DC Daniel Mason was sitting in the main incident room, Keira North’s laptop open on his desk. So far he had accessed her social media profiles and her email account. There hadn’t been much of interest in either: countless automated messages about assignment criteria and deadlines; junk mail that had never been deleted; social media profiles that held generic content in the form of night-out selfies and ‘my life is so hectic’ status updates.

There were aspects of Keira’s internet search history that had, however, proven of interest. Dan called Alex from her office to show her what he had found. She stopped at the coffee machine on her way to the incident room and handed him a black coffee with two sugars.

‘Well spotted,’ he said, taking a sip. ‘How did you know I take two?’

Alex pulled up a chair alongside him. ‘I’m not a detective for nothing. And you’ve been working here long enough now.’

‘You seen this?’ Dan asked, gesturing to Keira’s laptop. ‘It’s a Microsoft Surface Book. They don’t come cheap.’

‘How much?’

‘Fifteen hundred on a sale day. Parents must have a bit of money.’

‘Found anything on there?’

‘One thing’s pretty certain,’ Dan said, turning the laptop towards Alex. ‘Keira North definitely knew she was pregnant. Searches for prams, advice on which foods to avoid during pregnancy … even baby names.’

Alex looked down at her coffee, needing a moment’s distraction. ‘What else?’

Dan exhaled. ‘Research into benefits for student parents. Forums offering advice on raising a baby while continuing to study. You think there’s a link, don’t you? Between her death and the pregnancy?’

‘I don’t know.’ It was the truth: she still wasn’t sure. The only thing she felt positive about was that Keira’s death hadn’t been an accident. Everything else remained a mystery; the longer it remained so, the less likely they were to find out the truth of what had happened.

‘I wish I could be more help,’ Dan said, sitting back in his chair and linking his hands behind his head. ‘There’s nothing here yet that looks likely to help us find out what happened to her – or more to the point, why it happened.’

Alex looked at the computer screen with an inescapable sadness. A young life had been lost, and another had been ended before it had even begun. Yet another – that of Amy Barker – was hanging in the balance in the intensive care unit of the hospital just a few miles away. Life was precious, though Alex realised she hadn’t always known it. She wished she’d learned it sooner, although she knew enough to know that regret was also futile.

Her attention was stolen from the computer screen by the photograph on Dan’s desk: his two children. He kept the photo just next to his computer, where his daughters could always keep an eye on him. Alex wondered how much of his wife’s pregnancies Dan was able to remember, particularly those early months when worries seemed to gather like long-lost enemies returned to taunt the parents-to-be with their what-ifs. Had he and his wife shared the countdown to every scan, the sleepless nights when irrational fears became heightened, keeping them awake until the early hours; the nagging doubts that something would go wrong and bring all their hopes and excitement crashing to a sudden and brutal halt.

Keira had seemingly gone through all that by herself.

‘Seems she was determined to do the best she could,’ Alex said, looking through the notes Dan had taken.

‘You know I don’t like to get into the politics of this place,’ Dan said, turning in his swivel chair, ‘but I want you to know I’m behind you.’

Alex smiled sadly. It was good to know that not all her colleagues thought she was overreacting to the circumstances surrounding Keira North’s death. It was reassuring to have other people’s support, and yet she realised that if Dan knew what Harry Blake did, he too might not be so confident about her motivations.

She was finding it difficult to move past the superintendent’s words.

‘Look at this,’ she said, gesturing to the dead girl’s laptop. ‘She cared about this child – all this internet history is evidence of that. She didn’t fall from that ledge. She was sober, and being up there was something she’d apparently done countless times before. If she had thought sitting up there was in any way dangerous, I really don’t believe she’d have been doing it.’

‘You still think Tom might have had something to do with it?’

Alex shrugged. ‘Seems the likeliest possibility at this stage, don’t you think? They were heard arguing, and he was obviously lying when he told us he’d never been involved with her. Think he’d have taken the news he was going to be a father well? Seems pretty obvious what they might have been arguing about.’

She could never admit this to anyone, but the superintendent was right: finding out about Keira North’s pregnancy had made this case almost personal for her. As far as she was concerned, whoever had pushed the girl from that ledge was guilty of a double murder. The law wouldn’t see it that way, but Alex certainly did. And while she continued to carry that knowledge, she would remain determined to find out the truth of what had happened on Sunday night.

‘We need to find out who else was at that party,’ she said, trying to drag herself from her thoughts. ‘Someone must know something. How did it go at the hospital?’

Dan took his focus from the computer screen. ‘Amy Barker’s still critical. Fifty-fifty, the doctor said. I don’t think it’s really hit her mother yet. One of the girl’s friends was there – she did a runner when she saw us.’

‘Something to hide?’

‘Don’t know. She was at the club last night with Amy when she collapsed. She’s probably scared. Maybe she thinks she’s going to end up on a drugs charge.’

‘Or be held responsible for what’s happened to Amy,’ Alex suggested. ‘Did you get hold of her?’

Dan shook his head. ‘Stopped at her father’s house on the way back here – her mother thought she might have gone there. He said he hadn’t seen her. Her mobile keeps going straight to answerphone. I’ve asked her father to contact us as soon as she turns up.’

‘Let me know when he does. Has the CCTV footage from the club been sent over yet?’

‘Just got it,’ Dan told her. ‘It’s next on my list.’

‘Get Jake to help you.’

DC Jake Sullivan was one of the team’s youngest officers, pale-faced, with a smattering of freckles that stretched across the bridge of his nose, patterning his cheeks, and a laugh that escaped him in short, sharp bursts, sometimes at inappropriate moments. He was recently promoted and had proven overly enthusiastic at times, following at Dan’s heel like an excitable, untrained puppy.

Dan needed the help. He still had the rest of Keira’s laptop to search, plus the call and text results from her mobile phone. He was the best they had when it came to technology, but this was too much for one person to undertake, especially with the time pressures they were under.

Alex stood to leave.

‘Boss?’

‘Yeah.’

Dan gave her a half-smile. ‘I said there’s nothing here yet. Doesn’t mean there won’t be.’

Alex returned the smile, though she was unable to conceal her doubt. She found it difficult to imagine what might possibly lead them closer to what had happened to Keira North.