Gina smiled sympathetically and nodded. ‘Of course. We’ll be with you the whole time. If there’s anything else you think of to tell us or ask, just go ahead. Here’s my card just in case you need to contact me after.’ She passed her card over the table.
Something niggled Gina about Eveline but she couldn’t think what it might be. She took another glance around the room, then back at the couple. No, it wasn’t coming to her at all.
‘I saw the news earlier. That letter from the murderer, it mentions you.’
A judder filled Gina’s chest as her heartbeat began to ramp up. She now officially hated the press more than ever. Compromising their case was unforgivable. ‘Yes, that’s right. I’m going to be working hard on this case and I will find your son’s murderer. One last thing, can you think of anyone else who might have a grudge against him?’ Please don’t mention that letter again. She loosened her clenched fists.
Eveline shook her head. ‘Maybe the debt collectors and anyone else he may have stolen from. He’d fallen out with everyone in his life. The problem is, I don’t know who any of these people are.’
Gina pulled her car keys from her pocket and kept glancing at Eveline. She was sure she hadn’t met Eveline before but her mind was on full alert. There was something about the woman in front of her that gave her an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
‘Well, the morgue wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be,’ Jacob said as he offered Gina a cherry drop.
‘No, thanks.’ Gina paused as they pulled into Nicky Swinton’s road. It was time to speak to Alexander Swinton’s wife. Even though they hadn’t been together any longer, Gina hoped she might be able to help.
‘You look like your mind’s whirring away.’
It was, in more ways than one, and she couldn’t shake any of it. ‘There was something about Eveline, something I can’t put my finger on. Did you get the same feeling?’ It was annoying her now. Normally her mind made links with ease, especially when it came to recognising someone. Maybe she was following the wrong links.
‘I can’t say I did, guv.’ The smell of cherry came at her when he spoke.
‘Why don’t houses have numbers on doors any more? We’re on the right side. It’s an even number.’
Jacob glanced out of his side, squinting in the darkness. ‘There. It has to be this one. Pull over.’
A street lamp caught a glint of frost shimmering on the top of a car. Gina pulled up next to the new-build semi and grabbed her bag. ‘Let’s see what his wife has to say. We know that Eveline Peterson called her earlier so she’s clued up on what’s happened. Let’s hope that she can give us a breakthrough on this case. Whoever murdered Alex wanted him to suffer. Who hated him that much and why? Maybe Mrs Swinton knows.’
He crunched and swallowed his sweet before opening the car door, letting the frosty air in. Gina shivered as she hurried to the house, not wanting to get any colder than she had to. She heard a youth shout and several others laugh in the distance.
‘Bloody Halloween.’ A plastic skeleton dangled from the knocker. Gina tapped, trying not to disturb it.
Light seeped through the glass panel on the side of the door and the woman answered. Her long, brushed back fringe bobbed over the sides of her short hair as she removed her black-framed glasses and placed them on her head. ‘Hello.’
‘DI Harte and DS Driscoll. We were hoping we could talk with you.’
She nodded slowly and opened the front door. ‘I’ve just got Joshua to sleep, so if we could speak quietly, that would be great.’
‘Of course.’ Gina stepped onto the mat and wiped her feet.
‘Shoes off, I’m afraid.’
Gina and Jacob balanced on the tiny mat as they fought with their zips and laces. Mrs Swinton’s house was a far cry from Eveline’s. There was no clutter anywhere. Shiny wooden flooring led the way to the lounge. A tiny log burner filled the corner of the room and each log looked like it had been perfectly stacked. Gina sat on the two-seater sofa next to the copper pipe industrial lamp, allowing her gaze to be drawn to the crackling log on the fire.
‘So, how can I help you?’ Mrs Swinton sat in the peacock-coloured chair and crossed her legs.
‘First of all, I’ll start by saying that we’re sorry for your loss.’
‘Don’t be.’ The woman’s angular features made her look quite stern and her lack of emotion added to it.
Gina cleared her throat. The woman in front of her didn’t need or want sympathy.
Jacob took out his notebook.
‘Mrs Swinton, can you tell us a little about your relationship with Alexander Swinton?’
She nodded. ‘It’s Nicky, please. I’m in the process of reverting back to my maiden name too. The less my son and I associate with the troubles of my now ex-husband, the better. For the purposes of us talking now, I’m still Swinton. Alex was my biggest mistake. I don’t know what I ever saw in him. He was nothing more than a controlling drunk. Of course, I didn’t see it at the beginning. He was funny, daring and, dare I say it, full of bold romantic gestures. I kept trying to make it work but he kept letting me down. His mother will tell you how he’d changed when he got the job at the medical supply factory but he hadn’t. I gave him an ultimatum. Stick at a job or you’re out.’
‘What happened then?’ Gina felt her face flush on the one side as the fire roared.
‘He didn’t get made redundant like she thinks. I told him to tell her that because I didn’t want Eveline to be upset. She’s so sensitive to the little things. I think, deep down, she was on tenterhooks, waiting for him to screw up. He’d been a difficult child and that continued into young adulthood. Anyway, he’d already had a warning for turning up at work stinking of booze and he did it again. They sacked him.’ Nicky clasped her hands in her lap and stared at the fire. ‘Can I get you both a drink?’
They shook their heads. Gina wanted a hot drink more than anything, but she didn’t want to disturb Nicky Swinton’s flow. ‘No, thank you.’
‘That’s when things got really bad. It was mid to late last year. He became impossible to live with. His anger would scare Joshua. He’d put his fists through doors and he even flung a plate at me. He used to disappear on benders for days at a time and one time, when he was gone, I went through his things in the garage and found all the debt letters. Mostly short-term, high interest loans. There were credit cards that had been maxed to the full. I panicked and called him over and over again but he didn’t answer or come home this particular time. He must’ve guessed I’d found them. That’s when the bailiffs called and they took my car. The only thing we’d bought in his name was the car. They took the TV too as that was in his name. I tell you something, it felt like the end of the world that day.’
‘Must have been worrying times.’ Gina tilted her head to one side.
‘They were. It wasn’t all bad. The house was in my name. I bought this house before we met and I never added him to the mortgage – I will be forever grateful for that. I worked hard before I even knew him and I’ve almost paid the mortgage off. If I’d added him to the paperwork, all this,’ she held her palm out, ‘would have been used to pay off his debts and Joshua and I would have nowhere to live.’