Jack made a quick note, recording the gist of what David Muir had just told him. It was something they could follow up on when they got back to Penzance. He said, ‘What about that meeting between Mr Alexander and Carrie? Were you around?’
‘Well, when you ask was I around, I was, but Mathew would do his thing working the room and I would do mine, encouraging people to buy – you know what I mean?’
Jack nodded. ‘So you didn’t witness their meeting?’
‘Not as such. Mathew spoke to a lot of people, and it wasn’t until later in the evening I saw him spending some time with Carrie. As I told you earlier, it didn’t surprise me one bit when I saw him stuck to her side at the end of the night. I mean, she just stood out from the crowd – not just pretty but she had this aura about her. And of course, like I said, she was genuinely interested in his work. She hung around to the end, talking to Mathew and he introduced me to her. I chatted with her, but only briefly, because there were still a few clients around, but when we were closing up and there was only me and Mathew he told me he had invited her to pose for him. We had a bit of a joke about it because I knew that was how he got most of his women into bed, but he said Carrie was quite shy and it had taken him quite a bit of persuading to get her to pose for him.’
‘And Mr Alexander started painting her?’
‘Yes he did, but it wasn’t until he brought a couple of new pieces into the gallery that I realised how serious he’d been about painting her. They were beautiful and I told him it was probably his best work. They were even better than the ones he’d done of Angel. That’s when he told me that she’d moved in with him.’
‘And this was?’
David Muir pondered on the question for a few seconds before answering, ‘His exhibition was on October the fifth – Friday – that was when he met her, and then he brought in the new pieces of Carrie early in December, just before our Christmas exhibition.’
‘Did you meet with Carrie again after that first meeting?’
‘I got to meet her a couple of times when Mathew brought in more new work, and I did speak with her on the phone on a few occasions, but I didn’t really get to know her as such. When she came to the gallery with Mathew he and I would talk business.’
‘So you didn’t know anything about her background?’
He shook his head, ‘Other than that she was Australian and she told me she had taken six months out to tour Europe; no, I’m afraid not.’
‘Okay David I think that’s it.’ Jack checked with Fabi, flashing a look, which said, ‘is there anything you want to ask?' When she shook her head he took out one of his business cards and slid it across the table. ‘If there’s anything that comes to mind that’s my number and email.’
16
Fabi picked up her bundle of papers, dragged out her chair and scooted it around the side of her desk to where Jack sat, and shuffled up next to him. Plonking down her paperwork she fanned it out across the desk, covering his workload.
She said, ‘This is everything to do with the Angel May suicide. I’ve spent the best part of two and a half hours getting this lot. I’ve even managed to track down the detective who went to the job. He’s told me some very interesting stuff.’
Jack gave her a sideways glance. ‘Run me through it then and then I’ll tell you what I’ve got.’
Fabi pulled out several sheets of computer generated newspaper articles and placed them before Jack. ‘Angel May’s real name was Angela Mayberry,’ she flashed a quick look and added, ‘That’s something I’ve just learned.’ She slid aside one of the digital reports headed by a photograph of a slender, very pretty, honey-blonde haired girl, wearing a tiny black bikini top only just managing to contain larger than average breasts. Jack picked up the picture and ran his eyes over it. Fabi chinned toward the A4 sheet and continued, ‘She was often referred to by the nickname Barbie, because of her likeness to the doll, and it stuck – a bit like Twiggy. She was only twenty-three when she died. She was found dead in her apartment by her driver who’d come round to pick her up to take her to the airport. She should have been flying off to the Bahamas to do a swimwear photo-shoot for a catalogue.’
‘When was this?’
Scrolling a finger down one of the sheets she halted on a line and replied, ‘Friday 15th October, six years ago. It was just before nine in the morning when she was found. Her apartment was in Kensington. Not too far from the gallery where we went yesterday. She’d lived there just under two years.’ She lifted her gaze. ‘That’s from the newspaper report, but then I’ve also got the run-down from the detective who investigated her death. First of all she wasn’t popular with the other residents in her block. Too many wild parties apparently. She was a bit of a party-animal according to these reports.’
‘Aren’t they all? Young people with too much money to spend.’
Fabi threw him an exaggerated black-look, ‘Now, now Jack, you were that age once.’
‘I was married at that age and responsible.’
Fabi laughed and shook her head, ‘Only because this job made you act like that. I’m sure given half the chance you’d have acted different.’
He smiled, ‘Maybe so. Okay enough said about what I’ve missed out on. Tell me what the detective told you.’
