The Deadline Series Boxset

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘There’s nothing in the rules that says personal relationships are a no-no.’

  ‘Come on, Mr Gasquet.’ Vickery shook his head. ‘Does there need to be? Surely you can see the need to remain professional?’

  ‘Even if Juliette decided to tell them, I’d simply deny it. She had no actual proof.’ Marcel sighed. ‘It was stupid, I know, but I wasn’t thinking with my brain. I wouldn’t have let it happen again.’ He paused and shook his head. ‘Probably.’

  ‘It also gives Marcel no reason to want Juliette dead. Not if they were having sex and she didn’t expect any favours in return for…well, her favours,’ Alexi pointed out.

  Vickery sent her a look that said you-have-to-be-joking, saving Ty the trouble. ‘Please leave the reasoning to me, Ms Ellis. You are here as a courtesy, not to help me do my job.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Alexi replied meekly.

  ‘And anyway, from where I’m sitting, it gives Mr Gasquet a very good motive. He had his fun, then realised what he’d done, Ms Hammond threatened to call foul if he didn’t make sure she won and…well—’

  ‘He killed her with his own knife.’ Alexi shook her head. ‘Come on, Inspector, Marcel is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them.’

  ‘The jury’s still out on that one,’ Ty muttered.

  They talked around in circles for a while longer but Ty refused to let Vickery draw Marcel out on other aspects of his life and work at Hopgood House.

  ‘All the contestants have been told, by text message I gather, not to say anything to you until legal representation arrives,’ Ty explained. ‘I persuaded Marcel to tell you about having sex with the victim because I knew it was important.’

  ‘And that we would find out about it sooner rather than later.’

  ‘You would have found out she’d had sex,’ Ty agreed, ‘but not with whom. At least, not immediately.’

  ‘Is it true that she wasn’t killed in her room?’ Alexi asked.

  ‘Almost certainly not,’ Vickery replied. ‘Not enough blood.’

  Ty frowned. ‘Why move her into a place that was full of cameras? It’s one hell of a risk to take.’

  ‘If I was a cynic,’ Vickery replied, with a hint of sarcasm, ‘I’d say someone was trying to boost the ratings.’

  ‘How did that someone carry a bloody corpse through the recreational room that’s full of working cameras and possibly the other contestants to get to Juliette’s room without anyone noticing?’ Ty mused pensively.

  ‘All the rooms have individual doors that lead directly to the courtyard as well as access from the communal lounge,’ Alexi replied. ‘If the killer wanted to have Juliette found in her room it makes sense that he disabled the camera—’

  ‘He?’ Vickery asked.

  ‘Well, I’m assuming the killer carried her over his shoulder. Juliette wasn’t that tall but still a fair weight. I doubt any woman could have carried her. I know I couldn’t and I’m taller than average.’

  ‘She could have been wheeled in something?’ Ty suggested.

  ‘A lot of trouble and a big risk to take,’ Alexi replied, subsiding into thought. ‘I assume you’ve checked outside that door for footprints, drag marks and so on. She has to have been brought in that way.’

  Vickery sent her a look.

  ‘Sorry.’ But Alexi clearly was in no mood to keep quiet. ‘Using Marcel’s knife is just plain dumb. Even if Marcel wanted her dead, and I believe him when he says that he didn’t…but even if he did, anyone who watches the show would know he treasures his precious knives. Chefs get very territorial about such things.’ She shrugged. ‘Hell if I know why but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t use one to kill a person.’

  ‘People do out of character things in the heat of the moment, especially when it comes to crimes of passion,’ Vickery replied.

  ‘Oh God!’ Marcel buried his face in his hands. ‘You actually think I did this.’

  ‘It’s early days. We’re keeping an open mind,’ Vickery assured him. ‘We haven’t spoken to everyone yet.’

  ‘You told us earlier that you had two of your regular chefs working the lunch sitting,’ DC Hogan said, flipping back through her notebook.

  ‘Yes, but they signed out at the end of service.’

  ‘We shall have to speak to them anyway,’ Vickery said, almost to himself. ‘Check their whereabouts.’

  ‘They won’t have done it,’ Marcel said. ‘They would have been noticed in the private part of the hotel if they came back—’

  ‘But they know how to access it,’ Vickery remarked. ‘Which means we have to satisfy ourselves that they didn’t. I should have thought you’d be glad to know we are being so thorough.’

