Page 21 of Her Deadly Promise

‘It was about four weeks ago. Things haven’t been going well between Serena and me, that’s Billie’s sister. The long-distance thing just wasn’t working. I was meant to go and move in with her. She’s studying at Liverpool, but I didn’t want to leave what I had. I confided in Billie, told her all this when her parents were out. She came by to unlock their gate and let me in to do the garden. You’d think that they’d have trusted me with a key considering that I was seeing Serena, but they didn’t. Anyway, after I’d tidied the garden up, she sat there at the patio table with a bottle of wine.’ He paused. ‘We got talking. She was so funny. She said her son was having a sleepover, so she was making the most of it. We opened more wine, and I don’t know. Something clicked, we were quite drunk. We kissed and one thing led to another. After, we both felt awful about Serena and decided it wouldn’t happen again.’

‘And did it?’

He nodded and took a swig of water.

Gina pressed the control and turned the air conditioning up. ‘For the tape, Mr Merry nodded. Go on.’

‘I went around the following Saturday night, and I stayed at hers. She told me to come when Kayden was in bed. She didn’t want him to see me in case he told his auntie. We felt awful, we really did, but we couldn’t stop it. It was then I realised I didn’t want to be with Serena, so a few days later I called her and tried to tell her it was over, but I couldn’t do it. Billie was really upset with me. We agreed that I’d finish it and a few weeks later we could officially start dating. It wouldn’t go down well but she said it was all we could do.’ He paused. ‘It’s just hit me that I’ll never see her again.’ He turned to face the wall and scratched his cheek.

‘Where were you, yesterday, Wednesday the fifteenth of June, between fourteen hundred hours and seventeen hundred hours?’

‘I didn’t hurt her.’ He clenched his fist.

‘Mr Merry, we need to know where you were.’

‘I was working on a garden on Blackwell Lane.’

‘What is the address?’

‘The Forge. Blackwell Lane. The man’s name is Mr Peel.’

‘And was Mr Peel in?’

‘No. He leaves the gate open. I do an afternoon for him once a month.’

‘Did you speak to anyone while you were there?’

‘No, but I was there. Maybe one of the neighbours saw my van.’

‘Thank you. We’ll check out your alibi.’

He snorted and finished the rest of the bottle of water in one long swig. ‘I didn’t hurt Billie. I would never do anything so horrible. I’m a cheat, I know, and I admit that, but I’m not violent.’

‘Was Billie seeing someone else?’ Gina had to know more about the other man.

Merry swallowed, leaned over and stared at the floor.

Gina nodded at Jacob, and he spoke. ‘Did you find out about the other man? Maybe you and Billie argued and hurting her was an accident.’

‘I did not hurt her.’

Gina saw the vein on the side of his face twitch. ‘But you knew about the other man?’

‘Yes, okay.’

‘Now we’re getting somewhere.’ Gina watched as he started picking his nails.

‘I didn’t want to mention him or them because you’re going to try to pin this on me. I didn’t hurt her; you have to believe me.’

‘Mr Merry, I’m not saying you hurt her, but you must tell me what’s going on. What are you holding back?’

He exhaled and wiped his clammy forehead with the back of his hand. ‘I went over one evening, it was meant to be a surprise and when I knocked, she leaned out of the window and told me I had to go. I could see the shadow of another person and she had a blanket wrapped around herself. I went away in a huff, thinking that we were over. It was the next day that she called. She told me how much debt she was in and that she’d got into something heavy, and she couldn’t see a way out. I told her there was always a way out and that I’d help her. That’s when she confessed.’

‘Confessed?’ Gina furrowed her brows.

‘To being a sex worker. She promised me that she’d pack it in immediately. I said I’d help her and that maybe we could move in together. After that, I stayed with her Saturday just gone, that’s when she told me that she didn’t want a relationship with me and that she was going to sort her own problems out.’ He put his hands on his head and gripped his hair so hard, Gina thought he might pull a clump out.

‘Did she say anything about the other men?’

---