Vigilante (27 page)

Jessica walked around her chair towards Farraday. ‘How about you, Sir? Do you want me to bring you through some lunch?’

The DCI looked quizzically at her. ‘I suppose. A sandwich is fine for me too.’

Jessica took another step towards him. ‘No worries, I’ll be back in a…I think you’ve got something stuck to your cheek, Sir.’

The man used his hands to brush at his face but Jessica leant in. ‘No, you’re missing it, it’s just…’ She quickly flashed her palm across his cheek using the nail she had sharpened to deliberately nick his skin.

Blood instantly ran down his face as he jumped back. Jessica held the hand she had caught him with to her side, using the other to take some tissues out of her pocket. ‘Oh God, I’m so sorry. I keep meaning to sort my nails. Shit, you’re bleeding. Here, take these.’

The chief inspector stared at her, his eyes wide as he took the tissues. ‘Are you okay?’ Cole asked from the other side.

Jessica continued to apologise as the DCI dabbed at his face. ‘It’s not deep. Those are some sharp nails you’ve got there, Daniel.’

‘I know. Sorry, Sir. I’ll go sort them, then go to the canteen.’

Jessica turned around, moving as quickly as she could towards the door without making anyone even more suspicious. She took the gauze from her pocket and wiped all of the blood she could onto it, placing carefully it into the evidence bag. Jessica strode out to her car and unlocked it before putting the bag under the driver’s seat. The day was cool and she figured that, although it wasn’t a freezer, it was the best she could manage.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Despite rarely being on time, let alone early, Jessica got to the pub twenty minutes early to wait for Adam. She hid herself away on a table out of sight from the bar so no one would question why she was hovering there without a drink. At eight o’clock exactly, she saw Adam walk through the front doors. She didn’t want to out herself to the bar staff so waited for him to find her.

He looked good and was wearing casual jeans, another T-shirt based on a cartoon she knew, a thin jacket and canvas trainers. ‘Do you want something to drink?’ he asked, approaching the table.

‘No, I’m not feeling too great.’

Adam looked a little disappointed and sat on the stool opposite her. ‘Oh right, I was hoping we were going to talk about…’

‘I need you to do something for me.’

Adam sighed and looked away from her. ‘I knew I shouldn’t have come.’

‘Please, Adam. It’s just one thing.’

‘Jess…I’m not very good with this type of thing. You didn’t contact me for all that time. I called and sent you texts and left you messages. I know you were ignoring me and I figured “fair enough”. I mean, I was upset and all because I thought we got on great but I’m not a stalker or anything and figured that if you didn’t want to see me, it was up to you.’

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, rubbing his eyes. ‘Look, I know your friend from the quiz was killed that night and it’s all right if you were upset and everything. I understand that and thought I’d give you space but I don’t know what you want from me.’

Jessica breathed out heavily. ‘I need you to do one thing for me and then we can try again.’

Adam kept looking at the table and wiped his eyes a second time. ‘What?’

Jessica reached into the handbag she’d brought with her and took out the transparent wallet that had the bloodied gauze on it. She put it on the table so he could see. ‘Please can you test this for me against Donald McKenna? I couldn’t freeze it but I kept it as cool as I could. I touched it too but I can give you a sample so you can eliminate me. I got these…’

She reached into her bag again and took out a clean mouth swab she had taken from the station and another clear packet. ‘If I give you a swab, you can separate any traces of me, yes? I was careful when I picked it all up anyway so you might not have to.’

Adam shook his head but still didn’t look up. ‘It’s not that simple but I can’t do it anyway, Jess. You can’t ask me to. When you log into the database it all gets stored. If anyone ever checked, I’d have no answer and would lose my job. They could even prosecute me.’

‘They don’t just check as a matter of course though, do they? It’s unlikely they’d find out.’

‘That’s not the point. It’s illegal.’

‘Can you do it for me?’

Jessica had never seen Adam lose his temper before but he banged his fist on the table and looked through teary eyes straight at her, his voice full of anger. ‘How dare you. I’ve waited all these days to get any kind of reply from you. Anything to say “hi” or “sorry for not getting back to you”. Anything. You ignore me completely and then, when you want something, you get me out here and ask me to break the law for you.’

‘Adam, I’m sorry, I…’

‘I
told
you about my parents. I don’t tell anyone but I
told
you.’ Jessica simply stared at the man in front of her, with no idea what to say. He wasn’t making any effort to control his tears any longer.

