Chocolate, Lies, and Murder (Amber Fox Mysteries Book #4)

by Sibel Hodge

  Aleesha narrowed her eyes at me, and her lips pinched into a thin line.

  Oops. From that little look, I’d have to say I didn’t whisper it as quietly as I thought.

  ‘I don’t want to get killed by the stalker,’ Aleesha snapped. ‘He doesn’t seem to be giving up, and I don’t expect he’s suddenly going to just change his mind and stop threatening me.’

  Nathan nodded vigorously. ‘You have to help us.’ His mascaraed eyes pleaded with me.

  I studied the Jiffy envelope and postmark. ‘Do they all usually arrive like this?’

  ‘Yes. All in the same kind of envelope. All with a local postmark by regular post,’ Nathan said. ‘I do all Aleesha’s secretarial stuff and PA work, so I always check the mail.’ Nathan batted his eyelids at Brad, maybe in the hope he wanted any dicktation or other secretarial work doing.

  I pulled out a pen from my rucksack to pick up the knickers and examine them. I hoped they were unused, but you never knew. They had black nylon and elastic on the edges like regular knickers, with weird edible chocolate in the middle. I didn’t even want to think what the chocolate part was made of. If the chocolate melted, or got eaten or licked off (ew!) you’d be left with just a pair of black crotchless knickers.

  ‘Are these exactly the same kind as the ones Dr Spork sent you?’ Brad asked Aleesha.

  ‘Yeah. Exactly the same.’

  ‘Have you ever had any other death threats?’ I asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Really?’ I found that hard to believe. I bet a few jilted ex-wives in the background dreamed up ways to get her back after their men had had affairs with her.

  ‘Everyone loves Aleesha.’ Nathan smiled adoringly at her. ‘Who could be doing this?’

  ‘I don’t know, but believe me, I’m going to find out. And quick.’ I stared at Brad, who gave a slight nod of his head. ‘What about your collection of ex-husbands or fiancés? Did any of them hold a grudge?’ I leaned forward. ‘How many have you had, out of interest?’

  ‘I don’t know. I lost count after fifteen.’

  I think I snorted then.

  ‘There was Jon, the footballer,’ she started. ‘I mean, he was a bit pissed off I divorced him for Tyrone, the backing dancer, but that was ages ago. Then Chris, the pop star, was a bit angry when we split up. He trashed me in the press.’ She pulled a ‘can-you-believe-it’ face. Aleesha obviously didn’t like the taste of her own medicine.

  ‘Then there was Curtis, who came to do some plumbing work for me.’ She grinned at us.

  ‘Yes, what about him?’ I asked.

  ‘Well, he released a sex video of us together. It went viral.’ She looked pleased about that.

  Brad swallowed, probably hoping there wasn’t one of him with her out there somewhere.

  ‘I sued him, but he didn’t have much money, so I didn’t get much in damages out of him. He wasn’t too happy about it, though.’

  ‘What about Stig?’ Nathan piped up. ‘He went a bit nuts when he caught you in bed with his brother.’

  ‘Stig?’ Brad asked.

  ‘He’s in that rock band, The Hell Devils,’ Aleesha said. ‘Yeah, I think he was a bit pissed off.’

  I sighed. ‘OK, I’m losing count now. Who out of your exes was angry with you lately or made any kinds of threats?’

  ‘Probably just Stig and Curtis.’

  ‘Anyone else you can think of who might want to threaten you?’ I asked.

  ‘Don’t think so. Oh, wait.’ Her finger shot in the air. ‘I had a bit of an incident with my cleaner a month ago and had to sack her.’

  ‘What sort of incident?’ Brad asked.

  ‘Well, she was nicking stuff from me and selling it on eBay. I caught her red-handed with my mobile phone, the bitch. She was going to sell my text messages to the tabloids, then sell the phone. I kind of hit her.’

  ‘How do you “kind of hit” someone?’ I asked.

  ‘OK, I did hit her. She reported me to the police, and I got arrested.’ She wobbled her head like a petulant child. ‘I mean, come on, I was the victim, and they arrested me!’ She paused, and then a smirk lit up her face. ‘Still, I made sure it got on the front pages, and she got done for theft. Win-win all round, I’d say.’

  ‘What’s the cleaner’s name?’ Brad asked.

  ‘Tracy White.’

