‘And Francesca Carter. What about her?’
Alison Reed frowned. ‘He hasn’t said anything, has he?’
‘We have enough evidence already. The families of these young women deserve to know what happened. Neither you nor Mr Reed will be walking amongst the general populous for a long time. I’d be surprised if you ever will. All you have left is the truth.’
Her shoulders dropped. ‘I didn’t want him to leave me. I got drawn into his games. One minute I disgusted myself, the next, it almost thrilled me.’ She paused. ‘I don’t know where it all went wrong. I started it. I shouldn’t have gone up to Holly’s room. I can’t explain what came over me, I can’t.’ She paused and wiped her face. ‘It just felt like another game. I didn’t go anywhere near Francesca though.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘Will it help my case if I tell you everything? I can’t stay in prison forever, I just can’t.’
Gina couldn’t make any promises but she’d always note that the perpetrator had been helpful if they had. ‘It always helps to tell the truth. The courts will look more favourably on you.’
‘Trevor killed Francesca. When I told him what I’d done to Holly, he became really turned on and wanted to know every detail. I’ve never seen that side of him. It’s like I unleashed something within him, some transfixed beast. He had to try it for himself.’
Gina sat a little closer, keeping the woman engaged. The two killings had enough differences to be inflicted by two different people. She continued to listen, feeling numb to everything Alison Reed was saying. She’d experienced too much horror in a few short years and she hated that she almost felt immune to that horror. She wanted to feel something, anything. Hatred, upset, sadness – anything. All she could do was sit and listen as Alison bleated on about how distraught she was that her daughter would now know everything.
‘And the worst of it, knowing now that the baby wasn’t Trevor’s,’ she said. ‘Had I have known that, I would have stayed away from Holly but she lied to Trevor. She wanted his money to bring her baby up. She wanted to take him away from me. She wanted security and she was trying to steal everything I had. I wasn’t going to sit by and let that happen… I had to keep him. I turned into a monster.’
Gina had to agree. Alison and Trevor Reed had killed and hurt people for pleasure, for their own perversions. ‘Kerry had known Holly and Francesca since school? Those young women had trusted the Reeds.’
Alison burst into tears of self-pity. ‘They used to come and stay with us for sleepovers. Cass did too for a while.’
‘They probably looked up to you like you were a second mother to them. They trusted you and you breached that trust when you took Holly’s life and almost killed Cassandra.’
Alison’s tears began to dry up and she folded her arms. ‘I did.’ Still, Alison Reed was playing a game, a part. She had no empathy for her victims, she was just saying what she thought she should say.
All signs of emotion left the woman’s face. ‘I think I’ve said all I want to say. I did it. I killed Holly and I left Cass in the cellar, tied to a chair.’ She shrugged. ‘Make a note. I didn’t kill Francesca. Tell that to the judge.’
‘One more thing, why the carnations?’
She let out a small laugh. ‘I stared at her dead body and I saw the carnation in her room. Kerry buys me those and Trevor and I buy them for our mother’s. The Mother’s day flower. That was the closest Holly would ever get to a Mother’s day gift.’
Gina had seen enough. She had all she needed for the Crown Prosecution Service and she was ready to make that call.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Gina stepped out of her car and stood outside the Angel Arms, smiling at what Cassandra had told her. Wyre followed her closely. Several men roared with glee as one of their teammates scored a one eighty on the dartboard.
Hannah took a sip of her gin and tonic as she rolled her eyes at Gina. ‘Mum, I said I’d pop over in a bit. There was no need to come here and get me, for heaven’s sake.’
‘I’m not here for you, Hannah.’
Cass told her what she needed to arrest Samuel Avery on charges of sexual assault against Francesca Carter on the night of Kerry’s wedding. The woman had heard everything that Robin Dawkins and Samuel Avery had said after the gatecrashers had gone.
‘What’s going on?’ Hannah slipped off the bar stool, landing clumsily on her heels as she watched the scene unfold.
Even in her most painful moments, Cassandra had made sure Francesca had got justice too, even though she was helping a woman who’d made her life a misery as a schoolchild.
‘I heard them boasting and laughing. Sam had forced his hand up Fran’s skirt and she’d tried to push him away but he carried on, touching her. He went on, laughing like he thought he was some sort of stud. He kept saying women like it and they’ll do anything when they’re hot for you, that they just need convincing,’Cass had said.
She had heard everything and with the statements that Francesca and Cassandra had given, she finally had enough to make him pay for his crime. She doubted Trevor Reed’s statement would help given that he turned out to be Francesca Carter’s murderer.
‘Samuel Avery, I’m arresting you on suspicion of the sexual assault of Francesca Carter on the evening of Saturday the ninth of May. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’ With Cassandra as a new and willing witness, she was finally able to progress with this case too.
‘Not this again, this is police harassment.’ He let out a sneer and a laugh at the same time. ‘You’ve already tried that one, Inspector. Whatever. The girl is dead anyway.’ He came from behind the bar and stood next to Hannah, placing an arm around her waist and his head next to hers as he squeezed her.
He knew exactly who he was and his grin was no more than a façade. She felt her shoulders tense and her hands begin to roll into a ball. For a split second, she imagined grabbing his scarecrow hair and slamming his face into the bar until he bled. She shook her head, hating her thoughts – but he’d messed with her daughter.Keep calm, Harte.‘Another witness has come forward. You will need to come with us to the station.’ He was worth losing a hot bath over. She was going to spend the evening interviewing and charging him herself. He was hers and she’d waited a long time.
