by Sibel Hodge
‘No!’ Craig squealed high-pitched enough to crack glass. ‘I swear, I swear that’s all I know!’ He let out a yelp at the end and held his breath.
If he was lying, he was being very convincing about it.
I wrinkled my nose up at Brad. ‘Nah, don’t kill him. But if I find out he’s lying, you can come back then and do it. Deal?’
Brad waited a few seconds for emphasis.
Craig’s face turned red from lack of oxygen.
‘OK,’ Brad finally said to me.
Craig sucked in deep gulps of air with relief.
‘Plus, if he’s not telling the truth, I’ll drive his wife up here personally.’ I turned on my heels and walked back down the corridor to the elevator.
‘What do you think?’ Brad said as we stepped inside and descended to the ground floor.
‘I think he’s telling the truth.’
‘The trouble is, that guy he described could be anyone.’
‘Well we know it couldn’t have been Carl. Carl was on the short, chubby side. It sounds like it could be the same guy who broke into Ashcombe House. He was also a skinny white guy wearing a baseball cap. I need to get a look at that photo on Dad’s memory card.’
‘Sabre still hasn’t given it up yet?’
‘Nope. It’s going to be the poop of the century when it finally comes out.’
****
Romeo called as I drove towards Deborah’s house. I let it ring and ring until his call went to my voicemail. I couldn’t face talking to him after what had happened with Brad the night before. Part of me hated myself at that moment. I’d been seeing him for the past year, and I really did love him. He was sweet and funny, kind, and dependable. He was a beautiful person inside and outside. He made me feel warm and tingly all over. If I was honest, it was Romeo who’d taught to me to trust and love again. And we weren’t just lovers, we’d been friends for a long time because we’d worked together on the same special ops team. It was no secret he’d been in love with me for a long time before we got together.
But then there was Brad, who was smouldering and dangerous and hot as hell. He was exciting and could do things with his hands that made me quiver in anticipation. He made my stomach do weird backflips when he kissed me, and set my skin on fire when he touched me. I wished I could keep both of them in my life, but that would be selfish and childish of me to even think it. Oh, why did this have to be so hard? I was going to be a prize bitch for breaking Romeo’s heart, and it left me with a sinking feeling in the depths of my soul. I’d have to do it soon, but…well, today wasn’t going to be the day.
Deborah’s house was still deserted when I got there. I was getting a horrible sense of déjà vu now, and I didn’t like it one bit.
After no response to my knocking on the front door, I tried the handle, but it still wouldn’t budge. Wandering around to the back garden, I walked past the flower beds and tried the French doors.
Bingo! They were unlocked.
I stepped inside. They opened into a large living room that smacked of a serious interior designer’s bill.
‘Deborah?’ I called out, making my way through to the hallway, the kitchen, the breakfast room, the study, and the library. Deborah was nowhere to be found.
I took the stairs two at a time. As I neared the top, I knew exactly why Deborah wasn’t answering me.
Chapter 12
In the master bedroom in front of me, Deborah was hanging from a rope attached to a wooden ceiling beam. She wouldn’t be answering anyone again.
I called Carole Blake, the Coroner’s Officer, to tell her what I’d discovered.
‘Well, the plot thickens,’ she said. ‘I take it this is going to be related to her husband’s murder?’
‘Well, I suppose the probability of it being a coincidence is about a million to one, so I’d have to agree with that.’
‘OK, hon, I’ll be there soon. Do you want me to call Romeo and update him or will you?’
I hesitated. ‘Er…can you?’ I said, hoping he wouldn’t turn up until after I’d left the scene. I know, I know, I’m a first class bitch.
‘Sure. On my way.’
I pulled on some latex gloves and did a search of the property, but couldn’t find anything that led me closer to solving this whole mess.
Carl’s throat had been cut and Deborah had been hanged. Deborah could’ve committed suicide, of course, but I didn’t think it was likely. With everything going on this was too much of a coincidence.
Sure, it was a different MO, so were different killers involved, or was it the same one trying to make it appear different? How did this tie to Levi and what was going on at Kinghorn Thomas? Was there even a connection at all, or were Carl and Deborah’s deaths just random murders?