‘He told me that the driver let himself into her apartment, as was the norm apparently, and he found her on the floor beside her bed. He said he could tell she was dead by her face, but he still called the ambulance. A paramedic got there within four minutes of the call and confirmed that she was dead – had been for hours and he called the police. Uniform got there first and, finding her surrounded by pills, called in CID. When the detective got there, Angel’s body was still in situ and he called in SOCO. There was nothing suspicious about the scene. The pills they found were her own anti-depressant tablets. Apparently she was on a regular prescription for depression, had been for roughly three months.’ Fabi met Jack’s gaze, ‘Who’d have thought someone as beautiful and rich as her would be on anti-depressants. Just goes to show you eh?’ Fabi shook her head and continued, ‘Anyway her post mortem showed that, not only had she taken a substantial quantity of her anti-depressants, but there were also high levels of cocaine in her system. The detective said they found evidence of cocaine in her apartment, but only a small quantity, suggesting personal use only. This is where Mathew Alexander comes into the frame, and why he had such a bad time following her death.’
Jack’s eyebrows knitted together.
Fabi looked at him and continued, ‘A little background first. It’s exactly as David Muir said yesterday – Mathew made his name from his paintings of Angel. He’d been painting her for about eighteen months and he’d had a number of sell-out exhibitions. You could say it was the perfect partnership – both promoting each other. The pair were also seen regularly out together around London and at various celebrity bashes. As you can probably imagine, because of the industry and the people she mixed with there were also lots of rumours flying around about her cocaine use. A couple of gossip magazines ran articles suggesting Angel’s involvement but her agent always put out a rebuttal and blamed the hangers-on around her. However, once the media got hold of the info about cocaine being found in her system they had a field day, and Mathew was among many who had the finger pointed at them, but nothing was ever proved as to who exactly supplied her with the stuff. The detective told me he spoke with, and interviewed, a number of people including Mathew, but they either denied it or refused to say anything and so he never found out where the gear came from. As to her death, now this is where it gets interesting, and why Mathew had such a hard time after the inquest…’ Fabi paused, studied Jack’s probing look for a moment and then continued, ‘The night before she was found dead Angel was seen with a group of people, including Mathew, in several pubs and bars around where she lived, and enquiries with neighbours revealed that shortly after midnight the sound of partying came from her apartment. One of the neighbours banged on her door about q
uarter-to-one and asked her to keep the noise down. It seemed she obliged for a while but around two a.m. a couple more neighbours reported that they were awoken to the sounds of arguing and things being thrown around inside Angel’s apartment. The next door neighbour said he thought he heard Angel shouting and crying and called the police. Two officers attended, and Mathew tried door-stepping them, saying that Angel had gone to bed, but they persuaded him to let them in so that they could check that she was alright. When the officers went in Mathew was the only one around. He told the officers that there had been half a dozen people there earlier but as soon as the neighbour complained about the noise he thought it would be best that they leave. And so the only signs of partying were empty bottles and glasses. But they also reported that a vase was broken on the floor as well as a couple of photo frames and asked Mathew how that had happened. He told the officers that Angel had done it in a drunken temper and that she’d now gone to bed. Because of the mess, they insisted on seeing her and so he showed them into her bedroom. They found Angel partially undressed and in a bit of a state, both distressed and worse the wear for drink. She’d been crying but she refused to say anything other than that she was upset, and so after reassuring the officers she was okay they left.
The officers were asked if they thought she had been assaulted but they both insisted that there were no physical signs that she had been, and there were no signs of assault on her body following the pm. As to the broken vase and photo frames, at her inquest, a couple of her friends from the same modelling agency said that Angel was highly strung at times and was prone to the odd outburst – throwing things around. One of the girls also mentioned that on one occasion she had called round to Angel’s apartment and found her having a go at Mathew, accusing him of shagging someone else. Who that person was, was never revealed, but when Mathew was challenged on that at the inquest he said that at times Angel could be insecure and would regularly accuse him of having sex, or an affair, with one person or another, for no reason. But apparently, his performance in the witness box wasn’t that convincing. Not just about the allegations against him, but about the drug use, and the account he gave of the row he and Angel had had on the night prior to her death, and while the coroner didn’t exactly accuse him of lying, he did question Mathew’s directness and honesty over some of the things he had said when questioned. And, it was this that the press latched on to.’
‘So the cocaine aspect was never bottomed? Where she’d got it from?’
‘As I say, SOCO did find trace evidence of cocaine on the coffee table in Angel’s apartment – but it was only a minute quantity. And tests on the table picked up Angel’s and Mathews DNA and fingerprints. Mathew was interviewed under caution about this but his response was that it was Angel who had produced it that night, and he’d tried to prevent her from using it, and it was that which had sparked the argument and her outburst. The detective didn’t believe Mathew one bit, but none of the witnesses at the party were forthcoming.’
‘And what about after the police had left that night. What did Mathew get up to, because you haven’t mentioned if he was at Angel’s apartment when her driver or the Paramedic arrived?’
‘He definitely wasn’t there. CCTV in the foyer block picked him up leaving her place shortly after three-thirty a.m. which is about an hour after the police had left. He told the detective, that he’d cleaned up the mess, made sure Angel was okay and decided to go home and catch up with her the next day when she’d calmed down.’
