‘That’s not what I’ve heard.’ The boy’s solicitor went to step in but Jessica had sewn the doubt in his mind. She showed the boy some photographs of the new victim’s injuries, having deliberately picked out the ones that looked the worst. Both the legal representative and his mother objected and she knew she was walking on a tightrope.

Eventually, she knew she just had to go for it. She opened the envelope on the table, took one final photograph out and held it facing her. ‘In a moment, I’m going to turn this photo around and I need you to answer one last question. I know your mum is here and you might not want to admit to certain . . . things but this is crucial.’ She tapped the top of the photo to emphasise her point that it could be him and then turned it around. The image was of Robert Graves and had been taken post-mortem after he had been cleaned up. When she had first seen his body she hadn’t known whether it was male or female but the photo was a lot clearer.

Both the boy and his mother reeled backwards while the solicitor tried to stop the interview. He was outraged but Jessica wouldn’t budge. She locked eyes with the boy. ‘Was Robert Graves in your gang? Do you know him?’

Amid the noise as Reynolds tried to calm everyone down, Jessica didn’t move. She stared at the teenager. She could see the answer in his eyes but needed him to say the words. ‘Tell me,’ she said.

‘Yes.’ The answer was quiet and barely audible over the objections from his solicitor.

Jessica put the photograph face down on the table and shushed everyone present, much to their annoyance. ‘Please repeat that. Was Robert Graves a member of your gang?’

Finally there was quiet. She hadn’t stopped looking at him.

‘He wanted to be.’

The teenager had been released without charge but Jessica had got what she wanted. Ultimately he seemed more scared of his mum than he did of them. Reynolds and Jessica had immediately passed the news on to Cole and the three of them were now sitting in DCI Farraday’s office listening to him tell them off for not informing him of what was going on.

Jessica was happy to step in and admit it was her fault but Cole didn’t give her a chance, instead saying he should be blamed. He said he knew the DCI was busy and that he didn’t want to concern him with matters that could come to nothing.

Jessica was grateful for what he had done but also saw it as an indictment of their boss that they had to work behind his back to get things sorted out.

When he had calmed down, Jessica got around to explaining her theory, leaving Adam out of the tale. ‘I had been talking to a member of the forensics team at the end of the week and they mentioned they were going to be able to start working on the student mugging cases this week. It got me thinking about Robert Graves’s age and the type of kid his parents said he was.’ She indicated towards Reynolds sitting next to her. ‘Jason has been working on connecting the robberies all together and had mentioned a theory about a gang initiation ritual.’

Farraday nodded along as she spoke, again drumming his fingers on the desk. She tried to block the noise out and keep talking. ‘I think we’ve all got it in our heads now that Robert isn’t connected to the other, er, vigilante cases but of course we didn’t know why he would have been killed. But now we’ve been told he wanted to become a member of this gang. So what if he picked on a student who wasn’t just some drunk? What if he picked on someone who fought back too hard?’

The chief inspector stopped tapping his fingers. ‘Why wouldn’t he have been identified with that sketch if that’s the case?’

Jessica knew she had to be careful how she phrased the next part. ‘Don’t forget the description of the attacker was from a bit of a distance in dim lighting but also . . . we were asking people to look for the wrong thing. We were saying, “This is your vigilante”, so people would have been looking at their mates and thinking, “Oh, it can’t be him because he was with me the night of the vigilante attacks”. But no one would have been reporting their friends for being unaccounted for on just that one evening where Robert Graves was killed.’

‘What do you two think?’ Farraday looked first at Reynolds, then DI Cole, standing behind the two sergeants. ‘Reynolds?’

‘I think it’s a better theory than anyone else has had.’

‘Cole?’

‘I think we should go to the local media and the universities themselves. Let’s tell them we were wrong and get the description of the person back out there. Let’s ask people to think just about the one night Robert Graves was killed instead of asking them to worry about who the vigilante is.’ There was a harshness to his tone Jessica had rarely heard.

Before the DCI could respond, Jessica started speaking. ‘We have the fingerprint and blood on file. If we get any useful leads, people can easily be ruled out. I know there are thousands of students but there can’t be too many who look like that picture.’

‘How do you know for sure it’s a student?’

Cole spoke. ‘We don’t, Sir. That’s why we would bring the media in too and admit we made a mistake. Either way, it has to be someone relatively local.’

Farraday was back to drumming his fingers and finally slapped his hand down hard on the wood. ‘Right, this is what we’re going to do. Reynolds, you get on with the gang stuff. If people are dying, we need to shut them down. Cole, you go to the papers and the university and do whatever you have to. Daniel, if you’re so clever you get us a lead on the other killer we have to catch.’

It was basically the same arrangement they already had – except that Jessica had solved at least one case she wasn’t directly assigned to and it didn’t look as if she was going to get any credit for it. Ultimately it didn’t matter as long as they found whoever killed Robert Graves and then, her case or not, she would be visiting his parents.

Jessica went to stand but Cole started speaking. ‘I think you should let Jessica close the Graves case, Sir. It was her theory after all.’

Feeling frozen to the spot, she looked from DCI Farraday to DI Cole, who were staring at each other. It was the chief inspector who finally spoke. His tone was steady but had an undercurrent of anger. ‘Fine. Sort it out among yourselves but I want some progress on all three cases by the end of the week or I’m going to start kicking some arses around here.’

20

Cole hadn’t even let Jessica thank him as they walked back down the stairs to their own offices. As she went to speak, he cut her off. ‘Don’t worry, you did well today. Now find the killer.’

Jessica went back to her office and immediately called Garry Ashford. Even though Reynolds was in earshot, she thanked the journalist for his article about Craig Millar’s mother and then told him the news about the type of person they now suspected had killed Robert Graves. She told him he had a two-hour head start to get a story on his newspaper’s website before she called in the local television and radio stations.

She phoned back the witness to the murder and re-checked each detail with her, especially focusing on the time and description of the killer. After that, Jessica went to the press office and told the woman who worked there exactly what she wanted doing. The small team on site were well known for being tetchy with officers in trying to balance the needs of both sides but Jessica didn’t make it a negotiation. The press officer was obviously nervous about going to the media and admitting they had made a mistake but Jessica was clear the only way people would pay attention to a new appeal was if they started from scratch.