A while later I heard Carole call up from downstairs, ‘Amber?’
‘Hey, I’m upstairs in the bedroom.’
I heard her footsteps approach as I was staring up at Deborah, wishing she could give me some answers.
‘Twice in one week!’ Carole surveyed the scene with a critical eye. ‘And you are always finding the bodies. If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were a serial killer.’
I gave her a grave smile. ‘Yep, there are definitely a few people on my hit list. But not guilty at the moment.’
‘Romeo and SOCO are on their way. Are you sticking around?’
‘No, I’ve got a lot of work to get on with,’ I said as my mobile rang. I looked at the caller ID. It was Letitia.
‘Sorry, I need to take this,’ I said to Carole and answered my phone. ‘Hi, Letitia. How are you?’
‘Amber,’ she wailed, ‘can you come over right now? Levi’s gone missing, and I didn’t know who to call.’ Her voice cracked, and she gave in to heavy sobs.
‘I’ll be there in ten minutes.’ I rushed out the door, yelling my goodbyes to Carole.
This wasn’t looking good, I thought as I motored towards her house, breaking a few speed limits on the way. First Carl, then Deborah, and now Levi was missing. He could be dead, too. A whole collection of dead bodies seemed to be springing up around me lately.
I yanked on the handbrake before I’d even come to a complete standstill and jerked the Toyota to a halt.
Letitia must’ve been watching for my arrival because as soon as I parked she pulled the door open and stood on the front step, shifting from one foot to the other. This time she didn’t have a drink in her hand, but her eyes were still bloodshot with streaky mascara stains around them, making her look like a surprised racoon.
She rushed back into the house when she saw me, and I followed her into the lounge. Folding her arms, she clutched both elbows and paced the room, her eyes flitting from side to side like a wounded animal’s.
‘OK, what happened?’ I asked.
‘He’s missing. I went out to the shop to get some food, and when I came back he was missing.’ Her hands flapped around uncontrollably. ‘I tried calling him but he left his phone here, too.’
‘Well, maybe he’s just popped out somewhere,’ I said, trying to keep focused on Letitia, but it was making me dizzy just looking at her. ‘How long has he been missing?’
‘No!’ Tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘You don’t understand. He’s taken a suitcase with him. Some of his clothes are gone. He’s left me.’ She stopped pacing abruptly and sunk down onto the sofa. ‘I knew he was having an affair. I just knew it. And now he’s finally left me.’
I sat next to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, wondering if he’d gone to Amanda’s house. That would be my first stop when I left here.
‘Look, I know it’s difficult, but I need you to calm down for a minute. If I’m going to find out what’s really going on with Levi, I need your help.’
The sobs racking her body subsided a bit, and she sniffed loudly. Slowly, she looked up at me.
‘How can I help? He obviously doesn’t tell me anything anymore. He’s been trying to keep this affair secret, so he’s not exactly been t
elling the truth to me either.’ She spat the word affair. ‘Maybe he never loved me at all. Our marriage was probably just a complete sham as far as he was concerned. All I ever wanted was to marry Levi and have a big family.’ She picked at her fingernail. ‘I couldn’t even do that right. Seven attempts at IVF and nothing happened. Levi loves kids. I bet his bit on the side could give him loads.’
I knew she was trying hard to keep the tears in check so I let her ramble her hurt feelings for a while, before asking, ‘Do you remember anything happening four years ago after Levi won his title fight? Anything that seemed odd? Anything that Levi did?’ Hacker hadn’t managed to dig up anything on Levi, but something must’ve happened around that time.
She stared at an empty brandy glass on the coffee table, thinking, then turned to me, anguish burning in her eyes. ‘No. I can’t think of anything. Like I said before, he won the fight.’ She shrugged. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
‘I’m not sure yet, but I think it could be related to what’s happening now.’
She stared back at me. The anguish had been replaced by astonished blankness.
‘OK, tell me again what happened after Levi won the fight,’ I said.
