‘But you think he might be in trouble?’

‘I can’t tell you.’

‘Right . . . is there anything else I can help you with?’

‘Getting your radios working would be a good start. If you’ve got a kettle, then I’m sure that lot out there would appreciate it. I think we’re all white without.’

Tim opened the filing cabinet behind Jessica and took out a kettle, heading into a smaller side room, filling it with water and then putting it on top of the cabinet, jamming it into a socket that already had eight different plugs slotted into various extension adapters, which Jessica felt sure was a fire hazard. He hovered behind her, making her feel uncomfortable, mainly because he was so much taller than she was as she sat.

‘Any luck with the radios or trackers?’ she prompted.

‘Oh, aye, yeah.’ Tim edged around the desk and picked up a large metal box with a few speaker holes on the front. He unplugged a cable, turned it upside down, looked at the bottom, and then plugged it in again. ‘Hmm . . .’

Obviously a technical genius at work. Well, at least one on a par with the plonkers they employed to fix – or not – the computers at Longsight.

‘Any better?’ Jessica asked.

‘No . . . I think it might be a loose connection.’

Apparently at a loss how to fix it, Tim dropped to the floor and started to shuffle under the desk, cracking his head on the corner with a solid thwack.

‘Are you okay?’

Tim squealed slightly. ‘Fine. Just a little tap.’

Jessica continued looking through the logs. As they had been told, Hamish was definitely off work on the nights Cassie and Grace had disappeared, yet the number plate of his black cab had shown up very close to the area Jessica suspected both women went missing from. It was enough to arrest him.

Crack!

Tim’s head crunched off the table again as he tried to manoeuvre himself out.

‘Do you need me to move?’ Jessica asked.

Tim creakily emerged, rubbing his head. ‘I’m fine. I’ve disconnected everything under there and tried again.’ He pressed a button on the desk but nothing happened. ‘Stupid piece of shite . . .’ He paused. ‘’Scuse the language, like.’

‘It’s fine.’

Still at a loss, Tim leant forward and smashed his hand on the top of the box with such force that the entire desk shook. There was a crackle, a pop and then static.

‘Does that mean it’s working?’ Jessica asked.

Tim shrugged. ‘I suppose so.’

‘Try radioing Hamish.’

Tim checked his lists and then put the call out. Seconds later the reply buzzed back from a gruff Scottish accent. ‘I’m here, son. Is your radio on the blink again? My phone’s out of charge, else I would’ve called in.’

Jessica grabbed a pen from the desk and wrote, ‘Where is he?’ on the pad between her and Tim.

‘Where are you, mate?’ Tim asked breezily.

‘Just picked someone up from the Tesco on Oxford Road. I’m on my way out to Longsight. I’ll call in when I’m done.’

23

‘Better put your seatbelt on, mate,’ Dave warned the uniformed officer as the four of them packed into the marked police car. Jessica had taken the driver’s seat before anyone could complain and screeched them away into rush-hour traffic, sirens blazing, blue lights spinning, heart pumping.

‘Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck,’ Archie wailed from the passenger seat as his head thudded into the window.

‘Stop whingeing,’ Jessica barked, slamming the car into fourth and blazing around a bus. ‘Call the station and get backup.’

Archie wound down the window an inch, saying he felt a little woozy, and Jessica half-turned in the seat towards Rowlands. ‘Have you still got Tim on the phone?’

‘Yes, can you watch the road, please?’

Jessica accelerated into a speed bump and felt the suspension bounce as the car took off and landed with a metallic thud. She rounded a corner in third just as their radio blazed to life.

‘Answer it, then,’ Jessica ordered Archie.

‘I think I’m going to be sick.’

‘Stop being wet.’ Jessica punched the dashboard. ‘What is it?’

‘We’ve just caught your cab on ANPR,’ an officer chirped.

‘Thanks for the help but we’re already on our way.’

The tyres howled as Jessica undertook a lorry, swerved right and overtook a mini, before breezing through a set of red traffic lights.

‘I really think I might be sick,’ Archie said groggily, winding down the window even further.

‘Will you put that back up?’ Jessica said. ‘It’s bloody freezing in here.’

She was so busy bellowing at Archie that she almost missed the ramp from Mancunian Way onto Stockport Road. Not wanting to double back, Jessica stamped on the brake, spun the steering wheel hard left and hoped for the best. With a crunch of metal, the rear bumper clipped the concrete barrier but she gripped the steering wheel tightly and righted the front, accelerating at the same time and racing down the incline in one smooth-ish movement. Well, that was how it felt in her head.

‘I hope you’ve packed some clean pants,’ Dave told the uniformed officer in the back seat.

‘I’ve been in a rally car and that was nothing like this.’

Jessica eased off the pedal as she reached the bottom, had a quick glance right, and then steamed onto the A6. ‘Will you two girls stop bitching in the back? This is how an expert does it.’

In the front, Archie slumped towards the open window, making an unhealthy-sounding combination of gurgles and groans. Jessica slid the car into fifth as she accelerated again.

‘Find out from Tim where his mate is now,’ Jessica shouted.

Dave asked the question and replied moments later: ‘That estate out the back of Levenshulme train station. Second right after the station, first left.’

‘Gotcha.’

A motorbike swerved to turn across her and then thought better of it when the rider realised how quickly she was going. Jessica swore under her breath, weaving around a car coming in the opposite direction as Archie groaned again.

‘You’re really putting me off,’ Jessica said.

‘Hnnnnnfhh.’

Jessica skidded around the turn towards the train station, second right, first left. Screeeeeeeeeeech.

Blue flashing lights already filled the road, with the black cab stopped in the centre, two police cars ahead of it, one behind. Jessica slotted in next to the one at the rear and wrenched the door open. Her heart was pounding from the adrenaline as she bounded forward.

Close to the stopped cab was an officer talking into his radio. When he spotted Jessica, he waved her across. ‘We only got here thirty seconds ago. We’ve been waiting for you.’ Behind her, Archie, Dave and the uniformed officer staggered across, out of breath. Even in the dim light from the street lamps, Archie looked green. ‘What happened to you three?’ the officer added. ‘You look like you’ve shat yourselves.’

‘I nearly did,’ Dave replied, trying to catch his breath.

The officer passed Jessica a bulletproof vest. ‘We’ve got armed officers on the way,’ he said.

‘Sod that, I’ve already bailed them out once today.’

Jessica marched across to the cab and knocked on the driver’s side window, taking a step backwards as the rear door opened. Out stepped a dumpy woman, hands up, Tesco bag for life in the air. ‘It was only a pack of choc ices!’ she shouted, eyes wide in fear. ‘I thought I’d only picked up one box but there are two. I’ll pay the difference.’

Jessica ignored her, opening the driver’s door, crouching and telling Hamish Pendlebury he was under arrest.

Archie sat in Jessica’s office cradling a chipped mug of tea. ‘I don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight,’ he said, voice still trembling.

Dave laughed. ‘I’ve seen way worse than that.’

Jessica scowled at the pair of them, Rowlands in particular. ‘Aren’t you done for the day?’