Page 55 of Her Hidden Shadow

He shook his head. ‘No. The walls are thick. I could just tell by the tone and the fact that they were shouting over each other that something was going on. Saying that, it could have been the telly.’

‘Do you remember seeing him leave the house on Saturday night?’ She knew that he’d been using his own car and his mother’s saloon car.

‘No.’

‘Did you notice either his car or Ms Hale’s car missing?’

He slowly blew out a breath. ‘No, sorry.’

Someone rang the bell.

‘You couldn’t be a darling and get that for me, could you?’ He pointed to the walking frame.

Gina smiled. ‘I’m sure DI Collier would be happy to.’ Collier cleared his throat and hurried to the door. A woman made a bit of small talk as she asked for Amos, then she shuffled into the dining room.

‘Ah, Margaret. The DIs have come to ask a few questions. Have a seat. The takeaway will be here in about half an hour so we’re okay for time.’

The woman removed her duffel coat and sat next to Amos. ‘DIs? Has something happened, Amos? Are you okay?’

He nodded. ‘Yes, it’s not me. The police just wanted to know if I saw Gerard leaving his mother’s house on Saturday night. I didn’t see anything though. Maybe you did. Did you clock both cars being on the road that night when you walked Polly. Polly’s her dog.’ He turned to Gina.

‘You know me, I only walk up and down the path under the street lamps but when I was walking, both cars were there. I did see Gerard. It was about eleven, maybe eleven thirty. He stood at the window, yawning and rubbing his eyes like he’d just woken up. I waved but he didn’t see me. Then he closed the curtains. I was outside for about ten minutes more while I waited for Polly to do her business, then I went in.’

Gina felt her warm body boiling up as she fidgeted out of the way of the fire. Her phone beeped with a message. It was from O’Connor.

I thought you should know, guv. Gerard Hale’s mother sent us an email with a photo attached. She’s found her missing scarf. Apparently, it got caught at the back of her drawers. The scarf is nothing like the one used to murder Sienna Moorcroft. It has completely different flowers on it.

The room began to close in on her. With Margaret claiming to have seen Hale at the time of Sienna’s murder, he was out of the frame. And that only left one suspect. Jacob.

Forty-One

Tiffany

Wednesday, 1 February

She prised a sticky eye open and waited for her vision to focus on the time. It was just after three in the morning and her head was pounding like never before. It was like the weight of everything had hit her and… she couldn’t remember the evening again. The police went. Her heart went from relaxed to banging within a second. She jumped out of bed and opened the curtain just a little and she saw the police car parked up outside. An officer was reassuringly stuffing a sandwich into his mouth. She was safe, for now.

Grabbing her phone, she used it to light up the room. Kieron wasn’t in bed. She listened intently and there were voices coming from the living room. After opening the door, she stepped out onto the hall carpet and shivered. The heating would have gone off hours ago. ‘Kieron,’ she called.

He ran into the hallway and led her into the lounge. The stark main light made her wince, and her legs began to wobble. ‘Here, sit down.’

‘What’s going on?’

He stared at her blankly and the uniformed officer sat on the settee, pen in one hand, pad in another. ‘Can’t you remember?’ His eyes pleaded with her to think.

Bursting into tears, she knew she’d been wandering again. Her tablet packet was on the table next to an empty tumbler. A bottle of sherry that they’d had for years in the cupboard had been left under the table. She tried to think back. The news had been on but what had happened next? The room had been spinning and she’d closed her eyes, then opened them again as Kieron led her to bed. There had been an argument and she’d tried to push him. He’d moaned that he’d only gone to take a bath and when he came out… she must have drunk the sherry and taken her tablets. That’s why the night wasn’t making much sense. ‘I’m sorry.’

He stood and held his arms open. She sank into them. ‘I don’t think my wife is up to making a statement tonight. Can we do it tomorrow?’

The police officer stood and nodded. Tiffany caught a glimpse of an evidence bag. ‘What’s that?’ She pulled away from Kieron and pointed at the bag. ‘Get that out of my flat now.’ It wasn’t the scarf that he strangled her with, but it was similar enough to make her skin crawl. It looked like one of her scarves, the ones she never wore anymore following the attack.

‘We’re entering it into evidence, Mrs Crawford.’ The officer began walking to the living room door. ‘I think your husband is right. We can interview you tomorrow. We’ll make sure that an officer remains outside all night.’

With that he left her with Kieron. As the front door slammed shut, she sat. ‘How did the scarf get here?’

‘You said you found it.’

‘I what?’

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