A couple of taxis were already waiting and Jessica got into the first one.

‘Are you “King”, love?’ the driver asked, half-looking over his shoulder.

‘Sorry?’ Jessica replied.

‘I’m here to pick up someone called “King”. I thought it was a couple though.’

Jessica realised the golf club was out of the way and the only taxis would be ones other people had booked. She couldn’t be bothered waiting. ‘Yeah, sorry it’s just me,’ she said.

‘Where are you off to?’

‘This might sound weird but can you take me to Longsight Police Station?’

‘Are you sure you’re “King”? My note said a couple to go to Stockport.’

Jessica sighed. ‘All right, you’ve got me. My last name isn’t King but I am a police officer who’s a little bit tipsy and I could really do with getting back to the station.’

The driver turned around and Jessica saw him eyeing her outfit. ‘All right, whatever you say, love. I’ve not seen too many “officers” wearing a dress like that.’

Jessica wouldn’t have let too many people get away with looking at her the way the driver had and it was clear he didn’t believe who she was. Partly because of the alcohol she’d had but also because he started driving in the direction she needed to go, Jessica said nothing.

The man tried to strike up a conversation more than once but Jessica was pretty adept at giving dull answers to make him stop and he eventually pulled up outside of the police station. ‘Are you sure this is where you want to go?’ he asked sarcastically. Jessica ignored his tone and dropped some money on the passenger seat before getting out of the vehicle and walking towards the main door.

Most of the officers on duty on a Saturday night would have been in the city centre dealing with various amounts of trouble. Jessica knew the station would only get busy in a few hours when the first van of people arrested for various drink- or violence-related crimes would arrive.

As she walked into the station, the desk sergeant first looked her up and down and then did a double-take when he realised the woman in the blue dress and matching shoes with her hair clean and down was the same person who usually wore a trouser suit with her hair tied back in a ponytail. Jessica ignored his stare, walking around the counter as she would do usually.

‘Are you all right?’ the sergeant asked.

‘Fine. I’ve just got to check something in my office and then I’ll need a lift home if you can get someone to sort that?’

‘I’ll see what I can do.’

Jessica walked along the corridor to her office and opened the door. She turned the lights on and headed to where there were the usual piles of clutter on her desk. She sifted through a few things and then settled on a copy of the photo that showed Edward Marks and the woman who had been Samantha Weston.

Something about the photo hadn’t seemed right to Jessica when she had looked at the picture before and only now was she beginning to understand what it was. Ed and Sam were holding their glasses towards the camera in exactly the way the photographer had said looked awkward. Thoughts began to swirl around her head as Jessica wrote frantically on a pad the names of people she would have to speak to before the weekend was over.

34

Jessica spent her Sunday partly at the station and partly at home, trying to get hold of the people she needed. By mid-morning on the Monday, she had checked over the final few things from her flat. There had been little point in going to the station as the commute would have wasted time.

Jessica phoned Cole’s mobile but it went straight to voicemail so she called his desk phone, which also went unanswered. She then called the station’s reception and told the person who answered who she was. ‘Is the DCI around?’ she asked.

‘Haven’t you heard?’

‘What?’

‘They arrested George Johnson first thing this morning. He’s been in there with him all morning, it’s chaos here.’

‘What about Jason?’ Jessica asked.

‘I’ve not seen him all morning. I assume he’s there too.’

‘Shite.’

‘Do you want me to take a message?’

‘No, I’ll be in later.’

Jessica had learned the hard way a couple of years earlier not to go charging in on her own but felt hamstrung by the fact all of her supervisors were unreachable. She could have contacted one of them the day before but didn’t feel as if she had the entire picture and figured gathering that evidence before taking it to her bosses couldn’t do much harm.

She drove to the location she needed to be at, completed one final task and stood outside of the big front door feeling the rain fall on her hair. As she had struggled to figure everything out over the past few weeks, the sun had shone but now she believed she knew a lot of the answers, the weather had finally turned. The irony of it happening just after the air-conditioning had been fixed at the station wasn’t lost on anyone.

After knocking on the door, Jessica waited in the rain for the man to answer.

Charlie Marks soon opened the door wide and waved her in. He was eating a piece of toast, rotating his free hand around in a circle as if to apologise. When he had finished chewing, he smiled. ‘Sorry about that, I know we spoke yesterday but I didn’t know exactly what time you were coming.’ Jessica closed the door behind her as Charlie ate the final piece. ‘Was there anything in particular I can help you with?’ he added.

Jessica shook her head. ‘Not specifically, we’re just tying up a few loose ends.’

Charlie was unmoved. ‘Do you want to look through the things upstairs again?’

‘There are a couple of pictures I was hoping I could borrow for a short while.’

Charlie shrugged. ‘That’s fine, do you need my help? You’re welcome to look on your own if you know what you’re after.’

‘I’ve seen them before. They’re just upstairs if you don’t mind.’

‘It’s fine. I’ll be in the kitchen if you want me.’

Jessica made her way up the stairs in the same way she had done a few times previously, heading to the room where Charlie had handed her the photo of the rugby team and where she had found the photo of the six young men on holiday. She could feel her heart beating faster as she stepped across the threshold, walking towards the window. There was a steady beat of the rain falling outside as Jessica looked out towards the back garden wondering about the specific questions she didn’t yet know the answers to.

The serene view was almost hypnotic as she stared into the distance before turning around and walking towards the box where she had previously looked through the photographs. She was partly relieved to see the ones still there from the last time she had been in the room. Jessica had no reason to think they would have been moved and ultimately it wouldn’t have altered her theory but it was nice to hold some degree of proof in her hands.

Jessica stood thinking about her next move. Should she return to the station with what she was holding? It appeared Cole was going to be unavailable for most of the day and, although she was confident she knew what was going on, Jessica wasn’t completely sure.

After a few moments’ thought, she took the photographs downstairs, entering the kitchen where Charlie was sitting on a stool typing on a laptop computer that was on the main counter.

He glanced up as she walked in. ‘Did you get what you needed?’

‘Yes, here you go.’ Jessica held out one of the photos and Charlie took it, looking at the picture then up to Jessica, clearly confused. ‘What about these?’ She handed him two more photos which he took, glimpsed at and then put on the counter.

‘I’m not sure what you’re showing me,’ he said.

Jessica smiled thinly. ‘Is there something you want to tell me, Charlie?’