Page 43 of Her Last Walk Home

‘Well, I knew nothing about it. You must be mistaken.’

‘Laura never mentioned anything about it?’

‘Not a word.’

‘She never said who she might be meeting the other night?’

‘No.’

‘Any other time?’

‘Never.’

‘And you had no idea she was entertaining dates as an escort?’

‘Will you stop?’ Diana hauled herself out of the chair and stood looking down at him. ‘My Laura had a little boy. She worked hard to make ends meet and I helped where I could, but hand on heart I know my own daughter, and she would never have sold herself for money. I think you should leave now, Detective.’

She seemed unnerved and despite her grief he thought she might be lying. Or hiding something. About what, he had no idea.

‘We want to find the person who killed your daughter. Please, if you know anything, you have to tell us.’

‘All I know is that my daughter is never going to walk through that door again. I have to bury her in a dark grave and I have to rear her son. Your job is to find the bastard who did this to us.’

He rose and leaned against the door while she turned her back to him at the front window. ‘Can you at least tell me who the father of your grandson is? We need to rule him out of our investigation.’

‘I can’t tell you because I don’t know. She didn’t even have a regular boyfriend, as far as I knew. Aaron was the result of a one-night stand and Laura was four months gone before she realised she was pregnant.’ Diana swirled back towards him. ‘She told me she had no idea of the name of the father and I doubt he’s even aware that he has a child.’

‘Okay, that’s fine. Thank you. I’m sorry for upsetting you, but one last thing. Do you know a Greg Plunkett?’

He kept his eyes on her and witnessed the little blood in her face drain away.

‘No, never heard of him. Is he… is he Aaron’s father?’

‘Not that we know. Are you sure you don’t know him?’ McKeown asked.

‘I don’t, and it’d answer you better to be out on the street, knocking on doors, finding my girl’s murderer, rather than harassing her grieving mother.’

He felt he had to press further, or maybe try a different angle. ‘A man was murdered yesterday, Diana. Out at the Pine Grove development. It’s that new housing estate being built by GC Construction. The murdered man was John Morgan. Have you ever heard of him?’

Diana sank into the armchair once again. ‘Someone else was murdered?’ Her voice was brittle. ‘Is it the same killer? The same bastard who killed my Laura?’

‘We don’t know. It might not be connected to Laura at all, but we have to explore everything.’

‘So this madman might kill someone else?’

‘We can’t jump to conclusions. As I said, Mr Morgan’s death probably has nothing to do with Laura’s. I only wanted to know if you’d heard of him. I can show you his photo.’

He took out his phone and scrolled through. ‘This may not be pleasant to look at, but I’d appreciate it if you’d give it a quick look. Then I’ll leave you in peace.’

She nodded half-heartedly. He approached, holding the phone out to her. She took it and bit her lip tightly. After a cursory glance at the photograph, she handed back the phone.

‘Sorry.’

‘You never saw him with Laura?’

‘No.’

‘She ever mention John Morgan, or the Pine Grove estate?’

---