‘She tipped him off,’ Jessica said to Cole, and then repeated herself in case anyone was in any doubt as to why she was acting so erratically.

With no answer at the door but no warrant either, she turned to Cole. ‘Can we break it down?’

Cole ummed, so Jessica turned to the biggest officer in their party. He was the only one in uniform who didn’t look as if he was going to keel over after the run. ‘Break it down.’

The officer looked to Cole for approval, so she shouted the second time. ‘Just break it down.’

The uniformed constable was comfortably over six feet tall and looked as if he could smash through doors like this for fun. He ushered them to one side, took a step back and readied himself to put the full force of his boot through the door when it opened suddenly.

In the doorway stood the woman from before but this time she was fully dressed. The slippers and dressing gown were gone and she was wearing dark blue tracksuit bottoms and some kind of hooded top with the over-the-top hair tie. The woman looked at the officer who had his foot half-raised and then at Jessica. ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’

Jessica was not in a mood to be mucked about. ‘Where is he?’

The woman gave a small grin, her yellowing teeth clearly visible as she goaded the officers. ‘Who?’

Jessica ignored the taunt and barged past the woman, who let out a ‘hey’ as she was sidelined. She opened the first door on her right, which was the bathroom. The whole house was full of varying degrees of junk. Broken computer keyboards and other electrical items that didn’t look as if they worked littered the hallway as Jessica went into the kitchen directly opposite the front door. The draining board was piled high with dirty plates and pans and there was more random scrap on the floor. She didn’t even know if the other officers had followed her in but Jessica moved into the living room, still hearing the protests of the woman going on behind her.

There was no sign of Lapham.

Jessica made her way back through the living room and kitchen into the hall where she noticed a door she had missed the first time around. In her haste to barge past the woman, she had missed an opening opposite the bathroom.

The woman was arguing with Cole and Jessica could hear the words ‘my rights’ being shouted. She ignored the noise and went through the door that led into the bedroom. The bed hadn’t been made and an enormous flatscreen television hung on the wall facing it. A bright purple duvet cover was on the floor and nothing could be seen under the bed. Jessica got down on her knees and hurled the covers aside, fully expecting to see Wayne Lapham underneath.

He wasn’t there.

She moved to the built-in wardrobe and pushed the doors aside, shoving the clothes on the rail out of the way. He wasn’t there either. Jessica swore to herself and then made her way out to the front door where the woman was screaming at the officers still there.

The woman jabbed her finger into Jessica’s chest as she pushed past her.

‘I’m going to have you. You can’t do that. I know my rights,’ the woman said.

‘Is there anything in this list of “rights” that tells you aiding a criminal is an offence you can go to prison for?’ Jessica didn’t actually know if you could go to prison for it – but you probably could. It sounded good in any case.

‘What are you on about?’

‘You do know we can check your phone records?’

That statement clearly rattled the woman, whose confident expression changed instantly.

‘Where is he?’ Jessica said. ‘I’m not going to ask again.’

One of the officers unclipped the handcuffs from his belt with timing Jessica couldn’t have wanted to be better. The woman looked at the constable holding the cuffs and then back at Jessica. Her face fell, the snarl finally removed.

‘I don’t know. He just said “thanks” and hung up.’

Cole spoke next and Jessica wondered why he hadn’t said anything before. ‘Do you have any idea where he might have gone?’

‘Where he always goes,’ the woman replied. ‘A pub somewhere.’

The officers made their way back to the station in convoy with Jessica following Cole and the marked car they had waiting. Jessica realised she still didn’t know the woman’s name, or even who she was. Presumably she was a girlfriend or something similar? They could have arrested her for aiding Lapham’s escape but she could have made a complaint about Jessica ransacking her house without a warrant. Arresting her wouldn’t have done too much good in their attempts to find their suspect in any case. One of the uniformed officers had been left with her in case Lapham returned. She hadn’t been too pleased about it but Cole had told her they wouldn’t push charges if she cooperated.

Jessica knew it was her mistake. If she hadn’t charged in without waiting for Cole to arrive in the first place, somebody could have been left to keep an eye on the woman. That would have made a lot more sense than a leisurely stroll to the pub. She phoned into the station to say they were returning without their suspect and that the press office should try to get a photo of Lapham onto the evening news and into the next day’s newspapers if possible. At least that way they could get the whole city looking for their guy. With any luck, if the woman was right about him propping up a bar somewhere, he would return home at closing time and the uniformed officer would have him in custody that night. Jessica knew it was too much to hope for.

The traffic had now all but cleared and for most people it was officially the weekend. Jessica still had to return to the station to explain what had happened. She drove steadily, following Cole, waiting when he waited and giving way when he gave way.

Back at the station, to his credit, Cole backed her when they went to see Aylesbury. No mention had been made of Jessica going in ahead of him and he certainly hadn’t tried to push any blame onto her, even though she felt she deserved it. The whole incident hadn’t turned into the mess she thought it would, largely because the DCI was ready to go on to the television news that evening to appeal for help finding Lapham. It was as if he couldn’t quite believe his luck.

He dismissed the two of them and made his way downstairs to wait for the cameras. Jessica offered a ‘thanks’ to Cole but he shrugged his shoulders and gave her a half-smile. ‘Have a good weekend,’ she added.

Caroline had gone out with Randall for the night and Jessica watched the evening news at home on her own. They had invited her but she didn’t fancy it. She had been finding reasons to avoid the flat for the past couple of nights in any case. Although last night had been the first time Caroline’s boyfriend had stayed over, they had spent most evenings in together that week. Jessica was glad her friend was happy but the lovey-dovey stuff drove her mad. She didn’t want to say anything and at least she could now have an evening in by herself.

Jessica flopped into the sofa with her feet curled underneath and watched the news on one local channel before flicking to the other. Aylesbury was in his element. For the first piece he was outside the station as the sun set. He had his best ‘this is serious stuff’ face on, speaking about the need for the public to be vigilant. He said that some press reports had been wildly inaccurate, added that people shouldn’t panic and then went on to say the police were looking for help in finding Wayne Lapham to ‘help us with our inquiries’. He didn’t once mention the word ‘suspect’. The channel then showed the mug shot of Lapham with his name underneath. On the next station, the DCI had moved into the Pad for his interview. He went over much the same information the second time around but, if anything, looked even more sincere, despite sitting on the edge of a desk.