DS Jessica Daniel series: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water – Books 4–6 (48 page)

Rowlands’s alleged web-surfing habits, which Jessica had invented to get a laugh out of Izzy a few months previously, were a frequent cause for her amusement.

Jessica laughed as the man protested. ‘Hey, I was phoning you to be nice and give you a heads-up.’

‘Yeah all right, your secret’s safe with me. I’ll see you later.’

Jessica hung up, realising she had travelled barely a quarter of a mile during the entire conversation.

Despite arriving late because of the traffic, Jessica reached the station in time for the morning briefing in Cole’s office along with Reynolds and Detective Sergeant
Louise Cornish. The DCI said the investigating fire officer had found traces of petrol or diesel which he thought had been used to start the blaze at Martin Chadwick’s house. Meanwhile, they
had searched Anthony Thompson’s empty home earlier that morning and, as Jessica knew full well, had discovered an empty petrol can and almost-empty tin of yellow aerosol paint.

Jessica thought about the fifteen minutes it had taken her to twist the screws back into the shed the previous evening and wondered whether the tactical entry team had simply smashed the door in
with a battering ram. Cole didn’t mention her ‘tip’ to the rest of the room – but he did glance her way as he brought it up, letting her know that he knew what she had
done.

As she suspected, Anthony was still missing and, with little else to go on, they were doing what they could to look for him without making it official. The items recovered from his house would
be sent off for testing to see if they could be linked to the crime scene but it was unlikely. The wall where the yellow graffiti had been sprayed was badly fire-damaged, with the petrol can
circumstantial at best.

As for finding Anthony, by discreetly working with the rest of Greater Manchester Police, they could coordinate things such as pulling over suspicious cars, door-to-door checks around the area
he lived in, and visits to places he was known to frequent. What they didn’t want to do was tip off the wider media that he could be involved with the fire. For one, they didn’t know
that he was but, worse than that, they didn’t want to risk the negative attention it would bring to them all if there was an innocent explanation for his disappearance. Jessica thought of
what Sebastian’s gleeful face might look like if that happened.

The only other piece of news the DCI had was a steer from the coroner that Sienna’s death would likely be ruled as suicide but that he wasn’t yet discarding the chance of an inquest
because there were still a few test results to come back. It was what they had suspected but Jessica still had a nagging thought in her mind about the presence of Ryan in both cases.

With the search for Anthony being kept quiet and Sienna’s death not yet ruled upon, Jessica and Reynolds were assigned to visit the college that Sienna had attended. Even if the coroner
did eventually decide on suicide, it would do no harm for them to find out as much background as they could to what had happened.

Jessica first called the college to check the details they would need. The Manchester College largely served sixteen- to nineteen-year-old school-leavers and they had half-a-dozen campuses
dotted around the city. Sienna had been studying health and beauty at the Openshaw site which, Jessica noted from the website, was the closest to where Ryan lived. As the receptionist passed on the
information, Jessica asked authoritatively which course Ryan was involved with. Although she wasn’t entitled to that information, she knew that, if you used any of the words
‘officer’, ‘detective’ or ‘sergeant’ and asked with enough confidence, most staff would happily tell you what you wanted to know, thinking they were obliged to
do so.

Ryan was studying masonry and brickwork on the same campus but the key piece of information Jessica discovered was that both he and Sienna shared the same form tutor. It had been a while since
she had been in education but the receptionist told her that every student – regardless of course – was assigned to a set adult who would monitor their attendance. They were required to
sign a register each day and attend bi-monthly meetings with the tutor to talk about their overall progress. Jessica noted the teacher’s name – Aidan Barlow – and asked the
receptionist if they could organise a time to speak to him that day. Jessica figured he would be one of the few adults to actually see Sienna and Ryan interacting.

Much of the local traffic had cleared by the time Reynolds drove them to the college but Jessica’s frustration at the hours she seemed to have spent in a car that day didn’t abate as
they endured fifteen minutes searching for a parking spot at the campus. Her suggestion to ‘just run him over’ as a gormless-looking student wandered in front of them was ignored, as
was her idea to ‘just block him in’ when they drove past the head teacher’s marked space for the third time.

