by Sherri Bryan
“Why didn’t you mention them before,” said Fiona, ignoring his question.
“Because I didn’t think it was relevant.” The sulky chef glared at her from across the table.
“You didn’t think telling us that you possibly stand to gain from Roman’s death was relevant?”
“No. I mean yes. I mean…” Gavin became flustered. “What I mean is, if I’d told you I had shares in the school, you’d have immediately thought I was guilty of something. I didn’t even want to work for him.” He rubbed the pads of his fingers against his eyelids. “Look, when he first asked me to come to the school, I had no intention of leaving the job I was in. I was happy where I was, I was earning good money, and I had a great team.”
“So what changed your mind?”
“He offered me shares in the school. And he offered to quadruple my salary.”
Fiona whistled through her teeth. “That’s quite a carrot.”
“Exactly,” said Gavin. “And Roman wanted Larissa to work for him, too. He liked her—she made him laugh and he knew she was a hard worker. We spoke about the opportunity and we both agreed we’d be mad not to take him up on the offer.”
“Were you and Larissa together back then?”
Gavin shook his head. “We only started seeing each other after we came to St. Eves. We had no intention of getting together but we spent so much time in each other’s company while we were getting the school up and running, it just kind of happened. Things were going great until Roman found out.”
He scowled. “We’d been careful for months and then he saw us out together. It was Larissa’s birthday and we’d both had a bit too much to drink: it wouldn’t have taken a genius to work out we were more than friends.” He looked Fiona in the eye. “Larissa gets very affectionate when she’s tipsy.”
Fiona met his stare. “And that caused you a problem with Roman?”
Gavin nodded. “Yeah, but not as much of a problem as I thought it would. He told me he’d have to decide what to do about it, but I’m pretty sure he was going to let me off. He couldn’t afford to lose me and Larissa so soon after the school opened, you see. He wanted continuity and he wouldn’t have had that if he’d replaced us both, would he?
“In any case, where would he have found anyone who was experienced enough to take over from us at short notice? Monique tried to wind me up by saying he was considering taking on some of Olivia Floyd-Martin’s kitchen staff but knowing how hostile their relationship was, I reckon she’d have done everything she could to have stopped her people defecting to Roman’s side.”
Fiona nodded and clasped her hands on the table. “We have reason to believe that Mr. Haley might have been in possession of some sensitive information about you—about your personal life. Is that right?”
Gavin shifted in his seat, not meeting Fiona’s eye. “Sensitive information? Who told you that? What kind of information?”
“Well, I rather hoped you’d tell me,” said Fiona. “It’s always better when we get our information straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were. Of course if we can’t, we ask around… see what we can find out.”
Gavin said nothing for a while. Then he sighed. “Let’s just say my finances aren’t looking particularly healthy right now.”
“I thought you said Mr. Haley had quadrupled your salary?”
“Yeah, he did. But when my money-grabbing cow of a wife found out, she thought she’d hit the jackpot. She thought I had an inexhaustible supply of cash because I worked for Roman. She wanted her share in maintenance payments, and he knew it.” His face darkened with another scowl.
“You’re divorced?”
“No, we’re separated, but we’ve got two kids,” said Gavin, “and Victoria, their mother, is absolutely bleeding me dry with child support. Even though she was the one who had an affair, I was the one who decided it would be better for everyone if we separated. The atmosphere at home was toxic; it wasn’t good for any of us, most of all the kids, so I left.” He paused, his jaw and his fists clenched.
“I felt so guilty afterwards, though, I agreed to a ridiculously high maintenance payment; much more than I needed to. Not that I begrudge paying it; I’d give my girls my last penny, but whatever I give their mum is never enough… and, in any case, I doubt very much that most of what I give her is being spent on them.”
“They’re not being neglected, are they?” said Fiona.
