Page 26 of Her Deadly Promise

‘No… Sorry, I’m really happy for you but I just need to be on my own.’ Nadia paused for a moment. She didn’t want to go anywhere. Her instinct was telling her to hole up and stay at home, but William needed some normality. She’d go out, for his sake, especially as her little boy had Kayden on his mind. The thought of him playing with the doll’s house made her shiver. In her head, she could hear Billie’s screams as Kayden hid under his blankets. ‘That all sounds great. You’re right. We’ll get through this together. I’ll pop by for a while after school. I’ll have to be back about seven.’ She had plans for Ed and she’d wait with the wine in the chiller for as long as it took. That message he was hiding was going to be out in the open by the next morning. If she was living with a murderer, she wanted to know.

Candice’s phone beeped and she stared at it for a few seconds. Her usual rosy cheeks seemed to drain of colour. ‘I’d best go, business to attend to and all that. Can I use your loo first?’

‘Of course.’ As Candice hurried out of the kitchen, heels tapping all the way along the hallway until she reached the toilet, Nadia grabbed her phone. She quickly read the two messages from Candice and as she was about to place it on the worktop, the phone buzzed. After reading the message from a withheld number, she dropped the phone and gasped.

It’s all your fault. All you had to do was keep your big mouth shut. Watch your back, Nadia. You don’t want to end up like Billie!!

SEVENTEEN

Gina nibbled the cheese sandwich that Jacob had bought for her at the petrol station while Jacob drove them to Nadia’s huge house.

The call to Kathleen Reeves had left her feeling like there was a stone in her stomach. Telling a mother that her daughter had been a sex worker was tough. Kathleen had said how it was her fault, how she should have insisted that Billie come and live with them, how she should have given her more money to help and that she’d never forgive herself. A bit of doughy bread got lodged in Gina’s throat. She coughed as they pulled up on Mockingbird Avenue. Nadia and her husband had money, lots of it by the look of their house and the sporty-looking car on the drive. They lived in a completely different world to Billie with all her debts.

As Jacob pulled up on the kerb, she stuffed the rest of the sandwich in her bag. They stayed in the car as a woman with fiery-red hair hurried onto the drive and ran past them in her heels, too buried in her phone to notice them parked outside. She got into her SUV and drove off without looking back.

‘I’d say she looked distracted.’ Jacob opened the driver’s door and stepped out.

Gina agreed. The woman was certainly in a hurry and unaware of her surroundings. They walked past the tree hedge at the bottom of the garden and along the perfectly block-paved drive to face a tall double-fronted Victorian house. She glanced through the window. It might look period from the outside but inside, it was all different textures of white and wood, lighter and airier than expected. Jacob pressed the doorbell, and they waited on the huge step.

‘Hello,’ the woman said as she opened the door, frowning as she tried to work out who they were. She placed one hand in the pocket of her hoodie.

Gina held her identification up and introduced them both. ‘Are you Nadia Anderson?’

Nodding, the woman opened the door to let them in. ‘Have you arrested anyone?’

‘Not yet. We were hoping that you could help us.’

Gina followed the woman through a large reception hall with actual built-in coat and shoe cupboards. It smelled of leather rather than old trainers and there was no evidence that children lived in the house. She knew that Nadia had at least one child. Everything was so pristine; she could almost see her reflection outlined on the floor. She glanced at the white wall with the family photos all displayed in black frames, most in black and white. The central photo was of the woman in front of her with a handsome looking man of a similar age and a little boy with a wide smile. It looked like they only had the one child.

‘This has really knocked me for six. I don’t know who would do this to Billie.’ Nadia sat at the eight-seater dining table opposite the island and gestured for them to sit. Gina felt her neck prickling, so she undid another shirt button.

‘We’re sorry. It must be hard losing someone you were so close to?’ Gina wanted to sound Nadia out. Would she confess to arguing with their murder victim?

‘It’s been hard on all of us and my son, William, he knows his friend’s mum has died.’ She paused and stared at the fruit bowl. ‘He’s too young to know any more.’

‘Could you tell me how you met?’

‘It…’ Gina thought Nadia might cry but she took a deep breath and continued, ‘It was when we were pregnant, at antenatal classes through the National Childbirth Trust. I went with my husband, Ed, and I would always notice that Billie was alone. I made a beeline for her, knowing that she’d need the support of a friend. It’s a scary time and the thought of her being without a partner, even a friend, made my heart sink. She told me that the baby’s father had left her and moved out of the country. We clicked. She was so funny and charismatic, telling jokes that made the other mums-to-be laugh. She was like some stand-up comedian, telling it as it was but not in a limelight hogging way. It came naturally to her, and she was like this people magnet. Everyone loved her. We’ve been friends since, until…’

‘It’s okay, take your time.’

Jacob turned a page in his notebook and smiled.

‘I’m really going to miss her. We spent so much time together and our children are best friends. We’ve been through teething, walking, potty training and their first days at school together. I can’t get my head around the fact that I’ll never speak to her again.’

‘I’m really sorry to have to ask you this, but did you and Billie have an argument recently?’ Gina knew that the woman wouldn’t mention it unless she asked.

Nadia began to pick the skin on her lip before removing her hoodie. The crop top showed off her flat stomach and light golden tan. ‘It was nothing. Not really an argument.’

‘It may seem like nothing but given what has happened, we have to ask for details.’

The woman glanced at her phone and then back at Gina. ‘I said something I shouldn’t have said.’

Gina smiled sympathetically.

‘I, err… she told me something and I told someone else and other people heard me say it. She found out and she was upset with me. Rightly so. I messed up.’

‘What was it she told you?’

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