  ‘Sure, but I can’t see why they would go to the trouble of killing Juliette. They had nothing to do with the contest.’

  ‘No, but they put up with your tantrums day in and day out and get no recognition for it. Whereas the contestants, whom they probably think aren’t as talented as them, take the limelight.’ Vickery shrugged. ‘Just a thought.’

  ‘Sure.’ Marcel shrugged. ‘You have their contact details.’

  ‘Thank you. Oh, and one more thing, Mr Gasquet. If you have nothing to hide, I assume you won’t object to our taking a look inside your apartment.’

  Marcel glanced at Ty, who nodded. It would look better if he allowed the search. If there was something incriminating to find Marcel had lost the opportunity to dispose of it and they’d find it anyway.

  ‘Be my guest.’ Marcel reached into his pocket and tossed them the keys. ‘But you’ll be wasting your time.’

  ‘We appreciate your co-operation.’

  ‘Do either of you know why anyone would want to see Ms Hammond dead?’ asked Vickery, looking at Marcel and Alexi.

  ‘She wasn’t popular,’ Alexi replied. ‘Too much of a prima donna. Most of the guys on the crew fancied her at first but I think they soon realised that she would be trouble, to say nothing of high maintenance.’

  Marcel’s head shot up. ‘Have you spoken to Paul Dakin?’

  ‘The show’s host?’

  ‘Right.’ Marcel nodded. ‘He was all over her off camera.’

  Vickery sent him a look that implied it took one to know one. DC Hogan made yet another note in her book.

  ‘Look, inspector.’ Marcel spread his hands. ‘She was a stroppy little madam but she was also focused on winning this competition by whatever means necessary, not all of them within the spirit of the rules. She came on to me because she thought it would give her an edge over the opposition. I’m a red-blooded male with a pulse and…what can I say? I gave in to temptation. But who’s to say who else she tried to manipulate? Did I fancy her? Hell, yeah, course I did, otherwise I wouldn’t have taken her to bed. Did I like her? No, I don’t like her sort. Everything’s come too easy for her. She hasn’t really had to work for anything and that pisses me off. Did I kill her?’

  ‘Did you?’ Vickery asked, meeting Marcel’s hostile gaze and holding it.

  ‘No.’ The fight appeared to drain out of Marcel and he looked bone weary. ‘I had no reason to. What we did might not have been in the best of taste but it wouldn’t have got either of us thrown off the show. We were both single, not in relationships…well, I’m not and she assured me she wasn’t, so…’

  ‘She gave out,’ DC Hogan said, her voice introducing a melodious note to the heavy silence, ‘then found out you wouldn’t show her favouritism in the contest. That must have made her angry. Did you argue about it? It got out of hand. You didn’t mean to kill her.’

  ‘Don’t answer that, Marcel,’ Tyler said. ‘Wait for the station’s lawyers to get here.’

  ‘I don’t mind answering. I’ve got nothing to—’

  There was a tap at the door and a uniformed constable put his head around it. ‘The victim’s father is here, sir. He insisted on coming down immediately he was told about his daughter.’

  ‘Juliette was a local girl?’ Alexi looked surprised. ‘I didn’t know that.�
�

  ‘Yes, she was born and brought up not three miles from here,’ Vickery replied, standing. ‘Right, that will be all for now, Mr Gasquet. We will return your keys later but you will have to sleep elsewhere tonight. Oh, and we shall want to speak with you at the station tomorrow, take DNA samples and so forth.’

  Marcel nodded.

  ‘Right, Hogan,’ he said. ‘Let’s go and find out why Mr Hammond felt the need to come here. Our people have already been to him at Smithfield.’

  ‘Smithfield?’ Ty repeated. ‘You mean that big house on the Newbury Road?’

  The surprised edge to Ty’s voice had Vickery turning from the doorway with mild suspicion in his expression. ‘Yes, that’s where Juliette Hammond grew up. Do you know the place?’

  ‘No, but I’ve seen it.’ Ty cursed his blunder. He wasn’t ready to tell Vickery that the case he’d been working on had led him to that address less than two hours ago and was the reason why he’d been in the area. ‘I’ve driven past it a few times and wondered who it belonged to.’

