Bloody Valentine

by James Patterson

  ‘No one’s told me what’s going on …’

  ‘Please sit down, Miss Barnes.’ Amy glanced at Ben.

  Leila sat three chairs away from her brother and his girlfriend.

  Amy looked at Ben again to make sure he was watching the faces of Leila, Michael and Anni. ‘I regret to inform you that your sister-in-law, Zee Barnes, and the chef Bruno Gambrini have been murdered.’

  ‘There must be some mistake …’

  ‘I assure you there’s no mistake, Miss Barnes.’

  Anni slumped back in her chair. ‘Zee – and Bruno …’ She began to cry: large, soft, silent tears.

  ‘Where’s Jack?’ Michael asked.

  ‘In his office.’

  ‘Is anyone with him?’ Leila asked. ‘He shouldn’t be alone …’

  ‘He’s not alone,’ Amy assured her.

  ‘I suppose that secretary of his—’

  ‘For heaven’s sake, Leila, shut up.’ Michael looked at Amy. ‘How was Zee killed? Did the same person kill her and Bruno …?’

  ‘I’m not at liberty to divulge any more information, Mr Barnes.’

  ‘Have you caught whoever’s responsible?’

  ‘We need to interview everyone who lives in the building. Miss Barnes, could I speak to you first?’ Amy opened an inner door, which led on to a corridor.

  ‘There are four offices and four en-suite bedrooms in there,’ Michael explained. ‘If you want somewhere private, there’s an office ahead of you.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Amy opened the door that Michael indicated. ‘Miss Barnes?’

  Leila left her chair reluctantly.

  A constable tapped Amy on the shoulder. ‘Liam Ansell has reviewed the CCTV images, ma’am. There’s something he thinks you should see right away.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Amy and Ben left Michael, Leila and Anni with the constable and entered the conference room, which had been transformed into an incident room.

  Half a dozen officers were talking on phones. Others were moving desks, fixing photographs to Perspex screens and inputting information on computers. Sergeant Reece and Liam Ansell were at a desk in a corner. A bank of screens had been installed above it. Liam smiled when he saw Amy. He and Amy had once been close. Although he hadn’t wanted their relationship to end, they’d managed to split amicably enough to remain friends.

  ‘I’ve collated the last images of Zee Barnes, ma’am. Before you see them, there’s something else you should look at.’ Liam hit a series of buttons. Images of the corridors of Barnes Building filled the screen.

  Amy noted the time in the corner of the screens. ‘Twelve twenty-three. Today?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am. This is the corridor outside Bruno Gambrini’s apartment. There it is. It’s present for less than two seconds. I’ll freeze it.’

  ‘A figure in chefs’ whites and hat exiting Bruno Gambrini’s door.’ Ben said. ‘At twelve twenty-three, when Adrian Wills didn’t enter the building until twelve fifty.’

  ‘Has that time been verified?’ Amy asked.

  ‘By the restaurant Adrian works in, the taxi driver who drove him here, and the porter,’ Sergeant Reece confirmed.

  ‘Look up, damn it,’ Ben ordered.

  ‘Unfortunately, whoever it is doesn’t show their face,’ Liam answered.

  ‘Can you make that image clearer?’ Ben asked.

  ‘That’s as clear as it can get, sir.’

  Amy studied the blurred figure. ‘Given the position of the light switch, I’d say five feet nine inches.’

  ‘Agreed. Medium build, not a shred of hair to be seen beneath that hat. And, as we only have a back view of someone in baggy clothing, holding what looks like a black sack, they could be male or female,’ Ben added.

  ‘More sightings?’ Amy looked at Liam.

  ‘Not of our mystery figure in chefs’ whites, but this was recorded between ten past two and ten past three this morning.’

  ‘The corridors are empty,’ Ben said irritably.

  ‘Look closer. Here and here.’ Liam moved the mouse arrow over the edges of the screen. ‘The light dims. Something or someone has blocked the lamps in the corridor.’

  Amy peered closer. ‘Shadows?’

  ‘Someone is moving out of camera range,’ Liam declared.

  ‘We checked security,’ Sergeant Reece said. ‘The outside doors are locked day and night. The only way in is with a resident who has a key code or through the porter.’

