by Alana Ling
‘That he didn’t love me anymore,’ he said. ‘It’s not like we had the best relationship in human history. He could have just told me he fancied him, but no!’
‘Baker, what on earth are you talking about? You had a relationship with Colton?’
He nodded.
‘Was it a secret? Was that what Colton was lying about?’
‘It wasn’t a secret,’ he slurred. ‘Although he wanted me to act like it was. Didn’t want all his precious clients think he was unprofessional.’
‘Then what was? What are you talking about?’ I whisper-shouted.
The people at a couple of tables around us turned their heads to watch the drunk guy and manic lady next to them, but I didn’t care.
‘You know that letter you showed me the other day?’ I nodded. ‘Well, I’ve got one of those,’ he said.
‘You do? What does it say?’
‘That Colton was sleeping with Valentino Bianchi, the abomination from Italy,’ he spat and swigged another sip from his glass.
As soon as he put the glass down I took it away from him.
‘And you believed it?’ I asked.
Baker lifted his other hand, a hand holding a mini bottle of gin and he drank from it.
‘Of course not. I went to talk to him,’ he said. ‘I asked him why someone would say that about him.’
‘And what did he say?’
‘Oh, he admitted it. Tried to make excuses for it and make up even more lies to cover the blunt truth,’ Baker said.
‘Did it make you angry?’ I asked.
‘Of course it did. What kind of question is that?’ A hiccup escaped him.
‘Angry enough to make you want revenge?’ I asked, hiding behind my cup of lukewarm, mediocre coffee.
‘No. Angry enough to shout at him and go to the bar,’ he said, raising his voice.
‘That’s what you were arguing about in reception when Stephen Brown saw you,’ I said.
‘Yes. But I didn’t kill him. Why would I kill him? I loved the man.’
I shrugged. ‘Some people kill the people they love because those people have hurt them.’
‘Yes, but I didn’t!’ he shouted.
More heads turned and I was becoming aware of Baker’s state of mind.
‘Where were you last night?’
‘What are you? A detective now? I’ve already said. I was in my room.’
‘So you don’t have anyone who can confirm your whereabouts leading up to Ginny Brooks’ death. Interesting.’
Baker didn’t say anything. Instead he drank more from his miniature bottle.
‘What was your relationship with Ginny?’ I asked.
He blew raspberries and a bit of spit sprayed my face. I wiped it with my sleeve and looked at the man.
‘She was a mean bitch. She had a sub-par product, but thought she was superior to everyone and didn’t like losing.’
‘So, not a fan, then,’ I asked.
He shook his head.
‘How did she make herself superior? Why did you not like her?’
‘She was always being annoying about my relationship with Colton. She thought the only reason why I was selling more than her was because I was sleeping with him. Which is not true. I’ve worked hard to make my gin and to promote it. I work day and night and I never stop. But she didn’t see any of that,’ Baker said and for a minute he sounded normal, making me think he was getting out of his stupor, only for him to hiccup again and erase my assumption.
‘Henry Bulet mentioned Mathilde and Ginny were on a different contract to the rest of you,’ I said. ‘Was that the reason for her bitterness do you think?’
‘Who knows? She was never happy with her life. But it could have something to do with the contract. She had an exclusivity clause that we didn’t.’
‘How come?’ I asked.
‘Well they both have very small companies. What Colton was trying to do was get their products out into the market at a premium level so he, and by consequence them, could make more buck for their money. Not that I can understand why. Ginny’s gin, especially, is pure filth.’ Baker winced to make his point.
‘Was Ginny annoyed when she found out you were all on a non-exclusivity agreement?’
He huffed. ‘She was, but I don’t know why. She’s got a tiny distillery at the back of her house. She could never meet the demand of being with several suppliers. Not that she would ever have demand for a lousy product called Ginny’s Gin. I mean, I’m all for alliteration, but the name is plain stupid.’
‘What did Colton have to say about any of this?’
