Page 71 of Final Betrayal

‘Don’t fudge the issue. Tell me straight.’

If that was what he wanted, that was what she would give him.

‘We found Louise’s body in an apartment on the outskirts of town.’ Should she tell him about Cristina? Maybe not yet. ‘She was the victim of a vicious assault.’

‘What do you mean? What kind of assault?’

‘A post-mortem will have to be held, but we are treating your daughter’s death as suspicious.’

‘Some bastard murdered her?’

‘As I said?—’

‘I heard you.’ He tore at his hair, then wrenched his knuckles into his eye sockets, but still the tears escaped.

‘I’m sorry, Mr Gill,’ Lottie added helplessly.

He raised his head, eyes streaming. ‘She’s only twenty-five, you know. Her whole life ahead of her. And some bastard does this. Why?’

Lottie went to speak, but he raised his hand.

‘I don’t want your apologies, I want you to find whoever did this. Today. And I want to throw the first punch. What did he do to her?’

‘I think it best to wait until the post-mortem is completed.’

‘Is Louise’s murder linked to Amy’s?’

‘I can’t speculate at the moment.’ But Lottie knew she was dealing with the same killer. ‘Can I phone anyone for you? Do you want us to accompany you home? To tell your wife?’

‘No. I’ll do that.’ He found a handkerchief in his pocket, wiped his eyes and blew his nose.

‘Do you know of anyone who would want to harm Louise?’ Boyd said.

‘She was just a girl. Not much of a social life, but she was dedicated to her studies …’ He paused.

‘What?’ Lottie asked, feeling he had been about to say something else.

‘She was studying criminal behaviour, or something like that. She even talked to jailbirds, or whatever the PC term is nowadays. Maybe one of them …’

He jumped up. Ran for the door. Boyd stopped him. ‘What is it, Mr Gill?’

‘Conor Dowling. He’s out on my site. I took him on so I could keep an eye on him. The slimy bastard. Wait till I get my hands on him.’

‘Sit down,’ Lottie said forcefully. ‘Leave Mr Dowling to us.’ The grieving father’s shoulders slumped and he returned to the desk, where he picked up a sheet of paper and began shredding it into long, thin strips. She continued, ‘This is my card. If you think of anything, call me. And we will need to have a look through Louise’s things.’

He waved a handful of paper. ‘Yeah. But let me talk to Belinda, my wife, first. She gets hysterical at times.’

‘Okay. Go home, Mr Gill. And stay away from Conor Dowling, you hear?’

‘I hear. Doesn’t mean I won’t throttle the good-for-nothing with my bare hands.’

‘Let justice take its course. We don’t know that he’s done anything wrong.’ Yet, she thought.

‘I bet every cent I’ve ploughed into my business that he’s involved.’

‘Don’t go near him,’ Lottie warned again, and made for the door as Boyd opened it.

‘One other thing,’ Gill said. ‘You said you found Louise in an apartment.’

---