Death by Beauty

by Lord, Gabrielle

  ‘Let’s hope you’re worrying unnecessarily. Like Dr Evans said, there are probably more than one of those around. I’ll send it off to DAL on Monday; they’ll be able to tell if it’s hers. But it might take a while for the result. What the hell was going on with Dr Evans? Something had really upset her.’

  ‘My guess is that she’d just discovered some major fraud or that someone was cooking the books.’

  Angie started the car. ‘To me, it looked like a lot of fear. And she was really concerned at the thought of a search warrant.’

  ‘I wonder what she’s hiding?’ said Gemma. ‘What if they have done some evaluation of the DiNAH therapy? And what if there have been dangerous contraindications discovered? She could be frightened that the lab books would be found. What if that’s what Janet had found out? Ange, we’ve got to get into that medical building – the supercentre. There’s something really off going on round there. What did you make of Dr Egmont?’

  ‘Smooth,’ Angie replied, as she turned onto the main road.

  ‘And condescending. What about that “all you feminists” remark?’

  ‘He’s a pants man, too. I could tell by the way he was looking at your breasts.’

  ‘Come on, Angie. He was thinking how he could improve them.’

  As they approached the city outskirts, Gemma recalled their conversation with Dr Egmont. It was a while since she’d been twenty-nine.

  Lorraine Litchfield flashed into her mind. Litchfield was twenty-nine and a vision of Hollywood glamour. Gemma wondered how much it was costing Fayed to keep Lorraine in clothes, hair styling, make-up, visits to the gym and the beautician … maybe cosmetic surgery …

  Perhaps there was a way to force her to withdraw her statements about Steve. A possibility suggested itself to her. She flashed a glance at Angie, briefly considering whether she should discuss the plan. No, she thought. Not yet.

  Gemma tried Mischa’s number, but again the call went to voicemail. ‘I don’t like this,’ she said. ‘I’m almost certain that broken arrow is hers.’

  When Angie dropped her off, Gemma hurried inside, feeling Mike’s absence in the stillness of the apartment.

  ‘I didn’t think you were working today,’ she said when he answered her call.

  ‘Hi, Gems,’ he said. ‘A potential new client called and asked if we could meet, but I’ve been stood up. I’ll give him another fifteen minutes. Where are you?’

  ‘Home. We didn’t find any trace of Janet’s notebook at Sapphire Springs. Of course, it could be locked away in a cupboard in somebody’s office, or destroyed already. A couple of interesting things happened, though. I’ll tell you about it later.’

  Gemma re-read a scrawled note Hugo had left for her on the dining table saying he was visiting a mate. She made herself a pot of tea and a cheese-and-tomato sandwich and enjoyed a moment of peace on her own.

  As she ate, her idea about Lorraine Litchfield formed more clearly in her mind and she dialled Spinner’s number.

  ‘Boss,’ he answered when he heard her voice. ‘What can I do for you?’

  ‘I want to talk something over with you, Spinner. Can you drop by sometime?’

  ‘I was going to knock off for a meal break in the next thirty minutes or so,’ he said.

  ‘Have it over here with me. I can make you a toasted cheese-and-tomato sandwich. And coffee.’

  ‘I’ll be there in forty-five.’

  A knock at the front door puzzled her. She wasn’t expecting anyone. ‘Got to go,’ she told Spinner as she hurried to open the door.

  ‘Sorry to disturb you, Gemma,’ said Elaine. ‘Someone came around with a package for you. I was out here tidying up the hedge over there and I offered to take care of it for you. But he wouldn’t leave it. Apparently you have to sign for it. I thought I’d better tell you as soon as I noticed you were home because it must be important for the courier to come on the weekend.’

  ‘I haven’t ordered anything,’ Gemma said, frowning.

  ‘It might be a surprise,’ Elaine suggested with a bright smile.

  ‘Did he leave a card?’

  Elaine shook her perfectly bobbed hair. ‘I thought that was strange. How are they going to get it to you?’

  ‘Thanks, Elaine.’

  ‘I’m sure they’ll try again.’

  Gemma closed the door. In her line of work, fake deliveries were often used to confirm someone’s place of residence, with the signature establishing ID. But in this case, the courier already knew her name and address.