By the time they had reached the reception area, only to find a queue of people, Jessica was ready to snap. After another ten minutes of listening to the group of girls in front blathering on
about which type of hair extensions they should get, Reynolds had resorted to resting a reassuring hand on Jessica’s shoulder. The pain had largely subsided from the previous evening but she
could still feel a twinge as her supervisor gave her a wide-eyed ‘be calm’ look.

Jessica did lots of things well. Calm was not one of them.

Despite her annoyance, she had to admit the receptionist was helpful when they reached the front. She phoned for a support staff member, who led both officers out of reception across the car
park they had spent so long navigating. Although the signs proudly displayed the area as a ‘campus’, Jessica wasn’t sure the large two-storey grey building that stretched for a
hundred metres or more could really be classed as anything other than a giant warehouse with windows.

The member of staff swiped them through a set of double doors and led them up a flight of stairs that opened onto a cream-coloured corridor that looked identical to the one below it.

Eventually, they reached a door with Aidan Barlow’s name printed on it and, after knocking and being called in, Jessica and Reynolds were offered seats in his office.

Aidan greeted them with a handshake and a smile, although Jessica struggled to identify his accent. At first she thought it was Irish but she also wondered if there was a hint of Scottish. The
man was somewhere in his mid-thirties with a mop of straggly brown hair. He was wearing a jumper over a shirt, with thick-rimmed glasses which perfectly suited his face. In terms of looks, he
wasn’t as striking as Sebastian but there was definitely something about the man which Jessica felt drawn to.

She did figure that part of the appeal could be the state of his office. While his desk was placed in the centre facing the door, piles of papers and files littered the edges of the room. Some
were in boxes, with others piled on top of each other. It reminded Jessica of her own ‘filing system’.

‘How can I help you?’ Aidan asked when they were all seated and the two officers had turned down the offer of tea.

Given the way Reynolds had tried to calm her in reception, Jessica didn’t know if he would want to take the lead. Usually there was something unspoken between them – between her and
pretty much anyone at the station in fact – that she would ask the questions. Even Cole gave way to her, although she had never asked him why. As the inspector stayed quiet, Jessica took the
cue.

‘Obviously you know what occurred with Sienna Todd a few days ago,’ Jessica said. ‘We wanted to talk to you as her form tutor about anything that might have led up to
it.’

Aidan nodded gently, ready to help. ‘I heard it was suicide?’

‘We’re not completely sure yet.’

‘Have you spoken to her friends? I’m not sure how much use I can be.’

‘That’s our next stop,’ Jessica assured him. ‘Any background you can give us would be great. Is it right Sienna had been in your form since September?’

Aidan pushed out his bottom lip, nodding. ‘Yes, just this year.’

‘What did you make of her?’

‘Sienna? I’m not sure. She had one of those names that’s a bit different, so you remember them. She seemed to be very friendly with everyone. Her course progress was good
according to her marks. Generally she was here on time. She seemed very normal.’

Jessica asked for any particular friends that Aidan knew she hung around with but he didn’t offer any names other than what they had from the earlier inquiries.

‘What about boyfriends?’ Jessica asked.

Aidan gave a knowing smile but quickly suppressed it. ‘I’m not sure about a boyfriend,’ he said. ‘She was certainly very friendly with a few of the male students but
I’m not sure I knew enough about her to answer that. You would have to speak to her friends.’

From what Andrew had told Jessica about Sienna’s abortion, Ryan’s claims, and now her form tutor’s insinuations, a rather disturbing picture of the young woman’s
relationships was emerging. Jessica knew Sienna’s friends might be her best bet for finding the truth although, from her own experience of adolescence, she wasn’t convinced she would
get the answers she needed.

‘What are her friends like? Are they in your form?’ she persisted.

Aidan scratched his chin and nodded. ‘A couple of them. I’m not sure if it’s the fairest term to use but she was in a sort of clique with four or five others. I believe they
were on the same course. Every time I saw them around campus, they were together.’

The man didn’t know all of the names but two of them were the girls who had already been spoken to.

