‘And Craig isn’t cheating on you. He wouldn’t.’
Justine picked her tea up to take a sip. Maybe Pia was right. Maybe the message was from her neighbour or some other horrible person who had it in for her. That didn’t explain Craig’s behaviour though, but that was a conversation for another day.The chamomile was working its magic. She needed her bed. As she stood to leave, Simeon popped back into the room and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl.
As he held his hand up to take a bite, she saw the leather-plaited bracelet around his wrist. Justine couldn’t help the unease that was building up inside her, from her dry mouth to the nausea in her throat. Craig had spent a lot of time helping Simeon set up the accounting system for the kombucha business, maybe too much time. ‘I have to go.’ She grabbed her bag and fled for the front door.
‘Wait.’
She ignored Pia and ran towards her car. ‘Sorry, I’ll call you tomorrow. Emergency.’
‘Anything I can help with?’
‘No.’
No, no, no, no, no…She punched a message to Craig into her phone as soon as she’d driven away and pulled over down the road. How could he? All this time she’d been wondering who Craig could have been seeing but it was right under her nose. Back when they met, Craig had just come out of a relationship with a man. It had never worried her that he liked men and women, as long as he chose her to be his forever partner. Pia was going to be so hurt. Craig had to be having an affair with Simeon. Why else would Simeon be wearing the bracelet she’d bought Craig for his birthday? She hit send.
You bastard. How could you?
THIRTEEN
It had been a long day and she had to fight the urge to pick her nails or pace. Briggs’s call had sent off an alarm in her head. What the hell had he been involved in?
She stepped up to Justine’s front door and used the heavy knocker. A dog barked from inside. Set in a small estate that had been wedged in between two rural villages just outside Cleevesford, Justine’s large house was where Gina thought many families might only be able to dream of living. She knew if it was daytime, she’d see rolling fields as she drove past the street, the same ones that backed onto the house.
‘Do you think they’re in?’ Jacob asked as he stepped closer to the doorstep.
She glanced up again to see if any of the lights had come on. ‘It’s dark in there.’
Jacob pulled out a slip to post, letting Justine Crawford know to contact them when she got home. As soon as he was about to post it, the dog’s barking got louder and light flooded the hallway. A teen boy answered the door.
‘Hello, I’m DI Harte and this is DS Driscoll. Is Justine Crawford in?’ She held her identification up.
He peered at it. ‘How do I know that’s real? I’ve heard of people pretending to be police then robbing things when you let them in.’ His red curls were tied up in a bun at his nape.
‘Happy to wait while you call Cleevesford Station.’ She passed him a card and he closed the door.
‘Thanks, but I’ll google the number.’ Gina was more than happy to wait, it gave her a moment to stare at her personal phone in the hope that Briggs called again. No such luck. A couple of minutes later, he opened the door again. ‘Okay, you’re the real deal. What do you want with Mum?’
Gina let out a slow breath. ‘I’m afraid we can’t discuss it with you. We really need to speak to your mum.’
‘But she’s not here.’
‘Do you know when she’ll be home?’
He shrugged. ‘Could be anytime. She’s probably out with one of her yoga friends.’
‘Do you have a number for her? The one we have is no longer in use.’
He stood silently and frowned. ‘I don’t know. She doesn’t like me giving her number out. Can you come back tomorrow and talk to her?’
‘Do you know which friend she’s with?’
‘No.’
Gina glanced at an envelope sitting on the console table and it had Kain’s name on the front. The boy clocked what she was looking at. ‘Is it about him? I know he’s always in a lot of trouble. Mum’s trying to help him.’ He placed his hand over his mouth as if he’d said something he shouldn’t have.
The dog barked and scratched from behind a door. Justine’s card had been found in a hoodie pocket at the crime scene and the hoodie could easily be a fit for the tall, burly lad in front of her. It could have even been worn as an oversized garment ona smaller frame. She thought of Briggs. She’d occasionally worn his T-shirts and hoodies and they’d almost swamped her.
The business card in the pocket could be seen as nothing more than circumstantial at this point in the investigation. She had to speak to Justine before making any decisions about interviewing the lad in front of her, or anyone else other than Justine. Besides, what would his motive be, when it came to killing Kain? Maybe the answer lay in the envelope. Maura’s neighbour, Joyce, had mistaken the killer for Kain because the person loading the car had been wearing Kain’s cap. Anyone could have been wearing that cap.