  When Mike arrived home Gemma immediately asked: ‘Your client didn’t turn up, did he?’

  ‘No,’ he replied slowly.

  ‘Someone came around with a package while I was out. Elaine spoke to him. He wouldn’t leave it with her and he didn’t suggest any arrangements about a later delivery. He didn’t leave a phone number.’

  Mike’s worried eyes met hers. ‘Someone wanted to ping you – personally. It was you he was after. Why?’

  They reviewed the security-camera footage, but jerky frames of a hurried courier racing down the steps and under the camera’s field of vision revealed only that the figure was male, carried an electronic clipboard and had dark hair.

  ‘Someone is taking a great interest in you, Gem,’ said Mike, ‘and they know too much about you.’

  CHAPTER 21

  Gemma heard Spinner’s utility pull up on the roadside above.

  ‘I asked him over for coffee,’ she said in response to Mike’s questioning look. ‘There’s something I want to discuss with him.’

  ‘Something theological?’ Mike asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘I hope you’re not getting yourself into something I don’t know about.’

  ‘You mustn’t worry about me. Nothing’s happened.’

  ‘Yet.’

  ‘I’d better let Spinner in,’ she said.

  ‘Haven’t seen you for ages,’ said Mike, shaking Spinner’s hand when he walked in. ‘How have you been?’

  ‘I’m doing okay,’ he said, ‘thanks to the Lord and His Providence.’

  ‘Good to hear it.’

  ‘You’d hear more if you came to church with me,’ said Spinner. ‘You’re welcome any time, you know.’

  ‘That’s nice to know and very generous of you, Spinner,’ said Mike, heading into his office. ‘I might take you up on that … one day.’

  Gemma made the promised toasted cheese-and-tomato sandwiches and put on some coffee to percolate.

  She carried the mugs and food out onto the deck into a perfect, sunny afternoon. White tips on the sea responding to the gentle nor’-easter and puffy picture-book clouds sailing in the blue sky lifted her heart. She slid the doors closed behind them.

  ‘I haven’t been able to do much with your vodka man – Tolmacheff,’ said Spinner, picking up his coffee. ‘Except to follow him when I’m around that way. He spends time at his Edgecliff office. Visits his son. No sign of the girlfriend yet. At least not on my watch.’

  ‘That’s strange,’ she said. ‘He’s made her the beneficiary of an insurance policy; if she’s that important to him, you’d think he’d be spending time with her. I found out that she’s an Iranian student, over here on a scholarship. Maybe he’s got her stashed away somewhere, like a proper mistress, in her own flat. But I don’t know how he could afford it. According to his wife, he’s desperate for money.’

  ‘That’s probably why – spending it all on bad women,’ Spinner scolded. ‘I’ve been quite busy with other jobs, boss. I’m not covering anything like all his movements. I could be missing a lot, like when he gets together with her.’

  ‘That’s okay,’ she said. ‘It’s very good of you to keep an eye on him for me. It’s really my job, Spinner. I’m pretty confident of getting something on him myself quite soon,’ she said, thinking that she should ring Tolmacheff soon to arrange their next meeting. ‘But this isn’t about Tolmacheff. I want to ask you a question. A question about Lorraine Litchfield.’

  ‘Where did that c
ome from?’ asked Spinner, surprised by the change of subject.

  ‘Prison, actually. Early release.’

  ‘Someone had a bad idea, then. Why the hell would she get an early release?’

  ‘I’ll tell you why in a minute. What do you think Litchfield might fear worse than death?’

  ‘Old age,’ said Spinner.

  ‘Good. What about the loss of her beauty?’

  Spinner nodded. ‘For sure. You want to put pressure on her?’

  ‘You bet. I was at Sapphire Springs Spa earlier in the day and one of the surgeons there offered to make me look twenty-nine again. I declined but it gave me an idea. There’s a woman there, terribly disfigured, waiting for her facelift.’

  ‘Steady on, boss. You’re not thinking of disfiguring Lorraine Litchfield?’

  ‘Thoughts like that have crossed my mind from time to time,’ said Gemma, dryly. ‘But no. I’m not thinking of disfiguring her. But there’s someone who would – if he was given the right motivation. He’s done it before.’

  Spinner stared at her, deep in thought.