  ‘A resident would know the location of the cameras,’ Amy said.

  ‘See, movement again here.’ Liam indicated an area where a shadow flickered.

  ‘Could be someone familiar with the location of the cameras,’ Ben mused. ‘Possibly the someone in chefs’ whites who was too rattled after killing Bruno to be careful?’

  ‘It’s a theory,’ Amy acknowledged. ‘Is there only one key code for all the apartments?’

  ‘No. I checked with the porter,’ Sergeant Reece informed her. ‘Each resident has their own code to the front door and a different code for their apartment.’

  ‘And if they tried to enter another apartment?’ Ben asked.

  ‘An alarm would trigger and freeze the lock.’

  ‘Is there a master code that overrides the individual codes?’ Ben stared at the screen.

  ‘Yes, but only the porters and Jack Barnes have it.’

  ‘Is there a record of when it’s used as opposed to the individual codes?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am, and the locks are being checked by a technician. But she warned us not to expect results for a couple of hours.’

  ‘So, we’ve someone creeping around the building between ten past two and five past three in the morning. But all we can see are shadows.’

  ‘It happened again this morning, ma’am,’ Liam added.

  ‘What time and where in the building?’

  ‘The first shadow appears at seven minutes past eleven on the fourth floor.’

  Amy referred to her notebook. ‘The artists’ studio floor?’

  Liam called up the screen. ‘Yes. The shadow crosses the light above the fire exit, then disappears.’

  ‘Can you see it in any other corridors?’ Amy asked.

  ‘There’s a flicker four minutes later on the camera above the door to the underground garage.’

  Amy looked at Sergeant Reece. ‘Wouldn’t you need a key code to get out of the building as well as into it?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  ‘Get the codes used on that lock checked as a priority.’

  The sergeant signalled to a constable.

  ‘Do you want to see the last images we have of Mrs Barnes, ma’am?’ Liam looked enquiringly at Amy.

  ‘Please.’ Amy found it harrowing to view CCTV images of any victim going about their daily life before a crime, but murders were the worst. She was dreading seeing a live Zee Barnes walking, smiling; no longer a victim but a living breathing person.

  ‘We’re missing something,’ Ben said.

  ‘What?’ Amy looked at him.

  ‘Anyone coming in here has to get past the porter, right?’

  ‘Right,’ Sergeant Reece confirmed.

  ‘The porter has given us a timeline accounting for every resident’s movements this morning, but he admits to being away from his desk from roughly eleven thirty to twelve fifteen.’

  ‘Agreed,’ Amy answered.

  ‘Everyone is accounted for except – this mystery figure in chefs’ whites, who is seen leaving Bruno’s apartment, carrying a black sack, approximately half an hour before Bruno Gambrini was found murdered.’

  ‘Your point is?’ Amy pressed.

  ‘Bruno’s murder was messy. If this someone is Bruno’s murderer, they could have knifed Bruno, changed into his chefs’ whites and carried their own bloodstained clothing away in the sack. In which case, where is it?’

  ‘Sergeant Reece, get the porter,’ Amy ordered.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Amy and Ben left the search of the rubbish
chutes and bins to Sergeant Reece. They returned to the office where they’d left Leila Barnes.

  ‘How was Zee murdered?’ Leila asked when they entered.

  ‘We’re not at liberty to divulge that, Miss Barnes,’ Amy answered.

  ‘I’m her sister-in-law,’ Leila protested.

  ‘We’ll get through this interview more quickly if you co-operate, Miss Barnes,’ Amy warned. ‘Where were you this morning?’

  ‘You can’t regard me as a suspect …’

  ‘Please, Miss Barnes, answer our questions.’ Ben flashed an insincere smile.

  ‘I left the building at eight thirty to take Mamie, that’s my younger sister, to school. I returned at nine o’clock. I wrote some letters on my return and didn’t go out again until about a quarter to one when I left for a charity committee meeting.’

  ‘Letters? You worked on a computer?’ Amy questioned.

  ‘Some of the time. I also drafted notes by hand for the meeting.’

  ‘Did you see or speak to anyone when you were in your apartment?

  ‘Obviously I didn’t see anyone. I made several telephone calls.’

  ‘Time of the calls?’

  ‘I can’t remember,’ Leila snapped angrily.

