Page 107 of Guilty Mothers

‘You couldn’t have called?’ he asked with a smile.

‘We tried,’ she said, looking pointedly at Tony, who pushed back his chair and headed for the kettle.

Mr Shaw beckoned for them to sit. ‘Do you want us to leave?’ he asked, looking over at his son.

Toyah immediately looked uncomfortable, and Kim shook her head as she sat down.

‘It’s minor details. We’ll only take a minute,’ she said before turning towards the young woman.

‘Toyah, we just need clarification about the time you left the pub on Tuesday night.’ She saw the look of horror that passed over Mr Shaw’s features. ‘It’s procedure,’ she reassured him. ‘We have to be sure of everyone’s whereabouts. One small detail can ruin an entire case in the courtroom.’

Mr Shaw nodded his understanding, even though his son muttered something under his breath over at the sink.

Kim ignored him and prepared to continue. She hadn’t lied. That was exactly the reason they checked the accuracy of all timings. Defence lawyers were becoming increasingly focussed on attempting to discredit police investigations to get their clients off the hook. She chose to omit the fact that Toyah was the only daughter who didn’t currently have an alibi for any of the murders.

‘You said you left at eleven?’ Kim clarified as Bryant took out his notebook.

‘Did I?’ she asked, frowning. ‘Sorry, I think it might have been closer to ten. Then we went to the Cantonese place just down the road. I think we left there around eleven.’

A little bit different to what she’d originally said, Kim thought.

As though reading her mind, Toyah continued, ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise when I was asked that I needed to detail everything I’d done that night. I thought it was a general question.’

‘Okay, no problem,’ Kim said. It was checkable with receipts and further CCTV.

‘And may I ask where you were on Tuesday morning?’

Mr Shaw frowned but said nothing.

‘I was at home, with Mom,’ she said as her eyes filled with tears.

Hmm…not so easily checkable.

‘And finally, yesterday morning?’ Kim continued.

‘Here, with me,’ Tony spat from the other side of the room.

Bryant was recording her responses for checking later. It wasn’t something Kim was comfortable with pursuing further right now. Not least because there was another question she wanted to ask before she totally outstayed her welcome.

‘Thanks for that. That’s all we need. But while I’m here, can I just ask another question?’

‘Of course,’ Toyah said, but Kim could tell that her guard was up. She hadn’t stopped chewing that thumbnail since she’d sat down at the table.

‘When we spoke the other day, you told us that you loved doing pageants with your mom.’

‘I did,’ she said.

‘And that when you’d had enough, you simply stopped and went on to other things.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Are you sure about that, Toyah? Cos we’re hearing otherwise.’

Panic registered on her face, and her stricken gaze immediately went to Tony.

‘Inspector, is this really necessary?’ Mr Shaw asked.

When she’d been asking his daughter where she’d been during three murders, he hadn’t said a word, but he was speaking up when she was asking about pageants and Toyah’s reason for quitting. Something wasn’t right.