  It was a lame explanation and Vickery clearly wasn’t buying it.

  ‘Of course you did.’ Vickery did not look happy. ‘Don’t hold out on me, Maddox. If you have information germane to this enquiry then I need to know what it is. If you don’t share, then ex-copper or not, I’ll do you for withholding.’

  Ty turned his hands palms up. ‘I honestly don’t have anything.’

  Vickery studied him for a moment, then nodded. ‘Good enough.’

  Cheryl and Drew joined them the moment the police left the kitchen. Alexi liberated Cosmo and they all sat at the table, Cosmo weaving his way between their legs, reasserting himself after the ignominy of being relegated to the scullery.

  ‘Have the police spoken to you yet?’ Alexi asked her friends.

  ‘Yes, a couple of uniforms cornered us as soon as we left Verity’s room.’ Cheryl appeared visibly distressed, as though she was only just appreciating the enormity of what had happened. ‘Not that we could tell them much that they didn’t already know. They seemed interested in how Juliette got on with people. Was there anyone in particular she'd fallen out with? Stuff like that.’

  ‘Yes, they asked us the same sorts of questions,’ Alexi said.

  ‘What’s been happening here?’

  Ty brought Cheryl and Drew up to date on Marcel’s revelations. Ty wasn’t surprised when both of them accepted Marcel’s explanation without equivocation.

  ‘You’re a bloody fool, Marcel,’ Drew said, while Cheryl gave their chef a supportive hug. ‘But you’re not the first guy to let his cock get him into trouble and I don’t suppose you’ll be the last. Juliette was enough to tempt a Trappist monk. She knew it, flaunted it and you’ve never laid claim to celibacy.’

  ‘What happened to not speaking ill of the dead?’ Cheryl asked.

  ‘Sorry, love, but facts need to be faced. Juliette was a manipulative little flirt all tied up in a very attractive package.’

  ‘Her dad’s here now,’ Cheryl said, wiping away a tear. ‘I feel so bad for him. I had a brief chat with Juliette once, when she wasn’t playing up for the cameras. We sat at this very table together. She was all over Verity. Said she loved kids and it showed. I saw a very different side of her that day. Anyway, she told me she and her dad used to be joined at the hip. He gave her everything her heart desired. Spoiled little rich girl is how she described herself. But apparently they fell out over her wanting to cook for a living.’

  ‘What does he do?’ Alexi asked. ‘Her father, that is.’

  ‘Some sort of investment banker, I think. Pots of money, anyway. Divorced from Juliette’s mum when Juliette was still young. She lived with her dad. Lost touch with her mum and didn’t remember much about her. Didn’t know where she was.’ Cheryl grew pensive. ‘I get the impression that her father was controlling and actively discouraged her from contacting her mum.’

  ‘Did her dad remarry?’ Ty asked.

  ‘A whole succession of live-in girlfriends but he never tied the knot again. None of them lasted long, according to Juliette—’

  ‘That was quite a chat you had,’ Alexi remarked. ‘Sounds like she told you her life story. Did you tell Vickery any of this?’

  ‘He didn’t ask. Should I have done?’ She directed the question to Ty.

  ‘I expect Vickery will speak to you again tomorrow. Wouldn’t hurt to mention it. You never know how it might tie in with other aspects of the enquiry.’

  ‘Okay, I will then.’ Cheryl tilted her head, clearly thinking about Juliette. ‘As a woman, I suppose I ought to have disliked her. I mean, all that sex appeal even had my own husband drooling.’

  ‘Hey, I’m a heterosexual male in my prime. I’m programmed to look. Not my fault. It’s in my DNA. But I’d only ever look. You know that.’

  ‘Only because you wouldn’t dare do anything else.’

  Drew grinned. ‘Well, there is that.’

  ‘Anyway, I did rather like Juliette when she stopped pretending to be something she wasn’t,’ Cheryl said. ‘Beneath all that sex appeal and bratty attitude, she was a lonely kid who missed a woman’s influence in her life.’ Cheryl flashed a droll smile. ‘What with me being a new mum, my maternal instincts are on high alert right now, so I could read between the lines.’

  ‘You say they fell out, her and her dad,’ Ty said. ‘How recently was that?’