  ‘How about any rivals in the glamour world?’ I asked.

  She flicked her long hair over her shoulder. ‘No. They’re not a patch on me.’ She tapped a fake nail to her head. ‘See, I’ve got the business sense and the PR sense. They just use their bodies. I mean, there are plenty who must be jealous of me.’ She flashed her teeth in a smug smile. ‘But I haven’t had any threats from other glamour models.’

  ‘What about the TV show you’ve just started?’ I asked. ‘Do you have any rivals on the set of Real Women?’

  ‘Well, there was a bit of trouble with Jessie Hinds, who used to be on the show.’ Aleesha stared at her nails.

  ‘What sort of trouble?’ Brad asked.

  ‘The show is basically two women chatting about lady things and interviewing guests,’ Nathan said. ‘Typical daytime TV stuff. The presenters were the comedian, Tania Tate, along with Jessie, but then Jessie got thrown off the show because she was useless, and she blamed our Aleesha for replacing her.’ Nathan threw a dramatic hand in the air. ‘I mean, can you believe it? Jessie thought she could just turn up and put in a below average performance because she was screwing the producer.’

  My brain whirred away at that little snippet of info. I remembered seeing the show a few times in the past. Jessie had a lively personality and was pretty funny. Hmm. Jessie was sleeping with the producer. Jessie gets kicked off the show. Then Aleesha gets put on the show. Had Aleesha been screwing the producer to take her place? I wouldn’t put it past her.

  I eyed her. ‘How did you get on the show? You haven’t done TV work before, have you?’

  ‘I’m branching out.’ She tapped the side of her head with her nails. ‘See, I’ve got the brains to diversify. Increase my audience. I know what my public wants, and I’m going to give it to them.’

  ‘Yes, but did they approach you or did you approach them?’

  ‘Well, I might’ve known the producer.’

  ‘In what way? In a “sleeping with Jessie’s boyfriend” kind of way?’ I asked.

  She shrugged. ‘What can I say? I’m attractive to men! I can’t help it if they all want me.’ She winked at Brad and flipped her hair over her shoulder with a hint of arrogance.

  A growl lurked in my throat.

  ‘Come to think of it, I think the producer, Steve, might’ve been a bit pissed off with me, too.’

  ‘Really?’ I drawled. ‘And why would that be?’

  ‘Well, I kind of dumped him for Alfonso, the racing car driver, after he gave me my slot on the show.’

  I couldn’t keep up, and I was quickly losing the will to live. ‘Is that everyone you can think of that might be holding a grudge against you?’ I prayed it was.

  She shrugged. ‘I think so.’

  I stood up to leave and looked at Brad. ‘Can I have a word with you, boss, before I go?’ I jerked my head towards the kitchen door.

  Brad nodded and followed me along the hallway, out to my car.

  ‘How did you ever get involved with that?’ I asked.

  ‘I keep asking myself the same question. We were both a bit drunk and—’

  I held a palm up in the air. ‘No, don’t tell me any gory details. Otherwise, I’ll be picturing you with her, and that’s just gross.’ I did a mock shiver. ‘This is a nightmare. It could be anyone stalking her. Lots of people hate her, and probably with good reason.’ I glared at him. ‘I’m supposed to be having a nice chilling-out week before we jet off to Vegas to get married. I should be spending my time getting my bits and bobs waxed into the shape of a heart; now I’m stuck trying to find out who wants to threaten that trollop.’

  Brad rested a hand on my arm. ‘I�
�ll make it up to you on the honeymoon, I promise.’ His voice turned husky, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled.

  I poked him in the chest. ‘You’d better.’

  I needed to speak to Jessie. Maybe she’d been so angry with Aleesha for not only stealing her boyfriend but also stealing her TV spot, that she’d resorted to death threats. Then again, maybe Steve felt like Aleesha used him to get on his show and wanted to teach her a lesson. Or it could be any one of her harem of exes. Or another woman she’d pissed off by sleeping with her man. It could just as easily be one of the gazillion people in the world who just hated her. Stars attracted attention, and she always seemed to attract the wrong kind.

  The possibility of solving this case before the wedding was getting less and less likely. And what if I didn’t find the stalker in time? Would Aleesha be accompanying us to Vegas so Brad could guard her body and keep her safe? Over my dead body!