When it was clear she wasn’t going to add anything, Adam looked away again and picked up the small bag with the blood-soaked gauze. ‘Jess, look, I like you. I
really
like you. I know we only went out a few times but I had some of the most fun I’ve ever had. If you want me to test these, just swab your mouth and say the word and I’ll do it.
For you
. But after that, I don’t want to ever see you again unless you absolutely have to come to my work. Even then, I want you to ask for someone else. But if you enjoyed those moments as much as me, please don’t ask me to do this.’

Jessica looked at the tears running down his face and the redness around his eyes then picked up the mouth swab, ran it around the inside of her cheek and put it in the evidence bag.

‘Just test it.’

THIRTY-TWO

In the two days since seeing Adam, Jessica jumped every time her phone went off. Whenever it rang or sounded the familiar text-message tone, she would snatch it from her pocket and look to see if it was Adam contacting her. She had spent two more nights outside of DCI Farraday’s house but had been careful not to fall asleep. She took a thicker jacket each evening to guard against the cold and waited until three in the morning before driving home and trying to sleep for a short while before heading to the station.

She had managed four hours’ sleep in two days and had barely eaten, having just picked at a couple of pasta dishes for lunch from the station’s canteen. She could feel her body craving rest and food but fought to keep going, telling herself that as soon as Adam got back to her it would all be worth it. Jessica was struggling with her conscience to justify the way she had treated him. It was as if a coldness had taken her over in the pub, pushing her to act in a way she wouldn’t normally.

Whether it was at briefings with others or in the quietness of her own office, she found her mind wandering frequently and could still hear the voices in her head telling her she was right.

‘The end justifies the means.’

The media appeal using Donald McKenna’s photograph hadn’t gone well at all. On the first evening, they fielded a very irate call from the prison’s governor asking what they were playing at. Farraday also told them he’d had to deal with an incensed superintendent who had been contacted by the governor wanting answers.

None of that would have mattered if any of the calls had been useful but almost every person who phoned had pointed out the picture was McKenna. There was a small number of other names put forwards but nothing that fitted their criteria. The positivity that had gripped the team in the previous days now felt distant and everyone was back to hoping for a lead rather than being able to push for one.

Jessica was sure one call from Adam could change all of that. When she got her match she knew she’d still have no admissible evidence, given the way she had taken the chief inspector’s blood, but at least she would know for sure he was the twin and either he or McKenna had somehow changed their appearance.

After an unproductive day, Farraday asked Jessica if she could hang around at the station to finish off the paperwork relating to the phone campaign. She didn’t know why he wanted her specifically but she gave it twenty minutes before passing it on to another officer. She was planning to go home and change before heading off to wait outside his house for the evening.

The nights were drawing in and there was only an hour of daylight left as Jessica drove out of the station. The rain had begun earlier in the day and not relented and her car’s heater was again struggling to keep the steam from the windscreen. As she reached forwards to wipe away the mist, she heard her phone ringing. Knowing she shouldn’t, she took the device out of her pocket and glanced away from the road down at the screen.

‘Adam Compton’ the screen read. Jessica pulled over to the side of the road, only realising after she’d stopped that she hadn’t indicated. The driver of the car behind beeped their horn in annoyance as they swerved around her but Jessica wasn’t bothered. She quickly pressed the screen to answer the call. ‘Adam, have you done the test?’

The man on the other end was clearly a little shocked at her directness. ‘Yes.’

‘What did it say?’

‘I don’t know what you were expecting but there was nothing. No match to Donald McKenna, no match to anyone.’

Jessica was silent for a moment, stunned by what he had said. ‘It’s not?’

‘No.’

‘I didn’t contaminate it or anything, did I? It’s definitely right?’

‘I know how to do my job.’

‘Of course, I know. I didn’t mean that. You’re not going to get in trouble, are you?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I’m so sorry, Adam.’

‘I’m sorry too.’

Jessica paused for a moment before continuing. ‘It’s just…I’ve fucked everything up. I didn’t know how to cope after Carrie died. There’s so much that’s happened. I’ve not slept, I can’t eat. I thought I knew what I was doing but now I’m worried I was wrong all along.’

She felt a lump in her throat and struggled to finish her sentence. ‘I think…I might have had a breakdown or something.’

Jessica felt tears in her eyes but didn’t fight them. ‘Adam?’ She took the phone away from her ear and looked down at a blank screen.

He must have hung up after saying he was sorry but she hadn’t heard the noise.

Her car was stopped by the side of the road with the headlights still shining forwards. Vehicles squeezed around her as rain smashed onto the roof and windscreen. As the front wipers thundered back and forth, squeaking their way across the glass, Jessica couldn’t hold back any longer and let the tears engulf her.