‘Well…after he won, Vinnie threw a huge party for him at a big house out in the country. It was a friend of his who owned it, and there were hundreds of people there, including many celebrities.’ She paused to take a sniff. ‘Levi got roaring drunk, and we ended up having a bit of a row – I know, ironic now, isn’t it?’ She picked up the brandy glass before slamming it back down on the table. ‘I started drinking after all the IVF failed. Now I can’t seem to stop.’
‘What was the row about?’
‘Levi only ever drank when he was celebrating a win, and that night, as he’d won the world championship, he was on a real high. The problem with Levi is that, when he drinks, he has kind of a black out, and he can’t remember anything. Everything was on tap that night, Champagne, whisky, cognac – whatever you wanted. They were serving these red Valentine’s cocktails, which were pretty strong, and Levi started mixing his drinks. He was getting pretty out of it, and I wanted him to come home with me. I could see he’d had enough to drink, and I thought he needed to sleep it off, but he didn’t want to go.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘I left the party about midnight or something and got a cab home. Levi didn’t turn up until early the next morning. He said Vinnie took him back to his house after the party and he slept for a couple of hours there.’
‘Do you know Carl Thomas or Edward Kinghorn? Were they at the party?’
‘I…’ She glanced up at the ceiling, thinking. ‘I don’t think I know them. Who are they?’
‘They own Kinghorn Thomas Bank.’
‘No, I don’t recognize the names. There were so many people there – I didn’t recognize a lot of them. Did they do something to Levi? Is this why he’s been acting funny?’
‘I don’t know yet, but I promise you I’m going to find out.’ I gave her arm a quick squeeze. ‘Letitia, do you think Levi would’ve driven home from the party that night when he was drunk?’
Her eyes grew wide, and she shook her head so hard I was surprised it didn’t ping off. ‘No, he’s always frowned upon that type of thing. I’m pretty sure he would never do it.’
That could well be true, but alcohol did funny things to people. Especially people who weren’t used to drinking.
‘But…’ Her eyes suddenly widened and she bit her lip.
‘What?’
‘I didn’t think anything about it at the time but…well, Vinnie bought Levi a new car to celebrate his first championship belt. It was this lovely, top-spec Range Rover. When we got to the party the car was already parked outside and, of course, everyone was fawning over it.’
On the one hand, that seemed very generous of Vinnie, buying Levi an expensive car, but I didn’t believe it was generosity at all. It didn’t ring true because Hacker’s delving into Levi’s bank account showed Vinnie was only paying Levi a tiny percentage from his massive fight winnings. No, Vinnie wanted to give the appearance that his fighters were doing well and earning lots of money while doing everything he could to stop Levi getting what was rightfully his.
‘But when Levi turned up the next morning, he wasn’t even driving it,’ she said. ‘I saw Vinnie drop Levi off in his Ferrari. I asked Levi where his new car was and he said Vinnie had arranged for it to go to the garage because it had a technical fault with the engine and wouldn’t start.’
A chill slithered through me. ‘Did Levi get the car back?’
‘Yes, a couple of days later. Vinnie’s friend dropped it off and it was as good as new.’ She chewed on her lip. ‘Levi’s never touched a drop of alcohol since that night.’
A horrible picture formed in my head. ‘OK, so after the party, what happened with Levi’s contract?’
‘A couple of days later, Vinnie called Levi and asked him to sign a new contract.’ She shrugged. ‘That’s all I know, but when I questioned Levi about it, we just ended up rowing. He wouldn’t tell me what was in it. Later, I found out that the terms were just rubbish, and Vinnie would be paying us a really tiny percentage of Levi’s winnings in the future.’ She turned to look at me. ‘The arrangement was that Vinnie would drip-feed us the money while he got rich on all the interest.’
‘But what I don’t get is why Levi agreed to signing it. I think Vinnie was blackmailing him into it for some reason.’
‘But why? Levi hasn’t done anything wrong.’ Her eyebrows furrowed together. ‘But…’ She trailed off, gazing at something out the window that I couldn’t see.
‘But what?’ I prompted her when she’d fallen silent for a few moments.
