Page 14 of Her Deadly Promise

‘Mummy, I’m hungry.’

The woman rooted around in her bag and pulled out a banana. She ruffled her son’s hair and smiled at him as she passed it to him. ‘Have this for now.’

The boy grimaced at the offering, took it and stomped up the stairs.

‘Please, come through.’

They followed the woman through the lounge and into the long but narrow extended kitchen, a far cry from Billie’s property. So many people had modernised and extended the old town centre terraced houses. The morning sun bounced off the worktop, reaching right through the skylight above.

‘Please take a stool at the worktop and I’ll put the kettle on. I really need a coffee. Would you like one?’ The woman struggled to spoon the coffee into a cup with her shaking hands.

Gina nodded and so did Jacob. ‘Thank you. There was an incident next door, yesterday—’

The woman stopped and began speaking rapidly. ‘I know, which is why I stayed at my mother’s last night. Joanna next door called me and told me what happened to Billie. I was with friends, and Billie was meant to join us. We’re all in shock. I can’t believe anyone would hurt Billie.’ She took a deep breath, like she was holding back a sob.

‘I’m sorry about your friend and I can’t imagine what you’re all going through. Can I please take your full name?’

‘Meera Gupta. Call me Meera.’

‘Do you live alone?’

She nodded. ‘I lost my husband two years ago.’ The woman glanced at a family photo on the wall.

‘I’m really sorry to hear that.’ Gina took in the young woman before her who looked to be in her late twenties. So young to be a widow.

Meera turned to spoon coffee into the cups. ‘I still miss him every day. It’s a good job I have my boy to think about. He keeps me going. Milk, sugar?’

‘No, thank you. As it comes, for both of us.’

She poured water into the coffee and the aroma made Gina’s mouth water. ‘We can’t believe what happened to Billie. She was such a lovely, wonderful person.’ She paused. ‘I didn’t want to stay here last night. The thought that someone could do that to her right under the noses of everyone living around here scared the life out of me. I mean, I was probably here, in this house while it was happening. I keep thinking of her being attacked, trying to scream while I sat here sipping lemonade with the music on. I could have helped her; I should have heard something.’ She grabbed a piece of kitchen roll and wiped her eyes. ‘Was it a burglary?’

‘That’s what we’re trying to find out and we were hoping that you could help us.’

She sipped the hot liquid. ‘I wish I could, but I don’t know anything. I’m kicking myself now for not checking on her, but I thought she was in her house, ill. She could have been dying and I didn’t check on her. Why didn’t I walk Kayden to the door and knock? It would have taken a few seconds, that’s all, but as usual I was in a hurry. She needed me and I let her down.’

Jacob pulled out a notepad and Gina tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘Meera, you couldn’t have known. When did you last see Billie?’

‘Yesterday. We walked home from school together. She said her head was pounding and she looked peaky.’

‘What time was that?’

‘Around two thirty.’

‘Do the children normally finish that early?’

The woman’s long black hair almost dangled in her coffee as she leaned over the breakfast bar. ‘There was a school play yesterday and it finished about two. We had a glass of squash and the children whose parents came to watch were allowed to leave early with them. We left and walked home together.’

‘How did Billie seem?’

‘Quiet, I guess. Like I said, she wasn’t feeling well. She gets… got migraines now and again and when she did, I’d let Kayden come over and play with Dev to give her a break. She went in and shut the curtains. I assumed she was lying in the dark, in the lounge. That’s what she normally does when she gets an attack. The boys played in my back garden for a bit but then Dev and I had to go to my mother’s, so they hung out around the front garden while I was getting ready to leave. That was about three, maybe. I was hoping that hearing them play would stir Billie in readiness for Kayden going home.’

Gina waited for Jacob to catch up and when he stopped writing, she continued, ‘Did you see Billie before you left?’

She shook her head. ‘No, I watched Kayden run through the alleyway into their garden. I should have walked him to the door.’ She paused and bit her bottom lip. ‘Did he see her?’ She placed a hand on her chest and stared at Gina as she waited for an answer.

‘No, it appears that he came back out the front and sat on the kerb. Mrs Pearlman found him, and she then saw Billie.’

Meera exhaled. ‘It should have been me that found her. Poor Joanna. Kayden must have hidden in the alleyway, waiting for me to go.’ She sniffed and turned away. ‘What if he’d gone into the house and found her? Where is he? Is he okay?’

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