by Emily Selby
'Only that I find it hard to believe,' Katie said. 'Unless the chat with Mr McBride suddenly made her suicidal...'
'We'll check it all out. You should go home and try to relax with a nice cup of tea. I'll pop in later.' A loud hissing cut into Jack's words. 'What was that?' he asked, wincing.
Katie told him about the boiler repairs.
'I'll talk to them,' he said, knocking on the door to the boiler room.
Katie automatically followed, stopping by the entrance, just out of sight.
'Did you hear anything suspicious?' Jack asked the plumbers after introducing himself and showing his credentials.
'No,' an older voice replied. 'We've been busy in here, mate. We need to get on with it, if we don't-'
'As I said earlier, I’m Detective Inspector Heaton, Regional Serious Crime Unit,' Jack interrupted. Katie's shoulders tensed, and she stifled a giggle. The older man was getting a bit of the treatment he deserved.
'What now?' the man replied, the irritation still in his voice.
'What were your moves between 12.30 pm and 1.35 pm.?'
'We arrived right before 1 pm, as agreed, but there was no one at reception to direct us to the boiler. So, we waited. And waited. And finally, the boss arrived, all busy and what have you, but at least he let us in here. We started around 1.20 pm and have been here since.'
'Did you notice anything or anyone suspicious?'
'Nah, I didn't. You?'
'No. Yes!' a younger voice replied. 'There was a man in the backyard, hanging around the fence and the bench by the gate.'
'A man?' Jack asked. 'Can you describe him?'
'Dark hair and a beard.' The younger voice continued. 'Medium height, medium built. Dark clothes.'
'When was that?'
'When I went to the van for the first time to get some stuff. But when I got back a few minutes later, the bloke was gone.'
'Did you notice the time?'
'It was shortly after we arrived,' the older man added, his voice sounding gruff. 'I sent the lad back to the van for the ladder maybe five minutes later.'
'Did you hear a shot?' Jack asked after a short pause.
'No. We didn't hear anything.'
'I heard something that sounded like a gunshot on the TV,' the younger voice cut in. 'That was what scared me, and I dropped the tool box.'
'You're just looking for an excuse,' the older voice replied, the irritation again palpable. 'You dropped the toolbox because you were holding it all wrong. I told you so.'
'What time was it?' Jack asked calmly.
'When I dropped the toolbox,' the young voice replied.
'Thank you, gentlemen,' Jack said. Katie retreated a couple of steps, sensing the brief interview was over. 'I'll send someone to take your names and contact details, in case we need to get in touch with you.'
A minute later he was back in the hallway.
'He dropped the box about 1.15 pm,' Katie told him. 'This would seem to confirm our estimated time of death?'
Jack nodded. 'I'd better check on the scene. Did you see anything or anyone else?'
'Just the repairmen, and Mr McBride. Amanda gave me a present on Saturday,' Katie said suddenly, not sure why.
Jack glanced at her intently. Two vertical lines appeared between his eyebrows.
'What was it?'
'A paper origami crane and a folder of origami paper. She's been trying to teach me how to do origami. But we haven't had much time. We were planning to have a coffee, or lunch together when the hotel was closed, so we could get into it properly,' Katie's voice broke. She paused and gulped. 'When she texted me at midday today, I thought it was about the origami.' She sniffed quietly and rummaged through her handbag for a fresh tissue.
'Did she have any close friends or family?'
'Not that I know of. Her best friend locally is Angie Mercier, the waitress from Une Tasse de Bonheur, the one who helped in the previous investigation, remember?' Katie paused and glanced at Jack.
He nodded. 'Will I find her in the cafe?'
'No. At this time of day, she's probably at one of her clients’ houses. She works as a child-minder during the day, until mid-afternoon, and does waitressing afterwards,' Katie informed. She gave him Angie's phone number. 'Can you wait until 3.30 pm when she finishes with the children? She'll be shocked, and she can't leave the kids.'