  Amy watched Ben make a note to check Leila’s calls and computer log. ‘The name of the charity and place you met?’

  ‘St Anna’s Hospice. We use the conference room in the offices.’

  ‘Time?’

  ‘One o’clock. Several committee members work, so we arrange our meetings at lunchtime.’

  Amy looked at the timeline Ted had given her. ‘Zee left her apartment just after eleven o’clock. She placed cards and roses outside your door.’

  ‘I saw them when I left.’

  ‘Zee didn’t knock on your door?’

  ‘If she did, I didn’t hear her, but I could have been on the telephone or in the bathroom.’

  ‘Would you describe your relationship with Zee as close?’

  ‘She’s more than twenty years younger than me. We have different interests.’

  ‘How would you describe your sister-in-law?’ Amy pressed.

  ‘In a word: devious. She wormed her way into Jack’s affections when he was grieving for his first wife.’

  ‘Your brother’s first wife died?’ Amy sat forward.

  ‘In a fire in a castle that Jack was renovating in Wales. Jack was devastated. Jodie – his first wife – was pregnant at the time. It was heartbreaking. Michael and I thought that was why Zee got herself pregnant so soon after meeting Jack. She knew he’d marry her if there was a child on the way. I only wish I could have been as sure as Jack that the child was his.’

  ‘What made you think Jack wasn’t the father?’ Ben asked.

  ‘Jack never said a word – to me or Michael – about planning to have a child with Zee. But Jack was besotted. He wouldn’t listen to reason once Zee announced her pregnancy. It worried Michael and me.’

  ‘Why?’ Amy probed.

  ‘Zee was fifteen years younger than Jack. Pretty enough, in a common way, but she’d barely been educated. She was neither a social nor an intellectual match for Jack.’

  ‘What caused the fire that killed Jodie?’ Ben was interested.

  ‘Faulty electrical wiring. The electrician was fined for negligence. Not enough, in my opinion.’

  ‘You said Jack was devastated,’ Amy reminded her.

  ‘I thought he’d have a breakdown.’

  ‘But he made a recovery?’ Amy prompted.

  ‘Once he started dating Zee, four months after Jodie’s death. He married her a week after she told him she was pregnant.’

  ‘You thought that was too quick?’ Ben suggested.

  ‘Yes, but Jack’s always been a womaniser. For all his insistence he loved Jodie, he couldn’t stop playing around with other women.’

  ‘Your brother’s first marriage wasn’t happy?’ Amy asked.

  ‘In my opinion, that was only because each ignored what the other was doing. As for Zee … well,’ Leila pursed her lips. ‘It’s not for me to speak ill of the dead.’

  ‘In what way?’ Ben enquired.

  ‘Ted Levett,’ Leila spat out his name. ‘I couldn’t believe it when Zee brought him here. Old school friend indeed—’

  ‘Yet Jack employed him,’ Ben interrupted.

  ‘Because Zee asked him to and he couldn’t refuse her anything. It was obvious what Zee and Ted were up to,’ Leila declared. ‘I saw them giggling and touching one another at all hours of the day and night. Every time they saw me watching, they’d stop and pretend Zee was just passing through the foyer.’

  ‘Did Jack say anything to you about Zee’s relationship with Ted?’ Amy set her notebook on the desk.

  ‘No. I think he ignored it because in his eyes Zee could do no wrong.’

  ‘Are you saying he was faithful to Zee but not to Jodie?’ Amy checked.

  ‘Jack was besotted with Zee but I doubt he was faithful to her. It’s not in his nature. He doesn’t only have an office above his restaurant. There’s an apartment with a hot tub and luxury bedroom and bathroom. Possibly he takes his women there.’

  ‘You’ve seen it?’ Ben was surprised.

  ‘Mamie and I stayed there for a few nights when the heating failed in our apartment last winter. But, as I said, Jack’s always been the same. He’ll chase after any woman who flashes a smile and a thigh. I think that’s why he encouraged Jodie to buy a place she could retreat to in Wales when he was working – or so he claimed.’

  ‘Why Wales?’ Amy was curious.

  ‘Jodie had family there. Jack thought it would be a good idea for her to have her own place close to her mother.’

