DS Jessica Daniel series: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water – Books 4–6 (28 page)

Eventually, Reynolds parked his car a few doors down from the address they had for Nathan Bairstow. As the two officers sat waiting for confirmation that the rest of the team were in place,
Jessica scanned the surroundings. Piles of slushy ice, snow and frost had been edged to the side of the road, with thin lines running along the centre of each carriageway, showing where cars had
been moving over recent days.

Reynolds broke the silence. ‘It’s that one,’ he said, pointing towards a red-brick semi-detached house to their left, but Jessica had already worked it out. There was a gold
foil ‘Merry Christmas’ banner hanging in the window and a string of fairy lights switched off. Aside from that, the house was as plain as could be.

Jessica tried to work out the distance from where they were to Daisy Peters’s house. The whole estate was a complex maze of one main road going through the middle, with a large number of
streets funnelling from it. To drive from Nathan’s house to Daisy’s might take ten minutes simply because of having to weave in and out of parked cars. From where she was sitting,
Jessica could see at least two pathways surrounded by overhanging branches that led from this section of the estate into another. If you had a good enough knowledge of where the various ginnels
led, there was every chance you could navigate the complicated layout quickly and, more crucially, unnoticed.

The inspector’s mobile phone rang. After the briefest of conversations, he put it back in his pocket. ‘Let’s go.’

Jessica opened the door and stepped over one of the piles of ice, making sure she was extra careful with her footing. Their footsteps crunched as they walked to the end of Nathan’s
pathway. Reynolds started to walk towards the door but Jessica stopped him.

‘He’s not in.’

The inspector turned around, looking puzzled. ‘What?’

Jessica pointed to the driveway on the other side of a small patch of frost-covered grass. It had been shielded from their view while they were waiting in the car. ‘Look at the
drive,’ she said. ‘The edges have the same slush that’s everywhere else but there’s a clear patch where a car usually sits. You can see the tyre tracks across the
pavement.’

The inspector looked where she was pointing and nodded. ‘We’ll try it anyway.’ They approached the door and rang the doorbell. After a few seconds with no sign of any movement,
Jessica approached the window, peering inside.

‘The curtains are open,’ she said. ‘Either he’s been around recently or someone’s been coming in and doing it for him. What do you want to do, ask the
neighbours?’

Reynolds started to walk away from the house and beckoned for Jessica to follow. ‘Let’s wait for a bit. It looks like he’s been around today and there are so many people out
shopping, he might have nipped out for an hour. He would have seen everything on the news about Benjamin Sturgess so if he was going to make a run for it, he’ll already be gone.’

It sounded to Jessica like a relatively sensible plan, albeit one that would involve them sitting in a freezing-cold car.

She spent the next forty-five minutes half-watching the house, half-playing with her phone. Once again she and Reynolds had little to talk about, while the street was as quiet as could be. She
was wrapped in Adam’s coat trying to keep warm but Reynolds appeared oblivious to the conditions, wearing his regular suit and not even bothering with a pair of gloves.

Jessica was once again looking through her old text messages when she heard the sound of a car coming from behind them. She turned to see a small black vehicle passing them before it swung
sideways across the road and the reverse lights came on as it eased back onto the driveway they were watching. Jessica touched the handle of the door but Reynolds spoke quickly to prevent her from
opening it. ‘Wait, let’s just watch.’

She removed her hand and focused on the man getting out of the car a few metres ahead. He was wearing a pair of heavy boots with jeans and a puffy dark blue jacket which Jessica thought looked
particularly warm and inviting. He was wearing a pair of gloves and a woollen hat which he pushed away from the top of his eyes as he reached into the back seat and removed two large carrier bags.
‘Wait until his hands are full,’ the inspector said, although Jessica had already thought the same thing. She sat waiting with one hand on the handle as the man put the bags on the
floor and locked the vehicle before picking them up again and walking towards his front door. ‘Now,’ Reynolds said forcefully.

The two officers opened their doors in unison and Jessica again carefully stepped over the mound of slush. She walked quickly but steadily towards the man along the path, while Reynolds rounded
his vehicle and slotted onto the pavement behind her. Their target got to his front door just a few moments before Jessica reached him. He spun around, surprised, as they scrunched their way up his
pathway.

