Page 32 of Her Deadly Promise

On leaving, they passed the old man who tutted at the disturbance.

‘There’s a bench by the road, can we sit there? I don’t want to worry Mum, that’s all. She’s had some heart problems. One shock and who knows what might happen.’

‘That’s fine.’ Gina knew he was hiding something from his mother, and she was going to get it out of him, even if it meant taking him down to the station. A text wasn’t enough to arrest him on, she needed more.

When Shaun reached the bench, he stepped on it and sat on the backrest. Gina made a mental note that his short-sleeved shirt was fitted, and he was close on five feet nine inches. He could have been Billie’s visitor, the one Mrs Pearlman described seeing but it could easily have not been. Seeing someone from an upstairs window in the dark would make it hard to estimate the height of a person. If it was Brock, maybe Billie had let him talk to Kayden on the phone and he’d read the boy a story. That would tie in with what the other witness said. Maybe that wasn’t enough for him, so he stormed around at nearly midnight. The neighbour had seen Billie in some sort of clinch. She had to consider whether Billie was trying to escape or maybe Billie didn’t want to antagonise the man any further so went with an embrace. Or, maybe Mrs Pearlman couldn’t see what was going on as well as she thought. So many maybes.

‘What’s this about Billie?’

‘Billie Reeves was found murdered in her house yesterday afternoon. We’re speaking to everyone she knew and you’re Kayden’s father.’

For a few seconds he almost choked on his words and had to stop trying to talk. Either he was a great actor, or this was the first he’d heard about it. ‘Bloody hell, I had no idea. I don’t get it.’

‘Do you watch the news?’

He shook his head. ‘Nah.’ He stared at the bench slats below and closed his eyes for a few seconds. ‘I can’t believe she’s gone. Who did it?’

‘That’s what we’re trying to find out.’

He stared at Gina. ‘You think it’s me, don’t you? I’m an easy target. Father denied access, a bit angry and I’ve suddenly turned up in her life.’ He scratched his head. ‘It wasn’t me. I would never hurt her. I was just letting off steam, that’s all.’

In Gina’s eyes, he’d already hurt her by not being a father to their son. ‘Why didn’t you want to speak in front of your mother?’

He spread his legs on the bench and leaned over, his chin almost reaching knee level. ‘She doesn’t know about Kayden. I’ve never told her.’

The poor woman had no idea that she was grandmother to a little boy whose mother had just been murdered. Gina felt for her, especially as she seemed lovely. She could never imagine how hurtful it would feel to not know she had Gracie in her life.

‘Tell me about you and Billie?’ Gina felt the sun’s rays penetrating her neck. She took a step to the side, stealing the shade of a mature oak tree.

‘I met her when I was eighteen and within weeks, she fell pregnant. She promised me she was on the pill. I wasn’t ready to be a dad as I’d bought a ticket to travel to Australia. We were just having fun, that’s how she put it. Casual.’

‘So, you left soon after?’

‘Yes. I was a dick, and I can see that now. I was thinking of my own stupid self. For years I tried to deny I was a dad even though Billie would send me pictures and bits of video of him playing. I just deleted them in the hope that it wasn’t real. I can see why she didn’t want to speak to me when I came back for good a few weeks ago.’

‘What changed? Why did you want to see Kayden after all these years?’ Gina couldn’t help but judge him. Not only did he abandon his child, but he also tried to deny the little boy’s existence by deleting everything Billie ever sent him. Billie had reached out, gave him the opportunity to be involved, even if it was nothing more than a long-distance relationship between her son and his father. The rejection of her son must have hurt her.

‘I had an accident. I got into stock-car racing, and I had a smash up. There was a huge fire.’ He lifted his shirt and Gina took in the gnarled pink skin that covered his taut torso. ‘Anyway, all I could think about was, if I died, Kayden would never have known me. As soon as I healed, I got on a plane and came straight home. I know I should have tried to take things slowly with Billie, but I kept calling her. She wouldn’t answer most of the time. She was angry and I got that, but I really had seen the light and I knew I needed to do everything in my power to see Kayden. I’m a screw-up and I admit it, but I hoped more than anything for a second chance.’

‘Can you explain the text that you sent?’

‘Text?’

‘The one where you told her that if you can’t see Kayden, you won’t be responsible for your actions.’

‘Bloody hell, that was sent in the heat of the moment. So, I made a few calls and sent a text, that doesn’t make me a murderer. Are you arresting me?’

‘We’d like you to voluntarily come to the station for a formal interview.’

‘No worries. I’m happy to do that. I made a big mistake, one I will pay for for the rest of my life and that mistake was leaving my son and dumping all that responsibility on Billie. Right now, I want to do the right thing by him, especially as he needs me more than ever now. Can I see Kayden?’

Gina stepped under the tree a little further. ‘You’d need to speak to Billie’s parents. They’re looking after him. He and they have been through a lot—’

‘So, you think I should leave it for now? I want to see him.’

It wasn’t Gina’s place to interfere. The man sitting on the bench had never even met the boy. It wasn’t going to be the happy reunion that Shaun Brock was probably pinning his hopes on. He’d have a lot of work to do in that respect and Billie’s parents might not take his presence in their grandson’s life so well. ‘Mr Brock, where were you yesterday, between two in the afternoon and six?’

‘Walking and drinking.’

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