“Oh no, nothing like that,” said Gavin. “Quite the opposite, in fact. Victoria buys them everything they want in the way of pretty dresses and shoes, getting their hair and nails done; all the girly stuff I wouldn’t have a clue about. Every time I see them, though, they tell me she’s been whining that I don’t give her enough money, so she can’t afford to buy them the stuff they need for school.
“Last month, I found out from my eldest that Vic’s having the house redecorated, and they’ve had a new bathroom. Now, you tell me, where’s the money coming from for that? They’ve already had new windows and a new drive this year, and they’re all going to Portugal next month. You know who’s paid for all that?” He jerked a thumb back on himself. “This mug, that’s who. It’s no wonder there’s not enough money left for the kids’ school things.”
He puffed out a long breath. “What I should do is talk to Victoria about it, and tell her I’m not giving her any more money than what was agreed, but I know that if I do, it’ll turn into a blazing argument and she’ll try to turn the kids against me, out of spite.” He ran his hands through his hair and looked thoroughly miserable. “Roman had me over a barrel, and he knew it. He said if I ever stepped out of line, he’d make sure my family life suffered.”
Fiona frowned. “Because he’d fire you, and you wouldn’t be able to keep up the child support payments?”
“Exactly,” said Gavin. “I don’t have the words for that guy - he was a disgusting human being – and Monique isn’t much better.”
“Oh?” Fiona raised an eyebrow.
“If it wasn’t for her, Roman wouldn’t even have known about the situation with my kids. She was his spy—didn’t you know? She was always running back to him like a little lapdog, telling tales and dropping people in it at every opportunity, and she used to vet all his staff before he took them on. If he wanted someone to work for him, she’d dig around in their personal stuff and find out everything she could about them. If they had any secrets they didn’t want anyone else to know, they wouldn’t stay secret for long.”
He laughed, bitterly. “Believe me, if anyone had something to hide, Monique would find it and give the information to Roman. He liked to have a hold over his employees, you see. He’d reel them in until it was difficult for them to break ties, then he’d tell them they’d better always be loyal to him, or he’d see to it that they suffered. If I was a dancer, I’d do a jig on his grave.”
“So why did you give him reason to fire you by starting up a relationship with Larissa?” asked Fiona.
“Because I didn’t think he’d find out.”
“And what’s going to happen to you now that he’s gone? About your job at the school, I mean?”
Gavin spread his hands and shrugged. “Right after Roman died, we weren’t sure what was going to happen, but we’ve decided to carry on as we are for the time being. We already had bookings till the end of the year but we thought people would start cancelling because Roman isn’t around any more. The exact opposite happened, though. The phone calls and emails haven’t stopped with people wanting to book a place on one of the courses. It seems that the school’s popularity hasn’t died with its namesake, thank God.”
“But you still stand to benefit from the shares you hold in the school?”
Gavin nodded. “But that doesn’t mean I had anything to do with Roman’s death, does it?” He looked at the expensive watch on his wrist. “Look, do you think this is going to take much longer, ‘cos I really have to get going; until the police give the school the all-clear, Larissa and I will be working from ho
me to confirm all the new bookings, and reschedule the ones we haven’t been able to honour since the school’s been closed. We’ll be opening for business again as soon as we can, and we’ve got a ton of things to get ready before then.”
“Almost finished,” said Fiona, making a note on her pad. “I also need to ask you about the sequence of events after the students went for lunch on Monday.”
Gavin frowned. “What do you mean? What sequence of events?”
“I mean, what happened after the students went for lunch? Can you run through it for me?”
“Oh, I see. Well, Larissa told the students that lunch was set out for them in the staff dining room, and they all took a break for just over an hour. They were back at their benches by two.”
“And did you also go into the dining room?”
“No, I had my lunch in the kitchen, with Larissa. We don’t usually eat with the students.”
“And while you had your lunch, where was the dough the students had made?”
“It was in the kitchen, proving.”
“So you and Larissa were alone in the kitchen with the dough for the raisin bread?”