‘There were no indications that she was going to harm herself then?’
Fabi shrugged her shoulders, ‘Mathew said not. He said if he’d thought for one minute she’d have done what she did he would have stayed.’
Jack rolled his eyes and clucked his tongue, ‘He sounds all heart. I can see why he didn’t come out of this very well’
‘You and I both.’
‘And what about her use of anti-depressants you said she’d been prescribed them?’
Fabi nodded, ‘Three months prior to her death. The GP told the inquest that she’d visited his surgery on a couple of occasions complaining she was depressed and was having difficulty sleeping because her relationship with her boyfriend wasn’t going well.’
With enquiring eyes Jack said, ‘Boyfriend being Mathew?’
Fabi nodded, ‘She wasn’t seeing anyone else. Mathew was asked about this, but again he came up with a suitable answer that he thought that things were fine between them. He said he felt it was another sign of Angel’s insecurity.’
Jack slowly shook his head, setting his mouth tight.
Picking up on his actions Fabi said, ‘Neither the detective nor the coroner were too impressed with him but there was no hard evidence to knock what he said.’
‘No evidence or suggestion that he assaulted Angel at any time?’
‘None that the detective found during his enquiries. But he did say that the people he spoke to weren’t the most helpful of witnesses. He always felt that they were either protecting themselves or the agency they and Angel worked for.’
‘Usually the case.’ Jack was quiet for a while, playing with his bottom lip. ‘Anything else you’ve got? Angel’s background? Family?’
‘Yes, though sadly it looks as though she’s not really had a good life despite her fame and money. Her real parents are dead. They were killed in a car crash when she was only eighteen months old. She was looked after by her mother’s sister for a while, but then for some reason was adopted by a couple from Croydon.’ Fabi paused, proffered a sad look and continued, ‘It gets sadder. Angel’s adopted mum died of breast cancer when she was fourteen. She never saw Angel become famous. Though her adopted dad did. He continued to bring her up though, again sadly, that wasn’t for long either. They’d been in their forties when they’d adopted her, so by the time she’d become famous he was in his early sixties and was suffering from ill health.
He’d had one heart attack when she was seventeen, and then three years before her own death, he’d had another heart attack, which was fatal. Angel was just twenty when all that happened.’
‘So she’d got no family?’
‘It would appear not. Quite tragic don’t you think?’
‘Especially given that the one person she should have got comfort from turns out to be a bit of a twat. Excuse my French.’
Fabi smiled, ‘You’re excused.’
‘And so following her death, Mathew Tobias Alexander gets his head down, does a disappearing act of his own, comes and lives our way, and changes his name to Toby.’
Fabi nodded thoughtfully, ‘It would appear so.’ Then with a big grin she said, ‘Now I’ve shown you mine, you show me yours.’
17
‘You’re getting too cheeky young missy,’ Jack responded with a smile, brushing aside Fabi’s paperwork to reveal his handwritten notes underneath. Picking them up he said, ‘Nothing earth-shattering to be honest. Not as much information as you’ve managed to get.’ Scanning the pages quickly he shuffled one to the top. ‘I’ve had difficulty tracking down Carrie. She certainly didn’t fly into the UK via any of London’s airports. I’ve had Immigration check twice, so I’m extending the checks and I’m incorporating European flights as well as Australian. And I'm also extending checks to see if she came overland from Europe..’ He selected another note, ‘Now, as to her financial details. She has a British bank account. It was set up in Penzance shortly after she moved to Cornwall with Mathew. She deposited eight-thousand-five-hundred-pounds in cash into the account, but has only drawn small amounts from it and those transactions have been irregular. So unless she has some other source of income, which I should know of soon, because I'm making an application to the courts, I’m working on the assumption that she has relied mostly on Mathew’s money. From the account we know nothing has been drawn out of it for ten days. Her last withdrawal was just a hundred-pounds. Activity checks reveal this is usually the norm, so you would have thought that if she had done a runner to get a
way from Mathew she would have drawn more money out for food and somewhere to stay.’
‘Unless she’s got a bolt-hole somewhere or is staying with someone?’
‘Or something’s happened to her.’ Jack swapped suspicious expressions with Fabi. There was a moments silence between them and then Jack said, ‘Let’s hold onto that thought, but there’s still quite a bit of work to do before we up it to a murder enquiry. I’ve put a marker on her bank account to let me know the minute any money is drawn out and I’ve initiated an enquiry with Interpol to check if Carrie has returned to Australia. And we’re awaiting her mobile location, or at least the last location it was used. Also there’s her car. We still haven’t traced that. ANPR hasn’t picked it up on any of the road systems yet. Which, in itself, is a little unusual, don’t you think?’
Fabi nodded, ‘What about the media?’
Chasing Ghosts: A Detective Jack Buchan Novel Page 6
