Page 10 of Her Deadly Promise

‘The other guys were standing by the barbeque drinking and cooking, but he sat alone. Just after Billie told all the children a story dressed up in this funny crocodile outfit, she left to get changed. Nadia’s husband put his drink down and went to follow her in, but then he saw me looking and he went back to his drink. It’s as if he was watching her or was going to go after her. I did ask Billie what was going on, but she laughed it off and said that I’d had too many beers. I know what I saw, and that man was behaving weirdly.’

‘When was this?’

‘Only a month ago, May the fifteenth.’

‘Do you know his name?’

‘No, sorry.’

‘What does he look like?’

‘Muscular, he plays rugby, I remember that much. He was throwing a rugby ball to the kids earlier that day, showing off a bit as he dived and rolled over the lawn. He was definitely looking at Billie. I don’t care that she thought I’d just had a few too many. I know what I saw.’

‘How tall is he?’

‘I don’t know. Taller than me but not huge. I’m five ten.’

‘Is there anything else you can tell us that might help?’

‘No. All I want to say is, please find who did this to Billie. They deserve to rot in hell. Nothing is ever going to be the same again.’ He glanced at his phone. ‘I need to go home. Kathleen needs me.’

Gina stood. ‘Thank you so much for coming. I know this must have been hard.’

‘Do you have children?’ He stood and pressed his lips together.

Gina nodded. ‘I have a daughter in her twenties and a granddaughter too.’

‘Make sure you tell them how much you love them.’

Gina nodded and bit her bottom lip. That was something she hadn’t done for a long time. When this case was over, she needed to give Hannah a call and arrange to see Gracie. A wash of sadness flashed through her. Their mother-daughter relationship hadn’t always been straightforward. They’d had their fallouts, mostly over Gina’s avoidance of talking about Hannah’s deceased father but Gina couldn’t bear to talk about the man who had been so cruel to her, and she couldn’t bear to see his dead body at the bottom of the stairs in her mind. Having a daughter with him made her past impossible to forget, which is why it was easier not to call Hannah sometimes.

She pushed everyone in her life away, including her daughter and Briggs. In the end, they all found happiness away from her.

Wyre nudged past to show Mr Reeves out, while Gina fell back onto the chair and dropped the file on the table. A tear began to burst from the corner of one eye. She didn’t deserve to be sad. Mr Reeves deserved to be sad, he’d lost his daughter. Gina had never felt like more of a fraud. She heard Briggs’s voice booming down the corridor as he spoke about the press release. She wiped the tear away. She hated how emotional she was feeling. He couldn’t see her like this.

She pulled her buzzing phone out of her pocket. ‘Bernard?’

‘Hi, Gina. We’re still working the scene, but I thought I’d let you know that you can search the house in the morning. We’re hoping to have everything we need by six a.m.’

‘Thank you. Is it still going to take that long?’

‘You wouldn’t believe how much stuff there is and how many prints are on surfaces. We’re literally bumping into each other every time we move in this house. If we stop, it will never get done. There are also smears of blood throughout the house.’

‘Did Billie cause those smears?’

‘No, she died in the kitchen which is why we need to preserve the scene.’

‘I may see you first thing then if you’re still there. Did you find a phone?’

‘It’s odd, but no. There are no phones, no tablets, no laptops, nothing.’ He paused to allow it to sink in.

‘So, whoever was there, took them.’ That was a blow to the case.

‘I best go, I’m being called to help. The photos should be with you now.’

‘Okay, thank you for that.’ He hung up.

Billie Reeves ran a business, there was no way she’d be without a phone at a bare minimum. Gina logged on to Facebook and searched for Billie Reeves. Billie’s Parties and Candy Carts came up straight away. Gina checked out the business information and, as suspected, there was a mobile number listed.

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