The Deadline Series Boxset

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘Drive carefully. That bike’s an accident waiting to happen on these frosty narrow roads.’

  Ty grinned at her and waved over his shoulder as he headed for the stairs, wondering if she’d noticed that he made no reference to finding accommodation when he got back.

  Chapter Seven

  Alexi watched Ty go, then collapsed onto a couch in the corner of the lounge, already exhausted and the day had hardly begun. Cosmo rubbed against her legs while Toby hopped onto the seat beside her, looking to have his ears scratched. She was glad Ty intended to hang around and was confident that he would get to the truth, even if the police bungled the investigation. It was like he had a point to prove after the way he’d been treated by the Force and she couldn’t blame him for that. She felt the same way about journalism after being all but sacked from The Sentinel.

  Her feelings about Ty wanting a relationship with her were harder to define. When it came to picking men, to seeing through their bullshit and getting a handle on their real motives, she was a total failure. She liked Ty. More than liked him. He turned female heads everywhere he went and was kind, funny and clever. He exuded virile power and he could cook. What was not to like? But she still wasn’t sure if she was ready to commit.

  ‘Cosmo,’ she said, leaning down to stroke the big cat, ‘I think you and I ought to stick together. Fewer complications that way. Yes, I know you like Ty but what if he breaks my heart?’

  And what’s life without a few risks, she thought, pushing herself to her feet. Ty hadn’t made it clear if he was thinking long or short term, long or short distance. Of more immediate concern, where did he think he’d be staying if he hung around Lambourn for a while? The production company still had the hotel booked solid and the press would have snapped up every other room within a ten mile radius.

  ‘He might have asked, instead of just assuming,’ Alexi said, peeved. ‘Come on, Cosmo. Let’s see what’s happening downstairs.’

  Toby and Cosmo ran ahead. Alexi descended the stairs at a more leisurely pace and headed for Cheryl’s kitchen, expecting to find her or Drew there. Neither of them were, but Paul Dakin was, flipping through the morning’s paper but obviously not reading it. Probably looking for references to himself, Alexi thought, but he could have done that in the lounge. Alexi had a low opinion of Paul. Cosmo didn’t like him either and proved it by growling as he stalked past Paul, erect tail vibrating with annoyance. Paul hastily got out of the cat’s way, putting the barrier of the table between him and Cosmo.

  Wuss!

  ‘Oh hi, Alexi.’ Paul put aside the paper and turned on the fake megawatt smile he used in front of the camera and which irritated the hell out of Alexi. ‘I was hoping to catch you.’

  Alexi poured herself some coffee from the pot that was kept permanently on the go on the kitchen worktop. She waved it in Paul’s direction but he shook his head. Caffeine would probably stain his whiter-than-white dental implants, Alexi supposed, suppressing a grin at the thought.

  ‘What brings you to the bowels of the house, Paul?’

  Alexi seated herself across from him. He wasn’t as impeccably turned out as usual, she noticed. There were dark shadows under his eyes, his clothes were rumpled and his usually perfect bouffant hair do was wilting.

  ‘Terrible business with Juliette,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Simply shocking. Who would do such a thing?’

  ‘That’s what the police hope to find out.’

  Alexi knew he didn’t just want to lament Juliette’s passing and, stirring her coffee even though she hadn’t added sugar to it, she waited him out.

  ‘I hear the show’s going to continue,’ he said into a loaded silence broken only by the jingling of the tags on Toby’s collar as he energetically scratched at a spot behind his left ear. ‘Not sure if they’re going to replace Juliette or just continue with three contestants.’

  ‘I’m sure you’ll be the first to know.’

  He sighed. ‘She wasn’t a bad kid, you know.’

  ‘You’re in a minority there, Paul. No one else I’ve spoken to other than Cheryl has a good word to say about her.’

  ‘Because they didn’t know her.’

  Alexi flexed a brow. ‘And you did?’

  ‘I’m in trouble, Alexi,’ he said after another long pause. ‘I need a sounding board.’

