Harry coughed and Eric’s eyes opened just enough to stare over at him.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m rather too old for these late nights.’
Harry smiled at the man. ‘So, it was you who called it in, about Charlie going missing?’
Eric gave a nod and stifled a yawn, or was it a cough he was holding back? ‘It was the sensible thing to do, I believe,’ he said, and Harry saw him send a sharp stare at Anna. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing, that the fool is doing this for attention more than anything, but still better to be safe than sorry, wouldn’t you agree?’
‘You were right to call it in, yes,’ Harry said, then turned his attention to the group as a whole. ‘Now, DI Haig has told me a little about why you’re up here. In the dales, I mean. And something about what happened at the event over in Leyburn yesterday. But perhaps it would be best if you went through it for me? Just so I can make sure I’ve got the details right, if that’s okay?’
‘Well, none of us were there, darling,’ said Abigail, without raising her eyes from her phone, but somehow managing to gesture with a wave of her hand at Eric and Mark. ‘We arrived last night after the most ridiculously long journey.’
‘I don’t know why we’re so worried,’ Adam said, his voice sharp with irritation. ‘We all know what Charlie can be like, don’t we? Frankly, it’s probably because he just didn’t want to do any shooting this afternoon!’ He stood up as if to add drama. ‘You know what? I bet he’s out there looking at properties! I’d put money on him turning up later on, the whole episode forgotten, with the details of some quaint dales cottage he’s just bought in his hand!’
‘Shooting?’ Harry asked, ignoring the rambling nonsense at the end about buying a house. But he still logged it, jotting down a brief note, his food now placed to one side, a notebook and pen in his hands.
‘Clays,’ replied Adam. ‘It’s a PR thing, for the book.’
‘So, not a game shoot, then?’ Gordy asked. ‘The book starts with a game shoot, doesn’t it?’
‘You’ve started reading it, then?’ Anna asked. ‘Are you enjoying it?’
‘Very much,’ said Gordy.
‘A game shoot simply isn’t on,’ Adam explained. ‘Not enough experience. And Charlie would only go and blow his or someone’s head off by accident, I’m sure.’
Everyone laughed, though the sound was forced, Harry thought.
Anna said, ‘We had the press booked and whatnot, and we’ve had to cancel that. He’ll turn up I’m sure, later today most probably, and I doubt he’ll even apologise for all the hassle he’s caused, or the fact that we’ve had to cancel today and book it in for tomorrow!’
‘And why do you say that?’ Harry asked.
‘Let’s just say that he can be rather volatile,’ Eric said.
‘And sensitive,’ Adam added. ‘He was upset yesterday after what happened, which is fair enough. Then he got drunk, and here we are, aren’t we?’
‘Well, you didn’t exactly help with that, did you?’ Chris muttered, without raising her face to look at him as she spoke.
Adam snapped round to glare at her. ‘And just what do you mean by that?’
‘You and the wine,’ she replied, this time returning his stare. ‘He didn’t need to top his glass up because you were doing it for him!’
‘I thought it would help,’ Adam said. ‘Relax him a little.’
Mark raised his hand. ‘My fault, too, I’m afraid. All that free booze and I’m like a kid in a sweet shop!’
‘Well, it clearly didn’t relax him, did it?’ Abigail said, still into her phone. ‘And that little chat you had with him clearly didn’t help.’
Mark, Harry noticed, looked confused by this.
‘What chat was this?’ he asked.
‘Oh, it was probably nothing.’ Abigail smiled.
Harry looked to Mark.
‘Well?’
‘It was something personal,’ Mark said. ‘Honestly, it was nothing.’
Harry made a note to follow this up later, raising an eyebrow to Gordy. Whatever had happened here, and whatever reason Charlie had for disappearing, there was a frisson of tension in the room which went beyond mere concern.
‘Like I said, perhaps you could tell me what happened,’ Harry asked. ‘Yesterday, at the event? Might give us a better picture of what we’re dealing with.’
‘Shouldn’t you be out looking for him?’ Anna asked. ‘Do you really need to question us at all? It’s not us that’s missing, is it?’
