As Jessica entered, Esther was staring out of the window. ‘Anything?’ Jessica asked.

‘Nope, not too bad in here though, is it?’

‘Much better than the other room. This must be where Marcus and Lloyd sleep when they stay over.’

The rest of the house offered very little of note. There was a large cupboard downstairs but no sign of a basement, attic, shed or any other place someone could obviously be hidden. Jessica hadn’t expected there to be, given Adrian’s openness in letting them explore. His name would be checked against storage units and, in the wake of everything that had happened, other places that could be rented such as allotments. Jessica didn’t think they’d find anything. If the example of ‘Glenn Harrison’ had shown them anything, it was that using a fake name was easier than it should be.

Adrian was talking to someone on his mobile phone when the detectives re-entered after looking around. He stood and ended the call. ‘I’m going back out in the car,’ he said. ‘He’s got to be somewhere. One of my mates is coming over and we’re going around all the parks. I tried calling Rach but she’s not answering.’

Jessica wasn’t sure if the two parents contacting each other was for the best considering the allegations Rachel had made but, considering neither of them were suspects, Adrian wasn’t breaking any laws.

The two officers left and Jessica followed Esther to her car and climbed in. The other woman started the engine and switched on the heater. Esther phoned someone from her department and, even from the one half of the conversation she could hear, Jessica knew there was very little happening. When she hung up, Esther confirmed just that. ‘It doesn’t sound like there’s much going on at our end,’ she said. ‘No one’s seen anything on the CCTV cameras. None of the kids at the school saw Lloyd going off with anyone or getting into a car. I think someone at your end is going over the traffic cams but that will take a while. It looks like he just vanished into thin air.’

Jessica sighed. Now she had spoken to both parents, the disappearance felt real. In some cases, she had to work with hardly any leads. This was the opposite; they had so much to go on but none of it made sense. Every time they found an answer to a question, it left them with more questions.

After saying goodbye to Esther, Jessica drove home. Gritting lorries were charging along the main roads, spraying salt across a surface that already felt a little skiddy.

She was feeling tired as she pushed open her front door. Part of it was because she was leaving for work when it was still dark each morning, then returning after the sun had set too.

As she closed the door behind her, she heard Caroline calling out from the living room. ‘You’re home.’ Her friend sounded far more excited than she expected on a cold December evening.

Jessica turned around to see Caroline bounding into the hallway, a large grin on her face. ‘I’ve got a surprise for you,’ she said.

Jessica was only in the mood for putting her feet up on the sofa, drinking a few glasses of wine, and falling asleep in front of some rubbish television show. She tried to smile and offer some enthusiasm. ‘Go on . . .’

Caroline pointed towards the door. ‘It’s in there. Close your eyes though.’

‘If I close my eyes, I’ll walk straight into the wall.’

‘It’s only a few feet, come on.’

Jessica couldn’t be bothered arguing, although she didn’t trust herself not to collide with an inanimate object, so closed her eyes and allowed her friend to lead her into the living room. When she heard Caroline’s excited ‘ta-da’, Jessica opened her eyes.

It wasn’t a surprise she would have expected or hoped for.

In the room was a large Christmas tree, stretching from the floor to the ceiling. It had been meticulously decorated with lights and many other hanging objects she couldn’t even begin to describe. Across the ceiling were lines of metallic-looking streamers.

‘Well, what do you think?’ Caroline asked, an even bigger grin on her face.

Jessica tried to hide her true feelings. ‘It’s . . . bright,’ she said, with as much joy as she could muster. Lights on the tree were flashing on and off to a silent tune as her friend, seemingly oblivious to the lack of enthusiasm, walked around the room pointing at things.

It wasn’t that Jessica disliked Christmas decorations, she just preferred things plain and simple. She didn’t want to have to come home and see all sorts of things stuck to her ceiling, she merely wanted to enter her flat, take her shoes off, and flop in front of the television. Or, better yet, her bed.

As much as she had enjoyed living with Caroline in the past, it was quickly becoming clear that, with all the time that had passed, she now preferred living alone. She had become used to being able to come and go as she chose and not having to worry about someone else. She was happy for her friend to stay while she sorted herself out but, with the effort Caroline had put into decorating the room, Jessica was wondering how short-term the stay would be.

After assuring Caroline she liked the new-look living room, even though she didn’t, Jessica said she had some work to do and spent the rest of the evening in the bedroom doing very little. She was feeling uncomfortable in her own flat but knew there was no way she would ever say anything about it.

Watching the evening news on the portable television in the bedroom, Jessica saw Lloyd’s photo. He was getting more media attention than Isaac had, although there was a mention of the first boy’s disappearance too. Jessica used her phone to check her emails and swapped a few text messages with Dave, who told her the dig that day had barely started before being abandoned because of the frozen state of the ground. Despite all their leads – and the unanswered questions – it seemed as if things were stalling, certainly in relation to Isaac.

Even though she was exhausted, Jessica again struggled to sleep. She lay on the bed next to Caroline staring at the red LED lights on the front of her alarm clock. The time was almost taunting her and Jessica found herself trying to work out the maximum number of hours she would be able to sleep before having to get up.

Jessica drifted in and out of sleep and woke for the final time when there was still half an hour before her alarm would go off. She lay staring at the clock when her phone began to ring. At first the sound confused her, as she wasn’t completely sure if she was awake or dreaming. It was only when Caroline began to move that Jessica snapped out of her dreamlike state and reached out to answer. Reynolds’s name flashed on the screen. Jessica hauled herself into a sitting position and pressed the button to answer.

‘Morning,’ she said wearily.

‘Jess? You sound as if you’ve died overnight.’

‘Maybe I have.’

He sounded apologetic. ‘Er, yeah, sorry. It’s Simon Hill, we’ve traced his mobile and know where he is. I’m on my way to pick you up.’

15

Jessica was only two minutes into the car journey with Reynolds when she realised his claim to know the location of Simon Hill was only partially true. The man’s mobile had been traced to a mast in the Sunderland area, a minimum of three hours away. That meant they knew the rough location of where he had been – but certainly not where he was. Local officers had been dispatched to the area in the hope of finding him but Jessica and the inspector were travelling there in the hope of either discovering his location themselves, or questioning him if he had already been picked up.

As she yawned and stretched in the passenger’s seat of Jason’s car, Jessica knew there was no way she would be lucky enough to get through a tiresome journey, then find the person they were looking for sitting in an interview room waiting for them to arrive.