  ‘Then talk to Grenville Scott. That’s what he gets paid his telephone number salary for,’ Alexi said briskly. ‘I don’t know much about legal matters which, I assume, is what this is about. Besides, you’re under contract to the production company. They won’t thank me for giving you layman’s advice.’

  ‘I was hoping to talk to you in confidence,’ he said, running his hand through the deflated bouffant. ‘As a friend.’

  A friend? They’d barely exchanged a dozen words in all the time the contest had been running.

  ‘I take it you were sleeping with Juliette,’ Alexi said, cutting to the chase.

  Paul’s head shot up. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘Lucky guess. Besides, you were seen here last night and heard arguing with her.’

  ‘Oh God!’ Paul dropped his face into his hands and groaned. ‘Who heard me?’

  ‘Come on, Paul. You know better than most that this place is a goldfish bowl.’ Alexi wasn’t prepared to name names. ‘That’s rather the idea of fly-on-the-wall television, isn’t it? Nothing goes unnoticed.’

  He sighed. ‘I suppose.’

  ‘You’re thinking of your wife and kids if this gets out?’

  Paul nodded. ‘I stand to lose everything. My wife will bail if she knows I’ve been unfaithful and, worse, I have a morality clause in my contract. If Far Reach find out then I’m history.’

  Alexi thought he had more immediate concerns, like what the police would make of his having slept with the victim, but refrained from saying so.

  ‘If you have so much to lose, what made you take the chance?’ Alexi asked.

  ‘What can I say?’ Paul spread his hands. ‘She came on to me. I was flattered.’

  ‘You must have women hit on you a lot in your line of work.’ Alexi didn’t get it herself but figured that a certain type of person would do whatever it took to get themselves noticed by someone in Paul’s position. Besides, she was pretty sure that he was the one who often did the trawling, promising his victims he could do things for their careers. The TV equivalent of the casting couch.

  ‘Yeah, but Juliette was different. There was just something about her. Oh, she seemed over confident on the surface but underneath she was vulnerable and needy.’

  Alexi was reminded that Cheryl had said something similar about her. ‘It didn’t occur to you that it might be an act to get you to use your influence? She was pretty determined to win the contest and doesn’t seem to have cared too much about what she had to do to ensure that win.’

  ‘What influence? I’m the host. I have no say in who wins.’

  ‘But you could make her look good on film. You’re the one who fired questions at the contestants. It was up to you how hard you were on them and, just for the record, I’m not the only one who noticed how easy you went on Juliette.’

  ‘She wasn’t as bad as the show made her look and deserved a break,’ Paul said defensively. ‘They didn’t broadcast any footage of her being considerate.’

  ‘How often did that happen?’ Alexi asked. ‘She didn’t go out of her way to make herself popular with anyone who couldn’t help her.’

  Paul smiled. ‘She knew how to come across all sweetness and light on camera but not much of that footage got shown. I think the producers decided that didn’t make for good TV.’

  ‘Because they knew it was an act?’

  ‘Possibly. They don’t confide in me.’ Paul sighed. ‘Look, she was ambitious, but that isn’t why she came on to me. You think I don’t have experience in these things?’ he asked with a touch of his former arrogance. ‘You think I don’t know when a chick offers to give out in the expectation of getting something
back?’

  Alexi shook her head. ‘Don’t be naïve, Paul.’

  ‘Oh fuck, what a mess!’

  ‘I take it you can’t decide whether to tell Grenville for fear of invalidating your contract.’ Paul nodded. ‘But if you don’t tell the police then you’re withholding information, especially since you were here yesterday, weren’t you?’

  He sighed. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘Like I already told you, you were seen, and heard arguing with Juliette.’

  He looked to be on the verge of tears. ‘She’d asked me if I could get down here yesterday and I said I’d try but couldn’t promise. Something came up so I called her mobile and told her I couldn’t make it. Then my commitment got cancelled so I thought I’d come down and surprise her. I mean, she couldn’t leave the grounds so I figured she’d be bored, at a loose end, pleased to see me. She didn’t get on with the other contestants so was often lonely on her down time.’ He scrubbed a hand down his face. ‘I came in the back way and caught her sneaking out of Marcel’s apartment, reeking of sex.’

