Page 28 of Her Deadly Promise

‘What are the names of her other close friends?’

‘Meera Gupta and Candice Brent. She wasn’t as close to them as she was to me, but we were all good friends.’

‘Do you know anyone who would want to hurt Billie?’

Pausing for a moment, Nadia bit her bottom lip before hugging herself. ‘No.’

Gina could tell that something was worrying Nadia, her closed-off body language said it all. What worried Gina more was that Nadia’s gaze had fallen on the toy crocodile in the fruit bowl. She felt her heart jolt as she remembered the message in the pocket of the crocodile costume. Slut. Someone hated Billie. ‘Are you sure?’

Nadia picked up the toy. ‘Yes. I’d tell you if I did.’

Gina knew she wouldn’t, but she didn’t know why. She also still didn’t know what was on Nadia’s mind, but she suspected it was her husband if Mr Reeves’s statement was anything to go by. ‘Is that your son’s toy?’

‘Yes. He likes animals.’ She threw it back into the fruit bowl. ‘My husband bought it for him. I don’t know what’s cute about a crocodile.’

That was it. Gina was certain that Nadia was covering for her husband, but she needed some hard evidence. ‘Is Mr Anderson in?’

She shook her head and sat up straight. ‘He’s working.’

‘What does he do?’

‘He owns a scaffolding company.’

‘When will he be home?’

She shrugged. ‘He didn’t know Billie, really. She was my friend.’

Gina had touched a nerve and she was determined to dig deeper, even if it was going to be painful for Nadia. ‘We will need to speak to him, though.’

‘They’ve barely met. He wasn’t normally here when she visited. Why would he know anything?’

Billie’s father had mentioned that Mr Anderson had been acting strangely around Billie at Kayden’s party. ‘Kayden had his birthday party in your garden on the fifteenth of May?’

She nodded.

‘Your husband would have met her there.’

‘But he didn’t take any notice of her, he barely knew her.’

‘Didn’t you meet at the antenatal sessions when your husband was with you?’

‘Yes, but it was me that did all the talking. He used to slink off, leaving me with her.’ She checked the time. ‘I must get to the gym. I’m a personal trainer and I have a client who works out there. Really sorry. I’d cancel but I’m trying hard to build my business up and I don’t want to lose her.’

Gina stood and Jacob closed his pad. She placed her card on the kitchen table. ‘Could you please ask him to come into the station or call us when you speak to him?’

Nadia nodded and took the card.

After a few more words to wrap up, Gina and Jacob stepped back out onto the drive and walked towards the car. ‘Did you see that toy?’ Gina asked as she opened the door.

Jacob nodded. ‘Yes, bit too much of a coincidence.’

‘We need to do a background check on Mr Anderson. Nadia wasn’t telling us something and I want to know what it was.’

EIGHTEEN

NADIA

As soon as the police left, Nadia ran to the downstairs loo and threw up the coffee that had been sloshing in her stomach. All she could hear was the thrumming of blood as her heart banged. They knew that Ed was a part of it all. In fact, they knew more than Nadia did and this proved that her whole world was going to come tumbling down. She swilled out her mouth and pressed Ed’s number, one hand on the washbasin as she tried to steady herself. The phone kept ringing out.

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