‘We already are,’ Harry replied, his voice calm, but firm. ‘I’ve got officers doing door-to-door in the local area. And we like to do things properly. Now, about yesterday . . .’
‘It was supposed to be an exclusive book launch for fans,’ Anna started to explain. ‘That’s all. Something exclusive.’
‘We all won our tickets in a competition,’ Gordy said to Harry, then added, holding up her hands, ‘Yes, I’m that much of a fan.’
‘But it didn’t go according to plan?’ Harry asked.
‘Charlie had done a little talk and read from his new book,’ Chris said. ‘He was answering questions from people, when this woman, well, she just went crazy! I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it, not at any of his events or any other author event in my whole life!’
‘In what way?’
‘She just started shouting and accusing him of all kinds of stuff!’ Chris said. Then she looked over at Anna and added, ‘I still can’t believe that she said what she did.’
‘Which was what?’ Harry asked.
‘Oh, it was nothing really,’ Anna said, dismissing it with a wave of a hand, and jumping in before Chris could reply.
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Harry said.
‘She accused him of not actually writing his own books,’ Gordy said.
‘Really?’ Harry asked. ‘Seems a bit odd.’
‘Goodness, I can imagine that didn’t go down well at all!’ Abigail laughed, the sound to Harry like that of a strangled crow.
Gordy then looked over at Anna. ‘It certainly didn’t seem like nothing. Whoever she was, she certainly didn’t think it was and neither did Mr Baker, judging by his reaction.’
Harry watched Anna take another glug of her wine. Eric was, by now, pretty much asleep he noticed. Abigail was sitting back in the sofa now and probably playing a game on her phone. Mark was no longer reading and instead just staring into the middle distance.
‘There’s always a risk when you do an event with fans,’ Anna explained. ‘If they’ve read lots of their books, some people can start to see an author as someone they know, almost as though they have some kind of part ownership of their work.’
‘Like Star Wars fans,’ Adam said. ‘If they don’t like what the creator does with something they’ve become obsessed with, well, they can certainly get vitriolic about it.’
‘So why accuse him of not writing them?’ Harry asked. ‘Where would that come from? Seems a weird thing for a supposed fan to say.’
‘Anywhere and everywhere,’ Adam said. ‘Thanks to the double-edged sword of social media, rumours and hearsay quickly become the perceived truth.’
‘Yes, but where would we be without it?’ Abigail offered. ‘I’ve got fifty thousand follows on Instagram alone!’
Harry ignored Abigail. It was something he figured he could get very good at very quickly.
‘It must have come from somewhere, though,’ Gordy pressed. ‘I mean, I was there. And I’m assuming she didn’t just make it up. Not if she was, as you say, a fan. So, she must have heard it from somewhere.’
‘Lots of authors use ghostwriters,’ Anna said. ‘Rule of thumb for you by the way: if you’re buying a novel apparently written by a celebrity, chances are, it was ghostwritten. Not every single one, clearly, and some more than others, but that’s just the business nowadays. Celebrity sells.’
‘That’s a bit cynical, isn’t it?’ Gordy said.
‘It’s also the truth,’ Abigail said.
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‘The reality is,’ Adam explained, ‘books are notoriously difficult to sell. You’re fighting against so many other ways for people to spend their time, from streaming television, boxsets, and movies, to online gaming.’
‘I suppose so,’ Harry said.
Another voice joined in and Harry was surprised to see Eric now wide-eyed and alert.
‘A book may cost about the same as a couple of decent coffees,’ he said, ‘but for whatever reason, a book is still seen as expensive. So, if you want to be an author and if you want to sell a ton of books, then you had best be ferociously talented, or already famous. Both would be nice, but rare, if you ask me.’
Anna pretended to look shocked. ‘Eric, how can you say such a thing?’
‘I’m old, Anna,’ he replied. ‘I can pretty much say whatever the hell that I want and get away with it. Like now, for example. Don’t you think it’s a little early and somewhat inappropriate to be drinking?’
Harry smiled at this sudden chastisement and saw Anna’s face redden.
‘I’m worried about him,’ she said. ‘I needed a drink.’
Stiffling a cough, Eric fell quiet once more.
‘I refer to my previous point about being cynical,’ Gordy sighed.
