‘Why did Krishna withdraw from the selection process?’ Penny asked. ‘If he’s the victim, and hasn’t done anything wrong, why has he chosen to leave?’
‘I think he’s embarrassed by what happened today, at the way he walked out of the presentation,’ Tabitha said. ‘But I also think the experience, the bullying, has left him feeling vulnerable and he just wants to get back home.’
Penny shook her head. ‘That’s sad. It really is.’
Tabitha shrugged. ‘To be honest, even if Krishna had stayed, he knew that he wouldn’t have been in with a chance of winning.’
And that was the real reason he had chosen to leave, Natalie thought. For Krishna, it was more palatable to walk of your own accord, under the cover of being maltreated, than to stay and not achieve your ultimate goal.
‘Can we say goodbye, before he leaves?’ Penny asked. ‘It might make him feel better about everything. You know, if he knows we’re supportive.’
‘He’s already left, I’m afraid,’ Tabitha replied.
Penny looked terribly deflated. ‘Oh, that’s a shame.’
‘Krishna will be fine,’ Tabitha said. ‘He will move on. Which is what we all have to do now.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Evening meal will be in an hour, where the winner of the selection process will be announced. So please, in the meantime do take some time to relax. You’re of course free to go up to your rooms. I shall look forward to seeing you shortly.’
‘WHAT DID you think of all that?’ Susie asked, lowering her voice, as they made their way upstairs. They’d decided they would take some time out in their rooms, before the final meal and the announcement of the winner. ‘The way they just got rid of them all. It seemed a bit…’
‘Draconian?’ Natalie replied.
Susie nodded. ‘They certainly don’t mess around if you break the rules.’
‘No, they don’t,’ Natalie agreed. ‘I’m still wondering whether they found out about what Russell and I did, and that’s why he disappeared in the middle of the night.’
Penny looked intrigued. ‘You don’t think it happened how Tabitha said – that he just decided it wasn’t for him?’
‘Not really. Especially after what you heard, Susie. I reckon that they found out we’d broken the rules, and told him to leave.’
‘But not you,’ Susie noted.
‘No, not me.’ Natalie had sought an explanation for that flaw in her theory. ‘Maybe they don’t know that I went with him. Maybe they saw him the first time he went up to the study, before he came to get me. Tabitha did go to his room, so she knew he’d left it at some point.’
‘Or maybe they decided to cut you a break, because Sir Kenneth invited you to apply personally,’ Susie teased.
‘Don’t…’ Natalie replied.
‘Natalie, I hope you don’t mind me asking,’ Penny said. ‘But when you said Russell had shown you the secret study, what was it like? I think I’d have been really creeped out by it. Not sure I could have gone up there, to be honest.’
‘I was okay at first,’ Natalie replied, ‘but I did get spooked after a while. Russell took it all in his stride, didn’t seem fazed at all. He even had a book about the events involving Lord Sinclair. That’s how he knew about the hidden staircase and the study.’
‘So the story was true,’ Penny thought out loud. She visibly shivered. ‘There was a mass murder in this house.’
‘I guess so, yes.’
‘Makes you wonder why on earth Sir Kenneth would have bought this property, knowing the history,’ Penny added.
‘He probably bought it because of the history,’ Susie said. ‘Adds character to the building, maybe?’
Penny looked around. ‘Now the others have gone, and there’s just us three left, it feels even more creepy. I’m looking forward to getting out of here and back home.’
‘I think we all are,’ Susie agreed. ‘I know I can’t wait to get back to normal life. But for one of us, the victor, it’s probably not going to be the last time we come here. Maybe that person will get the chance to ask Sir Kenneth in person about why he bought this place.’
Natalie thought again about what Catharine had said about Sir Kenneth New.
Be careful of that man.
Susie was right. At some point, one of them would surely meet Sir Kenneth face to face.
Should she pass on Catharine’s warning? Even though there were no details?
‘You okay, Natalie?’ Penny was looking at her intently.
Natalie nodded slowly. She’d made up her mind. ‘Can you both just come into my room for a moment? There’s something I need to tell you.’
‘What is it?’ Susie said, as they stood facing one another in Natalie’s room, the door closed to avoid being overheard.
Natalie thought about how to get the words out. Suddenly she felt unsure again about whether the fairest thing was actually to say nothing, flip-flopping about what the best thing to do was.
‘I…’
What would she achieve by passing on Catharine’s unexplained warning?
‘I…’
She changed her mind. ‘I just wanted to say to you both, I had a great day today, and whoever wins, I’ll be happy.’
‘Aw, thanks hun,’ Susie said, giving Natalie a hug. ‘I feel the same way too.’
‘Me three!’ Penny concurred.
The three of them embraced.
Looking over Susie’s shoulder at the portrait of Sir Kenneth, still wracked with doubt, Natalie suddenly had a disturbing image of their potential future boss, lying on the bed, waiting for the winner to be announced.
Was that what the warning was about?