Baker’s jaw clenched. ‘Oh, he didn’t care about the drama. He just wanted to make money. He thought she was being a drama queen, that’s all.’
I was losing hope of getting anything else remotely useful to the investigation, or anything that would point me in the right direction.
There was one last thing I wanted to try although I wasn’t getting my hopes up.
‘Mr. Moore, I’ve asked you this before, but you’ve lied to me, so I’m going to ask you again. Was there anything about Colton that you’re not sharing with me? Something he knew, something he said, anything that could be of use?’
Baker narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. ‘No. As I said, I don’t know anything. The only thing Colton wanted was to be rich. He even told me he had hit a goldmine.’
Twelve
‘A goldmine?’ Sam asked.
‘A goldmine,’ I repeated. ‘But he doesn’t know what he meant by that. Or at least he claims he doesn’t.’
‘Yeah, maybe he does and he wants to keep it to himself. Whatever it is.’ Sam hummed.
‘We need to speak to Valentino again. Now that we know he was having an affair with Colton, maybe he will say more.’
‘He was in room 507, right?’ I asked and Sam nodded. ‘Let’s go find him.’
We set off for the lifts and called both of them. The first to arrive was the one Ginny had been found in. I pressed the button for the fifth floor and watched the doors close.
I looked around for any potential clues that might have escaped the forensics team, but of course there was not much to miss in a two by two square box. Although, you could never be sure with a team consisted of people like Nick.
‘This is a weird place to kill someone, isn’t it?’ I asked.
‘It’s very intimate.’
‘It’s what I’m thinking. They must have been quick because it’s only six floors.’
‘Unless of course they dragged her inside it,’ Sam offered.
‘Which is a risk of its own. What if they bumped into someone?’
The doors bleeped open and we left our assumptions and went to find the Italian winemaker.
A knock on the door and it opened straight away, Valentino appearing with a sexy smirk on his face.
As soon as he saw us the smirk was gone.
‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Hi.’
‘Hi,’ Sam said.
‘Is this a good time, Mr. Bianchi?’
‘Uhm, yes. Yes. Come in,’ he said and opened the door wider so we could get in.
‘Are you…expecting company?’ I asked, taking a seat at one of the chairs of the deluxe suite.
‘No, no.’
Sam sat next to me and we watched the man button up his shirt, which had been open in a deep V-neck.
‘How can I help?’ he said when he’d finished.
‘Well, something has come to light since last we spoke and I was hoping you can help us,’ I said. Valentino nodded and draped himself over the bed in a dramatic manner. ‘I was wondering what your relationship with Mr. Harris was?’
‘We have been over this, haven’t we? We were business partners.’
‘See, I was speaking to Mr. Moore and he informed me you were having an affair with Mr. Harris,’ I said.
Valentino sat up on the bed and he bit his lip.
‘We were in a relationship, damn it,’ he answered. ‘We didn’t have an affai
r.’
Sam leaned in and supported her elbows on her knees.
‘I think you’re making a mistake. Baker was in a relationship with Colton,’ she told him.
‘He what?’ he shouted. ‘Dios mio, him too?’
Sam and I looked at each other.
‘What do you mean “him too”?’ we both asked at the same time.
Valentino turned away from us to the bedside table.
‘Mr. Bianchi,’ I snapped. Valentino turned to me. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I just meant he was with me, that’s all. I didn’t know he was having an affair with Baker.’
‘Why am I not convinced? When I asked you if you knew about Colton’s secrets, you refused knowledge of anything, yet it turns out both you and Mr. Moore were sleeping with the man.’
‘I had no idea. I’d never even seen Moore before this weekend,’ he said.
‘And why did you fail to mention your relationship with him when I asked you how you knew Colton the other day?’
Valentino rubbed his neck and bit the inside of his cheek.
‘Because-because Colton wanted me to keep it a secret. He didn’t want anyone to think he was being unprofessional by sleeping with one of his partners.’
‘Is that all?’
Valentino nodded rigorously.
