Page 102 of Guilty Mothers
‘Have you found him?’ she asked hopefully. ‘Have you caught the murderer?’
‘Not yet, but we will. In the meantime, I’m just clarifying all the information we’ve gathered, and I just wanted to check a couple of details with you about Tuesday night.’
‘Of course,’ she said, covering the microphone and saying something to the side.
‘You told my colleague that you were at the Fox and Hounds?’
‘Y-Yes, that’s correct.’
‘And you left around eleven?’
‘I th-think so, but…’
The line went silent for a second before another voice sounded on the phone. A male voice.
‘Who the hell is this?’
Stacey reintroduced herself while wondering what was going on.
‘How dare you harass my sister in such a way. Do you have no sensitivity?’
Stacey felt the heat burn her cheeks. She would hate to think she’d upset the girl badly enough for her brother, Tony, to have to take the phone from her.
‘I just?—’
‘What exactly do you need to know?’ he barked. ‘What could my sister possibly be able to tell you to help your investigation?’
Stacey was no longer stunned, and she still needed to ask the question. ‘If I can check the details of Tuesday night?—’
‘Are you kidding, or are you just a fucking moron? Why the hell would you need to check that? Is she a suspect? You think she butchered her own mother?’
‘Mr Shaw, if you could just hand me back to?—’
‘I absolutely will not. Her mother was savagely murdered barely more than forty-eight hours ago and you want to check where she was when it was happening. You are despicable, and you’re not getting anywhere near my sister,’ he shouted before ending the call.
Despite being stunned at the man’s attitude, Stacey couldn’t help but notice his odd turn of phrase. He’d referred to Andrea as ‘her’ mother twice during the call. Shouldn’t he have been saying ‘our’ mother? Because Stacey was pretty sure that Andrea had been Tony’s mother as well.
SIXTY-EIGHT
‘Feeling a bit like a bloody tennis ball at the minute,’ Bryant said as they pulled up outside Horton’s Funeral Home in Sedgley.
Kim could understand his point. They were being volleyed between the dressmaker and the stylist to get the truth that should have been available from the start. For all she knew, the killer had another victim in their crosshairs and they were chasing other people’s tails.
After trying Jenna Bond’s home first, they’d surmised her absence meant she was at work. Stacey’s digging had unearthed a disturbing rumour that had been circulating right before Jenna had left the circuit for ‘family reasons’.
A bell above the door announced their arrival into a small foyer with a wall that bore the company name and framed photos of floral arrangements. With no reception desk, they had no choice but to wait to be discovered.
Kim shook her head as her colleague shuddered. The man could process the most horrific crime scenes, interrogate the most evil villains, but anything to do with the process after death disturbed him.
‘May I help you?’ asked a slim woman who appeared from around the corner.
Kim guessed her to be early sixties. Her grey hair was short and stylish, and her expression was already filled with compassion.
‘May we speak to Jenna Bond? We assume she’s at work today.’
The woman didn’t hide her surprise as they both produced their IDs. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘It’s fine. We just need to ask her a couple of questions.’