Page 41 of Her Deadly Promise

‘Daddy woke me up.’

‘When? Earlier? I saw your light on in the doll’s house; that was all. I turned it off.’

‘Daddy turned it on. I heard him when I was sleepy.’

‘You heard me just now.’

‘No, before when he came in earlier and turned the light on, silly.’ He paused and smiled. ‘Can I sleep in your bed, Mummy?’

She nodded and tucked him into her bed. As he nodded off, she eased herself away from his sleeping body and paced the room. Ed couldn’t have turned the light on in the doll’s house, she’d been watching him. Either she was losing it, or Ed was finding other ways to drive her to insanity. Maybe that was his plan and someone was helping him. Take her mind, take her child and then move Meera in while she festers in some facility. It wasn’t going to work. She could convince herself that she left the landing light on or even poured the wine, but the doll’s house light – she couldn’t explain that William thought his dad had been in the room. Fear prickled across her shoulders, sending a shiver through her. She would not go down without a fight and she would search the house high and low. That way, she could remove Ed’s threat against her, and she would then leave him.

She stopped rigid and held her breath as she heard a tap, low down against the bedroom door. ‘Ed?’ she said in a whisper. Hands trembling, she could barely grip the door handle as she gently opened it onto the silent landing. Placing her arm over her mouth to stop a scream from escaping, she stared at the ball that had rolled onto the patio earlier. She grabbed her phone and checked the app. Ed was driving out towards Leamington right now and was nowhere near the house. Closing the door, she grabbed a chair and wedged it under the handle before running back to the bed and guarding her precious son from the danger that lurked outside the room. Silent sobs escaped from her mouth as she tried to call Ed repeatedly, but his phone went straight to voicemail. She was alone and no one could help her.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Those were the words that kept attacking Gina’s thoughts. She should have let Briggs speak first but no, she went and wore her heart on her sleeve and now, she didn’t want to face him again, and he hated her.

Jacob pulled up on time. Gina glanced at Meera’s mother’s house to see if she could see any sign of life. Turning up at seven in the morning would catch her off guard and hopefully encourage her to tell them everything she knew. The double-fronted house on the new estate stood proudly at the end of a small drive that was shared with three other houses. As she was about to get out of her car, she spotted someone getting dropped off at the end of the long road before turning off.

‘Alright, guv?’

She nodded. ‘All brilliant. We’ve got Ed Anderson coming in at nine thirty, he got one of his employees to confirm that time yesterday, so we need to work fast. I want to get back to interview him. O’Connor confirmed that he will attend the post-mortem, so we’ll chase that update later. How’s Jennifer?’

‘Frustrated and bored. She’s joining Bernard tomorrow, but she’ll start back on shortened hours, until she gets her strength back up. Taking it one step at a time.’ He looked away.

‘And how are you?’

‘You know?’ He shrugged. ‘Losing the baby was hard on both of us.’

She reached over and squeezed his shoulder. There was nothing she could say to take his pain away, so she wasn’t about to try.

As they walked down the path a little, she heard the approaching pedestrian’s steps come to a halt behind the hedge. Gina held up a hand and pressed her finger to her closed lips. Jacob stopped dead in his tracks. Creeping back, Gina glanced around the corner to see Meera trying to hold back a clump of leaves to peer through a bush. ‘Meera, we were just coming to speak to you.’

‘Oh, I was just… err…’

‘Have you just got home?’

The young woman’s hair was a little tangled at the sides and her mascara smudged. Her deep crimson dress flowed from her waist and the little floral bag she carried looked beautifully matched. ‘Yes. I stayed with a friend.’

‘Shaun Brock?’

Meera glanced up and waved at a neighbour who was shaking his head in the window opposite. ‘Looks like we’ve woken him up.’ She walked past them and opened the front door. ‘Can we talk inside, somewhere Mr Smith can’t spy on us from?’

Gina nodded. She and Jacob followed Meera into the small hallway and through to what looked like a studio. Art supplies littered a huge bench, and an easel contained a painting of a Red Setter.

‘Sorry about the mess but no one sleeps in the room above. I don’t want to wake Dev or my mum just yet.’ She removed her shoes and grabbed a jumper from the bench, pulling it over her dress. ‘She doesn’t know I went out all night. Please don’t tell her. She constantly worries.’

‘Where were you?’

‘Am I in trouble?’

‘We just have some questions, that’s all.’ From the answers Meera gave, Gina would decide if she was in trouble. ‘Where were you last night?’

‘Has something happened?’

‘We’re looking for Shaun Brock. We have CCTV footage that shows you and Mr Brock together at the Angel Arms. Where is he?’

She shrugged and sat at the easel. ‘I seriously don’t know. If I did, I’d tell you.’

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