  ‘Was Jodie happy about it?’ Ben queried.

  ‘She didn’t complain, but Jodie was a saint compared to Zee. Pretty, educated, she’d lectured in ancient history before marrying Jack. Zee was a waitress; a nobody when she flung herself at Jack.’

  ‘Your brother must have thought something of Zee to marry her,’ Ben commented.

  ‘As I said, he married her only after she told him she was pregnant. He showered her with presents. Gave her a credit card and paid the bills every month. Money was no object after Zee moved in with Jack.’

  ‘Did Jack complain about Zee’s spending?’

  ‘I keep telling you, Inspector, he was blind to her faults, but I saw through her. She tried to take over my charity work. Asked if she could help, then claimed credit for my efforts. Well, I wasn’t having that. That’s why I wouldn’t answer the door to her this morning …’ Leila faltered.

  ‘You knew Zee knocked on your door this morning, yet you didn’t answer it?’ Amy recalled the roses and cards that Zee had delivered to everyone.

  ‘I knew it was Zee. Anyone coming in from outside would have been announced on the intercom by the doorman. I looked through the spyhole, saw her standing there and walked away. I have better things to do with my time than waste it on Zee.’

  Amy looked up at a knock on the door. ‘Come in.’

  ‘Sergeant Reece is asking if you can come upstairs immediately, ma’am. It’s urgent.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Amy and Ben heard the shouting before the lift doors opened on to the studio floor.

  ‘Damn, I forgot about the sculptures.’ Amy ran into the studio. Sergeant Reece was speaking slowly, calmly – in contrast to Anni Jones, who was hysterical.

  ‘No, you can’t break open that sculpture. You’ll kill it. I’ll not allow it. It took me months …’

  ‘Don’t you dare touch it.’ Michael Barnes grabbed a constable, who was moving towards one of the sculptures that lined the studio walls.

  ‘Everyone stop!’ Amy shouted at the constables who were searching the room.

  ‘We’re being careful, ma’am,’ Sergeant Reece reassured Amy.

  ‘Those sculptures are a nightmare.’ Ben stared at the life-sized pieces.

  Amy gazed at the bronze and marble sculptures.
‘The bronzes have been cast for some time.’ She wrapped her fingers in a tissue and tapped the marble sculptures that depicted the same man and woman in a series of classical poses. ‘And these are solid. They’re also excellent.’

  ‘Now you’re an art critic?’ Michael mocked.

  ‘No, but I studied fine art at college. You want to move these?’

  ‘Some of them,’ Anni confirmed.

  ‘The bronze and marble sculptures can be moved, Sergeant Reece,’ Amy said.

  ‘And these? Your savages want to cut them open.’ Michael indicated a row of colourful papier-mâché fairytale figures. They ranged from witches, goblins and princesses to dwarves and giants. Like the bronzes and marble, all were life size.

  ‘My children’s range,’ Anni explained.

  ‘You sell them?’ Ben was amazed.

  ‘To toy shops, children’s theatres, and to people who buy them for their children’s rooms.’

  Ben tapped a witch. It echoed hollowly.

  ‘You damage it, you pay. They fetch over four thousand pounds – each,’ Michael warned.

  ‘Want to cut them open?’ Ben asked Amy.

  ‘What on earth for?’ Michael questioned angrily.

  ‘We haven’t found Zee’s body.’ Amy watched Michael and Anni as she spoke.

  ‘If you haven’t found her body, how do you know she’s dead?’ Michael demanded.

  ‘I’m not at—’

  ‘Liberty to divulge,’ Michael finished for her.

  Amy turned to Anni. ‘There are joins down the side.’

  ‘They’re made in pieces and welded together with resin. Please don’t damage them. As Michael said, I’ve put two years’ work into this exhibition. The gallery owner picked out the pieces she wanted. I can’t let her down by delivering an incomplete list.’

  Amy thought for a moment. ‘Can you see if we can get the dogs at short notice?’

  ‘Cadaver or blood?’ Ben asked.

  ‘Both. Meanwhile, you can take out the marble and bronze sculptures,’ she advised Michael and Anni, ‘but none of these papier mâché figures.’

  ‘I can’t wait for dogs. They have to be at the gallery tonight. I promised,’ Anni pleaded.