‘What about the letter?’
‘The letter?’ he jumped.
‘Did you receive an anonymous letter during your stay?’ I asked.
He shook his head. ‘I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘And Ginny Brooks. Did you know her?’
Valentino grimaced. ‘Never met her in my life.’
‘But Colton did?’ Valentino nodded. ‘Do you know who would want to hurt her?’
‘No. She wasn’t that important. Colton told me her gin wasn’t even very good, but it served a purpose.’
‘Which was?’ Sam asked.
‘A craft product which he could charge more for. Colton cared a lot about making money.’
‘Ah,’ I said. ‘The magic word. Apparently Colton admitted to Baker he had hit a goldmine. Did he tell you anything about it?’
‘No,’ came the answer immediately. ‘I know he liked money and he wasn’t afraid to tell me. Every time he came to Italy, he wanted to go to the nicest restaurants and stay in the most expensive hotels.’
‘And did you do as he asked?’ Sam asked.
‘Of course. I was in love with him. I wanted to make him happy.’
‘Was?’ I asked.
Valentino stood up. ‘Well, he’s dead now isn’t he?’
‘Anything else, Mr. Bianchi?’
‘No. Nothing else.’
I pulled one of the letters out of my bag and showed it to him.
‘And are you sure you haven’t seen one of those before?’
Valentino’s eyes diverted from the letter as he gave his final verbal answer, which didn’t match the one given by his physical cues.
We left him in his room and approached the lift. The lift doors opened and right opposite us, Henry Bulet in a nice suit, holding a bouquet of red roses, was revealed.
As soon as he saw us, he lost grip of the bouquet and juggled to get it back again.
‘Mr. Bulet, you look nice,’ Sam said as soon as he was standing straight again.
He offered us an awkward smile and moved out of the lift.
‘I thought you were staying on the fourth floor?’ I said.
‘Uhm-ah-yes, I am,’ he said and let the bouquet drop to his side rather than hold it in front of him.
‘And what would you be doing on this floor, if you don’t mind me asking?’
‘Erm, I was visiting a friend.’ He choked.
Sam got closer to him and touched the roses. ‘I’m sure Valentino will love these.’
Henry gasped. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Sam stood back, next to me, waiting for me to take the lead.
We were getting good at this. We had a completely different dynamic in our work life than our sleuthing life, and while she had everything under control with events planning, I was reigning supreme at all the intrusive questions no one wanted to ask.
‘You don’t have to hide,’ I said. ‘Mr. Bianchi told us everything.’
Henry gasped. ‘Everything. Why would he do that?’
‘He said he couldn’t take it any longer and he wanted to come clean.’
Henry staggered backwards and leaned against the lift that had already begun its travel back downstairs.
‘I trusted him. I can’t believe I trusted him to keep my secret,’ he muttered.
‘So, did you start seeing him while he was seeing Colton? Is that why you decided to kill him? Get rid of the competition?’
Henry’s eyes snapped up and he frowned. ‘I didn’t kill Colton. I didn’t even know Valentino until this weekend. Had I not found out what was happening I don’t believe I would have got that close to him.’
I nodded. ‘You mean Colton’s death.’
‘No, I mean the letters.’
Right on track.
‘What letters, Mr. Bulet. I thought you didn’t know anything about the letters,’ I said.
‘I lied, okay?’ he said. ‘It’s embarrassing. Finding out you’ve been taken advantage of in that way.’
‘Of course. Anyone in your position would have done the same. Wouldn’t you, Sam?’
Sam looked at me and nodded. We both had no clue what I was talking about but we weren’t going to tell him that.
‘What did I do?’ he asked. ‘I just confronted Stephen about it. That’s all. I didn’t even believe it, until he told me.’
We had him convinced we knew more than we did, and while I didn’t want him to catch up, I had to do so as well. Hoping he was in his own web of thoughts too much to realise, I asked, ‘He admitted what, Mr. Bulet?’