  ‘Just before she signed up to do the trials for this show, I think. Her dad was appalled at the thought of her flaunting herself in front of the cameras. He implied she would be selected for her looks rather than her ability to cook and would be exploited.’

  ‘Which she was,’ Drew pointed out. ‘She made sure of it and lapped up the attention. I know the producer encouraged her to vamp it up but she was more than happy to oblige and she came on to Marcel because she thought it would give her an edge.’

  ‘Has it occurred to you that it might have been my Gallic charm that attracted her?’ Marcel asked, a flash of his brash attitude breaking through.

  ‘Nope!’ they all said in unison.

  ‘Her dad wasn’t into celebrity at any price, I take it?’ Ty asked when the laughter subsided.

  ‘Evidently not. He told Juliette it was tacky and she was better than that. He was willing to set her up in her own restaurant, apparently, so she didn’t need to enter competitions.’

  ‘Blimey,’ Drew said. ‘She was Daddy’s little princess, wasn’t she?’

  ‘Well anyway,’ Cheryl said, yawning. ‘We need to concentrate on making sure this doesn’t get pinned on Marcel.’

  ‘The studio’s lawyers are on their way,’ Ty reminded them. ‘But I won’t pretend that everything’ll be fine. You are their prime suspect right now, Marcel. You’ve admitted to having sex with her and they only have your word for it that she didn’t want anything from you in return.’

  ‘So I killed her with my own knife?’

  ‘To make it look like you’re being framed.’ Ty flashed an apologetic smile. ‘Sorry, just thinking with my detective’s brain.’

  ‘Yeah, I know.’

  ‘Ah well, at least we’ll fill all the rooms for a while,’ Drew said, earning himself a punch on the arm from his wife. ‘Hey, darling, we might as well benefit from Juliette’s misfortune. If we don’t other local establishments sure as hell will.’

  ‘Talking of which,’ Marcel said. ‘Can I use a room tonight? The police are searching mine.’

  ‘Sure. We have one free.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Marcel stood and stretched his arms above his head. ‘Thanks for your help, Ty,’ he said, offering him his hand.

  ‘No problem. Just remember not to say anything else without legal representation. I know you have nothing to hide but you can’t be too careful. This will be a high profile case, what with the TV coverage and the victim’s father having so much influence. Vickery will be under pressure to get a quick result and right now, you’re it. So you might want to think about who has it in for you and woul
d risk setting you up. If you come up with any names, run them past me first.’

  ‘The list could be a long one. The jealousies in this business are legion and it’s no secret that I have a bit of a short fuse. But none of the enemies I’ve made are in this part of the world.’ He paused. ‘Well, not so far as I know, but the show, my being such a big part of it might have ignited old jealousies. Even so, setting up such an elaborate murder just to pin it on me and settle an old score is a bit of a stretch, to put it mildly.’

  ‘That’s what I was thinking,’ Ty responded. ‘But someone clearly has.’

  Marcel rolled his eyes. ‘Tell me about it.’ He sauntered towards the door. ‘Okay. Night everyone.’

  ‘Night, Marcel.’

  ‘I need to head home,’ Alexi said, standing. Cosmo stirred himself from Toby’s basket and was at her side in a flash. Damned cat always seemed to know when it was time to go. ‘I take it you’re going back to Newbury, Ty?’

  ‘Actually, I thought I’d hang around. You might need my expert help,’ he said with a self-deprecating grin. ‘No chance I can camp out on your couch, I suppose, seeing as how the hotel’s full?’

  Alexi paused, looking anything but delighted by the suggestion, and he thought at first that she would refuse. Then she shrugged a why-not casual type of gesture. ‘Sure. You want to ride with me or risk life and limb on that bike?’ she asked, eyeing his biking leathers with distaste.

  ‘I’ll ride with you and Cosmo.’

  ‘Behave yourselves, children,’ Cheryl said as she hugged them both.

  Chapter Five

  Alexi wasn’t sure how she felt about having a houseguest, especially the houseguest currently occupying the passenger seat of her Mini. His legs looked cramped, even though he’d pushed the seat back as far as it would go. Cosmo had no such reservations and had already wrapped himself around Ty’s neck, purring like a traction engine.