Poppy and Bedtime Peppa duly tucked in, Jade checked all was quiet in the nursery and then crept downstairs. She guessed they were in the kitchen, discussing their respective days over dinner together. How cosy.

Passing the lounge door, where the dog was still sleeping, which meant it at least wouldn’t growl at her, Jade paused in the hall and listened.

‘I really am sorry about losing the key,’ she heard Melissa say. God, why didn’t the silly cow just grow a pair and stop apologising, especially for something she didn’t do? It was no wonder Mark despaired of her. Well, the woman could forget offering him her body by way of recompense for her sins. She was going to be asleep before her head touched the pillow.

‘It’s me who should be apologising,’ Mark said, clearly about to take the blame. ‘I could have behaved a little less like an arsehole and slightly more sympathetically. I’m so sorry about the sculpture, Mel. I don’t suppose it was salvageable, was it? As a cast, I mean?’

He was obviously interested enough in her arty-farty endeavours to know something about the process then. Jade scowled, not sure she was very pleased about that. But then, he would be, she supposed. He had such a caring personality. He couldn’t change that about himself and nor would Jade want him to.

‘No.’ Melissa sighed. ‘But I’ve started another. Jade was great, looking after Poppy and Evie while I was in the workshop.’

Jade smiled to herself. She was all for Melissa singing her praises.

‘I’ve been thinking though,’ Melissa went on, ‘maybe I should give up working. For a while, at least.’

Oh please. Jade rolled her eyes sky-high at that blatant play of the sympathy card.

‘What?’ She heard Mark choke on his wine. And no wonder.

‘I mean, it’s not important, is it?’ Melissa continued, nauseatingly selflessly. ‘Well, obviously it is to me, but it’s not as if I couldn’t put it on hold. Devote more time to the children.’

There was a pause. Clearly Melissa was waiting for Mark to give the right response, which, Mark being Mark, of course he did.

‘It’s important to me, too, Mel,’ he said, with feeling. ‘Your art is who you are. You shouldn’t give up a fundamental part of yourself out of guilt. You’re a fantastic mother. Poppy’s a shining example of that. And apart from the blip when Evie wouldn’t settle into her routine, she’s about as content as a baby can be. This morning was nobody’s fault. Shit happens sometimes.’

Melissa drew in a breath – and yawned. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘I’m just tired, I suppose.’

‘Looks like we’ve both had a shitty sort of day,’ Mark empathised.

‘Oh God, I’m sorry, Mark,’ said Melissa – apologising, again. ‘I’m so busy thinking about me, I forgot to ask about how things went with you.’

‘Not great,’ Mark said.

Hearing him scrape his chair back, Jade was primed to bolt for the stairs, but relaxed when she heard him walk in the other direction. He must be fetching more wine from the fridge.

‘What on earth was all that about with DCI Edwards?’ Melissa asked him, over the sound of wine being poured. If that was her glass, she would definitely be sleeping tonight. Like a dead thing. Jade only wished it were that easy. ‘I couldn’t believe it when he asked me to confirm that you were driving Evie around rather than driving around on your own in the dead of night.’

Mark paused, then said, ‘You did, though, right?’

‘Of course,’ Melissa assured him. ‘I couldn’t remember specific nights, obviously, but I told him you were driving her around to try and get her to go off to sleep.’

‘Might have looked odd if you could remember specific nights,’ Mark said, sounding distracted.

‘So, why was he asking?’ Melissa urged him.

Another pause, followed by a heavy sigh. ‘Cummings,’ Mark answered tightly.

‘Your detective sergeant?’

‘Unfortunately.’ Mark sounded tense now. ‘You remember we had an… er… altercation a while back?’

‘Oh God, yes. The womaniser. I remember you told me. You hit him.’

‘Not hard enough,’ Mark replied angrily, and topped up the second glass. ‘He has a penchant for younger women, outside and inside of work. Harasses female members of staff. It’s way beyond acceptable.’

‘But… has no one brought him to task? Reported him?’ Melissa asked, disbelieving.

‘Nope.’ Mark laughed sardonically. ‘Not even the girl who he was helping himself to a grope of when I clocked the bastard. Scared of losing her job. Long story short, I was reprimanded. Psychologically evaluated, not to put too fine a point on it.’

And she didn’t know all this? Jade gawped at the kitchen door. What an uncaring, self-centred bitch.

Melissa gasped. ‘What? Oh no…’

‘It was just after Jacob. My emotions were all over the place.’ Mark sighed audibly.

‘Precisely because you had just lost your son! They must have known that. They must have known that you wouldn’t attack someone, however emotional you were, without provocation.’

‘He didn’t exactly provoke me, Mel,’ Mark said, less passionately. ‘Pissed me off, severely, but in the eyes of my superiors, that wasn’t provocation.’