She realised there was so little rationality to what she had been doing. Most of what she thought she had on Farraday was circumstantial but there was still Carrie’s phone under her bed. It was an object she could hold in her hands, found in a place that couldn’t be explained. Not being able to figure out why it was there was the thing really haunting her.

It took what seemed like hours for Jessica to calm herself but it was likely just minutes. Cars continued to manoeuvre around her, some tooting their horns, as the rain eased off slightly. Jessica settled back into the driver’s seat and indicated to pull away.

She felt as lonely as she ever had on the journey back to her house.

Her relationship with Caroline hadn’t been the same for over a year, Carrie was gone and she had destroyed things with Adam. Her parents had recently retired from running a post office in Cumbria but this wasn’t the type of thing she would ever share with them and she felt she had no one to talk to.

She drove much slower than she usually would, taking her time and forcing herself to concentrate on the road. It was almost dusk as she pulled into her parking space. She didn’t know if she was going to go to Farraday’s house that evening any longer, thoughts swirling in her head about what she should do next. She switched the engine off and got out, slamming the door behind her and walking to the entrance to her building. Jessica reached into her pockets to find her keys but her eyes were drawn to a movement over to her right. She stopped and squinted at the bushes that surrounded that side of the property and thought she could see a figure.

Jessica stepped onto the grass towards them but, as soon as she did, whoever it was bolted backwards. The light was dim with the street lights just beginning to come on as the sun set but something about the person’s build and the way they moved seemed familiar. Jessica started running after them without thinking, ignoring the pain she was still feeling in her ankle from jumping over Farraday’s gate.

The figure had turned and run around the hedges and Jessica followed about thirty yards behind. They dashed towards the woodlands that backed onto her housing development and jumped a small chain-link fence that separated the two areas. Wincing as she did the same, Jessica tried to avoid landing on her ankle but wasn’t able to manage it.

The rain had slowed to a light drizzle but the ground was soaking and her feet slid around the moss and overgrown grass. The person in front was struggling to keep their balance too and, after first looking as if they were going to head towards the trees, veered back left towards the fence. They used one hand on the barrier to help keep their balance, moving as quickly as they could along its length.

Jessica followed and knew she would usually be faster if it wasn’t for her ankle. She was also struggling to keep her grip because the path had already been churned up by the person ahead. As she gained a few yards, Jessica knew for sure it was a man. He was around six feet tall and his height should have given it away in the first place but her mind wasn’t feeling sharp. A mixture of the lack of sleep and minimal food was beginning to hurt. She tried shouting ‘hey’ but felt exhausted.

The man ahead kept to the fence line and then used both hands to propel himself back onto the other side, landing in a car park that served a block of flats next to where Jessica lived. As he landed, Jessica watched him look around, not knowing where he was, before heading towards where she knew there was a dead end.

Jessica jumped the fence herself and landed awkwardly on her ankle, involuntarily yelling out in pain. She looked up and the man glanced backwards but the near-darkness meant she couldn’t see his features clearly. She forced herself back to her feet and drove forwards following the person, knowing he could only run for another hundred yards or so before reaching an enclosed area where the complex’s giant metal bins were kept. She stumbled forwards, letting his lead increase, and entered the wide alley behind him.

Slowing to a walk, Jessica moved further down the opening. There was an orange security light on the left but otherwise the area was dark. Jessica edged forwards looking from side to side but then stepped backwards as the man took a pace out from the shadows of the trash containers.

The light wasn’t brilliant but there was no doubt about the identity of the person stood in front of her. ‘Good evening, Daniel.’

Jessica stared. When she had started chasing, she hadn’t been completely sure about who she was pursuing or why she was running but something instinctively told her to act. She realised she had no plan, no weapon and, given the pain in her ankle, no way to turn and make a bolt for it. In a period of time defined by bad decisions, she had just run into a dead end and was now facing the imposing figure of DCI Farraday towering over her.

‘What are you doing at my house?’ Jessica asked, trying to sound confident.

‘Is that really the question you want to ask me?’

He took another step forwards, his face now clearly lit. He was still dressed in his work clothes and it now seemed obvious why he had asked her to stay late – he was planning to search her house the way he’d hunted around her office. She moved her weight from her sore leg to the other, desperately trying not to show she was in pain, and took a deep breath.

Jessica knew he was right, there was only one question she wanted to ask. ‘Why did you have Carrie’s phone?’

The chief inspector looked directly at her, his eyes narrow. ‘You really shouldn’t have gone looking for it.’