‘That he was having an affair with Colton also.’
‘He what?’ escaped from Sam.
‘That was exactly my reaction,’ he said.
‘And you had an affair with Colton as well?’ she continued.
I nudged her elbow, but she was too focused on Henry to notice.
‘We didn’t have an affair. We were in love,’ he said with extra stress.
‘And let me guess? He wanted you to keep it a secret because he didn’t want people to think he wasn’t being professional?’ I added.
‘Well, that also, but I wasn’t comfortable with the secret being out, either. But then the letter comes and tells me Stephen was also sleeping with Colton. Imagine my shock.’
‘You got a letter too,’ I said.
‘We all did,’ he answered.
‘Stephen, you, Baker?’ I started.
‘Baker?’ He pulled his head back. ‘Colton was with Baker too?’ A sigh escaped him and his shoulders dropped. ‘I can’t believe I’ve been such a fool! Thank goodness for Valentino. I mean, he was upset when he first found out about Colton and me, but we bonded, you know.’
‘At the dinner. Yes, I heard. But Valentino told us he didn’t get a letter,’ I said.
‘Of course he did. And I’m glad he did. Well, was. I can’t believe he didn’t keep my secret,’ he whined.
‘What secret would that be, Mr. Bulet?’
‘That I’m gay,’ he said. ‘But that’s gone out of the window now.’
‘Is that an issue?’ I asked.
‘Of course. You know how long it took me to accept who I am? Men of my age always carry the stigma that there is something wrong with us. I’m just not ready to shout it from the rooftops, that’s all.’
Sam sucked her lips and looked at me. ‘Aw, that’s why Valentino lied. He was protecting him.’
I rolled my eyes at Sam for revealing our ruse, but I couldn’t blame her. ‘Mr. Bulet, Valentino didn’t tell us anything. You just did.’
‘What?’ Henry slapped his forehead and looked from left to right.
‘And do
n’t worry; I’m not going to tell anyone.’
‘We’re not,’ Sam added.
He looked at both of us, but didn’t say anything.
‘One more question, Mr. Bulet, and then I’ll let you get back to your…“business meeting” with Mr. Bianchi,’ I said and he nodded, turning beetroot red. ‘How does Ginny come into all this?’
He shrugged and deflated. ‘I don’t know. Colton was always saying she was annoyed with her exclusivity contract, but he wanted to control her product so he could charge premium prices. I don’t know why anyone would want to kill her.’
‘Did you find out she was the one sending you the letters?’
Henry’s head tilted sideways and his eyes narrowed.
‘She was?’
‘Apparently,’ I said. Perhaps Mathilde was trying to implicate Ginny into all this, but Ginny didn’t have anything to do with the letters.
‘I only met her at the dinner. She seemed pleasant, although Colton didn’t speak highly of her. That’s all I know I’m afraid.’
I thanked him for his time and he walked away.
As soon as the lift arrived and started its descend to the ground floor, Sam turned to me.
‘What do you think about the web of lies they’ve all told?’
‘I think we need to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Brown again.’
Thirteen
As soon as we reached the lobby, I employed Rosalind’s help once again. She was more than happy to help, especially when I told her she was helping in the murder investigation and the tabloids would be very interested in her story when it all came out.
‘One more thing, Rosalind,’ I said and she nodded. ‘Did any of the guests get letters delivered for them in reception?’
Rosalind looked from Sam to me and then down at her computer. ‘None that I can remember, but a little search can tell me if they got anything while my colleagues were on shift.’
She typed away on her keyboard and she sprang up. ‘Yes, there’s notes some of the guests got letters delivered at reception.’
‘Who?’ I asked.
‘Mr. Bianchi, Mr. Bulet, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Brown, Mr. Moore.’
‘So basically, everyone,’ I concluded.
‘I guess so.’
‘Mrs. Brown? Hm,’ I said. ‘Okay, thanks, Rosalind. Now, can you do me the favour we were talking about? Thank you.’