35
Cullen eyed Krishna across the space between them. The guy looked incredibly nervous. So on edge, in fact, that he wondered whether he’d somehow hit the jackpot here, and got a result. But still, he had to remind himself that this wasn’t an official police investigation, and Krishna wasn’t under caution.
‘So,’ Cullen began with a smile, going for bright and relaxed, which was difficult when faced with Krishna’s worried expression, ‘as I said, my name’s Paul Cullen, and I’m a detective with the British Transport Police.’ He needed to be careful with his words here. ‘I’ve been asked to investigate the disappearance of Natalie Long, who I understand was a resident at this property over the weekend.’
Krishna nodded.
‘Now, this isn’t an official police interview. It’s very much an informal discussion. Are you happy to continue on that basis?’
Again there was a nervous nod.
‘It’s nothing to worry about,’ Cullen said. ‘I’d just like to find out a bit about the weekend, anything that might have happened that might help with the investigation. My priority is to find out where Natalie is, that’s all, so anything you could help with.’
Krishna’s brow furrowed.
‘It might be something that you think is inconsequential,’ Cullen continued, maintaining the light and friendly tone. ‘Anything at all.’
Krishna was busy chewing a fingernail.
‘Tell me about what brought you to the house?’ asked Cullen, trying a different tack.
Krishna seemed unable to answer even that question without some difficulty. ‘I thought you would know all that,’ he said at last.
‘I know a little, but I want to hear from you.’
Krishna eyed him warily. ‘I was selected as one of the final shortlisted applicants for the place at Brand New,’ he said hesitantly.
‘I hear it was a very tough selection process. Lots of applicants. You must have a very impressive CV, to get through to the final stage.’
‘Yes, yes,’ he replied, distracted, before bringing himself back into the moment. ‘I’m a successful businessman.’
‘What exactly?’
‘Technology sector. I’ve developed several highly successful apps.’
‘Sounds good,’ Cullen replied, hiding the fact that he really wasn’t that bothered with apps – that w
as more for Amy and her generation. He had a smartphone, but wasn’t signed up to any social media platform. Partly that was due to security, but it was also because he found it all to be a waste of time.
‘You might have heard of Vicinity, my dating app,’ Krishna added, his expression brightening for the first time since they met.
‘Not familiar with it myself, but then I am happily married.’
‘It’s been covered in the media a lot,’ Krishna said. His expression darkened again, as his thoughts returned to the current situation. ‘What do you think has happened to Natalie?’
‘I have no idea,’ Cullen admitted. ‘Do you?’
‘Me?’ he said, shocked by the question. ‘You think I’ve done something to her?’
‘I meant, do you have any thoughts as to what might have happened to Natalie. I wasn’t accusing you of anything.’
Krishna shook his head. ‘No, I have no idea. Absolutely no idea, I swear.’
‘And there’s nothing you can think of over the weekend, nothing happened involving Natalie that you think in hindsight might offer any clues about her current whereabouts?’
Krishna put a hand to his forehead, pressing in the sides of his head.
‘Are you okay, Krishna?’
‘Headache.’
‘Would you like me to get you a drink, see if one of the staff have any tablets?’
‘No, I’m fine,’ he said unconvincingly, bringing away his hand with a grimace.
‘We can pause the discussion.’
‘No, no, I want to get this over with,’ he said.
‘Get what over with?’
‘I know why you asked to speak with me,’ he said slowly.
Cullen suppressed his confusion and held his poker face. ‘Why do you think that is?’
‘Because of what I did.’
‘Go on.’
Krishna looked directly at Paul Cullen, his face now determined to say something. ‘Because I sent the note to her, trying to scare her off.’
Cullen sat forward. ‘Tell me about it, Krishna.’
‘It was stupid,’ he spat out in evident self-disgust. ‘Really stupid. I… I behaved terribly, because I was so desperate to win. I really wanted this. I was willing to do anything to achieve my dream.’
Willing to do anything.
The phrase hung in the air.
‘I didn’t mean anything,’ he corrected quickly. ‘I put things right with Natalie, I apologised, it was the last thing I said to her…’
His sentence trailed off, and again he put a hand to his head.
Cullen watched him. ‘What did the note say?’
‘It was just a stupid message, really stupid,’ he said from behind his hand. ‘Childish. I wanted to get Natalie out of the competition.’
‘What about the other contestants?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘You didn’t send notes to them also, try to undermine them too?’
‘No.’
‘Just Natalie?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, because I saw her as the main threat.’
‘Why was that?’
‘Because she’d been invited to apply for the position by Sir Kenneth.’
Cullen thought back to what Amy had told him, how Sir Kenneth had asked her to apply when they had met briefly at his book signing.
‘You thought she might have an unfair advantage?’
‘Yes. She didn’t have any experience, any track record in the branding arena. She was, is, still at university. That first evening, over drinks, I couldn’t understand how she had been selected, out of all those applicants.’
Krishna had a point there. What were the chances that a current undergraduate with no track record in business would be selected as one of eight people, from the thousands that Tabitha had confirmed had applied?
Unless she had been picked out at Sir Kenneth’s request…
‘And then I heard about her relationship with Sir Kenneth, and suddenly it all made sense to me.’