  ‘Ah, she replaced you with someone who could help her.’

  ‘That’s what we argued about. Her going with Marcel. She said I didn’t own her and if I couldn’t be there for her, she’d find someone who could be.’

  ‘The police will see that as sufficient reason to kill her,’ Alexi said briskly, seeing no point in sugar-coating it. ‘You risked your marriage and your career for her sake but she cheated on you the first chance she got. A real ego deflator and a solid motive. The only motive they have. Sorry, Paul, but I’m not telling you something that hasn’t already occurred to you, am I?’

  ‘But I didn’t kill her!’ His eyes filled. ‘I swear to God I didn’t. We argued, I left and drove home to London. I stopped for petrol on the motorway so I have an alibi.’

  Alexi lifted one hand and tilted it from side to side. ‘Depends on how soon after you left that she was killed.’

  The air left his lungs in an extravagant whoosh as he buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Alexi would have felt sorry for him, but for the fact that he was only broken up about his own situation and didn’t seem to care that the woman he’d been shagging had been brutally murdered.

  ‘Look, Paul, you came to me for advice and, far as I can see, you have graver concerns than your marriage or your career. Talk to Grenville, tell him what you told me, and I’m betting he’ll insist that you tell the police exactly what happened.’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘If you lie, the chances are you’ll get caught out, which will only make matters worse.’

  ‘What about Marcel? He was sleeping with her too. Perhaps she used sex to try and influence the outcome of the competition—’

  ‘I’m sure she did but Marcel wasn’t a contestant, isn’t married and doesn’t have a morality clause. All he can be accused of is bad taste in sleeping with a contestant, which would probably enhance his reputation in some quarters. He had no reason to kill her.’

  ‘But I do.’ Paul hung his head. ‘Shit, why did I let myself be drawn in by—’

  DC Hogan poked her head round the door. ‘Oh, there you are, Mr Dakin. We’re ready to take your statement at the station now. Mr Scott said he would meet you there.’

  Paul stood up, looking like he was about to face a firing squad. Alexi said goodbye and watched him as he left, trying to decide if he was guilty of anything more sinister than arrogance and loose morals. Either way, at least it would take some of the pressure off Marcel now that the police had an alternative suspect who did have a motive to kill.

  What to do with herself now? Alexi stood up and stretched her arms above her head, hearing the vertebrae in her spine pop. Presumably the contestants were back from making their statements. Alexi would like to talk to Anton and John but decided to wait until Ty returned. He’d probably want to hear what they had to say first hand.

  Alexi, Cosmo and Toby wandered outside. She looked towards the annexe and saw Drew tearing down the crime scene tape from the perimeter. She went to join him.

  ‘Where’s Cheryl?’ she asked.

  ‘With the baby. I wanted to put this place back together without her seeing it the way it looks now. It’s a mess inside. Fingerprint powder everywhere. Those police are not good housekeepers.’

  ‘I’ll help you put it straight.’

  ‘You don’t need to do that.’

  ‘Hey, what are partners for? Besides, I’m under-occupied right now, waiting for Ty to get back from Newbury so we can continue with our sleuthing.’

  Drew sent her a mischievous grin. ‘Is that what they’re calling it this week?’

  Alexi thumped his arm. ‘It’s not like that with us, Drew.’

  ‘Well, it ought to be. You could do a lot worse and I can tell he’s got the hots for you, sensible man that he is.’

  ‘Told you that, did he?’

  Drew grinned. ‘He doesn’t need to. You women aren’t the only ones who speak fluent body language.’

  Alexi laughed but really didn’t want to go there; not until she had a surer idea of her own feelings. ‘Come on,’ she said instead. ‘Let’s take a look inside.’