‘Look, there is talent out there,’ Adam said. ‘Of course, there is, and lots of it, but the industry has changed, and we’ve had to change with it. It’s unrecognisable to how it was even five years ago.’
‘So, what about Charlie?’ Harry asked.
‘Charlie has always been Charlie.’ Anna laughed, though the sound was cold, and she caught it in her wine glass as she went in for another glug.
‘So, Charlie’s accused of being ghostwritten,’ Harry said, quickly recapping. ‘By a fan attending an exclusive launch event. DI Haig here steps in to sort it out. What happens then? What about this fan? I’m assuming you have her contact details, yes?’
‘Of course, I do,’ Anna said. ‘All communication was by email.’
‘What about an address and telephone number?’
‘We requested that at the door,’ Chris said. ‘Just so we can add people to a mailing list to keep them up to date with Charlie’s books. Email is fine, but it’s nice to be able to send something through the post now and again. More personal.’
‘Well, we’ll need that,’ Harry said. ‘I wouldn’t mind speaking not just to this fan, but to the others who were there as well.’
‘I’ll get it now,’ Chris said, standing up.
As Chris headed off, Harry returned to questioning Adam and Anna. ‘After the author event, what happened then? How was Mr Baker? Did he show any signs that he might do something like this?’
‘Can’t really say to be honest,’ Adam said. ‘He was pissed off, we all were, but then who wouldn’t be? It was the launch of his new book!’
‘Has he ever done this before?’
‘Just buggered off?’ Adam said. ‘Yes. A number of times. Not after an event like this, but if he’s not got his own way, he has been known to storm off in a mood.’
‘Interesting,’ Harry muttered to himself. ‘I don’t suppose you know if he was having any problems in his personal life? Financial difficulties, relationship issues, anything like that?’
Chris had returned and at this question Harry noticed that she was staring at Anna, her eyes wide.
‘Not that I know of, no,’ Anna said.
‘So, no debts, no breakups, that kind of thing?’
‘Financially, he is more than fine,’ Eric offered. ‘Of that, you have my complete assurance. And by fine, I mean stinking rich.’
‘What about family?’ Gordy asked.
Abigail squawked again. ‘Goodness, can you imagine? Charlie having a family? Children? Disaster!’
‘Does he have any relatives?’ Harry asked.
‘It’s just him,’ Chris said, jumping in, Harry assumed, before Abigail could make her hideous laughing sound again.
‘No one at all?’ asked Harry.
Chris shook her head. ‘Must be a bit lonely. At least, that’s what I used to think, but I don’t think Charlie really cares.’
‘Though it’s often surprising what can crawl out of the woodwork, wouldn’t you say, detective?’ Anna asked, raising her eyes to Harry, before then turning her stare at Chris.
Chris went to speak, but Eric cleared his throat and said, ‘He cares about little other than himself.’
Harry decided then to ask about the evening and the events which had led up to Charlie Baker leaving the lodge.
‘You were all here last night,’ he said. ‘Was there anyone else, besides the six of you?’
‘No,’ Adam said. ‘Only the chef I’d hired in. He left once the meal was done, which was around nine-thirty.’
‘You hired a chef?’ Harry asked. ‘You can do that? That’s a thing?’
‘Trust me, no one wants to eat anything I’ve cooked.’ Adam laughed.
‘You and me both,’ Harry said. ‘We’ll need the contact details for the chef as well.’
Gordy then said, ‘Right, so, you had a meal, and from what we can gather, Charlie was getting a little drunk, yes?’
‘He was smashed,’ Chris said, sitting down again.
‘He was tipsy, darling,’ Abigail said. ‘We all were. That was the point, after all.’
‘Yes, smashed is a bit of a strong term,’ Anna said.
‘Well, I don’t think it is!’ Chris replied. ‘You’ve seen the empties! And it wasn’t just wine, either! Moved on to port and whisky, which is when I decided to go to bed.’
Harry noticed that of everyone there, the only one who seemed to be getting upset was Chris. Whether that was odd or not, he would find out at some point.
‘What time was that?’ Gordy asked.