  Chapter 5

  As I sat in my car in front of the turquoise eyesore, I phoned Hacker, font of all data held on a computer system in the whole universe.

  ‘Yo,’ he said. ‘How’s it going?’

  ‘Don’t ask. Have you got a pen? I’ve got a lot of people I want you to look into.’

  ‘Fire away.’

  ‘Chocolate knickers.’

  ‘Haven’t tried wearing them before, do they chafe?’

  I chuckled. ‘I want you to check the following people’s online purchases to see if they’ve ever bought any. Jessie Hinds, Steve Palmer, Stig from The Hell Devils, Chris Mayfield, Curtis Jones, and Tracy White.’ I explained who they all were.

  ‘Not a problem.’

  ‘Do the usual background checks on them, while you’re at it. And let me have their contact details, too. I’ll need to speak to them all.’

  ‘Whose details do you want first?’

  I glanced up at the sky. They probably all had a reason to hate her. It was a case of ‘Eeny meeny miny mo’. I plucked some names out of the air. ‘Jessie Hinds and Steve Palmer.’

  ‘OK, I’ll call you back in a minute. Yo’

  I hung up and sped down the driveway as fast as I could. Since everyone neglected to offer me a drink back there, I needed coffee. I pulled up outside Starbucks, which was like my second home, and jumped out of the car. Standing in line, I stared at the muffins, cinnamon pastries, and brownies, willing myself to want one. Usually, I’d be lusting after them, but today, I couldn’t even muster up even a flicker of excitement.

  ‘Hey, Amber,’ Becky, the young barista, said to me. Since I was such a regular, we were now on first name basis. ‘Do you want your usual? A large mochaccino and lots of cakes?’

  ‘Hi, Becky. Nope, just make it a mochaccino, please.’

  She frowned slightly. ‘Are you feeling OK?’

  ‘Upset stomach,’ I offered. Just because I knew all about her ex who’d cheated on her, her university exam results, and her latest tattoo, didn’t mean I wanted to share my life details, too.

  ‘OK, coming up.’

  I waited at the end of the counter until my coffee was ready and took it out to the car just as Hacker rang.

  ‘Yo. What’ve you got for me?’ I asked.

  He rattled off some addresses and phone numbers for Jessie and Steve, and I jotted them down in my notepad. ‘I’m still looking into online purchases for the knickers.’ Then he lowered his voice. ‘I Googled them, and they actually look pretty cool. Do you think Tia would like some?’

  ‘No! They’re tacky and…sticky. And the chocolate doesn’t even look like real chocolate. Anyway, I’m sick of hearing about people’s sex lives today.’ What with Mum and Dad, and finding out about Brad and Rampant Camel Hoof, I never wanted sex again. In fact, I was going to be a nun from now on. Well…after I married Brad, then maybe after the honeymoon, and…OK, maybe I wouldn’t be a nun. I think I’d sworn too much in church to be accepted, anyway. That had to be a big no-no on the application form.

  ‘All right,’ Hacker said. ‘I’ll get onto to the other stuff and let you know.’

  ‘Cool. Yo.’ I hung up and dialled Steve, who was working on a TV show at the Elstree Studios. He said he’d give me security clearance to get in, and I drove the forty minutes with an annoying woman on the Satnav providing directions.

  Pulling up to the studio gates, I wound down my window and smiled at the security guard. He looked suspiciously like Tom Baker, one of the actors who played Doctor Who when I was growing up. I remembered watching the daleks and cybermen from behind a pillow, and I especially liked Tom Baker because he came to our town once for a Doctor Who Fest when I was a kid. He gave me a jelly baby in the shape of a bus, which was so cool. I dropped it in the dirt, though, but he gave me another one. Bless him.

  ‘Hello,’ he said in a booming, friendly voice. ‘Can I help?’

  I peered at him. ‘You’re not Tom Baker, are you?’

  He chuckled. ‘No. I get mistaken for him all the time.’

  I wasn’t convinced. If he really were Tom Baker, it would be a bit of a let-down going from Doctor Who to security guard.

  ‘Do you like jelly baby buses?’ I asked, thinking I could catch him out.

  He pursed his lips. ‘Can’t say I’ve ever seen one.’ But his eyes twinkled as he said it.

  Oh, yeah, he was so Tom Baker.

  ‘I’m Amber Fox to see Steve Palmer.’