“Yeah, but not just the raisin bread, all the bread.” Gavin’s expression changed. “Just a minute. Are you insinuating that Larissa or I did something to that dough?”
Fiona raised her shoulders. “I’m merely asking where it was while the students were having lunch, and who had access to it.”
Gavin shook his finger in front of her face. “Listen, you’ve got nothing on me—nothing at all. Just because I told you I won’t be shedding any tears over Roman’s death, doesn’t mean I killed him by stuffing him full of poisoned fruit. And, anyway, if I had done that, how could I have been sure that someone else didn’t eat it by accident?”
“Well, if you were the perpetrator, you’d know which loaf you’d poisoned and make sure it was saved for Mr. Haley. Not that I’m insinuating that, of course,” said Fiona. “I’m merely answering your question.” She gave him a thin smile. “If you plan on leaving St. Eves, perhaps you could let us know, Mr. Doyle?” said Fiona. “We may need to speak to you again.”
Gavin gave her a sneer and brought his hand to his forehead in a mock salute. “I will, but as I’ve got nothing to run away from, I won’t be going anywhere. If you need me, you know where to find me.”
____________
In another interview room, Larissa brushed the perspiration from her top lip as she sat across the table from Ben.
“I swear, I didn’t touch the flippin’ dough! And even if I had wanted to get rid of Roman - which I didn’t - I wouldn’t have done it with that Aconite stuff. You can’t just walk into a shop and buy it, you know. Not the dangerous stuff, anyway. It has to be extracted by experts.”
“You seem to know a lot about it,” said Ben.
“I Googled it after I saw the news report,” she said. “Along with most of the country, I should think. I’d never heard of it before. Look, I promise you, I haven’t done anything wrong.” Her face turned pink as she fidgeted in her chair. “How long is this going to take?” she asked, before a fat tear splashed onto the table.
“You’re upset?” asked Ben.
“What do you think?” said Larissa, through heaving sobs. “You think I had something to do with Roman’s death, don’t you? Why else would you be speaking to me?”
“We’re not just speaking to you, Miss. Reece. We’re speaking to everyone who might be able to tell us something that’ll help us solve this case. Is there anything you can tell us?”
Larissa shook her head and continued to sob.
“Look, if you know anything that may help us in this investigation, I’d recommend you let us know,” said Ben, kindly. “If you don’t, we can find out from other sources, but it would really be better if you told us yourself.”
“I’m not hiding anything from you, because there’s nothing to tell.” Larissa lifted her head and put a hand up her sleeve to pull out a tissue.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. I’m just upset because Roman’s dead.”
Ben nodded. “I see. Well, some information has come to light which we’d like you to help us understand.”
“What information?”
“It seems that Mr. Haley was aware of something you wouldn’t want anyone else to know about? Something he may have been planning to make public? Could you tell me what that might have been?”
Larissa’s expression turned from forlorn to fearful, but she said nothing.
Ben fixed his eyes on her. “Can you tell me what he was referring to?”
Larissa began to cry again. “I have no idea. Roman was very suspicious of people. He probably thought we were all keeping secrets from him.” She wiped her eyes with the raggedy tissue. “If that’s what you want to know, I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can tell you.”
Ben gave her a dubious look. “Okay, that’s all for now, but we may need to speak to you again.”
Larissa nodded as she pushed out her chair and blew her nose again. She waited until she was well away from the police station before collapsing into a heap on a bench. She fumbled in her bag for her phone and dialled a number with shaky fingers.
“I had to tell a whopping lie, Gav,” she said, gulping down the fresh air as if her life depended on it, “but I think I got away with it.”
____________
“She’s lying,” said Ben. “What was it Roman said? ‘She's going to crumble when I make the details of her nasty little secrets public.’ Why would he say something like that if there wasn’t at least some truth to it? Let’s face it, when he made that tape, he didn’t know it was going to be heard by anyone else, did he?”
