What would Gina do? What could she do? Two consenting adults in a room together. He was too old for her, too sleazy. He was everything bad she could think of. Was he her daughter’s and granddaughter’s future? She hated him. All the times the police had been called to his pub because he’d inserted himself into some woman’s marriage and been punched by a jealous husband. Then there was the story during the case of missing Deborah Jenkins. One of her friend’s had said Deborah had been petrified when Avery had assaulted her, but Deborah never reported it. After the case had been closed, Deborah herself had said she just wanted to forget that moment with all that had gone on. The man in front of her was trouble and now he was in her daughter’s life.
‘He’s dangerous, Hannah. You need to tell him to go.’
Her daughter stared hard at her. Gina glanced around the room. There weren’t clothes everywhere, no underwear on the floor. The bed looked made, but what was he doing here? Her daughter had had a drink. She knew exactly what he was doing. She inhaled the faint smell of rum, Hannah’s favourite and spotted the empty miniature bottle on the bedside table.
‘Mum, you’re making a fool of yourself. Just go. Please.’
‘You heard what she said.’ Samuel stepped forward and went to grab Gina’s wrist.
‘Don’t you dare touch me or I’ll take you in for assault.’
He held both hands up. ‘You look a little shaky. I was just going to steady you, that’s all.’
‘I’ll be keeping an eye on you.’
His flowery blue shirt barely touched his non-existent skinny waist. Blue shirt. Her mind flashed an image before her. When Lilly Hill was looking through Holly’s letterbox, she caught sight of a blue shirt in the hall mirror.
‘That sounds like harassment to me. I suggest you go and leave us to it. Have I hurt you, Hannah?’
Hannah shook her head.
‘Did you invite me in?’
Hannah nodded. ‘Mum, please go. I’m fine, see. All is fine.’
‘Fine, fine, it’s all fine.’ She had lost this one. Gina stepped backwards out of the room, her gaze alternating between Hannah’s and Samuel’s. She left, stamping her feet down every step.
‘What’s going on? If you don’t keep it down, you’ll have to leave.’ At last, the man who ran the rat-infested dump of a bed and breakfast had surfaced. His half-asleep look and dirty vest told Gina all she needed to know. An owner that took little care of his business.
‘I’m leaving and the pleasure’s all mine.’ She slammed the main door and hurried back to her car, glancing up one more time. Samuel grinned through the condensation on the glass as he slowly drew the curtains. He hadn’t been stationed at his bar all night at the wedding reception. He had opportunity to kill Holly. He had now been bumped up to the top of her list. As soon as she’d attended Holly’s post-mortem, she would be heading straight over to the Angel Arms. One thing was for sure. With Gina turning up like that, Hannah was safe. There was no way he’d hurt her now, not tonight. She pulled at her knotty hair and hit the steering wheel. Samuel Avery had crossed a line when it came to her daughter.
Chapter Twenty-One
Snaking the car through the deserted country roads, Gina took each corner a little too quickly. She felt the car skid slightly as she took the last bend that led to her house, tyres screeching as she pulled onto her drive next to Briggs’s car. She got out and slammed the door, stepping close enough to the house to activate the security light.
‘I thought you had stood me up.’ He grabbed a bag from his front seat. Gina could smell the Chinese food escaping.
‘I’m not hungry.’
‘It’s been a long day—’
‘I know, I know. It’s been a long day for all of us.’
He followed her to the house as she opened the door and walked in, leaving him to close it. The cat meowed. ‘Okay, Ebony, I’m getting your food now.’ She hurried to the kitchen and began slopping a pouch of cat food into a bowl. Without any gesture of thanks, the cat greedily tucked into the meaty chunks.
‘Has something happened?’
‘You could say that.’ Gina turned away and faced the back door, fighting a tear of anger. Was she upset? Was she angry? Both. She was everything all at the same time. Confused. Never in a million years would she have expected the biggest sleazebag in Cleevesford to be in her daughter’s room.
‘Gina, what’s happened? You can tell me.’ He placed one of his large shovel-like hands on her shoulder. He was hefty but so gentle. That was something she had loved about him and possibly still loved about him.
‘You know I had a bit of a falling out with my daughter?’ She turned around, hoping that he wouldn’t see the remnants of the tear that she’d just wiped away. There was no tear but she knew her eyes would have that watery look about them and he’d know.
‘You mentioned that earlier.’
‘She’s staying at the Cleevesford Cleaver. She wasn’t answering her phone and I got worried so I drove over after work.’ She grabbed the tea towel off the side and wiped the worktop with it. ‘When I got there, my daughter was in her room with no other person than Samuel Avery and I lost my temper.’
He placed an arm around her and she crumpled into his chest. ‘He’s a despicable human being. I can see why you’re so upset. You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?’
