Page 61 of Her Hidden Shadow

Gina wished she could offer some comfort.

‘I want Lauren to come back in now.’

‘I’ll go and let her know that we’re finishing up.’ Gina walked toward the hall, passing the framed photos on the wall. She took in Tiffany on her wedding day. Tiffany lying on a patch of lush grass smiling up at the camera without a care in the world. She continued to the door and as she opened it, she saw that Lauren was talking on her phone.

‘Mum, I’m okay. Please leave it out. I’ll be back when I’m back.’ Lauren ended the call and placed the phone in her pocket.

‘Thanks, Lauren. You can come back in now.’

Lauren stomped over, looking slightly red.

‘I’m totally upset about everything but most of all, right now, I’m struggling with my mother. It’s all getting too much. She’s wrapping me up in cotton wool like I’m a baby.’ She wiped a stray tear from her eye.

‘She’s worried about you, that’s all.’

‘I know.’ As Lauren hurried in, she paused for a moment at the photo wall and her gaze lingered on the wedding photo. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do without him. A part of me hates him for what he did to me with Sienna. I mostly feel sorry for Dora. That little girl deserved more.’ A tear drizzled down her cheek. ‘I was so excited to be marrying him but right now, I feel nothing.’ She stared at a photo of the huge cut bark in the middle of some woodland and furrowed her brow.

‘Are you okay?’ Gina wondered where her mind had wandered too.

‘Huh, yes.’

‘Do you recognise that place?’

‘Everyone does. That large stump is a bit of a feature at Bluebell Woods. Loads of people Instagram a photo of themselves there.’ Lauren cleared her throat and wiped her eye. ‘I hoped that Robbie and I would get a dog and walk it there. You know when you dream about nice things, and you hope those dreams come true?’ Lauren glanced at the photos one more time and turned to the living room. ‘None of us are okay but we keep going.’

Gina glanced at the photos again, especially the one of the tree stump, then she shook her head. Her phone beeped. She read the message from Briggs.

Mr Shields is at the station, and he looks really worried.

Forty-Six

Gina trailed behind Collier to the interview room. As Jacob hadn’t yet been charged, there was still a chance. Sullivan came from the opposite direction through the corridor, then she nodded to Collier to enter the interview room alone.

‘What?’ Gina asked, sick of keeping up a pretence. She had no time for Sullivan and Sullivan had no time for her.

‘He did it, you know. You might be living in denial, but I’ve interviewed him myself and I know a killer when I see one. They’re often the nicest of people. You know that.’

Gina shook her head. ‘So what if he lived in the area at the time of Hazel Blackford’s attack and he had opportunity when it came to Sienna’s and Robbie’s murders, but you don’t know him like I do.’

Sullivan led her into the room next door and slammed the door. ‘Gina, Gina, Gina. Juries can be convinced to deliver a guilty verdict if the circumstantial evidence is strong enough. In this case it’s there and it’s strong.’

‘But the blood at Hazel Blackford’s house. Did it match Jacob’s?’

Sullivan didn’t answer. ‘I know about your case, your past. You lost your husband when your daughter was a baby. Tragic accident. I read all the details.’

Gina swallowed. She allowed Terry to die after nudging him down the stairs when he was about to hit her. The moment he first attacked her flashed through her mind, a back-handed slap across her face that landed so hard, she flew across the kitchen floor.

‘People are capable of more than you think. We both know that.’

‘What are you trying to say?’

‘Nothing. Just that you had it hard, I realise that. I respect how far you’ve come but look at you. When you worked for me, you were sloppy, and it’s the same right now. You can’t see a killer when he’s staring you in the face. I see right through them.’

Sullivan’s stare reached right into Gina’s heart. What was the woman trying to tell her? Could she see that Gina had let Terry die?

Thoughts flashed through her mind. In her nightmares, Terry still taunted her, and everyone knew what she did. They kept saying that her past would catch up with her just like Jacob’s was catching up with him now. She saw her ex-mother-in-law, Hetty, telling her that she’d never see her granddaughter again and how Gina had ruined both of her sons. She saw Terry’s brother, Stephen, as he vowed to kill her one day for sending him to prison and threatening to frame him for another crime. Did Sullivan really see all that?

‘I see right through you, Harte.’ Sullivan opened the door and walked out.

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