After another thirty seconds, the door opened again. Janine hesitantly passed her a sheet of ripped-out notepad paper: ‘I’ve written down his office address for you.’

Jessica read it and then put on an over-the-top performance worthy of Rosie. ‘Wonderful, you’ve been just fabulous. Thank you so much for your help.’

She turned and strode back to the car, sitting in the driver’s seat but not switching the engine on. She passed the address to Dave.

‘Didn’t you already have this?’ he said.

‘Yep.’

‘So why didn’t we just go there?’

Jessica stared through the side window towards the house where Janine was still standing in the doorway, watching them. ‘Because sometimes, DC Rowlands, I just can’t resist pissing people off.’

35

As plans went, it was ridiculous – but the lack of recognition from DCI Cole, the nit-picking, and the way she’d turned into everything she despised at the press conference, all coupled with the guilt that somewhere Bex was living on the street because of her, meant that Jessica didn’t care.

Sometimes, getting on people’s nerves was the only way to make herself feel better.

Jessica drove carefully towards Freddy’s office, taking her time and expecting her phone to ring at any moment. The fact it didn’t heartened her even further.

His office wasn’t quite in keeping with the rest of Freddy’s empire that Jessica had seen. Far from the sprawling driveway and enormous house surrounded by the greenery of Greater Manchester, the breeze-block building on the edge of an industrial estate not far from Prestwich wasn’t exactly what Jessica had expected. It was only when she thought about it that it made sense: if you were looking to hire a tradesman, you’d pick a bloke with a phone number that had the same area code as yours and a local-sounding voice. If they could give you an address somewhere in the city limits, then all the better. People didn’t want someone who lived in a giant mansion renovating their house; they wanted down-to-earth working-class types who’d come in, call them ‘luv’, and at least have the good grace to pretend they weren’t ripping them off.

Jessica did a loop of the estate, driving slowly in the hope that people would notice and speculate about what was going on. Sometimes the image of a police car was far more powerful than anything an officer might actually have to say. As they passed the office a second time, Jessica could see a man standing in the now open doorway, watching them, arms folded. Jessica drove to the next roundabout, went the entire way around it, and then came to a halt next to the metal gates of Bunce ’N’ Builders.

Although they’d seen four white vans at his house on the Friday evening, there was another here, plus one with the One-Stop Builders name on the side. Jessica got out of the car slowly, holding her phone to her ear, even though there was no one on the other end. She leant on the bonnet, watching Freddy watch her, having a conversation with an imaginary person. He was short, not fat but not thin either; he definitely didn’t have the physique of a builder. It might have been something he’d done in the past but his arms were too thin for it now. Even though it was only fractionally above zero, he was wearing a T-shirt, trying to prove he wasn’t cold. Dave had put his file on the back seat and was standing next to the passenger door looking between the two of them. Jessica felt a sudden pang of guilt for bringing him – he’d done more than enough for her in the past and yet she’d dragged him out to go along with something stupid again.

Jessica started walking towards Freddy, still having a conversation with nobody.

‘. . . Well, if that’s what he says, then that’s what he says – I can’t make all the decisions. Use some initiative. All right, see ya, bye.’

She hung up and continued walking, stretching her hand out to shake. ‘Mr Bunce?’

Freddy nodded, not taking his eyes from her. They were narrow and calculating. It was easy to pigeonhole people but it wasn’t the type of glare you’d get from someone who spent their time doing a day’s work and then headed home. But then there weren’t too many builders who owned huge mansions in the countryside. He gripped her hand tightly, squeezing in the way only a dickhead could. You could tell a lot from a handshake.

Jessica didn’t grimace, instead handing him her identification and heading past him into the office without being invited. Freddy kept his cool, following, with Dave at the rear. The interior was smaller than it appeared from the outside but far less grim than she expected. Directly in front was a small desk with a young woman sitting behind it, connected up to a telephone headset; off to the right was an open doorway which Jessica made her way towards.

Through the side door, there was a tall leather chair behind another desk and rows of filing cabinets. A computer sat there, monitor off, while heat blazed from the radiator under the window. On the desk was a pad of headed notepaper, the company’s name and the three-pronged logo clear at the top.

‘I gather you visited my house,’ Freddy said, returning her ID and perching in the leather chair, leaning forward.

Jessica went to sit opposite, in a seat that looked a lot less comfortable. ‘Correct.’

‘You could have called if you wanted me. My secretary can always get hold of me if necessary.’

Jessica looked to Dave and slapped herself on the head. ‘I really should have thought of that.’

‘What do you want?’

‘It’s a bit embarrassing, really.’

‘What is?’

‘It’s more of a personal visit than anything official. I was going about my business in the centre at the weekend, doing a bit of shopping, getting wet, that sort of thing, when I saw one of your vans driving past. I was confused because it was a Saturday and I couldn’t believe there was a builder actually working on a weekend.’ Jessica paused, hoping for a reaction, but Freddy was unmoved. ‘Anyway, the reason I’m here is because I was curious about your logo.’

She pointed to the notepaper on the desk. Freddy glanced at it and then scratched the back of his shoulder, still spikily leaning forward. His forehead appeared to have a permanent frown. ‘You know my wife called me from the house, terrified. She thought I’d been in an accident, then she thought there was something else wrong when you insisted on talking to me.’

‘Sorry.’

‘And then you took that car of yours all around the estate before leaving it directly outside my business.’

‘Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.’

‘No, you weren’t.’

A hint of a smile crept across Jessica’s face. It felt like being told off at school and finding it increasingly funny, no matter how many times the teacher said it was serious. Usually, she’d have the self-control to hide it but she allowed her lips to curl just long enough for Freddy to notice.

He sounded even more irritable when he spoke next: ‘Why are you interested in that symbol?’

‘Nothing in particular, I was just intrigued by it.’

‘There must be a reason.’

‘Nope: I’d just like to know where it came from.’

Jessica and Freddy stared at one another, each waiting for the other to break first. Unlike when she had been facing Bex, Jessica knew that this was a contest she’d win.

Freddy finally leant back in his seat, trying to appear relaxed, even though he clearly wasn’t. ‘It was just something I thought of.’

‘When?’

‘Why does it matter?’

‘I’m curious.’

‘Years ago, when I was at school.’

‘So you were thinking about logos for your business while you were still a student?’

‘I suppose.’

He was lying, which only made Jessica more curious about why he’d hide it. The forced relaxation looked even more awkward because his eyebrow was starting to twitch with anxiety.