Page 12 of Her Deadly Promise

‘Best friend! That’s what you call it. If she was your best friend, you shouldn’t have done what you did. No wonder she seemed off.’ He stood. ‘You let her down and you’ve only got yourself to blame, but it’s easier to blame me, isn’t it?’

Tears erupted down Nadia’s cheeks. He was right. It was her fault. Maybe she only saw what she wanted to see, allowing her own paranoia to get the better of her. Billie was perfection in every way and to top it off, she was funny and charming, a real people magnet. She glanced around her big house and at her handsome husband, but all she really craved was to have a personality that lit up a room. But no, Nadia was practical. She organised the school fete with the teacher, she attended PTA meetings and helped with sports days and school trips. She knew how to throw a social event, but she didn’t shine.

Fluffball jumped onto her lap and began to purr as she nudged her furry head under Nadia’s chin.

Ed began rooting in his pocket. ‘This is where I was, and you royally screwed the surprise up.’ He threw down a piece of paper folded into quarters.

She reached over the cat and opened it up. ‘Hot tubs.’

He nodded. ‘It was meant to be a surprise. I was going to get it installed next week while you were out, but it’s ruined. All because you don’t trust me. That’s where I was when I didn’t answer my phone. Do you know how exhausting it is, never being trusted?’ He grabbed the receipt and stormed back into the house. The patio lit up as their bedroom light went on.

She checked her phone and there was a message from Meera.

We should have kept our mouths shut. I’m a horrible friend. X

Meera would never feel as bad as Nadia did. Best friends should be trusted, and Nadia had let Billie down. She had started it. She wished Billie was here, right now, so she could hug her friend and tell her how truly sorry she was.

She nudged Fluffball off her lap and grabbed her glass and the half bottle of wine before going in and locking up. She dragged the bifold doors closed and made doubly sure they were locked. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t get rid of the image in her mind. All she could see was blood.

As she turned each light off and crept up the stairs, she stopped to listen outside William’s room, and she heard a shuffle. Gently pushing his door, she watched as he kneeled in front of the doll’s house, talking in his babyish voice as he marched the little figures around.

He grabbed the miniature plastic crocodile toy that Ed had bought him and placed it in the kitchen before making screaming and crying noises, then he went back to the boy model in the bedroom. ‘Quick, hide, Kayden.’ William pulled the blanket over the boy doll, before making crying sounds again from the crocodile. Nadia watched as a shiver ran through her body.

‘William, what are you doing?’

‘Mummy.’ Startled, he dropped the crocodile on the floor. ‘I was playing.’

‘Is the doll, Kayden?’

William bit his bottom lip and stared up at her nodding.

‘Why was Kayden hiding?’

William stood and walked over to his bed and yawned. ‘I’m tired now.’

‘William, why was Kayden hiding?’

He grabbed Dino and got into bed. She ran over and kneeled beside him, stroking his head. ‘He wasn’t hiding from anything. I was just playing.’

‘William, please tell me. I know there’s something upsetting you. Mummy can tell.’

He ducked under his sheet.

She pulled it down to expose his blue eyes.

‘Kayden said his mummy told him not to tell.’

‘It’s okay, you can tell me though.’

William pressed his lips together for a few seconds while weighing up whether to talk. ‘His mummy tells him he can’t go downstairs when he hears her screaming. It makes him frightened.’

Nadia kissed him on the head. ‘Thank you for telling me, William.’ She grabbed a book, one about a boy who loves eating cake and William’s eyes lit up as she began to read. With each word a silent tear fell as she comforted her son. All she wanted to do was take his nightmares away, as for her own, she deserved every one of them.

There had to be something in what Kayden had told William. Her mind whirred. Even the children knew something was going on. As her mind’s eye led her back to Billie, all she could now imagine was her friend’s screams as Kayden cowered in his bedroom.

EIGHT

Thursday, 16 June

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