Page 43 of Her Deadly Promise

‘About ten, maybe ten thirty.’ The times Meera was giving didn’t match up to that of Billie’s caller, but he may have popped out of Meera’s house. She only lived next door.

‘Where was he around midnight?’

She bowed her head. ‘In my bed. Please don’t tell Nadia. Ed should be the one to tell her.’

Gina doubted that Ed had any intention of ever telling his wife. ‘How did he seem?’

She shrugged. ‘Happy to see me.’

‘Did you hear from Billie that evening?’

‘No, not at all. Kayden plays with Dev a lot but not every day, so she had no reason to come over. Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t think my relationship with Ed would come into all this. He’s the sweetest guy and he’d have no reason to hurt Billie.’

Meera’s mother pushed the door open. ‘What’s going on in here? I hope you haven’t disturbed my work.’

‘Sorry, Mum. The police just wanted to have a word with me about Billie. Maybe I can come into the station later if that would help.’ Meera pressed her lips together in a forced smile and stared at Gina.

‘Yes, if you could come in and make a formal statement that would help.’ From what Gina could tell, Meera had hidden her affair and her meeting with Brock. She thought about Briggs hiding his and Rosemary’s relationship for a week or two before telling her. Did he feel as guilty as the woman in front of her? She hoped so. From what Meera was saying, Edward Anderson could not be the man who went to Billie’s on the evening before her murder but then again, Meera was smitten. Would she lie for him? ‘Eleven, this morning. Is that okay?’

Meera nodded enthusiastically.

‘We’ll expect you then.’

‘Meera, why are you wearing a dress under my jumper?’ Her mother scratched her messy bed hair.

‘I spilled something on my nightie so had to wear this.’

‘It’s too good for wearing in bed.’ She shook her head and left them to it. Dev bounded down the stairs carrying a Buzz Lightyear toy.

‘I’ll have a shower, get my son to school and then I’ll come to the station.’ She stood and peered around the door as Dev passed and asked his grandmother what was for breakfast. ‘There’s something else… about Shaun.’

Gina stood.

She spoke in a hushed tone. ‘While he was angry, he called me a slut and said I was just like Billie. I don’t like the man and I pity Kayden if he ends up with him. It shook me up a bit. With that and the threat, I didn’t know what to think.’

The writing on Billie’s wall had not been part of the information released to the public. Gina couldn’t be surer that their main suspect was Brock. They just needed to find him. Officers had been posted at the entrance of his road and outside his mother’s flat. The man had no recent connections, which was making their job harder. They had nowhere to look. She pressed her lips together as she thought. ‘Given that you’ve received some threats, we’ll organise for an officer to stay outside your mother’s house until we find him.’

‘Do you think he might come here? He doesn’t know where my mum lives.’

‘He didn’t know where you lived or which school Kayden and your son went to, but he found out. I don’t want to scare you, but I’d rather play it safe. If he comes here, we will pick him up.’

She thought back to her talk with Brock. The man also said he didn’t know that Billie had been murdered and had put on a great act to back his words up. Meera said that he knew. The man was a good liar. Gina’s phone beeped. It was a message from Wyre.

Background on Edward Anderson. He was charged with kerb crawling when he was nineteen.

So, Edward Anderson had a history of trying to engage a sex worker. The leads were getting more tangled by the minute.

TWENTY-NINE

Gina grabbed a glass of water from the fridge in the station kitchen and drank it down in one go.

‘It’s another scorcher, guv.’ O’Connor put a batch of cinnamon buns in the fridge. ‘Thought I’d put them in here or the icing will probably be like goo if I leave them in the incident room. That sun is beating through the window this morning. Mrs O sends her regards by the way, and she hopes everyone enjoys the cakes. Help yourself.’ He leaned over and put his head in front of the open fridge. ‘If only I could stay here all day. I hate this heat.’

‘Are you heading to the post-mortem soon?’ She checked her watch.

‘Yes, I best be off. I’ll report back later.’

He closed the fridge door and left. She leaned against the worktop, aware that Edward Anderson had arrived, but she needed five minutes to process everything. Briggs walked in and stood at the door. ‘Sorry, I didn’t know you were in here.’

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