‘What number does she live at?’
He looked up at her with glassy eyes. ‘Really?’
‘Yes, Mr Ashmore. We need to know where she lives.’
He stood, stomped out to the living room and looked out of the window. ‘I don’t know the number but she’s one, two, three doors down, on our right. She lives with her dad. You don’t need to disturb her tonight, do you?’
Gina glanced at Jacob and nodded as Noah Ashmore walked back into the room. ‘I’m afraid we do.’
‘But she wouldn’t know anything. She just babysat then went home.’
He flinched as Gina broke the silence. ‘What happened is serious, as you can appreciate.’
‘No shit. You’re telling me. I’ve lost my wife, and not only that, we’d fallen out. I have to live with that forever. The last memory of my wife was her being mad at me. She died being mad at me! We have a daughter. What am I going to do?’ The enormity of the situation dawned on the man as his shoulders crumpled. He fell into the chair, trying to hide his sobs.
‘Daddy,’ a little girl called. The tiny patter of feet came downstairs and a bleary-eyed four-year-old clutched a comfort blanket as she looked up. Noah gasped for breath and looked away, doing all he could to control his emotions. ‘Who are these people, Daddy?’
Noah wiped his face and turned to his daughter, scooping her up and holding her tight.
‘Are you sure we can’t call anyone to be with you?’
He shook his head. ‘I just need to be with my daughter for a while. I’ll call the family then. Please catch whoever did this?’
Gina nodded. ‘I’ll leave my card here, just in case you can remember anything else. We’ll call you later today about making a formal statement. Do you have a photo of Mrs Ashmore that I can take with me? We will be putting out an appeal soon but we’ll be in contact with you if and when that goes ahead.’
He leaned over to the cabinet, holding his daughter with one arm, and slid the draw open. He pulled out a small album and dropped it onto the table, then opened it to the third page. ‘Please take that one. She liked that photo of herself.’ He placed his daughter down as Gina fought to extract the photo from the static-ridden plastic cover. ‘Just find who did this to her, for me and this little girl here,’ he said as he held his hands over the little girl’s ears. ‘Right, Daddy will take you back to bed now.’
Gina’s stomach turned as they let themselves out. ‘I hate this part of the job. Hate it!’
‘Do you think he’s holding something back? He looked a little cagey when you mentioned the babysitter.’ Jacob turned the page on his notebook.
‘I know what you mean.’
Five
Tiffany Gall came down the stairs wearing a fluffy onesie, her dyed black hair stuck to one side of her face. She squinted as she came into the light, passing her father who stood anxiously, waiting for the kettle to boil. ‘Come through, officers,’ the man called, as he laid out four cups.
Gina and Jacob followed Tiffany into the kitchen.
‘What’s going on, Dad?’ Her voice reminding Gina of that belonging to a young child.
The man placed the coffees on a mat in the middle of the kitchen table. ‘I think you should take a seat, sweetheart.’
‘What’s happened?’ Tiffany pulled several strands of hair from her face and glanced at Gina.
Gina felt a trail of sweat begin to itch on the nape of her neck. Tiffany had obviously been close to the family. ‘We’re sorry to tell you that Mrs Ashmore has been attacked only a few hours ago. Unfortunately she didn’t make it.’ The girl glanced at the detectives and then at the table.
‘But… I saw her only a few hours ago.’
‘I know, and I know it’s a lot to take in. You were close to the family and their daughter Lilly?’
‘Is Lilly okay, and Noah?’
‘They’re both fine.’
Tiffany nervously began pulling at a few strands of her hair. ‘I babysat for them occasionally. I suppose we were friends. They’ve lived on this road since I was in my early teens.’ The girl went silent and began to sob.
Her dad ran over and embraced her.