‘Around ten,’ Chris said. ‘I was tired. I knew we had something else on today, so I wanted to be in a fit enough state to do it.’
At this, Harry sat up. ‘The clay shooting you mentioned earlier?’
‘We have various activities planned for the week,’ Anna explained. ‘This whole thing is a big PR stunt. We’re here to get plenty of content and photographs and videos and anything else to help promote the book.’
‘Though we’ve had to cancel today, obviously, like I said,’ Adam said. ‘Which is a bit of shame, really. It was due to take place in the field out the front. I was rather looking forward to it.’
‘Have you shot before?’
‘Of course not, no!’ Anna said, her voice a cry of amused disbelief. ‘Well, I haven’t, but Adam and Charlie have.’
‘So have I,’ Mark said.
‘Hardly a surprise,’ muttered Abigail. ‘I’ve done a bit, but that was laser clays, so doesn’t really count.’
‘What about you?’ Harry asked, nodding at Eric.
Eric laughed. ‘Goodness, no!’
Chris shook her head. ‘Never.’
‘We, I mean Charlie and I, well, it was research for the new novel,’ Adam said, looking over at Harry. ‘That’s part of my role as Charlie’s editor, you see. There’s only so much you can learn from a book or YouTube! Can’t beat a bit of firsthand experience. And this time I managed to persuade Charlie to join in, which is rare.’
Harry had to agree about firsthand experience. There was only so much he’d ever been able to learn during his Para training, and yes it had prepared him for what it was like in theatre, but the reality, well, that was something else entirely.
‘So, do you shoot much, then?’
Adam laughed. ‘No! Like I said, I only got into it because it’s in the book. Good fun though. I joined a club, got myself a license and a gun, same as Charlie. Perk of the job is trying out new things I would never normally even look at twice.’
‘Charlie enjoy it?’
‘I think he was just rather overcome with being able to use a gun,’ Adam said. ‘He got a real thrill from it, that’s for sure.’
‘Back to last night,’ Harry said, then looked over a
t Chris. ‘What happened, exactly, between getting back here, and then Charlie disappearing?’
Abigail explained then about waking up and finding everyone else awake, too. ‘Eric chased after him,’ she said.
‘He woke me up I think,’ Eric explained. ‘I came out of my room and saw him heading off downstairs, so I grabbed my dressing gown, but by the time I was downstairs he was gone.’
‘So, he just drove off?’
‘No, that was later,’ Abigail said.
‘I’m not sure I understand,’ said Harry. ‘You’re saying Charlie walked off, and then later on, came back, grabbed his car, and drove off?’
‘That’s about the long and the short of it,’ said Adam.
‘I was still awake,’ Abigail explained. ‘Well, something had woken me up, anyway. And then I heard a car and went to my window to have a look.’
‘And what did you see?’ Harry asked.
‘Charlie getting into his car and driving off,’ Abigail said.
‘But wasn’t this early morning?’ Harry asked.
‘Yes,’ Abigail said. ‘Why?’
‘Because wasn’t it a little dark to see anything that clearly?’ Harry asked.
‘Not really,’ Abigail laughed, ‘because it was very obviously Charlie seeing as he was wearing that ridiculous hat of his!’
‘He always wears this floppy baker boy kind of hat,’ Adam explained. ‘It’s his thing, if you know what I mean. Look . . .’
Adam passed over to Harry one of Charlie’s new novels and there on the back cover, was a picture of Charlie Baker, sporting the hat Abigail and Chris had just mentioned.
‘Looks a darling, doesn’t he?’ Abigail said, despite not actually looking up to see the book.
‘Did you try to stop him?’
‘God no!’ Abigail said. ‘It was too late. He was gone. Raced off like a complete idiot.’
Gordy asked for details of the car, which Adam duly supplied.
‘Wasn’t he somewhat over the limit to be driving?’ Harry asked.
‘Yes, but we’re not on a main road here, are we?’ Anna replied. ‘It’s a couple of miles down the lane back to the main road.’
‘So, you all heard this?’ Gordy asked, casting her eyes across everyone.
‘No,’ Chris said. ‘Well, I didn’t anyway.’
Shooting Season: A DCI Harry Grimm Novel Page 9