Page 57 of Her Deadly Promise

Briggs entered. ‘A solicitor has just arrived and he’s asking for our suspect on the Billie and Nadia case.’

Gina turned back to the team. ‘Jacob, could you take him to Anderson and everyone else, you know what you need to do.’ The group dispersed and Gina followed Briggs out into the hallway and through to the kitchen. ‘Sir, wait.’

‘What is it, Gina? Come to sabotage my relationship again with more accusations?’

‘I’m sorry. I should have minded my own business, but I still care, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.’

He shrugged. ‘The only one hurting me is you. I trust Rosemary, I really do. She wants to be with me. We’ve moved in together and everything’s going well.’ He really was in denial and Gina couldn’t do anything about it. She shouldn’t have spoken to him so sharply but there was no way of getting through to him. ‘Haven’t you got a missing woman to find?’

He stormed out, leaving her with an emptiness that she knew would be hard to fill. A lump formed in her throat. It really was over. Gina knew what she’d seen. Briggs was right though. She shouldn’t be in the kitchen talking to him about his personal life when Nadia Anderson was missing. She’d do her job, go home and trawl the net for escort services. But right now, she had a suspect to interview.

FORTY-ONE

Edward Anderson remained tight-lipped as his designer-suited solicitor had recommended. Gina had asked all the questions, but none had been responded to.

‘Where were you on the afternoon of Billie’s murder?’

‘Where were you this afternoon, between two and three fifteen?’

‘Who purchased the hot tub on your behalf?’

‘Why are your fingerprints on Billie Reeves’s gate lock?’

‘Where is your wife?’

‘Where is the knife?’

The questioning went on and on, but Anderson ignored her. All he could do was stare at the wooden table that divided him and his solicitor and Gina and Jacob.

‘Mr Anderson, you’ve been arrested on suspicion of Billie Reeves’s murder and the kidnapping and assault of your wife. You have nothing to say at all?’

He cleared his throat. ‘Find my wife.’

‘Why don’t you tell us where your wife is?’

He slammed his fist on the table, the recorder jumping, and everyone stared in silence. ‘Because I don’t know where she is. I did not murder Billie Reeves.’

‘But you won’t tell us where you were on the day of her murder.’

‘I didn’t do it.’ He shook his head.

His solicitor whispered in his ear. The suave man pushed his glasses up his nose and removed his pocket square. He took a moment to dab his brow before speaking on his client’s behalf. ‘Mr Anderson has nothing further to say. The onus is on you to make sure your case will stand up in court and it must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, but you have doubt.’ The man leaned back. ‘You have doubt because you cannot prove my client was anywhere near Miss Reeves on the day of her murder.’ The solicitor re-folded the pocket square and placed it neatly back in his top pocket.

Gina slapped the pages of her notebook closed. They weren’t getting anywhere. Maybe a search of his house, businesses and car would get the ball rolling.

Jacob turned to the recorder. ‘Interview terminated at twenty forty-five on Friday the seventeenth of June.’

Feeling her fingers itch with frustration, Gina needed to get out of the room. They had so much evidence. Either Anderson was refusing to confess, and he did it, or he was hampering their case by not telling the truth of what he had been up to. She stood and left the room, hurrying along the corridor and to her office. As she entered, the stale smell and sticky heat hit her. All day, her window had been shut, the blinds had been open, and the sun had been beating in. She fell into her chair and took a few deep breaths in her sauna of a room. She dug her nails into her arm until she felt a trickle of blood. Numb – that’s how she felt. She couldn’t even feel pain. A person with no feelings was nothing but an empty shell. Her shell was so thin, one tap and she’d crack into nothing but dust.

‘Guv.’ Jacob tapped on her door.

She sat up straight with one swift movement and forced a smile. The smile wasn’t reaching her eyes and she could see that even Jacob knew she was a fraud, a fake person with no substance. ‘I’ll be ready in a moment.’

‘Great.’ He sheepishly took a couple of steps into her office and sat down opposite her.

‘You okay?’ she asked.

Jacob placed his hands on her desk. ‘I’m hunky-dory. I know you’ll be mad if I say something. We’ve been colleagues for a long time, and I don’t want you to be angry with me… I’ll just say it. I know you’re not okay, guv, and it’s okay to feel the pressure sometimes. You’re so strong for all of us, all the time. Look how you supported me and Jennifer.’

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