‘Nathan Bairstow?’ Jessica asked. He looked sideways, before focusing back on the officers. From the small wrinkles around his eyes, Jessica would have guessed he was somewhere in
his forties.

‘Who?’ the man said.

‘Are you Nathan Bairstow?’ Jessica repeated.

He put the shopping bags on the floor next to the front door and pointed to the house on the other side of his. ‘Wrong house.’

Jessica looked at Reynolds who had a puzzled look on his face. ‘Nathan Bairstow lives next door?’ the inspector asked.

‘Yeah, sorry.’ The man reached into his pocket and unlocked the front door, placing the two bags of shopping inside as the two officers looked awkwardly at each other.

‘Who checked it?’ Jessica asked.

‘I don’t know, one of the constables.’ Reynolds began edging away from the door, clearly not wanting to be heard by the homeowner.

Jessica followed his lead. ‘We should phone in,’ she said. The two detectives backed away to the pavement while the front door closed with a bang. The inspector took his phone out
and started to press buttons as Jessica watched the house. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the downstairs curtains twitch. She took a few steps to the side and looked along the gap that
led to the back garden. A waist-high metal gate separated the front from the rear and Jessica walked towards it, slowly at first, still watching the front window where she had seen the curtain
twitch.

Her slow walk turned into a run as she heard the sound of a door banging. Reynolds’s shouting behind her only confirmed what she already knew as she leapt the gate and ran into the back
garden just in time to see a man disappearing over the top of a fence panel.

Jessica ran as fast as she could across the crusty half-frozen lawn towards the wooden panel she had seen the man climb over. She jumped and grabbed the top, heaving herself up
with a grunt that reminded her quite how unfit she was feeling after a week of turkey and alcohol. Reynolds dashed into the garden and shouted ‘He’s Bairstow’, as if straddling a
six-foot fence panel in a stranger’s garden was something Jessica did every day.

If she hadn’t have been struggling for breath and trying to look below her to see which way Nathan had gone, Jessica would have replied with something withering and sarcastic. Instead she
just about managed to exhale loudly before dropping down onto the other side, landing in an alleyway. She looked from one side to the other and saw a flash of dark blue running into another
passageway far to her right. Cursing, Jessica turned and ran. The alley was covered in frost, overgrown branches flapping around her as she tried to dodge them. She skidded around the corner where
Nathan had turned and saw the man running across a grassy area not too far ahead. Despite his head-start, Jessica could see he was struggling because of the size of his coat.

She tried to up her pace but her lungs were screaming out for air as Nathan glanced over his shoulder before veering off to his left. She kept moving as best she could but could feel a stitch
developing in her abdomen. Despite the pain, she was slowly gaining on the man. Nathan’s change of direction took him towards a children’s play park where he stopped and stepped over a
low red metal fence. He picked up pace as he ran across the soft black matting but Jessica hurdled the fence to gain a few more metres. From somewhere behind her, she could hear Reynolds’s
voice shouting but she drove forward, jumping the fence on the other side of the play park, taking her within ten metres of Nathan.

He had another look over his shoulder and Jessica could see the anguish on his face. The stitch was burning through her body as she dashed across the solid grass, before launching herself
forward and crashing into the back of the man. She tried to wrap her arms around him but she bounced off the man’s coat, falling painfully onto the back of his boots. She heard the crunch of
her jaw before she felt the pain but Nathan’s feet clipped together and he tumbled forward as she clung on to the bottom of his jeans and together they fell and rolled into a shallow
ditch.

Jessica felt a thin layer of ice shatter as the pair fell the yard or so into the gap. She could feel mud and water sloshing around her as Nathan tried to get to his feet but she clung hard to
his ankles, heaving herself up his body. She was seeing stars from the dual pain of the stitch and the ache from her jaw but held on, shoving the man into the dirt and reaching under his coat,
pushing the base of her palm hard into the bottom of his spine. He screamed in agony as Jessica crawled on top of him, pushing her forearm across the back of his neck. She was careful not to apply
too much pressure but he stopped wriggling. Jessica tried to keep her cool but found herself shouting at him, the adrenaline of the chase flowing through her.