‘I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the last few days about Levi and me. I thought he became distant with me after we started going through all the IVF treatment. He desperately wanted a baby and so did I. Not that he had to go through all the drugs and scans and heartbreak when it didn’t work in the same way I did, but I think he felt the disappointment as much as me.’ She paused and sighed. ‘But looking back on it now, he’d become distant a little while before we even started any treatment. It was like he’d shut me out, and sometimes he’d act all moody. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I remember that it was after that night he won his first title fight. The night of the party.’ She stared at me wide-eyed. ‘Oh, God, Amber, do you think he did something that night? Something bad.’
‘I don’t know, but whatever it was that Levi did, I think Vinnie had evidence of it in his safety deposit box at Kinghorn Thomas Bank. Leitita, do you think Levi could’ve arranged for the safety box robbery to get this evidence and stop Vinnie’s hold over you both?’
She gasped, terror plastered over her face. ‘A bank robbery?’ Her hands pressed against her cheeks. ‘No. There’s absolutely no way Levi would be involved in something like that.’
Well, that remained to be seen. Levi had been sneaking around, acting weird, but even I thought it was unlikely. So if it wasn’t Levi, who the hell did the robbery? It didn’t make sense that Edward and Carl were involved. They had enough money already, which seemed to come from years’ worth of scamming clients’ money on the illegal betting tips and bonuses.
Unless they were looking for something, too.
Apart from Vinnie’s box and Eleanor Jones’s box, none of them had particularly raised a red flag with me, which led me back to Deborah Thomas. But then, the whole point of having a safety box was that the contents were secret. Anyone could’ve been after something in one of those eighty boxes that were broken into, not just Levi. And I still didn’t have the first clue about it.
‘When Carl Thomas turned up at Levi’s fight, shouting at him, I think he’d found out something that Levi had done, something that Vinnie was blackmailing him about. Why would Carl care about it? What could it be that connects him to Carl Thomas?’
She shook her head, sniffling. ‘I don�
�t know. I really don’t know.’
‘OK, do you want me to call someone to come over?’ I gripped her hand tightly.
She shook her head. ‘No. I’ve got all the company I need.’ She eyed a brandy bottle on the coffee table with hungry desire.
‘Maybe you should lay off the booze,’ I said, feeling bad about leaving her in that state. Letitia hadn’t asked for any of this. All she’d wanted was a happy family life with Levi, and look what was happening. Levi had been keeping a big secret of some kind from her all this time. What would she do when she finally found out what it was? I hoped she wouldn’t completely crack and fall apart.
She stared at the drink. ‘It’s my crutch at the moment.’
‘Why don’t I call EJ and get him to come over?’ I suggested.
Letitia tore her eyes away from the brandy and glanced up at me, surprised. ‘I never thought Levi was right keeping his dad at a distance. EJ’s a good man, and he really loves Levi. If anyone deserves being shunned by Levi, it’s his mum. She was a useless excuse for a mother.’ She nodded softly. ‘Yes, call EJ.’
I waited until EJ showed up and watched the hugs and tears pass between them before slipping out unnoticed.
Now another idea was churning around inside my brain, and I didn’t like it one bit.
It was entirely possible that Levi was somehow involved in the accident that injured Edward’s spine. His secretary said it had happened about four years ago. It could’ve been the night of the party. What if Levi caused the accident and kept it quiet? Turning an able-bodied man like Edward into a cripple in a split second car accident was horrific. Not to mention there could’ve been criminal charges for reckless or dangerous driving on Levi’s part, and he could’ve been looking at jail time. And what did Levi want more than anything? He wanted to be heavyweight champion of the world. If he was in prison, he’d never keep his dream. That was a big motive to keep it quiet.
I slid behind the wheel of my car, my mind wandering. Vinnie could’ve known about the accident and blackmailed Levi into signing the new contract. Maybe that’s what Carl had found out and why he was shouting at Levi at the fight. Carl and Edward had been business partners for a long time and were good friends. No wonder Carl was so upset and angry, and no wonder Vinnie and Levi looked scared that he’d found out.