Murder On The Menu: A Romantic Comedy Culinary Cozy Mystery (A Celebrity Mystery)
Page 24
“And how long have you been engaged?” I ask.
“Two months,” Vincent replies, winking at me as he does so. Oh boy, is he a flirt or what? And doing it right in front of Jack too. He’s brazen. Then I remember Jack didn’t introduce me as his fiancée this time around, simply as Lizzie. Ah. Maybe Vincent isn’t quite so bold then. He snaps his fingers to attract the attention of a barman and orders himself another drink. “Can I get you two anything?”
“Not for me, thanks,” Jack says, and I shake my head. “We’ll leave you in peace for now.”
“Where to now?” I check as we make our way out of the bar.
“A couple more questions for Arabella, I think,” Jack says, heading for the stairs. I can tell he’s well and truly slipped into investigation mode and his mind is firmly on solving this case. I just hope we can do it before Christmas Day dawns.
Arabella answers her hotel suite door with an eager expression on her face. “Have you found it already? Oooh, please tell me you have.”
“Afraid not,” Jack replies, adding an apologetic smile. “I just wanted to ask you a few more things.”
Arabella steps back from the door. “Come in.”
We settle on the sofa, and my eyes flick towards the view out of the huge bay window. It may be dark outside, but I think I can just about make out flurries of snowflakes drifting in the pools of golden light which illuminate key features of the ground’s landscaping.
“When you and your fiancé left the room to go on your boat trip, were you in a rush?” Jack asks without preamble.
Arabella looks thoughtful for a moment. “Yes, I suppose we were a little. Vincent hates to be late for things, and he was chivvying me along so we’d be down on the hotel’s boat jetty with time to spare. Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering if you might have not closed the safe properly due to being pre-occupied with being in time for your boat trip appointment,” Jack says, watching her closely.
“I suppose it’s a possibility,” she eventually concedes. “But even if I didn’t lock it properly, that still doesn’t change the fact that somebody took the necklace from my room.”
“No, it doesn’t change that fact,” he replies, “but it does alter how it was taken and make things much easier logistically for the thief.”
“You mean it didn’t need to be a jewel thief capable of safe cracking?” Arabella clarifies, looking even more crestfallen. “Please, don’t mention this possibility to my mother. She’s already blaming me for all of this. If she thinks for one moment that I might have been remiss in locking it away securely, she’ll make my life a living hell.”
My thoughts exactly.
“I won’t utter a word about it,” Jack assures her.
She looks so upset, twisting her hands back and forth in her lap, that I feel an enormous surge of sympathy and compassion for her. We have to find this necklace – and fast!
“We had a little chat with Vincent in the bar,” continues Jack. “Can you give me a bit of background on him?”
Arabella sighs and shoots him an annoyed glare. “Not you too! It’s bad enough that my mother thinks my fiancé stole it, now you do as well?”
“I’m not accusing anybody of anything.” Jack flips through the pages of his notes. “I’d just like to know more about him.”
“Well, we met on the set of Compton Abbey. He’s part of the team who funded the series. He has plenty enough money of his own, so has no reason to steal my necklace or, as my mother claims, be a gold digger. He’s spent a lot of time travelling the world. I suppose you’d say he’s a bit nomadic in some ways. Well, he used to be.”
“He mentioned the two of you have a lot in common,” I chip in. “That’s always a good sign in a relationship, don’t you think?”
She nods enthusiastically. “Yes, absolutely. We do have lots in common. We both share a love of English literature, dramas, historic houses, we even like the same music, film and shows at the theatre.”
“That’s quite a coincidence, having so much in common,” Jack says.
“These kinds of things happen when two people are meant to be together,” Arabella replies, looking like a woman utterly besotted with the man in her life.
I can see how a man like Vincent could sweep a woman off her feet.
Jack presses on with the questioning. “Have you met his family?”
Arabella shakes her head. “No. They live in Australia, so I haven’t got around to meeting them yet. Vincent doesn’t have much contact with them anyway.”
“I see,” Jack says, his words loaded with meaning. Clearly he thinks something is amiss about Vincent.
“I’m sorry, I’ve a killer of a headache coming on.” Arabella rubs a hand over her forehead.
“We’ll leave you to get some rest,” I say, tugging a surprised Jack to his feet.
Out in the corridor, Jack shoots me a questioning look.
“Sorry, but I thought she seemed as though she needed a bit of space. We can get on with the other interviews for now and go back to her if necessary later, can’t we?” I wheedle, slipping an arm through his.
Jack chuckles and nods. “Yes, boss, we can indeed.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“So, what’s with all this stuff about Arabella and Vincent having so much in common? You think there’s something odd there?” I ask as I snuggle close to Jack on a velvet sofa in one of the hotel’s resident lounges. I love the citrusy tang of his shower gel and the solid warmth of him.
