‘Are you being serious?’

‘What do you mean?’

Jessica raised her eyebrows. ‘So it’s just us two off to the pub, out of the blue, which is something we’ve not done in months?’

‘It’s been a busy few weeks; I figured we could go for a pint and a catch-up. Maybe bring Iz along too?’

‘A catch-up? We see each other every day.’

‘You know what I mean,’ Dave said.

‘Yeah, unfortunately I think I do. Right, well, if you do want to do this whole thing then yeah, whatever, pub after work.’ Rowlands did his best to look as if he didn’t know what Jessica was alluding to but she could see straight through him. ‘If you ever get arrested for anything, Dave, make sure you say nothing because the second you start talking you’ll give yourself away,’ she added.

Her fears were confirmed as Dave and Izzy casually walked her to the station’s local, each pretending they were simply after a quiet drink. A smaller team had been left to work on the leads they had and, while Jessica would have preferred to stay herself, she went with her friends. She couldn’t even pretend to be surprised as she walked into the pub to find a select group of her colleagues, Caroline and a few other people she knew waiting for her.

There was a token cheer of ‘surprise’ but a general acceptance she would have been one of the worst detectives going if she hadn’t figured out what the two constables had planned.

Jessica had never been keen on being the centre of attention, much preferring to sit in the corner and make sarcastic comments, but she thanked everyone and then cheered up even more when the landlord said her drinks were free for the night. She walked around the pub a couple of times, making small talk with the people that had come to say hello and then, almost inevitably, ended up in a booth towards the back with Caroline, Dave and Izzy.

‘So which one of you organised this then?’ she asked.

‘You can thank Dave,’ Izzy said. ‘Although I did tell him there was no way he’d keep it a secret.’

Jessica turned to Rowlands. ‘I’ll give you one thing; you can definitely organise a piss-up in a brewery. If you can sort out a shag in a brothel, you’ll be up for promotion.’

The constable smiled. ‘You really don’t do gratitude, do you?’

Jessica put on a sarcastic voice. ‘Thank you very much for reminding everyone I’m getting old.’

‘No problem.’

Although it was early evening, Caroline said she’d left work an hour prematurely. She was certainly dressed up for the occasion, wearing a short purple dress the type of which wasn’t seen very regularly in a police pub like the one they were in. The older male officers had certainly noticed but her friend seemed oblivious. She told Jessica that Dave had invited her. They had met on a couple of occasions in the past, although not as embarrassing as this one, and he’d kept her phone number just in case something like this came up. Jessica suspected he had taken her number just in case the woman became single at any point but didn’t want to point it out.

‘So, presents,’ Caroline said, sounding excited. She pulled a large glossy paper bag out from under her seat. Jessica tried to look cool but, even though public parties weren’t her thing, presents always went down well and she struggled to hide at least a degree of excitement. There were three items in the bag. She unwrapped the first to find a cook book that boasted it could teach simple culinary methods anyone could use. ‘I thought it was about time you learned some basics,’ Caroline said. ‘It’s got all sorts in there just to get you going.’

Jessica had been thinking the same thing for years but had never had the inclination. She wasn’t convinced the book would give her that but smiled and thanked her friend nonetheless. She also poked a smirking Rowlands in the leg.

The second gift was some vouchers for a department store in the city but Jessica really felt touched by the final one. It was a framed picture of her and Caroline from the week before they left to tour south-east Asia. They were both teenagers and it was a photo Jessica recognised and remembered being taken but hadn’t seen in years. They were cheesily grinning at the camera, wearing each other’s clothes. Jessica smiled and gave her friend a small hug. ‘This is really nice, thanks.’

Rowlands picked the picture up from the table. ‘Christ, you look young here.’

‘It was taken before I had to endure the stress of working with you every day.’

The constable ignored her. ‘Girls get such boring presents. Us lads get computer games, toy cars, robots and all sorts of cool stuff. You get bloody pictures and all kinds of shite.’

Jessica put on a serious face. ‘It’s called growing up, Dave. Most people stop wasting their life with games, comics and robots when they hit their teens. If you’re still doing that by the time you get to thirty, it might be time to get a proper hobby.’

‘All right, all right, enough of this “turning thirty” talk. You know how to kick a man when he’s down, don’t you?’ Dave protested.

‘Actually, there’s no better time to kick a man than when he’s down. I pride myself on being good at it.’

Izzy stepped in to change the subject. ‘So, when’s the wedding then?’ she asked Caroline.

‘Just a few weeks now.’

‘Are you excited?’

‘Yeah, can’t wait.’

‘It’s my wedding anniversary in a few weeks. It only seems like yesterday in some ways.’

‘Have you got kids?’ Caroline asked.

Jessica winced, realising her friend had asked exactly the thing she shouldn’t. Caroline realised it too because of the look on Izzy’s face. ‘Sorry . . . I didn’t mean . . .’

‘No, it’s fine. I haven’t got any children, no.’ The constable stayed calm but the atmosphere was edgy and it was clear it was a touchy subject.

‘Who are you taking then?’ Dave asked Jessica, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

‘What, to the wedding?’

‘Yes, who are you taking?’ Caroline added. ‘We’ve left a place for them at the table but haven’t got a name to go on the plan yet.’

Jessica shuffled nervously. ‘Just someone. It’s all sorted, don’t worry about it.’

‘A secret boyfriend?’

‘No, just a friend.’

‘A friend who’s a boy?’ Caroline pushed.

‘Sod off, just a friend. Don’t worry about it.’

‘Is it someone from the station?’ Izzy asked.

‘Can we change the subject?’

The other three people looked towards each other and almost collectively made an ‘oooh’ sound. ‘Right, what’s the plan for later?’ Jessica said, still trying to change the subject. ‘Are we staying here or what?’

‘It’s up to you,’ Izzy replied. ‘It’s your birthday.’

‘Right, well, considering I’m on free drinks all night, I vote stay here, then pizza on the way home.’

Dave laughed quietly. ‘You’re not going to invite us all round and cook fried eggs now you’ve got your new book?’

‘If you fancy a pot noodle, you’re welcome. Well, you’re not but these two are.’

‘I don’t really do pizzas,’ Izzy said. ‘I’m more of a kebab kind of girl.’

Jessica pulled a face. ‘I used to be like that but the problem is the morning after. With a pizza you can have the leftovers for breakfast. With a kebab, it looks as if someone’s hurled it up.’

The other three people around the table were united in their reply. ‘Eew.’

‘Are you telling me I’m wrong?’

Izzy answered. ‘No, but there are some things you don’t have to say out loud.’ Jessica laughed and had to admit that was true. The constable grinned herself. ‘If we’d organised this properly we could have gone around town doing the birthday scam.’

‘The what?’ Jessica asked.

‘Way back before I was an officer, me and my friends used to do it when we were teenagers. We’d go to one of the restaurants in town and someone would drop the hint it was someone else’s birthday. All the servers would come over and clap and sing this stupid song but you’d get a free cake out of it. Then we’d move on to the next place and do the same thing. There were about five places in town who had that policy so every few weeks we’d be out claiming it was someone’s birthday.’