Page 54 of Her Deadly Promise

He sighed. ‘I do but it’s the same as here, it needs fixing. I’ve just been so busy lately; I haven’t sorted it.’

‘Did you speak to anyone at the office or on your way to or from the office?’

‘No.’

So far, the man couldn’t provide an alibi for his movements. ‘We found a note at the scene and there is a fingerprint on it. Did you print up a note that says, “Got you” on it, followed by a laughing emoji?’

He let out a frustrated roar and gripped his hair with one of his hands. ‘Yes. It was a joke. Nadia and I are like that. We leave little gifts for each other hidden in the house. Some are fun things, like earrings. She’s left me a cigar before, and jokey notes like the one you found. I know it sounds silly, but we’ve always done it and it’s a laugh, that’s all.’

‘Did you make the hole in the plaster?’

‘Yes, I put the silly note in the hole, and she must have found it. It was my turn to hide something. If you don’t believe me, there’s also a gift hidden under our bed in a little box, it’s a fancy diamanté hair clip that she had her eye on. Now I have some questions. I sneaked a look at the garage. I had to see it. Who wrote that word on our wall?’

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

‘How dare someone come into our house and…’ He clenched his fist and stared at Gina, the intensity making her stiffen. ‘You’re not trying hard enough. My wife is out there and she’s bleeding.’ He jabbed the air with his pointed index finger. ‘She’s scared and William is missing his mother. She’s hurt and…’ He began to gasp for breath.

‘Mr Anderson, are you okay?’

He nodded and placed a hand on his chest. ‘I might look brash, like I don’t care much about anything, but I do. This has knocked me sideways.’

Something screamed to Gina that he might just be telling the truth, but she needed to press him more. ‘You didn’t bring your other phone in for us to analyse.’

‘Really, you’re going on about my work phone after all that’s happening. I didn’t think it was important because Billie’s murder has nothing to do with me. I have an alibi. I was at Jimbo’s Hot Tubs. You need to take your focus off me and catch this maniac. Here, have the bloody phone. Do what you like with it.’ He pulled it from his pocket and thrust it into her arms.

She took it off him and called Jacob over. Her colleague left PCs Kapoor and Smith and hurried over. ‘Mr Anderson’s company phone, the one he said he was bringing in. Do you have any more phones?’

‘No.’

She walked across the grass away from Mr Anderson and spoke in a hushed tone. ‘Can we pull the records just in case there has been any deleting going on? We need to get into his bin folders.’

Jacob nodded as he took the phone to record the details. Edward Anderson had given it to them and said to do what they wanted with it. She hurried back to the man. ‘Thank you. We really appreciate your help. A family liaison officer is on the way.’

‘I don’t want one.’

‘The person who has your wife may call. We need to put a trace on your phone and be there if they try to make contact.’

‘Dammit. I best not bring William back home tonight. This will be too much for him. He can stay with my mother. I don’t want him to see all this.’

‘I know this is hard, but we are doing everything we can.’

‘Whatever.’ He pulled his personal phone from his pocket. ‘Do you mind if I make a couple of calls? I need to call my sales manager, get him to hold the fort for the time being and I need to see if my son’s okay. The poor boy is as confused as hell.’

‘Of course not. I’ll come back in a few minutes, then I’ll send an officer over to take a statement.’ That was perfectly timed for her to speak to Candice who was now leaning against her car, listening to someone speak through her phone. Her hair that was tidy when Gina had arrived on the scene was now a bit unruly at the sides, where she’d been twisting it around her index finger. Her little girl tugged on the hem of her dress, moaning about having to stand around. She listened as the woman spoke. ‘How long are you going to be? I need you here. Poppy needs you.’ She paused and shook her head as she wiped the trail of tears from her cheeks. ‘Just tell them you have to leave. It’s an emergency.’ The woman flinched as Gina got closer, then she ended the call without another word and the little girl cried and once again began tugging at the hem of her dress.

THIRTY-NINE

CANDICE

‘Mrs Brent. I’m DI Harte.’ The detective smiled at Poppy. ‘You can call me Gina.’

Candice put her phone back into her bag. ‘Sorry, that was my husband. He said he’d come here asap and that was ages ago. He’s just left work but should be here soon.’ She’d already told the first officer on the scene everything she knew but still, they’d insisted that she stay and tell it all again to the detective in front of her. She wiped her eyes again, leaving another streak of mascara on the white tissue.

‘Mummy, I want to go home,’ her daughter bawled.

The detective kneeled on the pavement. ‘I’m really sorry as I know it’s hot and you’ve been so patient, waiting all this time. How would you like to help that lovely police officer over there to collect everyone’s names as they arrive? He’s very funny and knows some good jokes.’

Poppy gripped Candice’s hand and gave a few more hiccupped sobs before stopping.

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