Page 68 of Her Deadly Promise

‘Maybe Nadia found it and took it to work or wore it out and lost it. That happens. This isn’t relevant. I have nothing more to say about hair clips. How is my wife? I want to see her.’

The solicitor placed an open hand, shielding his whispers and Anderson whispered back. ‘There is something important my client wishes for me to tell you and he doesn’t wish to say anything else.’ The man pulled out a legal pad, covered in the neatest cursive handwriting Gina had ever seen. ‘The blood on the knife that you have in evidence. My client knows who it belongs to and he’s willing to provide any samples you need to prove that.’

Gina furrowed her brows. ‘Whose blood is it?’

‘It’s mine.’ Anderson ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I want to report a case of domestic abuse. My wife lost her temper one night and stabbed me with that knife. Her fingerprints are on it also.’ He stood and began pulling his T-shirt over his head. Amongst his ripped muscles, he pointed to a jagged scar on his upper arm. ‘This scar will match that knife, if there’s any way of telling. I didn’t go to hospital, so you won’t find any records. I bandaged it up and hoped for the best. It took forever to heal and at one point, I thought it was infected.’ He licked his lips. ‘Despite everything, I love Nadia and I’m concerned about her. I’ve been told she’s in hospital and is in a critical condition. I need to leave here. I need to be with my son, and I need to be out for when Nadia comes home.’

That had confused the case and without being able to speak to Nadia, things were getting ever more complicated. Gina placed the memory stick in a laptop. ‘For the tape, I’m playing Mr Anderson a video of Nadia Anderson speaking, and I’m showing him a selection of photos showing bruising and cuts to Nadia’s body. The video contains audio.’ She watched him as she played the video, followed by the photos. ‘We found a memory stick amongst your wife’s belongings in a locker at the leisure centre and it contained this video and these photos. She’s scared.’

‘It’s all an act and those bruises, she does them to herself.’ The solicitor’s eyes widened as he whispered into Anderson’s ear. ‘I have nothing more to say.’

‘Did you take Billie Reeves’s tablet?’

The man stared directly into Gina’s eyes and remained tight-lipped, then he whispered to his solicitor. ‘My client doesn’t know anything about a tablet.’

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

‘Okay, I just went over one day and she was all agitated so I locked the gate. I told her to keep away from Nadia, that’s all. I did not hurt Billie then or at any other time.’

‘When was this?’

The solicitor stared at Mr Anderson before whispering in his ear. ‘My client has nothing more to say.’

Gina glanced at the last photo and on Nadia’s back was what appeared to be the curve of a nail dug into her flesh so hard there was a trickle of blood. There was no way her own hand could have got into that position, which meant at the very least Anderson was lying about that injury. ‘Edward Anderson, I’m arresting you on suspicion of assault on Nadia Anderson. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’ The knife and Anderson’s claims had thrown her but for now, she’d bought them more time to investigate. They needed Nadia to make a recovery, wake up and tell them who tried to kill her. She also needed to get the blood sample checked against Anderson so she could deal with his accusation. She checked her watch. Serena Reeves would be waiting.

FIFTY-THREE

CANDICE

‘You soon called the police about Serena,’ Gavin gripped her arm.

‘But this is different. I’d never do anything to break our family up.’

He dropped her arm and began to pace. She should have left his office, ran as fast as she could and removed herself from the situation, but she couldn’t. It was as if her pumps were made of lead and her bones were stiff. She had to do everything she could to fix things. That’s what she always did. She fixed things. She fixed people, problems and herself when the situation called for it. She tried to tell Nadia that breaking confidences was a bad thing to do but half the time, Nadia didn’t even seem aware she was doing it. Even Candice had pleaded with Billie to stop selling herself, but it was to no avail and then Billie stopped answering her calls and sitting at the furthest end of the table when they met as a group. It was inevitable that something bad would happen and her husband had been right in the middle of it. Right now, she needed to plead with him to calm down. ‘Gavin,’ she shouted. ‘Can you keep still for just a minute? You’re driving me insane.’

‘Keep still. Really. Those detectives will be back any minute, you know that. You heard them. They have found Nadia’s body. I’m sorry about the hair clip, I really am. Stupid prick! I don’t know what came over me. I saw it in their house when I got Poppy from William’s bedroom, and I took it.’ He hit his forehead with an open palm with an angry grunt.

They were really in a bad place, and it was set to get worse, fast. Her vision wavered like she was standing on a turbulent plane and the walls felt as though they were closing in, walls expanding and contracting with her heavy pulse. If she had to stay in his office a moment longer, she’d faint. ‘We need to get out of here. I need to get out of this house.’ She ran out of his office, gasping as she grabbed her bag.

‘Where are you going?’ He chased after her, just missing out on grabbing the back of her top.

‘Anywhere. Away from this house.’ Where were the car keys? She fumbled in her jacket pocket and in the bowl of junk by the front door where her nail pierced an overripe peach. She held her hands up and pummelled his chest as she burst into tears, letting everything out. It was his fault and she hated him.

He held her tightly. ‘I stuffed up. I’m sorry and I’ll do anything to keep our family together. Anything. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Yes, I wasn’t home on Tuesday night and yes, I was at Billie’s. I won’t lie to you.’

Too late. He’d already lied too many times.

‘Why did you have to go looking, why?’

‘Because the truth matters.’ She sobbed into his T-shirt. ‘You’re a liar.’

He leaned back. ‘I am and I hate myself right now, but I’m not a murderer. I did not hurt Billie, ever. You know me. You know I couldn’t do that.’

‘Do I?’ She held her hands up and dropped them to her sides. ‘Why did you go with her?’

‘Don’t ask me to answer that.’

‘I deserve the fucking truth, all of it.’

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