Page 62 of Her Deadly Promise

‘How about anyone else here? Have you come across any name like Benedict while investigating?’

Wyre shook her head and O’Connor said no while eating a bacon sandwich.

‘BenedictCarnY is a mystery. This user could unlock a lot about the case. Tech is currently working through all Edward Anderson’s devices and word this morning was, he has no links to the Hi There Horny website. What we still have is the knife but as yet we don’t have any results. We can’t yet confirm that the blood belongs to Billie or whether its dimensions match the knife used to kill her. We know the measurements are close.’ Gina glanced at the photo that Jacob found in the dictionary and pointed. ‘This photo was hidden in a book. Could it be that Nadia was trying to build a case against her husband and this photo was a part of the evidence? There is a birthmark under the woman’s arm so we can rule out that this photo is of Billie. Anderson is refusing to talk so it’s all down to us to build this case and I know we’re getting close, so stay on it.’

‘We still don’t have any more news on Nadia,’ Wyre said.

‘Sadly, that’s true. An appeal went out this morning. She is still out there so we have to treat everything as urgent. I want her brought back safely.’ Gina bit her bottom lip, flinching as she tore a tiny piece of skin. ‘We need to find her.’

It was easy to say but Gina knew they had nothing when it came to Nadia’s current location. No one in Nadia’s street saw her or saw anything unusual that day. No one had any useful CCTV that pointed in the direction of the Andersons’ house, which meant they had nothing useful from the neighbours. As hard as she tried, Gina could not relax any of her muscles and an ache was setting in. ‘We do have a match on the partial print that was on the emoji note, found at Nadia’s house. It belongs to Mr Anderson, but he did tell us he wrote that note so it doesn’t help us really.’

‘What’s the plan, guv?’ O’Connor rolled up his foil and threw it into the bin.

‘I need to speak to Billie’s sister, Serena. They had an argument and I want to know what that was about. It would be easy to sit here, saying we have our murderer, but we don’t have conclusive evidence against Anderson. We don’t stop until we have what we need, and we look wherever the investigation takes us. We also need to head to the leisure centre. Nadia used it for her work. She might have a locker, or she might have spoken to someone. Wyre and O’Connor, could you please contact Meera Gupta again. She was having an affair with Nadia Anderson’s husband while claiming to be a close friend to Nadia. She is also the likeliest person to crack if she knows something. Jacob, we’ll head to the leisure centre and Serena’s parents’ house.’

A member of despatch poked her head around the door. ‘Guv, I’ve just had a call and I thought you’d need to know what was said. I tried to put it through to your office, but I see you’re here.’

‘Thank you. Who was it?’

‘A woman called Mrs Brent. She wanted to report that she’d met up with Serena Reeves this morning and she asked me to tell you that Serena said that she’d argued with Billie and that she had left university and had been living in Redditch.’

Gina placed both hands on the desk at the head of the large table. ‘So, Serena lives in Redditch, nice and close to Cleevesford. She had opportunity and the argument might mean she had a motive. We need to speak to her now. Wyre, can you call Serena Reeves and ask her to come here to discuss her sister’s case, not mentioning what Mrs Brent has said? I think it’s best she comes in.’

‘Yep.’

‘And we’ll head over to speak to Mrs Brent now.’ She grabbed her bag and looked at Jacob. ‘We’ll take your car.’ There was no time to waste. Gina needed to know all that Mrs Brent knew before speaking to Serena. They were close, so close.

FORTY-SEVEN

Aisling gave her white ferret, Kooky, a little tug as he tried to lead her deep into the undergrowth. No doubt Kooky had found a hole he wanted to explore but she wasn’t up for that today. She had a shift at the coffee shop in an hour and she couldn’t afford to miss it. If she did, her dad would have a go at her, like he always did. That’s why she came out. Kooky didn’t need a walk but it saved her from hearing her dad’s latest lecture of what she should do with her life.

The Mutt Trail was one of the best trails for dog walking in the area. The mud path weaved up through the woodland and over the stream. She smiled as she passed all the clearings she used to hang around when she drank with friends, only a few short years ago.

A man with four dogs on leads was approaching ahead. The two boxers barked, and the collie cross pulled on his lead. The old terrier sat panting in the pink dog pushchair. She spotted the man’s T-shirt. Matt’s Dog Walking Services. There were always people walking the dogs of others along this track, which is why she felt safe.

‘Kooky, stop it. It’s okay, they’re on leads.’

Suddenly the boxer broke loose, and the panicked man began shouting for Rufus. As it bounded forwards, she went to grab the dog’s lead, but as she did, she accidentally dropped Kooky’s. She knew she’d done it instantly but as she turned to pick up his lead, it was gone. The barking dog wrenched her hard through the undergrowth, dragging her violently while chasing Kooky. She had to hold on to the dog. If she didn’t, he might hurt her best friend. She glanced back to the man for help, but he was too busy tying the other two dogs up while the terrier tried to jump out of the pushchair.

‘No, stop,’ she called as the dog continued to drag her lithe frame through a jungle of stingers. Then prickles on her arms and ankles hit instantly. That’s when she spotted Kooky’s lead, caught on the branch of a fallen tree. She hauled the heavy dog back and avoided the huge trail of slobber coming from its mouth as she tied it to a branch, its deep barking, relentless.

Kooky flexed and bent his neck as he tried to escape the lead and the dog barked, but it wasn’t barking at Kooky. It was barking at the hair splayed out on the hard muddy ground. The animals had known. They weren’t trying to escape, they could tell. Aisling’s hands began to tremble as she pulled back the straggle of long grass to reveal the pale-faced head of a woman. A trail of ants crawled alongside her, carrying bits of leaf.

‘Bad dog,’ the man said as he came for the boxer. ‘I am so sorry, is your ferret okay?’

She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t say a word. All she could do was stare at the word ‘Bitch’ written in red on the woman’s forehead.

‘Oh, my goodness.’ The man stared at the dead woman as he pulled out his phone.

Aisling picked Kooky up and held his wriggling body close to her and stepped back.

‘Police. We need the police. We’ve found a body on the Mutt Trail. A woman, maybe late twenties, early thirties… From the look of her, she’s dead.’ As he finished the call, Aisling felt his hand on her arm.

‘Don’t touch me,’ she yelled as she ran back to the trail. ‘Someone killed that woman.’ She glanced around until she was dizzy. Where were all the people who were normally walking? It was just her and dog guy. The trees seemed to be spinning around her and she couldn’t breathe properly. The heat, it was filling her up, like a kettle of water had been poured down her throat. As her vision prickled, she felt herself going, then she thudded to the ground.

FORTY-EIGHT

CANDICE

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