  Tom/Guard glanced down at a clipboard and nodded. He handed me a pass with ‘Visitor’ stamped on it and gave me directions to the right studio.

  I clipped the pass on and found a parking spot between an old Jag and an Aston Martin that looked like it should be in a Bond movie. I made my way to reception, where a young blonde woman at the desk gave me a perky smile.

  ‘Hi, and what can I do for you today?’ She practically bounced up and down in her chair.

  ‘I’m looking for Steve Palmer. I’m Amber Fox, we have an appointment.’

  ‘Oh, yes, he told me you were coming in.’ She pointed to a set of doors to her right. ‘Go through the double doors, past three offices on the left, the kitchen on your right, and he’s in the first studio you come to. You’ll see Real Women on the door, but they’re not filming at the moment, they’re just setting up for tomorrow.’

  ‘Thanks.’ I smiled and made my way to the studio. This was so cool. I’d always wanted to be on a TV set. When I was a kid, I went through a stage of wanting to be an actress. That was before I wanted to be an astronaut or Wonder Woman.

  I wandered past an empty kitchen area with a microwave, kettle, fridge, and hob on one side and some chairs and tables on the other, and came to a set of large double doors. I tentatively opened them and stepped inside. People were setting up cameras, lights, electrical wires, and other funny-looking equipment that looked like hairy squirrels. There was a raised stage set up at one end with a panel of chairs for the presenters and interviewees on the show.

  One of the men fiddling with a camera glanced up at me. ‘Can I help you?’

  ‘I’m looking for Steve.’

  He pointed to a tall guy with buck teeth, ginger hair, and an abundance of freckles. ‘That’s him.’

  Steve wasn’t the kind of good-looking guy I’d imagined as Aleesha’s type. Then again, anyone probably would’ve been her type if he could give her career some publicity.

  As I approached, Steve was deep in conversation with a petite girl, no more than about nineteen, with mousey hair and thick glasses.

  ‘Yes, Steve,’ the girl said, nodding her head at him so hard her glasses slipped down her nose. ‘Anything else, I can do for you? Anything at all?’

  ‘No, that’s it, Felicia, thanks.’ He turned to me as Felicia gave him an adoring look and scurried off.

  Hello. Someone had an ickle crush on Stevie Boy.

  ‘You must be Amber Fox.’ Steve held his hand out.

  I shook his sweaty hand and cringed inside, wondering how many germs got passed around shaking hands throughout the world in one day. It didn�
��t bear thinking about.

  ‘Nice to meet you.’ I let go of his hand and wiped it surreptitiously on my jeans.

  ‘You mentioned on the phone it was about Aleesha being threatened?’ He led me to the corner of the studio where we could talk in private.

  ‘Yes.’ I explained about the knickers and the threatening notes.

  ‘Well, it wasn’t me. What has she told you?’ He frowned.

  ‘She mentioned that maybe you weren’t happy she split up with you after you got her a slot on the Real Women show.’

  He sighed and shook his head angrily. ‘She’s a conniving cow. I thought she really liked me.’ He paused for a beat. ‘Look, we had a bit of a…fling. She’s one of these people that, even though she’s loud and trashy, people love to watch. A bit like rubber-neckers at a car wreck. She convinced me, in…’ His face turned red as he fumbled for the words to use. ‘…in a moment of passion, that she could get the ratings on the show higher. They’d been slipping for a while, and Real Women was in danger of being axed. So I took Jessie off the show and put Aleesha on. The ratings have never been higher. The public love watching her trash the guests, and she seems to get on well with Tania Tate, the other host. There’s a good spark between them.’

  ‘Right. And so after you got Aleesha on the show, she dumped you for someone else, is that right?’

  ‘Yes. But I’ve got no hard feelings.’

  ‘And what about Jessie? Did she have any hard feelings? I mean, you two were an item, weren’t you? As well as her being a presenter on the show?’

  His face took on a redder shade. ‘Look, I’m not proud of having a moment of weakness and having a…fling…with Aleesha. I never meant for Jessie to find out, and I never meant to hurt her.’ He leaned in closer. ‘I was engaged to Jessie before this happened, and I want her back, but she’s not interested.’

  ‘Really? I can’t think why. I mean, you slept with someone else and got her fired. Not exactly a good start to an engagement, is it?’