‘Relationship?’
‘I don’t mean it like that,’ he said. ‘I just meant, they knew one another, they’d met. Natalie said it was just the one time, and maybe that was true, but then again, maybe it wasn’t. After all, she did win.’
‘Do you think Natalie was always going to win?’
Krishna hesitated. ‘Truthfully, yes I do. I think this was all one big set-up.’
‘That must make you angry,’ Cullen suggested.
Krishna knew where he was going with this. ‘I was angry, but not with Natalie. My anger is with the company, for wasting our time.’
‘Of course it’s just a theory,’ Cullen said. ‘There’s nothing to suggest it was a set-up.’
‘Maybe.’
‘So, the last time you saw Natalie was when?’
‘At the house, just before I left, when I apologised to her for my stupid actions.’
Cullen nodded.
‘You suspect Penny and I have something to do with Natalie’s disappearance.’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘Because you’ve brought us both back for questioning.’
‘No, you misunderstand. I intend to speak to all of you. It was just that the others couldn’t make it at short notice.’
‘Oh,’ he replied. ‘I thought…’
‘As I said at the beginning, this isn’t an official police investigation. Not yet anyway. But thank you for your time today, and I or one of my colleagues may want to speak to you again in the next few days.’
Krishna nodded. ‘I hope Natalie is found safe and well, Detective. I’ll be thinking of her.’
36
Previous Saturday evening
NATALIE SPENT the time before dinner thinking about the events of the past twenty-four hours.
Had it only been that long?
It had certainly been a very strange experience: one that had left her longing for a return to normality, for Bristol and her studies.
Free from the controlling influence of Jack.
She couldn’t wait.
And then a sudden thought hit her. She was one of just three people left in the selection process. What if she were to win? Did she even want the job? If she didn’t, how would she turn it down?
She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, her face deliberately angled away from the portrait of Sir Kenneth.
What if she won, but she didn’t want the job?
The question kept whirring around and around, until it brought on a throbbing headache.
Should she leave now?
She looked towards the door, imagining traipsing down to reception with her case, picking up her cell phone, and leaving.
The thought felt good.
But then she would never find out if she’d won, and part of her wanted to know. She also didn’t want to just walk out on Susie and Penny without explanation. It wouldn’t feel right.
She wouldn’t win, anyway. She felt sure that Susie or Penny would be placed ahead of her. And she’d be genuinely pleased for them.
She wanted to be there to congratulate them.
CONVINCED in herself that she should stay, Natalie changed for dinner and made her way downstairs and through to the dining room that this time yesterday had been filled with hopeful contestants. Now the room was deserted. Just a single, small table was set.
She edged warily into the room. She checked the time, and she wasn’t particularly early. It was just a couple of minutes to seven.
But no Susie and Penny yet.
She stood alongside the table, leaning against one of the seat backs. It didn’t feel right to sit down on her own. It was only after a minute or so of waiting that she noticed that the table was only laid for two.
She stared at the silver cutlery, lost in thought.
Maybe it was a mistake?
‘Ah, Natalie!’
She turned to see Sir Kenneth New approaching. This time he was very much h
ere in the flesh, and the sight of him walking towards her was a shock, for more reasons than one.
‘Oh, hi,’ she managed.
‘Lovely to meet you again!’
To her relief he proffered a hand rather than going for something more physical. She took it and he shook it warmly, but thankfully not in a way that could be taken as being overly friendly.
Again.
He remembered.
‘You look confused,’ he smiled, releasing her hand. ‘Please, make yourself comfortable.’ He pulled out a chair for her.
She took the seat and tried to process what was happening as Sir Kenneth settled down opposite her, taking his napkin and laying it across his lap.
‘Well,’ he said, fixing his azure-blue eyes on her, ‘I expect you’re wondering what on earth is going on?’
‘I… I’m a little bit confused, yes. Where are…’
‘Susie and Penny have left,’ Tabitha said, scaring the life out of Natalie. Somehow she’d managed to get within a few inches of her back without Natalie noticing she was even in the room.
‘Oh. I thought we were all going to have dinner together.’
She saw Sir Kenneth prompt Tabitha with a look.
‘I informed Susie and Penny about the results of the selection centre. They both asked me to pass on their congratulations to you.’
‘Indeed,’ Sir Kenneth said, smiling broadly. He opened up his palms like a worshipper giving thanks. ‘Many, many congratulations, Natalie.’
Only now did she truly understand. ‘I’ve won.’
‘Yes, you are our winner,’ Sir Kenneth confirmed. ‘Although we don’t really like to talk about winners and losers in the company. We prefer to talk about those who have achieved their goals, and those who are on the way to achieving them. Those goals might not be the ones they believe they want or are striving towards. Susie and Penny, they are wonderful, wonderful people, but they weren’t right in this case. And I only want people who are right, Natalie.’
Natalie was fizzing with thoughts. It almost felt like a prelude to a panic attack: the sense of spinning out of control, surrendering to the emotional vortex.
‘Here are your menus,’ Tabitha said.
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