‘Did she ever come to you with any problems?’ Reynolds asked.

The man shook his head. ‘Why would she?’

‘Because you’re her tutor,’ the inspector observed. ‘Perhaps she mentioned to you problems at home, or issues with her work or something like that?’

Aidan continued to shake his head. ‘We didn’t have that kind of relationship, I’m afraid.’

Jessica tried to word the question in a slightly different way. ‘Did you ever see her upset or depressed?’

The man continued to look blankly back at them. ‘Sorry.’

Jessica could feel Reynolds trying to catch her eye, as if to say he didn’t think they could get any more from the man, but she still had something else to say. Jessica asked the question
already knowing the answer. ‘Is Ryan Chadwick in your form?’

‘Ryan? Er, yes . . .’ The query had clearly taken Aidan by surprise. Jessica felt Reynolds tense slightly next to her but he didn’t say anything.

‘What’s he like?’

‘Um, I’m not sure what that has . . . ?’ From sitting coolly in his seat while discussing Sienna, the man began to fidget and he looked nervously towards the wall.

‘No reason,’ Jessica said. ‘We just know he was friends with Sienna.’

Aidan steadied himself as if his moment of nervousness had never happened. He gazed at Jessica again. ‘Oh right. Um, Ryan’s a . . . complicated character.’

She could not have thought of a better word herself but wanted specifics. ‘How do you mean?’

‘He’s not the easiest person to communicate with. Sometimes he seems happy, other times not. Sometimes he’ll join in with the group but then he can be a loner too. He’s
the type of person where you’re never quite sure where you stand with him.’

Everything Aidan was saying backed up Jessica’s own impressions of Ryan. ‘I’ve heard he’s perhaps a little more than just friends with Sienna,’ Jessica added,
trying to make it sound as if she knew more than she did and fishing for information.

Aidan seemed a little surprised at Jessica’s question, his eyebrows deepening before he shrugged slightly. ‘I guess. I’ve seen them talking in registration but I don’t
know much more than that. They’re all at a bit of an awkward age in regards to opening up. Some of them are all right with you but others are still stuck in the moody teenager
phase.’

Jessica glanced at Reynolds, letting him know she was finished. Aidan must have noticed the gesture because he continued to speak. ‘I . . . um . . . it’s a bit awkward . .
.’

Jessica looked back to the tutor, eyebrows raised expectantly. Aidan seemed to be struggling with something. He was sucking nervously on his top lip. ‘I might have something for you
regarding Ryan but . . . there are confidentiality rules and I . . .’ He tailed off without finishing the sentence.

Reynolds tensed further in the seat next to her. Listening to whatever Aidan might have would be a legal grey area at best, perhaps even an outright breach of various protection laws – if
not on their part then certainly on his.

Jessica sensed it could be important but didn’t have time to reply before the tutor spoke again. ‘If you’re off to talk to other people, can you give me maybe an hour? I have
to check a few things out.’

Jessica didn’t bother to wait for her supervisor’s approval. ‘We’ll see you in an hour.’

As they exited Aidan’s office, Jessica could feel Reynolds’s discomfort. She waited for him to close the door and then he crossed the corridor, standing and staring
at her. His dark hair was beginning to grey around his ears and at the front, the colour contrasting with the darkness of his skin.

‘Well?’ he said.

Jessica shrugged. ‘You saw what Ryan was like when we were at the house but you didn’t see the aggression after the fire or the way he talked about Sienna. It’s not what he
said, it’s the way he said it.’

‘That doesn’t mean you should let his tutor break the law, let alone condone it.’

Jessica looked away, unable to meet her supervisor’s eye. She wondered how he might have taken her excursion to Anthony Thompson’s house. ‘There’s something not
right,’ she said.

‘Like what?’

‘Just . . . something.’ Jessica didn’t know what it was herself. ‘Everything seems to be revolving around him. Did you see the way Aidan shifted around when I mentioned
him? After the fire, he shoved Dave out of the way, even though he must have known he was an officer. He didn’t care.’

Jessica didn’t mention the way she had been barged.