Authors: Kerry Wilkinson
‘Shite,’ Jessica mumbled.
‘Sorry?’
‘Not you. Look, what do you want me to say? I can neither confirm, nor deny, blah-di-blah, insert whatever quote you want here.’ Jessica paused for dramatic effect. ‘Just phone
the press office. Why are you calling me?’
‘I was hoping we could go out some time.’
‘No we can’t. I’m engaged and you’re a knobhead. I don’t go out with knobheads. Can we leave it at that? Don’t call me again.’
Jessica removed the phone from her ear and struggled to hang up, at first waiting for the screen’s light to turn back on and then forgetting which button ended the call.
She picked up the receiver from her desk phone then slammed it down just to prove a point. The problem with mobile phones was that you couldn’t emphasise when you were hanging up on
someone.
Jessica stood and walked across the room to pick up her pen, kicking the bin to protest at the way it had rejected her shot. She then stormed back to her desk and picked up her mobile phone
before dialling Garry Ashford’s number. He answered on the third ring with a friendly sounding ‘Hello’ but Jessica cut in.
‘Why did you give my number to Sebastian?’
‘Um, what?’
‘You gave my phone number to that journalist Sebastian. Why?’
Jessica was annoyed – but more with herself for not being annoyed. Usually if someone had passed her details along without asking, especially to a journalist, she would have been fuming.
As it was, she knew she wasn’t that bothered – and that was frustrating her the most.
‘I didn’t, Jess, I’ve never given it to anyone.’
‘How did he get it then?’ Jessica snapped.
‘I don’t know. He’s very resourceful.’ Garry sounded sorry even though he wasn’t apologising for anything.
Reluctantly, Jessica accepted he was telling the truth and sighed in defeat. ‘Right, just tell him not to call me again.’
Jessica was ready for the end call button the second time and stabbed it in victory to hang up.
She thought of the smug, smiley, long-eyelashed journalist and the way he had popped into her mind a couple of evenings ago. ‘Bastard,’ she said out loud to the empty room and then
bounded into the hallway to find someone to shout at.
‘Have I done something wrong?’ Rowlands asked. Jessica could see a mixture of amusement and bewilderment on his face.
‘We have been working together way too long,’ she replied. Dave wheeled the chair he was sitting in backwards as Jessica, who was perched on his desk, swung her legs around, narrowly
avoiding kicking him in the knees.
‘Who’s annoyed you this time?’ he asked with a sympathetic smile.
Jessica wasn’t too pleased with the way he had apparently read her mood perfectly and deduced that her dumping a load of work on him was directly related to someone else annoying her.
She shuffled backwards until she was sitting fully on his desk. ‘Never mind that, I still need this job doing. I don’t care if you do it, or if you get someone else to do
it.’
Rowlands reached forward and picked up a pad and pen from his desk. His smile had disappeared now he realised she was being serious.
‘Go on, tell me again. I was too busy watching the steam come out of your ears last time.’
‘Right, just for that, you’re doing it. I want a list of all criminals in the Greater Manchester area who have links to arson attacks. They might have actual fire-related convictions
or just be some stupid teenager who once set something on fire by accident. Pull all the names together and then see if we can cross-match them against any of Harley Todd, Sienna Todd, Martin
Chadwick, Ryan Chadwick or Anthony Thompson. If we get any double matches, all the better.’
Rowlands screwed up his face in protest. ‘That’s going to take ages.’
‘Well get on with it then. You’re going grey as it is.’
He rolled his eyes and fake-yawned. ‘That’s a new one. Anyway, where are you going?’
Jessica stood up from the desk and reached around to gently knead her lower back where it was beginning to ache again. ‘I’ve got someone to speak to. Call me if you find anyone who
is connected to more than one person on that list.’
She turned to leave but the constable added: ‘What’s up with your back?’
She shook her head. ‘Nothing.’
‘It’s your age,’ Rowlands replied with a smirk.
Jessica grinned at him. ‘Just for that I want full records for Lancashire and Cheshire as well. Now get on with it – chop, chop. One more word and it’s Merseyside
too.’
