Page 12 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘That man is a nasty piece of work. She’s been seeing… had been seeing him for a few months. He kept pressuring her to move in and she tried living with him for a couple of weeks, but he’s as jealous as they get. He was also trying to get her to part with her money too. Sienna had been saving for a house deposit and she had about thirty thousand pounds. Anyway, as soon as she moved in, he wouldn’t let her go anywhere apart from work, so she escaped and came back here. After she left, she had to get a new phone number because he kept ringing non-stop.’

‘When was this?’

‘About a month ago. She left him mid-December. I could tell though when they first started dating that he was no good, but she was taken in by his charm. I saw the change in her though. She stopped being her bubbly self and began dressing differently. He didn’t like her wearing make-up.’

This had opened the investigation up even more. Now they had a jealous ex to contend with. ‘Do you have any more details on Gerard?’

‘Yes. He’s about five ten, blond, tanned and fake teeth. Not false, they’re more like veneers.’

Gina had hoped for more. ‘Do you have a surname or place of work?’

‘No to the surname but I know she said he worked in the same line of business as she did. He worked in facilities management, and she did admin for the alarm company that they used.’

‘Where did Sienna work?’

‘Brunswick Security. She was trying to save a deposit for a house by living here. I’m sure her work would know who he was.’

That was another avenue they’d have to pursue. Gina’s mind was full of further possibilities. Gerard could have been following her. She then pictured a man with veneers turning up at Robbie and Lauren’s bungalow, catching Robbie and Sienna together before killing Sienna in a jealous rage. Gina bit her lip. If that was the case, where was Robbie and where was Sienna’s car? ‘What does Gerard drive?’

‘A huge black saloon, a Merc, I think. But he’s also turned up in a black four-by-four before.’

‘What time did Sienna go out yesterday?’

‘I’d say about four. She was all dressed up in this short black number, said she was meeting someone. She claimed she was going out with friends, but she didn’t elaborate. In my heart, I just hoped it wasn’t Gerard. I had a feeling she might have been seeing someone else, someone new but that’s only a thought.’

‘Did she leave in her car?’

The woman shook her head. ‘She caught the bus because she said she’d be drinking later that night.’

‘Where is her car?’

‘It’s the old blue Fiat parked on the road, the one with the cracked bumper.’ That had blown out their theory of Robbie Shields taking Sienna’s car to get away from the crime scene. She made a mental note to let the team know that they were no longer looking for Sienna’s car in their search for Robbie as soon as she left.

‘When was she expected back?’

‘About midnight. When she didn’t come home, I just thought she got lucky. I’m not her mother so I don’t monitor her comings and goings. She’s in her twenties. But I was a bit fed up she didn’t call because, you know, I thought at the time she was taking advantage of my good nature. Now I know what happened, I feel awful to even think that. Poor Sienna. Have you told her parents? They moved to Sheffield a couple of years ago to be closer to his elderly mother.’

Gina nodded. ‘Yes. What did you mean by taking advantage of your good nature?’ That statement had confused her.

‘Well, her daughter, Dora, is upstairs in bed. She’s still sleeping.’

‘Sienna has a daughter?’

‘Yeah. She’s four. I look after her a lot. She’s a sweetheart.’

‘Is her father around?’

‘No, her dad was a soldier, died before she was born. He and Sienna had only been dating a couple of months when she fell pregnant, but they were happy. Problem was, he never came home. Died in Afghanistan. Dora has now lost both parents. What am I going to do? How do I tell her?’

Before Gina had the chance to say another word, Patsy’s phone rang. ‘It’s Sienna’s mother.’ Gina nodded to Jacob. They went and stood in the hall while listening to Patsy offering her condolences and discussing the little one.

A girl began creeping down the stairs, a teddy dangling from her one hand. She rubbed her sleep-crusted eyes with the other. ‘Who are you?’

‘I’m Gina.’ She smiled at the dot of a child. ‘This is Jacob.’ She watched as Jacob interrupted Patsy by stepping back into the living room.

‘Aunty Patsy,’ Dora called out in her shrill voice.

Patsy ran from the living room and scooped the child up, tears rolling down her cheeks. She took Dora into the living room and began playing cartoons on the television. ‘You watch these for a minute while I speak to our visitors in the kitchen.’

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