Jack nodded. Katie made a mental note to call Angie shortly before 4 pm, to make sure she was okay.
'Do you need anything else from me?'
'Not at this stage,' Jack answered. 'I'll call you later, if you're free.'
'No work this afternoon, as you can see.' Katie shrugged and bit her upper lip, to hold back the tears. 'I wanted to spend some time with Amanda, learning origami. Jack, I-I can’t believe Amanda shot herself. She would have never....' Her voice broke. Katie paused to clear her throat. Jack touched her shoulder once again.
'I'm sorry about that, Katie,' he said quietly. 'I'll do my best to find out what happened to push your friend to this.'
'So, you think it's a suicide?'
Jack took a deep breath. She knew what was coming, but even now, after several months of working together, solving various suspicious death mysteries, she still posed the same question. Someone had to. After all, things weren't always what they appeared to be.
'I need to see the scene properly and examine the evidence. You know I tend to withhold my judgment until I have more information, but from what I've gathered so far at this stage, some keys signs are here: a near distance shot, a suicide message, the weapon close to the body. We'll check the gun for fingerprints and the room for evidence of other person's interference, as always.'
'Thank you, Jack,' she croaked. 'I'd better go.'
She walked out of the building, letting the tears stream down her face. She'd need a few minutes in her car to calm down.
4
Once she’d regained control of her emotions, Katie drove home.
Pushing aside the urge to call Angie to share the sad news, Katie made herself a cup of tea and sat at the kitchen table. Besides grieving after Amanda, she had another problem, one closer to home - Mr McBride not paying her. And then, there was his strange offer of "finding a different way to settle this, maybe directly." Which Katie could interpret in a couple of ways, one worse than the other, with payment under the table being the least insulting option.
Gee! What had happened to Mr McBride? He had always been on the brash side, a little too pompous and self-important, but other than that, quite human. Katie had worked as a peak-time receptionist/conference area manager for the previous couple of months and her overall impression was that Mr McBride did care about his employees, which was a little confusing.
What made her believe McBride was a good employer, despite his recent payment difficulties?
Katie sipped on her tea. The warmth of the brew spilled through her body, helping her relax a little. The strange behaviour of her employer was providing a welcome distraction from the recent tragedy. She reviewed the snapshot memories of the past few days, looking for a reason for McBride’s strange behaviour.
There was a scene from Saturday morning. It had been a busy time, with the yoga retreat guests complaining that the radiators in their meeting room were cold, courtesy of the capricious boiler. Katie spent her time running around, trying to find enough electric heaters and calm down the grumblers at the reception desk. Amanda should have been dealing with the people wanting to check out, but she was missing.
No, wrong. Amanda was not missing, she had been in the lobby talking to someone. Mr McBride went to fetch her and ended up returning to Katie, asking if she could help at the desk, while he sorted out the heaters.
Katie had meant to ask Amanda what that conversation was about. The man she'd been talking to was not a guest, and their conversation appeared rather stressful and unpleasant.
A sob shook Katie shoulders. She fished out yet another tissue and blew her nose. Her tissue supply was running da
ngerously low.
Distraction. She needed another distraction.
Mr McBride and his strange behaviour. What the heck was going on? Was the hotel really in financial difficulties?
Katie reached in her handbag and pulled out her mobile. Her friend, Linda McKay, was not only one of the best-informed people in Sunnyvale, she also knew McBride quite well. A few seconds later Katie was chatting to Linda.
'The Sunny Corner in financial trouble?' A note of curiosity mixed with shock coloured Linda's voice. 'Not that I know of. On the contrary. It's been doing rather well, or so I've heard. Alistair is over the moon. Now, his money situation is stable, he can finally throw himself into politics.'
'Politics?' Katie asked, although not as surprised as she would think she'd be. Alistair McBride into politics? That made sense. Didn’t Mr Abercrombie, a local politician, stay in the hotel recently?