Jessica wriggled to get comfortable in her car seat, trying to ignore Rowlands’s probably fair point about her back pain being down to her age and wondering how Andrew
Hunter did what he did. She had been watching the garage Ryan Chadwick worked at for over twenty minutes and, aside from someone dropping off their vehicle, she hadn’t seen anything of
note.
After checking with Martin about his son’s whereabouts, Jessica set off to have another word with Ryan, not entirely sure what she was going to say. She remembered Andrew telling her how
he would watch and take photos of people, blending into the scenery and going unseen. Jessica thought all of that might be true but it was also pretty boring.
The garage was located just off Stockport Road roughly halfway between where Ryan’s house had been and the city centre. The red brick of the building had turned greyish and a large set of
double sliding doors painted blue were exactly in the centre, opening out onto the road. At one end was an office, with a smaller double-glazed door that had a sign in a matching blue over the top
advertising cheap MOTs.
As she watched, one half of the blue metal doors slid open noisily. A mechanic wearing a grey sweatshirt and jeans that had long been abandoned to oil and dirt emerged. He walked over to a car
that had been parked on the road and then climbed inside and drove it through the door, which moments later was hauled shut again.
Jessica was on the brink of phoning Andrew to tell him what she thought of his job when the door opened a small amount and Ryan emerged, closing it behind him. He was wearing a far cleaner pair
of jeans than the previous person who had exited and he was in the process of pulling on an olive green army-type jacket which reached his knees. He pulled a mobile phone out of his trouser pocket
and walked along the road talking into it. Jessica waited for a couple of vehicles to pass and then got out of her car, locking it behind her and hurrying after the young man.
The air was cool, a breeze blowing across her, chilling her face and making her shiver. Jessica pulled her jacket tighter and followed Ryan around a corner that led towards an alleyway she knew
would open onto the main road. As she moved around the bend still trying to adjust her coat, Jessica collided with something and stepped back in surprise. Looking up, she saw Ryan glaring at her,
his grey eyes narrow and formidable.
‘Why are you following me?’ he asked. His voice was calm but his top lip was twitching.
‘Where were you last night?’ she asked, ignoring his question.
He glared at Jessica, clearly struggling to control himself. ‘Didn’t you have someone taking pictures of me?’
‘Should I have?’ Jessica knew she had to be careful.
‘Why aren’t you out catching the man who burned our house down? You know who did it.’
Jessica knew she either shouldn’t have come or should have thought through what she wanted to say. She struggled for words before eventually replying. ‘We’re still looking into
it.’
Ryan swore and spat on the ground. ‘You know who did it! He said in the paper he was going to.’
‘We don’t know.’
‘So what’s this all about? That slag Sienna? I told you I don’t know anything.’ Ryan shook his head and stomped on the ground. Jessica doubted he was aware he was doing
it, but it was clear he couldn’t control his anger.
‘You shouldn’t say things like that. She’s dead.’
Jessica was trying to be sincere and Ryan clearly sensed it. He smiled broadly. ‘Why are you upset over her? Is it all the dick she got? Do you fancy some too?’
He reached down to grab for his crotch but had barely touched himself when Jessica slapped him hard across the face. It was instinctive and something she instantly regretted. She stepped away as
Ryan reached up to his lip where a small smear of blood had appeared. The teenager stared at the red liquid dribbling down his fingers and then back up to her.
‘I’m sorry, I . . .’ Jessica began but Ryan glared through her before turning and walking away. He hadn’t said a word but he didn’t need to as his eyes gave her a
very simple message.
‘You’ll regret that’.
It was little comfort to Jessica as the verdict on Sienna’s death was finally confirmed as suicide the following day. It wasn’t that she had been hoping for
something else, just that it made things harder to comprehend.
Jessica was sitting in a quiet corner of the station’s canteen reading through the coroner’s initial paperwork but there was nothing that jumped out at her, not that she would have
expected it to. Knowing the information would make its way into the media sooner or later, Jessica called Andrew Hunter and told him the news.
He was silent for a few moments before responding. ‘Have you told Harley yet?’
‘Not me, no, but someone will do.’
