Although she realised he was right, Jessica didn’t know what she was hoping to achieve but it was some sort of rebellion against the media campaign her superior had apparently started the previous day. She drove the reporter back to the city centre and dropped him off around the corner from his office.

Over a year ago she had told him not to call her for quotes for his stories any longer but let him know she was lifting the ban. ‘You’ve got my number. Just be discreet if you call, okay?’

Jessica hated driving in the middle of the city on a weekday but the fact it was wet made things even worse. Workers with hoods up and umbrellas being blown from side to side crossed the road with barely a look and the blowers in her car weren’t good enough to keep the windscreen clear. She found herself constantly leaning forwards to wipe steam away from the window and it took her nearly forty minutes to make what should have been a fifteen-minute drive back to the station.

As soon as she turned onto the road the station was on she saw the rows of vans with satellite dishes on top lined up, meaning the rolling news stations were there. She pulled into the station and, although she had seen worse media scrums at the entrance, there were a few reporters being shielded under umbrellas doing pieces to camera.

She parked and dashed across the car park through the station’s front doors. The television that sat in the reception area was usually turned off but was currently tuned into one of the news channels. Across the bottom of the screen were the words: ‘Vigilante: good or bad?’. There seemed to be some sort of debate going on between the host and a couple of guests about whether or not it was ever acceptable to take the law into your own hands. To Jessica it wasn’t that much different from the trashy talk shows she pretended she didn’t watch – except for the fact this was actually masquerading as something high-brow.

The whole of the entrance was wet where people had walked in dripping from the rain. There was a yellow plastic triangle sign on the ground saying ‘caution wet floor’. Considering it was back by the desk, Jessica thought it was probably redundant as you would only have seen it after you had already walked through the puddles. The thought ran through her mind that she could fake a slip and make some spurious no-win no-fee claim about the sign not being in the right place. The few thousand pounds she would hope for could at least tide her over while someone else sorted out this mess.

Dismissing the idea, she nodded to the desk sergeant and made her way through to the main floor, looking for Rowlands. He wasn’t at his desk but DC Jones was sitting at hers. Jessica walked over and sat on the corner of the desk. ‘Have you seen Dave?’

‘I think he’s in the canteen.’

Jessica went to stand up but the constable continued speaking. ‘Hey, is it true you’re off out with some guy from Bradford Park?’

‘I really don’t know how these things get around.’

Jessica had inadvertently given a half-smile though, which her friend had clearly noticed. ‘I hope it goes all right. Are you gonna text me afterwards?’

‘I’ll think about it.’

Jessica walked out of the room, back towards reception and then along the corridor to the canteen.

She saw Rowlands eating at one of the tables opposite one of the female uniformed officers. She sat next to the woman and coughed, making eye contact with the constable, who took the hint. ‘Give us a minute, yeah?’ he said to the officer opposite him. The other female stood up and moved to sit a few tables away.

‘It’s not what you think,’ Rowlands said.

‘Whatever. Look, Dave, let’s just say that hypothetically you had been talking to a certain journalist last year that you shouldn’t have been. Let’s say that I had put a stop to it even though neither you nor that fictional journalist reckoned you had any knowledge of each other. Well, let’s now say that the ban that was in effect has now been lifted.’

Rowlands put down the fork and looked at her. ‘I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about but, let’s say that I did, is there a particular reason why you have changed your mind?’

‘That doesn’t matter but you should definitely choose what you talk about a little more selectively than last time.’

Rowlands nodded, picking his fork up again and scooping another mouthful.

‘You should be careful eating in here,’ Jessica added. ‘Jason reckons he was once out of action for a week after a dodgy lasagne from this place.’

Rowlands patted his stomach. ‘Yeah, but he doesn’t have my abs. Body’s a temple and all that.’

‘Maybe one of those temples that got bombed during the Blitz. What have they got you working on?’

‘After the briefing this morning, they put most of us doing shifts on the phones for people calling in. The chief inspector has made us take staggered breaks so we have enough people working. I was on for two hours this morning.’

‘Get anything useful?’

‘Mainly just people calling in to say we should give the vigilante a job, rather than try to stop him.’

Jessica sighed. ‘Typical.’

‘There was one woman who asked if we could send whoever the vigilante is round her way to take care of some neighbour causing her problems.’

‘Next thing you know we’re going to have people dressing up as superheroes and patrolling the streets.’

‘As long as it’s one of those girls with the big boots and low-cut tops I’m all for it.’

Jessica shook her head and stood up. ‘Do you know if the DCI is upstairs?’

‘Dunno. He was pretty hyper at the briefing. I’ve never seen him like that. He was bloody smiling.’

‘Christ, the end of the world must really be nigh.’

Jessica left the canteen and went up to Farraday’s office. She could see through the windows he was inside but he was on the phone and held his hand up to indicate she should wait. After a few minutes, he put the receiver down and waved her in. ‘Daniel. How was your morning out?’

‘Okay, Sir. I just thought I should double-check a few things.’

Her superior nodded. ‘Good thinking. I take it you saw all the coverage this morning?’

‘Yes, Sir. It was pretty hard to miss.’

He grinned unnervingly at her. She had seen him laugh and smile before but it didn’t happen often and was particularly out of place considering they had a serious investigation going on. ‘We’ve got a warrant for the bent warden’s house and will be going in shortly. Cole is with that team. I spoke to the labs this morning but they’ve not come up with anything from the body.’

‘Have you heard anything from the prison?’

Farraday laughed as loud as she had ever heard. ‘I had the super on this morning. The governor called him earlier, furious about the stuff in the papers. Apparently he was going on about how nothing had been proven and that it would undermine his staff. I would have loved to have taken that call.’

‘What did the super say?’

‘Not much, just that we’d have to try to keep the media under wraps.’

‘Where do you reckon they got the information about the warden from?’ Jessica was careful not to phrase her question in an accusing way.

‘No idea. Maybe they’re not all completely useless? At least with the information out there we might get a few useful calls in.’

‘What would you like me to do now?’

‘Not much. Finish up whatever paperwork you have then go home and have a good weekend. Calls have started to come in so it’s just a waiting game for now. If this guy’s for real we might get lucky and have another piece of shit off the streets by Monday.’

Jessica said nothing but there was something incredibly unsettling about her boss’s attitude.