“Maybe…” he replies, placing the boot of his right foot on his left knee and looking thoughtful. “It’s just that some of the things about Vincent Turner point towards him being a bit of a player, a con artist even. No contact with a family who he claims live in Australia. That could easily be a lie designed to keep Arabella away from his real family and the truth about him. She says he travelled around a lot, had a nomadic existence. That’s another potential tick in the hustler box. He meets her on the set of Compton Abbey and suddenly they have all these things in common. Again, a bit suspicious.”
“You think he did some digging around and found out her likes and dislikes and adopted the same things himself?”
Jack nods. “It’s easily done, even with somebody who isn’t famous. Arabella has done countless interviews which he could access online, but there’s also social media stuff and loads of ways of finding out about people’s lives.”
I shudder. “That’s a little creepy.”
“True, but sometimes these things work in your favour as well.”
“But why would he go to all of that trouble? If he’s a backer of the TV series, then he’s already got money, so he isn’t after that. Which ties in with the question of why he’d steal the necklace. It’s not as though he’s really a jewel thief and is about to fence it to some dealer to break it up into parts which will be tricky to recognise or trace.”
Jack gives me a sideways look. “You’ve been watching crime shows again, haven’t you?”
“I like them,” I reply, squeezing his arm. “Plus, it’s research.”
“You’re planning on embracing a life of crime then, are you?” he asks, one eyebrow raised questioningly.
“Not sure yet,” I muse.
“Well, if you decide to go over to the dark side, give me some notice, will you?”
“Why? Are you planning on tracking me down and setting me back on the right road?” I tease, flashing him a playful smile. “It might be fun, having you stalking me.”
Jack laughs. “I can think of much more fun things to do with you.”
“Anyway,” I add as my cheeks flush bright red. It feels wise to steer this conversation back into safer territory. “Vincent was with Arabella out on the lake at the time the necklace was stolen, so he has the perfect alibi.”
“Which is, again, all rather convenient, don’t you think?”
Maybe. “So, what next in the Great Holiday Heist investigation?”
“Back to reception,” he says
, getting to his feet. “I want to check calls made to and from the bedrooms of Arabella and her party.”
Jack is firmly back in work mode. Focus, I tell myself, is good, otherwise the missing necklace is not going to get tracked down this side of our looming Christmas Day deadline. I was so looking forward to tomorrow and being part of a kid’s version of Christmas – all impatiently ripped-off wrapping paper in the eagerness to explore the exciting gifts hidden inside, eating too many sweets and staying up way beyond the usual bedtime. Jack’s brother Frazer and his wife Emma have three young children, and I’m feeling a bit hyped up myself at the prospect of spending the day with them all at their Wellbeck farmhouse. My mind darts momentarily to the snowflake truffle mixture languishing in the fridge at home. I need to get them finished before tomorrow lunch so I can take them along with us as my contribution to the festive foods fuelling the hectic family Christmas. I feel torn. A part of me wanting to be here with Jack, helping if I can with the case in the hope it can all been done and sorted before the clock strikes midnight. Yet, at the same time, the other part of me is thinking I should be at home, finishing up my festive preparations.
While Jack asks the receptionist to summon Gerald again so he can get access to phone information for the rooms, I loiter by the jaw-dropping Christmas tree. I wonder if they got an interior designer to come in and dress the whole hotel. They must have done. Each delicate bauble is perfectly placed, each ribbon of gold beads woven carefully amongst the branches. Checking to make sure nobody is watching, I tentatively stretch out a hand, stroking it down the smooth, shiny surface of one of the priceless-looking ornaments.
“Don’t touch please!”
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Amber Reed Mystery books by Zanna Mackenzie:
In The Stars – The Case Of The Celebrity Murder
On Trial – The Case Of The Vanishing Bride
Precious – The Case Of The Murdered Pop Star
Forever Mine –The Case Of The Movie Star Stalker
Past Perfect – The Case Of The Soap Opera Murders
Celebrity Mystery books by Zanna Mackenzie
Murder On The Menu
Holiday Heist
About the author:
Zanna Mackenzie lives on the Derbyshire / Leicestershire border with her husband, 3 dogs, a vegetable patch that’s home to far too many weeds and an ever expanding library of books waiting to be read.
Being a freelance writer and editor of business publications is her ‘day job’ but, at every opportunity, she can be found scribbling down notes on scenes for whatever novel she’s working on. She loves it when the characters in her novels take on minds of their own and start deviating from the original plot!
Find out more about Zanna on her website or over on Twitter or connect with her on Facebook