“Larissa obviously thinks she’s put you off the scent by pretending she had no idea what you were talking about,” said Fiona.
Ben nodded. “I don’t doubt that Roman Haley was a suspicious guy but, at the moment, I’m inclined to believe him rather than her. And I won’t rest until I find out what it is she’s keeping from us.”
____________
“Do you think this will take long?” said Izzy. “It’s just that Roy and I are going to a concert in St. Matlock tonight. I don’t know where I’m going, so I want to leave in plenty of time in case I take a wrong turn, or something. I don’t have Sat-Nav in my car, so we’re going to have to rely on Roy-Nav and a road map.”
“No, it won’t take long, just a few minutes probably,” said Nathan, pleasantly.
“Well, I can’t tell you much, I’m afraid.” Izzy threw him a flirtatious grin. “We made the dough, using the ingredients that were on the bench, and following what Gavin told us to do. Then we went to lunch, went back to the kitchen to give the bread a second prove, and then we baked it.
“When the bread was ready, we all tasted some of everything, then Roman turned up, pigged out, and then we all went home—or back to The St. Eves’ Tavern in mine and Roy’s case.” She scratched her head. “And that’s about it, in a nutshell.”
“Did you see anything suspicious?”
“Well, Roy’s ponytail was a little suspect, but apart from that, no, nothing.”
A smile hovered at Nathan’s lips.
“Unless you count Olivia Floyd-Martin coming to the tasting, and then leaving without actually tasting anything,” said Izzy. “That was a bit weird.”
“Okay, thanks for your time, Miss. Davenport. If you think of anything else that might help with our inquiries, please let us know. We’ll get in touch if we need to speak to you again."
____________
Roy Tanner sat across the table from Nathan with a wide smile plastered across his face.
“I just turned up at the school and followed along with everyone else. Baking’s not my thing, see, so I didn’t have a clue what was going on. Do you bake, DCI Costello?”
“No, I don’t. Did you see anything suspicious during the day you spent at the culinary school, Mr. Tanner?”
“Suspi
cious?” Roy rubbed his chin with his big hand. No, I didn’t see anything suspicious at all. Mind you, we were all too busy getting on with stuff. That Gavin’s a hard taskmaster, so even if there had been something suspicious going on, I doubt any of us would have noticed.”
He laughed. “Have you ever tried kneading dough by hand? I tell you, it’s not easy, even for a big bloke like me. It certainly kept me occupied, I can assure you of that, as I’m sure it did everyone else. No, I certainly didn’t see anything suspicious.”
“Okay, thank you, Mr. Tanner. We’ll be in touch if we need to speak again. If you remember anything that could be of interest to us, please let us know, won’t you?”
____________
Later that evening, after Monique had had her tooth refilled, and had finished a four-course dinner in the rooftop restaurant, she relaxed in the hotel bathtub, up to her chin in bubbles.
She reached an arm over the side of the tub and picked up the bottle of vintage Champagne she’d ordered from room service. Pouring herself a glass, she lay back and sipped her drink, the bubbles fizzing on her tongue.
She gazed at her surroundings. It was about time she had some pampering. After everything she’d been through, God knows, she deserved it.
She smiled and raised her glass in a toast. “To you, my darling Roman. May you rot in hell.”
Chapter 11
There was a shuffling of chairs and papers as the team assembled for the latest briefing.
“Right, now that we’ve taken statements from everyone, let’s take a look at where we are,” said Nathan. “Regarding Olivia Floyd-Martin, although she may have the most obvious motive on the surface, how would she have got the poison into the bread? We’ve considered that she could have contaminated the bread when she arrived for the tasting session, but how plausible is that? And is she really a killer? Are we missing something? If so, what?” He looked around the table, his eyes coming to rest on Carl, the station’s youngest, newest, and keenest, detective. “Carl, I’d like you to take that on. Dig around, ask questions, see what you can find out.”