Page 80 of Her Deadly Promise

‘I drove her to the unit, tied her up and gave her some sleeping tablets while I decided what to do next.’

‘Things had already gone too far, hadn’t they, so you stabbed her and left her for dead by the Mutt Trail?’

‘I didn’t know what to do.’ The woman stood and ran towards the door, banging it hard with cuffed wrists. ‘I want to get out of here. I need to see my daughter.’ She stood at the door. Gina knew Candice couldn’t see the enormity of her situation. A strand of her fiery-red hair fell to the floor as she sobbed like a child.

‘Interview terminated at twenty-three hundred hours.’ Perpetrator or not, it would do more harm than good to the case if Gina didn’t get Candice Brent seen by a medic and then a dentist. They had all they needed, for now. Candice had it all. A lovely home, a lovely husband and family, then one shaky moment in the relationship had turned her into a murderer.

The woman peered through her hands before wiping the snot and tears away.

‘Mrs Brent, sit back on the chair.’

The woman stopped crying and looked up in anger at Gina. Everything she did was an act, but she did sit. ‘Can I see Poppy?’

Gina shook her head. ‘No, not at the moment.’ The next time Candice would see Poppy was during a prison visit.

Someone knocked at the door. Gina hurried out and Wyre pushed it closed before speaking. ‘We have word from the hospital.’

As Gina digested the news, she took a deep breath and walked back in.

‘What are you going to do about Gavin? He took me and he tried to kill me?’

She exhaled. ‘Nothing, I’m afraid your husband has just been pronounced dead.’ Gina could see that a fight had gone down at the dog-grooming unit. Bernard told her that there was evidence of Nadia and Candice being kept in the boot. Maybe, just maybe, Candice could claim self-defence. They’d never get Gavin Brent’s statement now. She scrunched her brows as she looked at the woman.

‘Good.’ The woman smirked, then began to laugh. ‘It started with him, and it ended with him. You like it tidy, don’t you, Detective?’

The case had been anything but tidy and now that she had all she needed for the moment from Candice Brent, she needed to see what Nadia had recorded and hidden on Billie’s tablet. With Edward Anderson claiming to have been stabbed by his wife and Nadia Anderson having the photos of her own injuries, Gina needed to explore this further. She had the one photo, showing an injury that was impossible to self-inflict but she felt the video was the key to everything.

SIXTY-FOUR

Sunday, 19 June

As Gina took the long walk down the hospital corridor, she forced herself to replay Nadia’s video in her head. Hands shaking, she stopped by a window and leaned on the ledge, taking in the courtyard below. A couple of patients strolled around, dragging drips along as they walked. Nadia had lived in fear of her life, just as Gina had when she’d been married to Terry. She remembered that feeling of walking on eggshells, trying to avoid him when he was drunk, upset, angry; thinking she was the cause which made her do anything to appease him. The video had left chills working their way up her spine and all she wanted to do was go back to her bedroom, crawl under the covers and feel sorry for herself.

Nadia had been crying as she revealed her injuries to the camera, each one of them in a place no one would see. She’d claimed that if anyone was seeing the video, she’d probably been dead a while and the world needed to hear her side. She asked if she’d died in a car accident or while on a walking holiday. After confronting Edward over yet another fling with a colleague, he’d denied it. Their argument had escalated, and he’d gone out and got drunk. He’d come home in a worse mood, punched her in the breast and stamped so hard on her toe she’d heard the sickening crunch. She then went on to describe how he chased her around the house. Her limping, him taunting her and laughing as he blocked off all her exits and toyed with her like a cat. Of course, she could never just walk out that night. William was in bed.

Gina left the window and hurried to the ward where Nadia was recovering. PC Kapoor was no longer standing guard, not since Candice Brent’s arrest. The same nurse as yesterday buzzed Gina through. ‘She’s just had a cup of tea, so she’s awake.’

‘Is her mother still with her?’

‘No, she left late last night. I told her she should get some rest.’

A few plates cluttered as people ate. She passed the ward and headed to Nadia’s side room and knocked. ‘May I come in?’

‘Yes,’ Nadia replied as she placed her cup on the bedside unit.

‘I thought you should know that Candice Brent has been arrested for your kidnap, false imprisonment and attempted murder.’

‘We were friends. Billie was our friend.’ She swallowed, a tear slipping down her cheek. ‘I wasn’t a good friend. I should have kept Billie’s secret.’ She paused. ‘How’s William?’

‘He’s still with your husband’s mother and he’s fine. Your cat came back home so an officer dropped it off there too.’

‘Thank you. They’ll be okay with Lacey, she’s lovely, not like her son.’

Gina cleared her throat. ‘Can we talk about your husband?’

‘What about him?’

‘Billie’s phones have been entered into evidence, along with her tablet. Your husband is claiming that you stabbed him. We’ve seen your video. The one you left hidden on Billie’s tablet. We also have a catalogue of photos on a memory stick that we recovered in your locker and a photo of a bruise under your arm. We found that hidden in a book in your bedroom.’

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