'Oh, it's been his dream ever since he was a young man. But he's never had enough drive. Having said that, his wife, Moira has not been very supportive of it either. Keeping him on the straight and narrow, as she says. I suppose now with the daughter taking over the business and the business doing well, there's less pressure on Alistair to earn money. Moira has always been a bit of high maintenance woman. Actually, this is a very good moment for Alistair to realise finally his political ambitions. But why are you asking? Have you noticed anything?' Linda's voice brimmed with curiosity.
'No, not really,' Katie said cautiously. 'It's just that...' she hesitated over how to express what she was going to say so that she could collect useful info without spreading unnecessary gossip. 'He's been late with salary payments.'
'Alistair not paying his staff?' Linda asked sharply. 'That's not going to go down too well during his electoral campaign.'
'Electoral campaign? What do you mean?'
'He's running for the local council, didn't you know?'
'No,' Katie replied, genuinely surprised. One thing was being aware of Mr McBride political goals, hearing he's already in the race to power, was another. 'I didn't realise he was that serious.'
'Oh, this may still not be official, but he discussed his program during the last parish meeting.'
Mr McBride was also the chairman of the Sunnyvale parish council. Katie bit her lip. His offer of "resolving the problem in a mutually accepted way" became even more bizarre.
Should she tell Linda?
'I see,' Katie replied slowly. 'I hope the payment comes through soon, otherwise I definitely will not vote for him.'
'Of course, darling. I would imagine he should look after his staff. After all, he employs quite a few people, doesn't he? How many of you, permanent and temporary staff are there, at the hotel?'
Katie gulped. No, she wasn't going to tell Linda about Amanda, not her place. The police needed to make the announcement.
'I'm not entirely sure. There is a team of housekeepers, the chap that handles the door and the car park. A handyman, the kitchen and restaurant staff, four full time receptionists, an events manager and I help out when there are multiple events happening,' Katie recited on one breath, keeping her voice steady. 'I guess that makes at least twenty permanent employees, some part-time and some temp staff.'
'That's a lot of people for our small town. I'm sure his problems, if any, are temporary, and he will resolve the situation quickly. I can't imagine Alistair not paying his employees, particularly if he's planning to stand for the local elections. That would be just plain stupid,' Linda ended her sentence with a clear note of disapproval in her voice. 'Unless, of course, there is some secret that hasn't come to light yet,' she added in a quieter voice.
Silence fell onto both ends of the line.
Katie's heart broke into a gallop.
'A secret? What kind of secret?'
'Er ... no idea, I just added the thought for completeness,' Linda said quickly. 'I'm not aware of anything.'
If there was a secret, it must have been a well-hidden one. What kind of secret might a local businessman on the verge of launching himself into a political career want to keep quiet?
Katie chewed on her lower lip. Yeah, she could think of a couple. But would it have anything to do with Amanda's death? And if so, in what way? What if Amanda had discovered something McBride wanted to keep hidden?
Katie winced.
'What do you say, Katie?' Linda's voice brought her back to reality.
'Sorry, you were breaking in and out, didn't hear,' she explained smoothly. 'Can you repeat, please?'
'I was asking if you wanted me to intervene on your behalf, so Alistair pays you?'
'No, please, don't. I don't want you to add to his stress...'
'I wouldn't talk to him directly. That wouldn't work. I'd talk to Moira. She's the real influencer.' Linda's laugh rattled hollow in Katie's ear.
Wife influencer, husband under her thumb, about to launch into pursuing a long-awaited dream. An interesting combination.
It still didn’t quite explain either her unpaid salary, or Amanda's death.
But maybe there was no connection between the two events whatsoever.
'I'll see what I can do, don't worry, Linda,' Katie said as firmly as she could. 'I'll ask you for help if I run out of other options.'
Katie ended the call with a knot in her stomach. She had already run out of other options, and she had even accepted Amanda's offer of help.
She’d have to wait and see now.
Unless she decided to agree to find an alternative solution to the problem and accept the offer of a payment under the table...
