‘We?’
Francesca wiped her watery eyes. ‘Me, Holly, Kerry and Lilly. We’ve been friends since school. The Awesome Foursome.’ She let out a teary smile.
‘Was she seeing anyone?’
‘She never said but she hadn’t been spending much time with us lately.’
‘Did anything happen tonight that seemed out of the ordinary?’
She shrugged. ‘No, only that a bit of trouble broke out. Some gatecrashers had got in and were helping themselves to the free bar. Holly wasn’t a part of that. I think I saw her outside. I went outside as I felt nauseous. She was talking to someone but I didn’t see who it was.’ Her brow furrowed.
‘Could you tell me anything at all about that person?’
‘It was a man. He was wearing trousers and a shirt.’
‘Did you catch his hair colour? Colour of his suit or shirt? Height or build?’
‘No. I felt really sick. My mind was elsewhere. Charlie, my other half, was a bit fed up with me as I’d been doing shots so I had that on my mind. As I said, I ran out to throw up and the man Holly was talking to faded into the shadows. I only wish now I’d properly looked. Do you think he could have been Holly’s murderer?’
‘We don’t know all that has happened as yet. Forensics are still in the room at the moment. You’ve been really helpful but we’ll still need a formal statement off you. PC Kapoor will come back in and talk to you about that.’
She nodded. Gina waved at Keith from the crime scene crew. He hurried over. ‘Would you be able to take swabs from our witness while I catch up with Bernard? She went into the victim’s room. Take PC Kapoor with you too.’
‘Will do.’
‘I’ll leave you in the capable hands of the paramedics and our forensics expert, Keith. If you remember anything else, please call me.’ She handed Francesca a card as Keith and the ambulance crew took over.
Briggs plodded out of the main entrance and headed over to Gina. ‘Anything?’
‘From what her friend and fellow bridesmaid, Francesca, says, Holly was seen talking to a man outside on the terrace, the one that opens out from the function room. We need to secure all CCTV. What kind of monster would do this to her?’
‘Hopefully, we’ll find out soon.’
Gina’s gaze met his for a moment more than was comfortable. She almost hated Detective Sergeant Jacob Driscoll for being stuck in an airport when she needed him on a case. ‘I best head back in to speak to the other bridesmaid, Lilly Hill. See what she has to say that’s so important.’
She glanced at Francesca one last time as Keith took swabs and the paramedics reassured the woman. Could Francesca be their murderer? Francesca caught her eye then looked away quickly. Gina stared in her direction a moment longer but the woman didn’t turn around for another look.
Chapter Seven
Gina half jogged back into the manor house. Huddles of people were dotted all over the main ballroom. At the beginning of the night, Gina imagined the room would have looked like every bride’s dream, but now a thick pale green ribbon lay tangled on the dance floor. Vases of carnations had been spilled over the cream tablecloths and food had squashed into most of the carpeted floor. Balloons bobbed along the high ceiling and the cake had been smashed against the window.
The hoppy smell from the pop-up bar filled the air, that and onions. Gina swallowed as she made her way towards the woman in green. The man sitting beside her clutched his arm around her shoulder and placed his other hand on her knee. Gina slowed down her pace through the chaos as she observed the bridesmaid’s partner sharing a short sharp stare across the room with Samuel Avery. Causing trouble again, that’s what Gina thought. Samuel Avery was always trying to insert himself into the middle of someone’s marriage and Gina didn’t believe the man was capable of change.
‘I’m Detective Inspector Gina Harte, Senior Investigating Officer. You wanted to speak to me?’
The woman blew her nose into a napkin and nodded. Gina recognised her to be the woman who she’d seen with Samuel Avery earlier. She shuddered as she remembered his searching hand on the top of her bottom. The same woman had also come upstairs while Gina was speaking to Bernard. Had she come to speak then about whatever it was she knew?
‘Can you give us a minute?’ Gina spotted the wedding ring on Lilly Hill’s hand. The man nodded, kissing her on the forehead as he left.
She nodded and shivered. Gina eased the cardigan out of the woman’s clutches and draped it over her shoulders. ‘Yes. I don’t know if what I’ve got to say will help but I’ve been friends with Holly for years and I notice things, changes. When this happened, I couldn’t help but wonder…’ She dropped her hands and looked up. ‘I’ve given a statement. Maybe I’ve got this all wrong. It’s just—’
‘It’s okay.’ Gina placed a hand on the weeping woman’s shoulder. ‘May I call you Lilly?’
‘Yes,’ she said with a squeak as she choked on a tear and took a deep breath.
‘What you have to say may be something, it may be nothing, but we won’t know that until you tell me? Would it be easier to start at the beginning?’ Lilly looked to be of a similar age to Hannah, maybe slightly older.
She wiped her hand on her dress. ‘I’ve been trying to get together for a drink with Holly for weeks but she keeps making excuses and it isn’t like her… wasn’t like her.’ Lilly paused. ‘I can’t believe she’s not here any more. We’ve been friends since junior school. Anyway, I’d been worried about her.’
‘Why were you worried?’
‘I normally call her before I visit but she hadn’t been answering her phone so I thought I’d surprise her. This was weeks ago and I can’t remember exactly when. Holly had been depressed in the past, shut herself off from the world and, knowing her the way I do, I know the only thing that’s helped is her friends, that’s me, Kerry and Francesca. We’ve always been there for her, checking on her during bad times, encouraging her to get help.’
‘You thought she may have been depressed?’
Lilly placed her arm on the table, dropping the napkin onto a half-eaten burger. ‘Yes, and normally she’d open the door when she was like that but this time, or should I say the past few times I’ve knocked, I sensed she was in her apartment but not opening up. One time, I’m sure I heard another voice coming from behind the door, just a murmur. I even looked through the letterbox. She has a mirror in the hallway and I caught a reflection in it, just a slither of a blue shirt with some sort of print on it. I knocked and knocked but she wouldn’t open up. It was just bizarre as we’ve never kept secrets. When I finally managed to catch up with her at the dress fitting before we departed for the wedding in Greece, she denied everything, said I must have been imagining that she was in when I called over. I know what I saw.’ She paused. ‘She didn’t seem depressed, not like before. In the past when she’d been going through a rough patch she hadn’t eaten and her clothes would look too loose but this time she looked to be a healthy weight, her skin looked good and she looked happy. I think she was hiding someone from us. I told Brendan, my husband, and he said she wouldn’t do that. I know her better than him though.’