job of having to tell the teenager’s parents what had happened.

‘My wife and I are getting a divorce,’ the chief inspector said suddenly, his words quiet and deliberate. ‘We’ve told the kids but there’s a lot to sort out. She’s going to have the house, with the children staying there, but then we don’t quite have the money for me to get anything too comfortable. It’s so complicated but I don’t want to do anything that will make it harder for them.’

Jessica let his words sink in before replying. ‘I’m sure you’ve done it for the right reasons.’

‘It was my idea in the end.’

Jessica didn’t know what to say although she suspected he was telling her simply because he had no one else to talk to.

Before she could come up with something sympathetic, the chief inspector sat up more formally. ‘I’ve been talking to the chief superintendent this morning and we’d like you to take Jason’s job as inspector now he’s officially told us he isn’t returning. We’ll have to do things through the right channels, obviously, but it will all be for appearances. The job’s yours if you want it’.

As Jessica remained silent, he added: ‘You don’t have to tell us straight away’.

‘It was only a few days ago I messed up and nearly got Dave killed.’

‘I already said that wasn’t your fault but if it wasn’t for you, we would never have reached this point. We would simply have three unsolved killings on our files.’

Jessica didn’t want to argue. ‘I didn’t even apply,’ she said.

Cole shrugged dismissively. ‘Who else is there?’ After a pause, he added: ‘It’s a reasonable amount of extra money and fewer weekends.’

Neither of those factors influenced Jessica. ‘Can I let you know?’ she asked. ‘I’ve got two things I need to do first.’

Despite being on injury leave, Dave joined Jessica and Izzy in the pub around the corner from the station. His every movement was punctuated with an ‘ooh’ or an ‘aah’ but Izzy was having none of it.

‘You do know you weren’t actually shot, don’t you?’ she said.

‘I still broke my arm.’

‘Yes, but only because you eat too many pies. Stop whingeing and come back to work.’

Jessica sat quietly, thinking through the best way to phrase things. The other constables realised she wasn’t joining in, a clear sign something was up.