‘Idiots,’ Melissa seethed. ‘DCI Edwards is well aware of how losing Jacob affected you. He knows that you would do anything for your children, including driving endlessly around at night to try to get your baby to sleep. I honestly can’t believe someone could be so vindictive as to try to make that into anything but what it is.’

‘There’s more to it than just the so-called attack,’ Mark said, and then paused. ‘This is just between you and me, though. I have no evidence.’

‘Of?’ Melissa waited.

‘I saw him kerb-crawling. I’ve been keeping tabs on him. I think, but I can’t yet be certain, that he’s helped himself to drugs, possibly from various crime scenes, the evidence room maybe…’ Again, Mark paused, as if debating how much information to divulge. ‘It looks like he’s supplying those drugs to sex workers, some of them clearly underage.’

‘You’re joking,’ Melissa gasped, incredulous.

‘I wish. Bottom line is, he knows I’m on to him. I suspect he’s out to discredit me before I get enough to make sure he’s kicked off the force and, hopefully, banged up.’

‘So, he’s a sexual predator and a drug pusher,’ Melissa growled angrily. ‘What a disgusting individual. I can’t understand how he’s been allowed to get away with it.’

Digesting this latest information, Jade gulped back a sudden overwhelming nausea. Hard though she tried not to, she felt it over again, the repulsion broiling in the pit of her stomach, the pain, the powerlessness of being at the mercy of such an individual, touching and pawing, salivating and thrusting and grunting. Closing her eyes, claustrophobic in the confines of the hall, she tried to block it out: the odious smell of him, body odour and beer; the look in his eyes as he studied her face, one of lust, his exhilaration fuelled by the fear of being found out, by her fear. The taste of him. She would never forget the sour, salty taste that would make her gag until she was sick.

Sweat prickling her forehead, her heart thrumming a drumbeat in her chest, she didn’t hear the sound of Melissa’s chair scraping back. She did register the sudden silence though. Sensing body contact in there, Jade snapped her eyes open. She couldn’t allow that.

Time to announce her presence. Taking a few steps back up the hall, she started singing. It was the same song her mother had sung to her, a mother who actually couldn’t have cared less if she’d cried. ‘Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Mama's going to buy you a mockingbird. And if that— Whoops! Sorry,’ she said, pretending embarrassment at finding Melissa on Mark’s lap. She was kissing him! Stuffing her tongue down his throat probably, the slut.

Melissa shot to her feet when she saw Jade. And Mark – poor Mark – looked as if he wanted to drop through the floor. Gathering herself, Jade beamed in his direction. It wasn’t his fault, she reminded herself. He was trying to be a good husband. He would continue to try until he saw Melissa in her true light. That was simply who he was: a good man right to the core. She hadn’t needed to hear his revelations about his detective sergeant to realise that. Jade couldn’t force it. She had to handle it carefully, peel the scales from his eyes slowly. He would realise eventually that to deny his heart’s desire for a weak woman who was using him as a cash cow was a ridiculous waste of a life.

As for this DS Cummings, who was trying to ruin Mark, Jade thought it was time the man got his comeuppance. She would make sure that Mark did get some evidence he could use against him. She couldn’t entice the man to supply her drugs, as Mark would obviously become aware of her involvement, but Jade was quite sure she could entice him to other things. Yes, using his pathetic inclination to abuse women in order to ensure his downfall was entirely feasible. She needed to make the acquaintance of the delightful Cummings, Jade decided.

‘No need to apologise, Jade,’ Melissa said, as Jade went to fill up the kettle. ‘We shouldn’t have been canoodling in the kitchen.’

Canoodling? How twee. Jade tried to hide her immense irritation behind a sweet smile.

‘We got carried away, I’m afraid.’ Melissa smiled and yawned. And stretched, showing far too much boob over her low-cut top for Jade’s liking. Mark could hardly avoid noticing them, could he?

‘Why don’t you go on up and run yourself a nice hot bath,’ he suggested, averting his gaze as he got to his feet. ‘I’ll clear up down here.’

‘Good idea,’ Jade said, possibly a touch too enthusiastically. ‘You look absolutely exhausted,’ she added, fancying that, given the woman’s age, saying she looked tired wouldn’t go down very well. ‘I’ll give Mark a hand and then bring you up a hot chocolate.’

‘Oh, don’t bother, Jade,’ Melissa said. ‘It’s really sweet of you, but you’ve done far too much for one day.’

‘It’s no problem,’ Jade assured her, already on her way to the table to collect up the plates. ‘I’m making one for myself anyway. A good night’s sleep is what you need, isn’t it, Mark?’

‘Looks like it.’ Mark smiled as Melissa tried and failed to supress another yawn, and then, conceding defeat, headed sleepily for the door.