  ‘Okay, I get it. I shall mind my own business.’ Drew threw an arm around Alexi’s shoulders. ‘But has it occurred to you that we care about you and want to see you happy? I have it on good authority from my wife that Ty is the sort of guy who would amply satisfy any woman’s needs.’

  Alexi shook her head, laughing in spite of herself. ‘There’s obviously nothing wrong with my friend’s eyesight.’

  Drew pulled an affronted expression. ‘And she takes me to task for looking at women.’

  ‘Oh my goodness!’ Alexi clapped a hand over her mouth when they entered the annexe’s reception room and she saw the state the police had left it in. ‘I see what you mean.’

  It looked as though it had been ransacked. Every book, DVD, file of papers… absolutely everything had been moved and examined but not put back in its proper place. Every drawer was pulled open, every cushion removed from the seating and not replaced properly. Rugs had been rolled up to expose bare floorboards. The pictures hanging on the walls were crooked.

  The annexe had been Alexi’s pet project. She’d been passionate about it but it now felt as though her lovely new, carefully decorated reception room had been violated.

  ‘Did they expect to find a written confession somewhere?’ she asked, shaking her head.

  ‘Wait until you see Juliette’s room. If you want to see it.’

  ‘Yeah, I do actually.’ Alexi glanced around suspiciously. ‘Are the cameras still rolling?’

  ‘No, they’re off for now.’

  ‘Come on then. Let’s take a look.’

  Alexi felt a chill as she entered Juliette’s room, even though she told herself Juliette hadn’t actually been killed there. The fingerprint powder Drew had told her to expect coated every surface like a grey shroud. The bed was stripped, the brand new mattress stained with blood and traces of other fluids. Alexi preferred not to guess at their origin. Juliette’s extensive collection of clothing had obviously been checked over and now dangled at drunken angles from hangers. There was no sign of her iPad or personal papers. Presumably the police had taken them.

  Drew opened the door that led directly outside, in spite of the fact that the temperature was barely above freezing. It helped to dispel the gloom of a life needlessly taken.

  ‘That mattress will have to go,’ he said, as though speaking to himself.

  Alexi prowled around the room, touching Juliette’s things. She had no clear idea what she was looking for but looked anyway.

  ‘Where were the cameras in this room?’ she asked.

  ‘There was one there, above the door, pointed directly at the bed,’ Drew replied. ‘And the other was above that wall light fitting, getting a different angle of the room.’

  ‘Leaving no privacy,’ Alexi muttered to herself. ‘Those cameras not working bother me, Drew. It
’s too much of a coincidence to imagine they just happened to go on the blink at the time when someone wanted to dump a body in here and symbolically stab it through an implant.’

  ‘Symbolic?’

  ‘That’s what Ty reckons but he can’t say why.’ She subsided into thought. ‘How do you decommission a spy camera?’

  ‘Far as I can make out, they’re wireless, activated by movement. In other words the camera only transmits when there’s something to transmit. The signal goes to a receiver that’s connected to the recording device and whoever’s on duty can watch the monitors in the different rooms to see what’s what. They work through that thingie over there,’ Drew added, pointing to a small device that looked like a satellite box. ‘Someone only needed to disconnect them and they’d go down.’

  ‘I thought you said the cameras operated wirelessly.’

  ‘The cameras do but a live feed goes into that box, which is what picks up movement and wakes the cameras up.’

  ‘Why wasn’t that person captured doing the deed then?’

  ‘Probably crawled on hands and knees. He or she could have come in through the side door. Neither camera captures that door actually opening.’

  ‘I wonder why Guy didn’t notice that both of Juliette’s cameras had gone down,’ Alexi said, almost to herself. ‘It was Guy Salter on duty last night, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah, but if there was no one in the room, he wouldn’t expect to see any movement.’

  ‘Wouldn’t he get a warning light to say they’d gone off line?’

  ‘No idea. We’ll have to ask him. No doubt the police already have.’

  ‘Come on, Drew,’ she said, indicating the mattress. ‘Let’s get this out and have a new one sent over from the hotel’s supply. We can clean up while we’re waiting for it to arrive.’