The Next Girl(Detective Gina Harte #1)(67)

She smacked the side of Terry’s head, but he didn’t even flinch. A grin spread across his face as he pinned her against the wall and unbuckled his belt. ‘Please, Terry, no. Please,’ she said as she wriggled and twisted.

His zip became jammed. He let go of her for a second to tackle it. As he looked down, he stumbled at the top of the stairs. Then, with a gentle nudge, Gina shoved him over the edge. As he fell backwards, his eyes locked onto hers and his arms reached forward, as if he were pleading for her to grab him. But she didn’t move. She just remained still and watched as his skull cracked against the wall, then his leg scraped the bannister and he finally landed in a heap by the front door.



* * *



Gina jolted up and ran to the bathroom. Acid began to climb up her throat. She turned on the bathroom light and kneeled in front of the toilet. Her heart was whirring. Sweat dripped down her brow as she shivered. As she stared into the bowl, the feel of cold tiles on her legs grounded her and her heart rate began to slow. She grabbed the sink and dragged herself up. She ran the tap and splashed her face with icy water then stared at her reflection.

Her reddened skin was slowly returning to its normal colour. She shivered until her joints ached. As she leaned over the sink, she allowed herself to quietly sob. Had she shoved Terry down the stairs that night? Even if it was just a little shove, did that make her a murderer? She felt a yearning to hold Hannah as a baby in her arms and tell her everything was going to be alright.

‘Are you okay?’ Briggs asked, grabbing his robe from the back of the bathroom door and placing it around her shivering body. ‘Come back to bed. We need to warm you up.’ He led her back to the bedroom and helped her back into bed. ‘Are you ill?’

‘I had a bad dream, that’s all,’ she said as she wiped her face and turned away.

‘It’s not real. Come here.’ He placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

She reached over and grabbed her phone, hoping that Hannah had texted her, but again there was nothing.

‘Is there anything I can get you? Water?’ Briggs asked.

‘No. I’m fine.’ She pulled away from his embrace. ‘I’m going to head home. I shouldn’t be here, we both know that.’

‘It’s the middle of the night.’

He was right. There was no point in leaving. She turned away from him. He turned off the light and they both lay there in the dark. ‘I’m sorry. That was embarrassing.’

‘Don’t be daft.’ He snaked an arm around her waist. ‘Let’s try and get some sleep. It’s going to be a long day.’

As she closed her eyes, she thought of Hannah again. She owed it to her to be there on Saturday. She was going to attend the service. She’d do it for her daughter. She wiped her face on the sleeve of his robe and enjoyed his warmth as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.





Forty-Four





Thursday, 7 December 2017





Luke lay there, half asleep and half awake, thinking about everything that was happening. It had been a long few days, getting to know Isobel. His phone buzzed. He grabbed it and saw that he had a text from Brooke.

I miss you.





He stared at the words. His heart ached for Brooke, but he loved Debbie, he’d always loved Debbie. He began to type out a reply, then stopped. He had no idea how he felt. He placed the phone down and stared out of the window, at the stars.

He thought back to earlier that day. Max had complained that Isobel was noisy and had asked how long she was going to keep visiting for. Heidi didn’t seem as annoyed by her presence and quite enjoyed playing peekaboo with her, but then the questions about Mummy came up. He’d tried to explain what he could, but Heidi wasn’t stupid. He couldn’t gloss over things the same way as he could with Max. She’d gone very quiet, and he’d found her crying into her little jewellery box, which had once belonged to her mother.

When Debbie had been pregnant with Heidi, he’d cursed himself many a time for thinking that the arrival of their daughter would ruin what they had together. He thought he’d always be second when it came to affection. But his little girl had stolen his heart. She was the most precious thing in the universe. Then Max came along and made their life complete. It broke his heart to see their children so confused and upset. He thought it had been hard when they were little, but any hardship back then was nothing compared to what they were all going through now.

It hadn’t always been easy, especially in the early days when Debbie was on maternity leave. Babies were expensive and the property market was up and down. One month they’d be celebrating with a bottle of bubbly, the next they’d be eating mostly beans on toast in the run up to payday. They would both laugh through the uncertainty and make light of it. It was part of what he loved so much about Debbie – she was an eternal optimist. She’d originally not wanted to leave the children in day care, but needs must, and Cathy had helped out a lot. The children actually loved it and thrived being around other children.

Luke smiled as he reminisced about the good times. He would eat nothing but beans on toast for the rest of his life if it meant he could have his Debbie home. He wiped a tear from his cheek as he stared into the darkness of his bedroom. He wondered if Debbie still held on in some small way to her optimism, or if she’d changed beyond repair. Would they be reunited? And if they were, would she reject him? Would the trauma she’d gone through mean the end of what they’d had?