  ‘You’re right,’ he said, after a pause. ‘Big, fat, rich, jealous Raimon Fayed.’

  Gemma nodded. ‘See, if I can get footage of her misbehaving with another man, I could threaten to show it to Fayed. You know what he did to his ex-wife.’

  ‘Everyone does. He’s a sadistic brute. But how do you expect to get hold of footage like that? Is she playing up already?’

  ‘I don’t know about that. But for what I’m thinking, I’ll need your help. And Steve’s, too.’

  ‘Steve? How come?’ Spinner frowned.

  ‘I’m counting on Litchfield’s infatuation with Steve. I’m hopeful it can be rekindled.’

  It was time, she knew, to tell Spinner the whole story of Steve’s predicament, Lorraine Litchfield’s early release depending on her allegations about Steve taking bribes from Fayed and other big crims. ‘I suspect that even now, she’s still keen on him. That’s why it’s so important to her that she bring him down.’

  ‘Holy cow,’ said Spinner, which was about as close as he ever came to cursing, thought Gemma. ‘That woman is bad news.’

  ‘She’s determined to destroy me too,’ said Gemma. ‘So, I’m thinking that she might well be quite willing to be courted by Steve again. Not only because she’s still attracted to him but for sheer malice. Just to get at me.’

  ‘What does Steve think about this?’

  ‘I haven’t told him yet.’

  ‘And Mike?’

  ‘Same.’

  ‘Mmm. Maybe you should start telling the men in your life what you’re planning. Especially when it needs the—’ he paused, searching for the right expression, ‘—the intimate cooperation of one of them. In an act of fornication.’

  The thought of that made Gemma flinch. ‘For heaven’s sake, Spinner. Right now I just need you to agree to help me. You don’t have to condone it. And it doesn’t have to go as far as fornication.’

  ‘Boss, you’re going to need the money shot,’ said Spinner, to Gemma’s surprise. ‘That way, you’ve got her. Do you think Steve would be up to it?’

  ‘I hope it doesn’t come to that. But whatever happens, I want us to be in the front seat of your ute, capturing live feed from Steve’s bedroom on your laptop.’

  Spinner looked away, out to sea, and then back again, deep concern showing on his wizened face. ‘Boss, you would be meddling with deep and dark forces.’

  ‘Please don’t give me a lecture on sin, Spinner.’

  ‘I’m not talking about sin,’ he said seriously. ‘Not right now, anyway. I meant what I said. Deep, dark forces that might have consequences you could never foresee. Litchfield and Fayed are the couple from hell.’

  ‘Will you do it?’

  Spinner sighed. ‘You’re the boss,’ he said. ‘Let me know when you set it up. You know I’m your man.’

  After he’d left, Gemma checked her voicemail to find a message from Mischa. At first, relieved that Mischa had finally contacted her, she listened. But her relief was short-lived.

  ‘I’ve seen him! I’m packing up. I’m leaving for Mum’s right now. I’ll text you the address I’m going to. He was parked across the road when I walked out to go to work. I ran back inside and locked the door and I’m packing up right now.’

  Gemma checked the date of the message: it had been left the previous morning but only come through today. Gemma jumped up cursing the service provider and ran out to tell Mike. ‘I’ll come with you,’ he said. ‘There’s no way you’re going alone. This is too important. Come on. Let’s get going. This girl is in trouble!’

  Mike drove, while Gemma called Angie to fill her in.

  ‘Gems, I can’t leave. I’ve got to be here with the rest of the team for another briefing. Can you check up on this? I’ll get away as soon as I can and you can brief me. I’ll find her mother’s number. Let’s hope she’s gone home.’

  ‘Mike and I are on our way.’

  ‘Call me if you find anything.’

  Mike cursed every red light that held them up. Finally, he swung the car into the kerb outside Mischa’s house.

  Gemma jumped out and ran to bang on the door.

  Within seconds, it opened and the pale face of Kirsty, Mischa’s housemate, peered out. Gemma briefly explained who she was and why she was there.

  ‘Tell me exactly what happened yesterday,’ she said, hurrying inside with Kirsty.

