TWENTY-NINE
JUSTINE
Justine called Danny again but still he wasn’t answering. His absence was going to make him look guilty and she was sure the police would be back for more and when they did, she’d have to tell them that she had no idea where her son was. There was no use trying to call her husband again. Her marriage was over. Pia tried to call but she let it go to voicemail. She couldn’t talk to anyone right now, let alone Pia. She needed to have everything out with Craig first.
Her phone rang again and she hoped it was Danny, but no. It was Pia – again. She lounged back in the single bed in her mum’s spare room. All she wanted was to go back to a couple of days ago. She wanted her perfect life, her yoga, and… panic caused her to jolt up. She was meant to be editing a bridal shop video and she’d abandoned it. Her hands began to tremble. Had the police taken all her files and her computer? Why didn’t she think to bring her laptop to her mum’s to protect the footage? Her life was falling apart. She bit the rest of her polished thumbnail down, worried about Danny and hoping that he wasn’t hurt. A yapping noise came from behind the door. Justine was thankful that the police had handed Pixie over when she turned up at thehouse to grab an overnight bag. She opened the door. ‘You want to go out, Pixie?’
‘Love, you need to eat.’ Her mum made her jump as she appeared at the top of the stairs. For the fifth time that night her mum had tried to thrust food her way which is why she’d retreated to the spare room. This time it was a cheese sandwich. She didn’t eat carbs and cheese was too fatty. Her mum never listened though. The timing was suspicious, more like an ambush. It was as if her mum had been waiting in the hallway for her to leave her room. She wouldn’t be surprised if her mum had encouraged Pixie to scratch at the door.
‘I can’t. I don’t want to. I’m too worried about Danny.’
‘Why won’t you tell me what’s going on? Is it something to do with his laptop, the one I found in my hobby room?’
Justine shook her head. ‘No, he just didn’t want to leave it at the house because you know Danny, can’t live without his games.’ She forced a laugh and raised her brows in the hope that the questioning would end. She hated all the lies.
Her mother sighed like she always did when Justine mentioned Danny and his games. ‘He needs to grow up a bit, work out what he wants in life. His friends are all applying for uni or starting apprenticeships but I guess getting into trouble with the law makes things harder.’
As always, her mum put Danny down and Justine couldn’t blame her. Danny had got into so much trouble which is why she couldn’t tell her mum what was happening. She was staying there because of the ‘boiler leak’ at their house as far as her mum was concerned, and Craig was still ‘working away’.
‘I think I should take Pixie for a walk.’ Her mum didn’t have a garden, just a shared communal garden in which dog walking was forbidden.
‘Okay, but it’s dark. Take my torch. It gets a bit creepy out there.’
She grabbed her coat from the coat rack and popped Pixie’s harness on. ‘Thanks, Mum.’ She gratefully took the torch. Being alone in the dark would definitely creep her out. If anyone came at her, at least she’d have a weapon.
On stepping outside into the cold night, the white mist that was her breath coiled as it reached for the sky. She soon left the safety of her mum’s lit up porch for the back of the houses. How could everything have gone so wrong? Sick of Pia trying to call, she popped her phone on silent and buried it in her pocket. She couldn’t face anything Pia had to say until she had the full story but obtaining that information seemed impossible. Where was Craig and where had Danny gone?
A small path led to what her mum called the secret garden. She could just about see several bird boxes hanging from branches. Benches had been randomly dotted around and the trees around her swayed in the gentle breeze. She pulled the zip of her puffer coat up as far as it would go. Pixie yelped. ‘Okay.’ Justine bent over and unclipped the little dog who ran off behind the trees, snuffling and peeing. She felt in her pocket just to make sure the dog mess bag was still there, and it was. She could no longer hear the dog. ‘Pixie,’ she called. Pixie never went far. The dog’s little legs rebelled against too much exercise which is why she preferred to sleep on a couch all day. ‘Pixie.’
Justine turned the torch on and held it steady. She flinched at the sight of the scarecrows peering through the trees, cursing the day that some of the tenants from her mum’s community made them in the name of fun. There was nothing fun about the faces with their button eyes staring at her, all soulless and sinister, each having their moment in the spotlight as she waved the torch around. Nerves jangling, she called the dog again. ‘Pixie, come back to Mummy. Pixie,’ she said in a sing-song voice. Her heart was thrumming. She tried to breathe like she did in yoga class but it wasn’t working.
Heavy footsteps brushed the fallen leaves behind her and she held her breath. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Did she have time to grab it before whoever was approaching from behind reached her? She let out the breath she’d been holding and began to greedily gasp for air before running towards the scarecrows as fast as she could. She dropped the torch on the floor as she fumbled for her phone. The footsteps were catching up. On peering between a tree and a scarecrow, she saw exactly who was following her and for the first time in her life, she was terrified of him. The manic look on his face told her that he was going to hurt her unless she hurt him first. Bending down, she scooped the torch up, held it above her head and brought it down on his nose.
He backed away, holding his hands up. ‘Put the torch down. I just want to talk to you.’
‘Stay back,’ she yelled as she snatched her phone with the other hand. Pia was calling yet again. This time she was going to answer. ‘Pia.’
Her friend began talking at a million miles per hour.
‘Say all that again, I didn’t catch a word.’
‘There’s blood… it’s everywhere. Please come. I’m so scared. I don’t know what to do. I think there’s someone here…’ Her friend screamed and ended the call.
She stared at her pathetic husband, blood all over his face and hands, then she stepped forward and hit him again hard across the face, turned and started running.
‘Wait.’ He caught up with her and swung her around by the arm.
She went to scream but he threw her to the ground and placed his large hand across her mouth. ‘Just shut up,’ he said, saliva escaping through the gaps in his teeth and flecking her cheek.
She couldn’t breathe. Her chest. The pain. He was crushing her. Gasping, she tried to wriggle free but he held her harder, using all his weight to keep her pinned down. Her heart. The man on top of her was not the man she knew. She was looking into the eyes of a monster and he was about to kill her. She tried to fight but he was crushing her, then the wooziness took over. The last thing she felt was Pixie’s tongue across her cheek.
THIRTY
Gina left the kitchen with a hot cup of tea and headed to the incident room. O’Connor and Wyre were putting their coats on and O’Connor swiped his car keys off the main table. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I haven’t been around all day and Jacob and I missed the afternoon briefing. How did the post-mortem go?’
‘I emailed you the details, guv, but I know you’ve been busy. It put me off my Bakewell tart. I ended up giving it to Garth,’ O’Connor replied. ‘It basically confirmed what Bernard had deduced at the scene. Kain died by drowning. He did put up a defence which you’ll see when you read the report.’
‘That ties in with the murder scene at Maura Pickering’s house.’