Moments later, Reynolds arrived, out of breath and unable to speak, then three more officers raced into view just behind him. The inspector pointed them towards Jessica and she released her grip
on Nathan, leaning backwards and sitting with a plop in what she knew was a shallow muddy stream. The officers shouted instructions at Nathan, who held up his hands open-palmed into the air,
allowing two of the other officers to pull him out. He was lying face down on the floor having his hands cuffed when one of them reached towards Jessica and helped pull her back onto the grassed
area. She could feel wet hair plastered to her face and a shiver went through her from the suit trousers stuck to the back of her thighs.

‘Christ, you look a mess,’ Reynolds said none too helpfully.

Scraping her hair behind her ears, Jessica tried cupping her chin, wincing as a sharp pain ran through her. ‘Where were you?’

‘Calling for help then trying to catch you. You’re quicker than you look.’

‘Thanks, you’re slower than you look.’ Jessica tried to smile but her jaw was hurting.

‘I’ll get one of these guys to drop you home,’ Reynolds said.

‘I want to do the interview,’ Jessica protested, trying not to show how much pain she was in.

‘I’ll have to—’ the inspector began to say but Jessica cut him off.

‘I was the one who got kicked in the face. Just give me some time to go home and get changed.’

Two of the officers escorted Nathan, who wasn’t struggling, to their car while Jessica went with another.

As they were walking, Nathan called across to her. ‘I’m sorry about your face.’

Jessica wasn’t used to fleeing suspects talking to her, let alone apologising. ‘What?’

‘About your chin, I didn’t mean to kick you,’ he added. Jessica glanced sideways at the man. His coat and jeans were covered in mud, his bobble hat skewed to one side,
revealing short dark hair with touches of silver.

Noticing Jessica looking at him, Nathan tried to catch her eye but she turned away. It didn’t stop him speaking loud enough for them all to hear. ‘It’s not what you
think.’

A constable drove Jessica back to Adam’s house. Her phone had been in her pocket as she landed in the ditch and wasn’t responding when she tried to call him, so he
was surprised as she walked through the door.

She squelched into the hallway and heard him call out, ‘Hey, you’re home’. Adam walked into the hallway, his arms wide to greet her before quickly withdrawing them.
‘Whoa, what happened to you?’

‘I fell in a ditch.’

Adam smiled but Jessica wasn’t feeling in the mood to respond and she saw him straightening his face before saying, ‘Why?’

‘I didn’t do it on purpose.’ She felt herself wince as she spoke.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I got kicked in the face.’

‘Ouch. So you’ve not had a good day then?’

‘I’m not finished yet, I’m getting changed then going back.’

Adam smiled gently at her. ‘Want a hug?’

‘I’m all wet.’

‘Never mind, I’ll live.’ Adam opened his arms again and pulled Jessica in close. She could feel her clammy clothes sticking to her and felt bad about getting Adam wet too, so
released herself.

‘This is weird,’ Jessica said.

‘What is?’

‘I don’t know . . . someone being nice to me. I don’t like it.’

Adam laughed. ‘Would you prefer if I kicked you in the face too?’

Jessica giggled but quickly stopped because of the pain in her jaw. ‘I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.’

Even though she had taken time to change before heading back across the city from Adam’s house in Salford to the Longsight station, Jessica was still stuck waiting for
Nathan Bairstow to be brought up from the cells to be interviewed. Reynolds told her the suspect had been given clean clothes from a store that was kept on site. The replacement garments were
effectively jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt and were usually handed out to the weekend drunks who were left in the cells to sleep off the alcohol but ended up losing control of their bladders or
vomiting over themselves. It wasn’t nice but it did leave some officers with cracking stories to tell at the Christmas party which, for whatever reason, had become a New Year’s Eve
celebration this year. When he was cleaned up, Nathan had been allowed to meet his solicitor, which was also taking some time.

Most of the rest of the CID team were either on leave or had left for the day. Jessica knew Cole was in his office upstairs but she hadn’t gone to see him, leaving it to Reynolds to be the
middle man. She was aware of not being the most patient person at the best of times but with her jaw stiffening up as the afternoon turned into evening – and a phone that wasn’t working
– she spent around an hour balling up pieces of paper and trying to throw them into the bin on the other side of her office.