Reynolds waved everyone into a circle and took his copy of the map out of a pocket, shouting over the surrounding noise so that everyone could hear him.

‘My colleague here assures me this is the right place,’ he said. ‘From what I can tell, we’re looking at an area maybe a hundred yards square. Let’s skim around and see if there’s anything obvious. If not, we’ll come back when it’s stopped pissing down.’

Jessica had the urge to point out that could well mean they never returned but she held her tongue. The group spread out and began to mooch through the trees. It was clear no one really knew what they were doing and Jessica was beginning to feel her earlier enthusiasm about coming to the site was misplaced. She exchanged a glance with Rowlands as if to say ‘sorry’, and then looked back at her feet as she moved in as straight a line as she could manage without walking into any trees.

Aside from mounds of dirt and roots she did her best not to trip over, Jessica couldn’t see anything of note. The only observation that seemed slightly out of the ordinary was that the entire area appeared untouched. Most woodland like this would either be overgrown and unkempt, or surrounded by signs letting people know where they could and couldn’t walk.

As she continued, Jessica tried to keep her mind focused, looking for anything unusual. She edged further into the trees, which were becoming more densely packed, blocking even more of the light. Just as she was beginning to think they would have to come back another time, Jessica heard a shout from the far end of the line, turning to see the silhouettes of two people in thick jackets converging on a spot around thirty metres away. Her first instinct was to run but, after two steps, she realised that attempting to do so would leave her sliding along the ground.

Jessica moved as fast as she could without losing her footing and immediately saw why the officer had called them over. While most of the soil was damp on the surface, he had stopped by a patch of land that looked as if it had been dug up recently. It had been covered by stray branches which, if anything, drew more attention because the rest of the ground was clear of clutter.

Jason was the last person to reach the scene and looked straight at Jessica, not saying anything but asking the question with his eyes instead: ‘What do you want to do?’ Even though he was her supervisor and it was his call, Jessica knew he was deferring to her. She assumed it was because of her earlier insistence on being involved, or perhaps he was simply asking if she wanted to get out of the rain. Either way she reached out to take a spade from an officer standing next to her.

‘Let’s dig.’

Instead of handing over the shovel, the officer stepped past Jessica and slammed the spade into the ground himself. He was quickly followed by four others as another placed the metal battering ram on the floor and sat on it. Jessica stood silently next to Reynolds. The steel tips of the spades thudded into the ground as the rain continued falling around them. Gradually piles of mud began to build up before, finally, everyone saw what they had come for.

The five men stopped digging in unison, glancing towards the two detectives. Jessica stepped forward first, crouching next to the hole which was around a foot deep. She picked up a large see-through plastic bag that reminded her of the freezer bags with the white zips which her mum used for leftovers. She wiped away some soil with her bare hands, surprised at how neat the object was. Jessica didn’t open the plastic; she didn’t need to. Inside she could clearly see a tidily folded light blue football shirt and a pair of jeans.

Given the size there was no doubt they belonged to a child.

3

Jessica held the bag up for Reynolds to see but it was Dave who spoke. ‘Is that a Man City shirt?’

Reynolds shook his head to say he didn’t know but one of the other officers stepped forward, nodding. ‘Yeah, it’s a City shirt. Few years old though, they’ve not had that sponsor in years.’

With the light fading, Reynolds signalled for everyone to return to the cars. Two officers were left to make sure no one interfered with the area. DCI Cole or a superior would decide what they should do next.

Usually when they found something of note, the officers would be buzzing but it was more or less a silent journey back to the station for Jessica, Reynolds and Rowlands. She figured it was partly because no one understood the significance of what they had discovered, not to mention the fact that they were all soaking wet. Jessica thought about the body of the child she had found that morning and how it might be connected to the clothes. She still felt there was something not quite right about the fact the driver was using a map. It seemed obvious you only needed one if you didn’t know where you were going. If the driver was heading either to bury Isaac Hutchings or, for whatever reason, dig up the clothes, wouldn’t he already know the location?

Back at the station, many of the day-shift officers had already left. DCI Cole had waited for them to get back but, aside from handing the bagged clothes over to an already overworked forensics team, there wasn’t much else any of them could do.

Jessica spent the whole of the next day feeling as if she was going through the motions. She hadn’t been present but Isaac’s mother had identified his body and their murder investigation had officially begun. The football shirt had been easily identified by other officers as being somewhere between twelve and fifteen years old because of the sponsor’s name. Jessica’s gut feeling was that there would be further excavation work required in case there was something they had missed but, aside from the map that had led them there, its significance was a mystery for now.

Their other lead was the key with the number 61 on the fob. It had been returned by the scientists who had determined there were no fingerprints or anything else of note on it. Jessica left Rowlands and a small group of officers with the task of trying to find out its use as she went to visit the owner of the stolen black car.

Partly to make up for leaving her at the station the whole of the previous day but also because she liked working with her, Jessica took DC Izzy Diamond with her for the interview. Izzy, who had long bright-red hair, had become a good friend to Jessica in recent times.

The relentless rain from the previous day had gone, replaced by a light drizzle that seemed to define the area. Jessica drove one of the marked police cars while Izzy gave directions.

‘Have you told anyone yet?’ Jessica asked as they waited at a set of traffic lights.

‘Why? I’m not starting to show yet, am I?’

Jessica giggled gently. ‘You’re paranoid about getting fat. Of course you’re not showing, I’m just terrified of accidentally telling someone you’re pregnant before it’s officially out.’

The constable didn’t sound too fussed. ‘I’m sure I’ll blab it soon enough. I think Mal’s told his mum anyway. We said we wouldn’t but she dropped some hint about me not being allowed to drink the other day. Still, I guess I’ve told you so we’re even.’

‘I don’t know what I’m going to do when you go off on maternity. I’m going to be left talking to Dave all the time and he’s so obsessed with Chloe he’ll probably be spending his lunch breaks writing sonnets in the canteen by then.’

Izzy laughed. ‘I’ve got a few months before I disappear. Anyway, what’s she like?’ DC Diamond had not met the woman, with Jessica the only person other than Dave able to confirm her existence.

‘Chloe?’ Jessica asked.

‘Yeah, I would’ve put a tenner on either “imaginary” or “blow-up”.’