  ‘She totally freaked. She threw some things into a bag and left at about eight-thirty yesterday morning. She was going to get a cab to her mother’s. I told her to wait and call a cab from here, but she wouldn’t listen. She kept saying, “He knows where I live – I’ve got to get out of here!” She was irrational. I told her to wait a minute and I’d come with her, but she wouldn’t listen. She just bolted. And now I don’t know where she’s gone. I don’t know what’s happened to her. She’s not answering her phone, either.’

  Mischa’s room showed signs of a hasty exit – clothes strewn on the bed, a bottle of perfume fallen to the floor.

  Angie called. ‘I’ve contacted Mrs Bloomfield. Apparently Mischa rang her mother the night before last to say she was coming down to visit her. But she didn’t arrive and her mother doesn’t know where she is. She said she was going to call the police. Her mother said she sounded very upset about something but Mischa wouldn’t tell her what it was.’

  ‘She’s not at her mother’s,’ Gemma said, turning to Kirsty.

  ‘She’s not at work,’ Kirsty replied. ‘I already checked.’

  ‘Where else might she have gone?’

  Kirsty shrugged.

  ‘Mischa’s little arrow brooch,’ said Gemma. ‘Do you remember if she was wearing it yesterday?’

  Kirsty nodded firmly. ‘I’m pretty sure. Why?’

  Gemma called Angie back.

  ‘Angie, she was wearing that brooch yesterday morning. Mischa was there. Yesterday. At Sapphire Springs.’

  ‘But why? What would she be doing there?’

  ‘You mentioned she’d had cosmetic surgery done. Maybe she went back?’

  ‘Seems a strange thing to do when you’re scared for your life,’ said Angie. ‘But I’ll check it out. Meet me at the Galleon in an hour.’

  Mike dropped her off at the Galleon cafe and went on to Kit’s to collect Rafi. Angie and Gemma spoke urgently across the small table, ignoring the coffees they’d ordered.

  ‘I called April Evans,’ said Angie. ‘She denies Mischa has been there recently. All she would confirm was that Mischa had some work done on her nose there about two years ago.’

  ‘She was very quick to try to explain away the arrow brooch …’ Gemma said.

  ‘The last place Chancy was seen is Sapphire Springs,’ Angie added. ‘And only a few hours after that, she’s murdered.’

  ‘And Magda Simmonds rings her best friend to cancel their lunch date,’ said Gemma, ‘because she has to go back to the spa. Shortly after, she commits su
icide because “something terrible is happening”. Then we find Mischa’s brooch at Sapphire Springs a short time after she vanishes.’

  Angie nodded. ‘Sapphire Springs connects them all in some way that I don’t understand.’

  ‘You’ve got to go back there,’ said Gemma. ‘Try for fingerprints. Other traces.’

  Angie pulled back in her chair. ‘Gross isn’t going to okay this. We won’t know for sure if Mischa was there until we get the DNA on the brooch, and we can’t prove that a crime’s been committed there either. He’ll say we’re jumping the gun.’

  ‘You want to wait until we find Mischa with her head and hips caved in?’

  ‘Of course not but we need cold, hard facts. Incontrovertible evidence. You know that.’

  Gemma was silenced. Angie was right. ‘I can’t just sit around while that girl might be in the hands of someone who has already smashed the life out of two other women. I’ve got to do something.’

  ‘Let’s practise some intelligence-led policing then. Go through the autopsy reports on murdered women that we borrowed from the morgue. Let’s see if anything meshes. I need to find that sex worker who’s seen the vampire guy twice now – Brie?’

  ‘Yes. That’s her name,’ said Gemma and she gave Angie Nicole’s name and the address of the open-door brothel.

  ‘Okay, Gemster. I’ll get on to her and see if she’s heard from Brie.’

  Angie paid for the coffees and headed back to the police centre, while Gemma walked out onto Oxford Street. Her restless desire to do something was only partly assuaged by Angie’s suggestions. Mischa, Delphine Tolmacheff and Steve. The first two she was contracted to help; Steve she was bound to by tenacious heartstrings.

  CHAPTER 22

  Gemma felt she’d spent the whole night thinking about Steve, and Lorraine Litchfield.

  After an unusually leisurely Sunday breakfast, Mike offered to take Rafi down to the park and Hugo still hadn’t come home so she had the morning to catch up on the laundry, but she rang Steve instead.