‘Why are you here to see my mum?’
‘Can I ask how old you are?’
‘Why, have I done something wrong?’
‘No.’ Damn, she wanted to know if he was still a child but she guessed that wasn’t going to happen on the doorstep. ‘Can you tell your mum to call me as soon as she gets home? We’d really appreciate her help with our enquiries.’ The dog barked as it waddled along the hallway.
The lad mellowed at her polite request. ‘Err, yes, of course. I can do that.’ The snuffling bulldog started nudging its head between the boy’s calves. ‘Pixie, get back in now. It’s not walkies time.’ The dog did as it was told. The boy looked at the envelope again. ‘Kain wasn’t a nice person. I know a lot of people weren’t happy with him but Mum is kind, she gave him the benefit of the doubt. You should know this and I don’t think Mum would mind me saying. Something went down with his ex-wife, Sheena, and it really upset Mum’s friend, Lindy. I don’t know what happened but Lindy was crying when she spoke to Mum.’
‘Thank you for telling me that.’
‘It was about four or five weeks ago, I think. You could ask Sheena. She probably knows more than me or Mum.’ His phonebeeped. ‘Got to go, sorry. My mate’s on his way.’ With that, he closed the door on them.
‘Charming.’ Gina sighed as her nose almost touched the door, then she started to walk back towards the car with Jacob. ‘I think we need to speak to Justine ASAP and hopefully we’ll be able to interview him too. We have a connection. Justine and Lindy are friends. Let’s hope Justine calls soon, if not, I think we should come back first thing, then we need to find out what Sheena knows. It sounded like something big went down and Lindy failed to mention that when we spoke to her.’
FOURTEEN
JUSTINE
She ducked in her car as the man and woman who had been speaking to Danny drove away. She saw them holding identification up. Were they police? She checked her messages again and there was one from Lindy to her and Pia sitting in their WhatsApp group.
It’s Kain, he’s dead. He’s been murdered. Police came around earlier. Sorry to throw this at you both in a message. I had to tell someone. I feel like I’m going crazy here. First Mum, now Kain. Sorry, sorry – I’m just sad and wanted to tell you both.
Pia was already typing and a moment later a message pinged up.
I’m so sorry, hun. That’s awful news. I know you two didn’t get along but it must still be such a shock. If there’s anything I can do, just shout. You know I’m here for you. Sending huge hugs and lots of love. Xxx
That’s why the police were at her door. Why, though? Why did they want to speak to her? She didn’t even know Kain that well. Lindy had asked her to speak to him, to try to help him because she’d been through similar issues herself, but why would the police want to speak to her? Her heart began to bang fast. She checked her messages. Craig hadn’t replied to her accusation. He hadn’t even read the message. She threw her phone onto the passenger seat.
Her son, Danny, came out of the house and walked down the road with his head buried in his phone, no doubt on his way to one of his friend’s houses.
She swallowed as she tried to process how bizarre her day had got. All she kept seeing in her mind was Simeon and Craig together, making a mockery of her and Pia. She tried to push all that from her mind. There were bigger things to deal with like the police that had come to her house. At least she didn’t have to speak to them now while her stomach was doing somersaults. Whatever they wanted; it could wait.
She did a three-point turn and drove down the road and onto her drive, before heading into her house. Everywhere was in darkness. She switched the hall light on and headed to the kitchen. There was a note on the worktop from Danny, telling her to call someone from Cleevesford Police called DI Harte and there was a card next to it. She tried to swallow but struggled. It was like something was stuck in her throat. Her knees began to tremble slightly. The last time she’d been in a police station was when she got arrested for shoplifting while drunk at sixteen. She shivered, not wanting to think back to her past and the amount she used to drink back then. At least she only got a caution.
Pixie barked. Justine opened a tin of dog food and fed her, that’s when she noticed that the light was on in the garden room. ‘Damn you.’ She had told Danny so many times to turn the light off in his makeshift gaming room but still, he never listened.She grabbed the key off the hook, unlocked the back door and hurried to the end of their huge garden. The door opened as she pressed the handle. Not only had Danny left the light on – again, he’d left the door unlocked – again. She pushed it fully open to see his gaming chair positioned opposite his really expensive computer but the only thing on was his laptop.
She nudged the laptop and the screen lit up, displaying two lines of message with a gamer. She read her son’s last message to BustYourAss.
Need to talk. Can’t live with this shit over my head any longer. You have to meet me now!
All this time she’d been worried about what Craig was up to when her son needed her, and now he was out. How could she even ask him about this message when she’d been snooping? He’d never trust her again. She thought about what it could mean. Can’t live with what any longer? She grabbed her phone and tried to call Craig but the call went straight to voicemail.
She ran out of the garden room, locking it behind her, before hurrying back to the house. That’s when she heard Pixie barking. ‘Pixie… Craig… is that you? Are you home?’
The dog came in from the hallway, snuffling at her feet before continuing to eat.
Had she closed the front door? She couldn’t remember. She normally closed the front door. What if Danny had popped back? She hoped he had. They really needed to talk about that message. She walked into the hall and saw a small line of dried mud on the wooden floor. It looked like it had come from the grooves of Danny’s trainers, like always. She opened the front door and gazed out. Her car was still there and the road was in silence. She slammed it closed.
The landing creaked like it always did when the house began to get cooler. Then it creaked again. She grabbed her golf umbrella from next to the console table and crept up the stairs. ‘Danny, Craig.’
No answer. The bedroom doors were all closed. She flung open the first room, then the second and the rest until she came to her and Craig’s bedroom. ‘Craig?’ She pressed the door handle and kicked it open. Her heart banged hard and she began to breathe rapidly. The umbrella shook in her hand as she stepped in. There was no one in the room. It must have been Danny popping back for something. Her shoulders dropped and she held the umbrella by her side as she hurried back downstairs.
Pixie whined from the kitchen. Justine hurried along the hall and saw what Pixie was whining at.
A hint of pink caught her eye. She walked over to the kitchen table and picked the small pink teddy bear up and hugged it. ‘How did you get here?’ Pixie began to bark so she threw the teddy for the dog to play with. A shiver ran through her as she watched Pixie take it in her mouth and snuggle in her basket. She gasped for breath. No way would Danny ignore her when she called him, and Craig wouldn’t either.
That teddy bear hadn’t been there a moment ago. Someone had been in her house. They might still be in her house.
