Page 71 of Her Hidden Shadow

Fifty-Seven

Tiffany

‘Are you able to speak?’ DC Wyre asked again. This time her words sunk in.

Tiffany nodded. ‘Yes, but I feel as though my tongue is too big for my mouth,’ she slurred.

‘Just do your best and if at any time it gets too much, just say.’ The detective smiled warmly and took a seat next to Tiffany’s bed.

‘I didn’t try to kill myself. They said I did.’

‘What happened?’

‘I drank some water out of the fridge and took my tablets, then, I don’t know. My dinner tasted funny. Everything tastes funny. I felt weird and woozy. I was scared as the police officer was gone and then I managed to shut myself out of the flat.’ She scrunched her brows. ‘I went around the back and climbed in through the window.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t know if I’m telling you all this in the right order.’

DC Wyre scribbled a few notes. ‘That’s okay. We can go through it all again, when you’re feeling a little better.’

‘I nodded off, then I woke up and saw the wine on the table, so I drank it. I couldn’t remember opening a bottle of wine but I was convinced I had. Then I got worse. My head was fuzzier, and I heard a voice as I drifted off. Someone was there, behind me.’

‘Who?’

‘I’m coming to that. I know who killed Sienna Moorcroft. I was there.’ She cleared her throat as she tried to recall her mixed up half dreams. ‘I was the woman on her street that you’re looking for, the one in pyjamas. I’d sleepwalked and I thought you’d blame me because I couldn’t remember anything. I think I followed him.’

‘Who?’

Tiffany ignored that question, needing to get her thoughts out as they were coming to her. ‘The front door was on the catch, and he went in. Then I’m not sure what I was doing but Robbie then returned. This is when it gets patchy. After that, I remember Kieron’s hand holding mine as he led me back into our flat.’ Tears fell down her cheeks. ‘All this time, I thought he loved me, but he’s been hurting me.’

‘Your husband?’

Tiffany nodded. ‘Yes, it was Kieron. He killed Sienna and he’s going to try to say that I’m mad and shouldn’t be believed. He’ll say that it’s the tablets and the wine, but I didn’t pour the wine, he gave it to me. And he prepares all my tablets. He makes all my food. I wanted to cook once, but he wouldn’t let me. He said I was too unsafe in the kitchen, but I think he’s been trying to slowly kill me.’ The detective stopped writing and waited for more. ‘Something clicked when Lauren came earlier. She’d never been to my place, and she’d never met Kieron, or so I thought. She kept staring at my wedding photos and the tree stump, where he proposed to me, she took those words out of my mouth as if she knew, but I’d never told her. At first, I thought I’d imagined it but later after she’d left, I heard a whisper, and the voice told me it would all be over soon and the last words I heard before waking up here were, goodnight forever. My own husband tried to strangle me all those years ago. He must have left that stag party, attacked me, and drove right back. I think he’s been drugging me and controlling me ever since. Please don’t make me go back to him, please. I’m not mad. It’s the truth.’ Tiffany couldn’t hold back the sobs.

Fifty-Eight

As Gina followed the screaming, her hands shook. She flinched as a fox darted from behind a tree before vanishing off behind another. She clambered over the stony floor and slipped as she stepped on a bit of slimy moss. The wind whipped up, distorting the sound of Lauren’s cries, sending an eerie wailing through the woods. She checked her phone and again, the charge had gone. Although, she doubted she’d even have a signal anyway.

As she reached a run of hard, flat, mud, she began to jog closer to Lauren. A faint light bled through the trees. She turned her torch off and crept closer and closer until she reached the clearing with the tree stump.

‘You’re just the same as all the rest,’ he yelled as he pushed Lauren to the stick covered ground. Then he dropped to his knees and pulled his belt off. He dragged it around Lauren’s neck and sat behind her.

‘Please, don’t hurt me. You don’t want to do this.’ Lauren sobbed and tried to pull at the belt.

‘Oh, but I do. I want to hurt you so bad. I want to tighten this belt and watch your eyes pop out of their sockets. And I’ll laugh as you beg me to stop, while your hands flail but ultimately, you are powerless.’

‘I thought you loved me,’ Lauren managed to blurt out.

Gina fought the sickening feeling rising in her gullet and stepped out from behind a tree. Lauren had been having an affair with Kieron and it had led to this moment. He’d meant to kill her, not Sienna. Had she rejected him in favour of remaining with Robbie. Or maybe it was her marriage announcement that started it. She couldn’t wait for backup. If she waited a moment longer, Lauren would be throttled. Her gargling attempts at crying made Gina shudder.

‘Kieron, it’s over. You’re surrounded.’ That was a lie, but she had to commit now. She couldn’t let him know that she was alone. ‘Please, let Lauren go.’

He huffed. ‘Let this bitch go, never. I’m prepared to go down for her.’ He lifted her up using the belt like it was a lead. Now, Lauren was in front of him, and he was using her as a shield.

‘Kieron, there is no way out. We’ve found your car. Lauren’s mum, Nancy, told us everything.’

He furrowed his brows. ‘Hear that, Mummy has been rubbishing me again.’ He looked back at Gina, and he glanced beyond. ‘There’s no one out there, is there. You’re all alone. If there was, they wouldn’t let me do this.’ He wrenched the belt and Lauren began to flail, trying to grab him but not even being close.

‘It’s over.’ Gina pressed her lips together and took a step closer to him.

‘Get the hell back or I swear I’ll snap her neck off clean.’

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