Or try to put some extra pressure on Mr McBride ... but no, that last approach was not in Katie's style. She abhorred blackmail, except for most extreme cases of parental desperation.
Blackmail was dangerous. As far as she knew, blackmailers often ended up... dead.
Oh! Katie's hand flung to her mouth.
Did she really just think that?
5
After her phone conversation with Linda, Katie made herself frantically busy around the house. She did anything she could think of to keep the image of Amanda's lifeless body out of her mind and stop dwelling on the possible connection between her friend's death and the fact that Katie hadn't been paid.
Katie never thought she'd face the pile of dirty laundry and disorganised pantry with so much relief.
When she was half way through the last shelf, her phone beeped with a message from Jack.
"Ring your French friend. Love, Jack."
She did. Her eyes filled with tears again the moment she heard Angie's sobbing.
'But why did she do it? She was a happy girl.'
'I'm shocked too. When did you last see her?
'This morning. She was normal.'
Katie chewed on her cheek. Had Amanda really been acting her normal self over the previous few days?
'When I saw her on Saturday she was quite upset,' Katie said eventually. 'A guy in the hotel gave her a hard time. Did she say anything about it?'
'I think she did. She came home very nervous.'
'Do you mean stressed or angry?' Angie's usually good English suffered when she was under pressure.
'Angry and I think also scared. She was going through her things. I asked what she was doing, but she just said something about missing some documents or something. It looked like she was searching for something or maybe thinking of packing up and going away.'
'You mean like running away?' That was an interesting comment. 'Did she say anything about where she wanted to go to?'
'No, but she said something about not being able to hide. Or wanting to hide. I didn't quite understand. I thought she was just upset because of something at home. On Friday night she borrowed my laptop and Skyped her mum. She called her from my Skype account because there was something wrong with her laptop. At least that’s what she said.'
An image flashed in Katie's mind.
'That's interesting. I saw her use one of the computer stations in the lobby on Saturday at the
lunch break. These are computers we have for our guests. And when I asked her what she was doing, she said it was because there was something wrong with her computer. That was on Saturday afternoon,' Katie related.
'Maybe something was wrong with her computer,' Angie commended.
Katie pondered over the recent comments. Had Amanda meant the computer at the reception desk, or her personal laptop? Maybe the laptop because Katie had seen her use her work PC later. She needed to mention the situation to Jack.
'I guess, you should have her mum's contact details on your Skype account?' Katie asked hopefully.
'Yes. I gave it to the inspector, your boyfriend, I mean. It was him who called me, wasn't it?'
A warm flush crept onto Katie's cheeks. Even though most of her friends knew about her relationship with Jack by now, she still felt a little exposed when someone mentioned their relationship directly.
'DI Heaton, yes. He's probably called Amanda's mother by now.'
'I don't think so. It's in the middle of the night over there. Her mum lives in New Zealand.'
There was a lot of things Katie obviously didn't know about Amanda. Katie cleared her throat determined to close some of those gaps.
'Did she behave normally on Friday?'
'Almost. I mean except for borrowing my laptop. And yes, she locked herself in her room and it sounded like she was looking for something.'
'Hm....' Katie allowed her voice to trail. 'Looking for something on Friday and appearing to be packing on Saturday?'
'Yes. I think on Friday she was stressed, nervous. But on Saturday she was scared.'
Katie made a mental note.
'What about Sunday?'
'On Sunday she stayed at home, in her room. She said she wasn't feeling very well. But then at night, about 10.30 pm, she left to go to work. Apparently, she'd had a phone call asking her to help the night shift.'
That was news to Katie. Amanda had done some night shifts before, and Mr McBride seemed happy with her in the role of the night auditor - someone responsible for checking the records of all the hotel transactions that happened during the day. She might have mentioned she had some experience with book keeping and activity logging. So being called in to do a night duty wasn't unusual, but Katie hadn't heard anything about the hotel having trouble with the night staff.