She heard the investigator taking a deep breath. ‘I saw him last night. He’s in a hotel in the centre. He had a laptop on the bed and seemed determined to work nonstop. When I met
him a few weeks ago he was this big, influential man but he doesn’t have that aura about him now. I tried to tell him I didn’t want his money but he wouldn’t listen.’
‘So what are you investigating?’
Andrew gave a small laugh but it didn’t sound as if there was any humour to it. ‘Honestly? I don’t know. He seems to think there’s this conspiracy involving his daughter
and his house. It’s not like I could stand there and tell the guy not to be silly. He practically forced me to carry on working for him.’
Jessica was beginning to warm to the man. She had no real opinion of the occupation, thinking that most private investigators were retired police officers. Aside from taking photographs of
people, she didn’t know what he actually did but he did seem to care about his work, which was more than she could say for a handful of people she worked with.
‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know. What do you think? Do you reckon the fire could be linked to Sienna?’
Jessica hadn’t revealed her reasons for taking the printouts of the photographs from Andrew, so he didn’t know about the connection to Ryan.
‘I’m not sure,’ Jessica said. ‘Why would they be?’
She was hoping Andrew might offer her something she hadn’t thought of. The man sighed again. ‘I was hoping you could tell me.’
If she hadn’t have been feeling so hopeless, Jessica might have laughed. They were each relying on the other to provide some sort of reasoning for what had happened. Jessica said goodbye
and told Andrew to stay in contact.
She walked back to her office, where Reynolds was heading along the corridor towards her. ‘Bad news?’ Jessica asked, reading the serious look on his face.
‘Not really,’ he replied, holding some papers out towards her.
Jessica took them, holding them to her side. ‘What are they?’
The inspector smiled. ‘You could try reading them.’
‘I’ve got far more literate people like you to do that for me.’
‘Let’s go in here.’
Reynolds led Jessica into his office. She shared with DS Cornish but the inspector had one to himself along the corridor. Usually it was tidy but, as they entered, Jessica could see a row of
files on the floor to her right pressed up against the wall.
‘You’re going to be as messy as me soon,’ Jessica said, pointing to the items on the floor.
‘No one in here is as messy as you,’ the DI fired back, as he sat in the chair behind his desk. ‘That’s the report from the investigating officer from the fire at Martin
Chadwick’s house.’
Jessica sat in the chair across the desk from her supervisor. She glanced at the top of the document. ‘Arson?’
‘As we thought. At least it’s confirmed now.’
‘Is there anything about Martin’s claims that his back door and window had been obstructed?’
Reynolds nodded. ‘It might be hard to prove completely but there was a singed rope recovered on the ground at the back. There’s so much damage to the property that we wouldn’t
be able to say where it came from but it might be true.’
‘Someone actually tried to kill him then?’
It was the theory they had been working with but, now it was as confirmed as they were going to get, it was still a shock for Jessica.
‘Yes but I don’t think we can start looking at an attempted murder investigation just yet. Maybe that will come when we pick someone up for the fire?’
‘What about the blaze at Harley Todd’s? It sounds like the report is going to be similar there – except that he was out when it happened.’
Reynolds shook his head. ‘Aside from the fact they both appear to have been started deliberately, we don’t know of another link. A known arsonist comes out of prison and we have had
two houses burned down within a couple of weeks – including his. Door-to-door has given us nothing, we have no witnesses, no footprints, no anything.’
They looked at each other and Jessica knew neither of them had a clue where to go from there. They laughed gently at their situation. ‘I’ve had Dave making a list of known arsonists
in the local area. Everyone from kids upwards. I’ll go see if he’s managed to link any of them to the rest of the information we have.’
‘What about Ryan?’ Reynolds asked as Jessica stood.
For a moment she wondered if he somehow knew she had hit the teenager the previous day. ‘What about him?’
‘The other day you seemed convinced he had something to do with Sienna Todd’s death and the fire.’ The inspector was staring at her.
Jessica met his eyes. ‘I can’t find anything concrete.’
‘Anthony Thompson?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘I had an officer drive past his house last night and there were lights on. I think he’s back at home.’ The DI paused before adding: ‘Just so you know.’