‘Forgive me, I didn’t mean to imply—’
‘Yes you did.’ Hammond blinked at her outspokenness. ‘However, Ty and I work together, so in one respect you will be employing me as well. I know everything he does about this case, and a great deal that other journalists don’t. But none of it has appeared in print, and never will.’ She set her chin in a stubborn line. ‘I hope that satisfies you with regard to my integrity.’
‘Perfectly so, and I apologise for insulting you.’
Some of the stiffness left her posture. ‘Apology accepted.’
‘So,’ Hammond said, relaxing also. ‘What do you both know that isn’t in the public domain?’
Ty held up a hand. ‘It doesn’t work that way. I’m not prepared to speculate. I only deal in hard facts. I know that isn’t what you want to hear but, trust me, it’s the only way to get this done.’
‘Do you know…’ He cleared his throat, eyes suspiciously moist. ‘Had Juliette had sex? Was she raped?’
‘She’d had consensual sex not long before she died,’ Ty confirmed.
‘With whom?’
Ty simply shook his head.
‘Damn it, man, you work for me now!’
‘I won’t tell you anything that might encourage you to jump to conclusions, to conduct a witch hunt or hamper the official investigation.’ Ty fixed him with a determined look. ‘It’s my way or not at all.’
Hammond looked away first. ‘Very well. But how do you know it was consensual? You only have the man’s word for that.’
‘Forensics would be able to tell.’ Ty softened his voice. ‘I’m sure you don’t need me to go into detail. Suffice it to say, your daughter’s body showed no signs of a struggle having taken place and she had no defensive wounds.’
‘Good enough.’
‘What we can tell you,’ Ty said, not without sympathy, ‘is that she was a few weeks pregnant.’
Hammond sat bolt upright. ‘The father?’
‘Sorry, no idea. The pregnancy showed up during the post mortem. We don’t know if Juliette was aware. She didn’t tell anyone if she was, as far as we know. Anyway, the police have her computer. If she did say anything to her friends online, or had contact with the father, they’ll find reference to it.’
‘Right, I suppose they will.’ He sighed. ‘How can I help?’
‘Can we see your daughter’s room?’
Hammond looked surprised. ‘If you like. The police have already been over it. They didn’t find anything of interest, as far as I know.’
‘Even so.’
‘Very well.’ He put his glass aside. The snoring dog opened one eye, closed it again and didn’t move. ‘Come this way.’
Hammond led them up a wide, sweeping staircase and headed for double doors at one end of the first floor corridor.
‘Through there,’ he said. ‘You won’t mind if I don’t…I’ll wait for you downstairs.’
Ty let out a soft whistle as they entered an enormous sitting room with full length windows that probably looked over the back garden and the downs beyond. An area of outstanding beauty. Of course it was! Hammond clearly didn’t do ugly. The sitting room led through to an equally sumptuous bedroom, with a four-poster double bed, feminine furnishings and draperies and a walk-in dressing room. There was an en-suite bathroom that would have taken up most of the floor space in Ty’s flat.
‘Be it ever so humble,’ Alexi muttered.
‘And soulless,’ Ty added. ‘She hasn’t exactly stamped her personality on it.’
Alexi wandered into Juliette’s dressing room, pushing her way through the racks of expensive clothes, eyes watering at some of the names on the labels. She gulped and was slightly envious when her gaze fell upon her racks of expensive shoes—nothing cheaper than Manolos. Ty was methodically looking through the sitting room. There was a desk where, presumably, her computer had sat. The only books, apart from a few romantic novels, were dedicated to cookery.
After twenty minutes they had found absolutely nothing that offered them additional clues as to Juliette’s personality—no diaries, letters, address books. Of course, nowadays people wrote blogs they made public rather than committing their innermost thoughts to handwritten diaries. Letters had been replaced by emails and addresses were stored electronically. Ty would have to get Cassie to have a little look at Juliette’s online activities.
‘It’s a gilded cage,’ Alexi said, shaking her head. ‘I never liked Juliette but now I find myself feeling sorry for her. What sort of man gives his daughter her own apartment within the family home?’
‘The sort who wants to keep control over her. She was twenty-five. You’d think she’d want a place of her own but I don’t suppose Daddy would shell out for that and lose his hold over her.’ Ty frowned. ‘What did she do with herself once she left that fancy school?’
‘She didn’t go to university. She had a few jobs in PR that Hammond probably fixed for her but none of them lasted for long.’
‘That would explain why she had no option but to live at home and why she was so pleased to discover Dean’s existence.’
‘I guess.’ Alexi shrugged. ‘She had quite a list of boyfriends, I gather from remarks made at the hotel, but I don’t think we need to look at them. None of them could have got into Hopgood House to kill her, and are unlikely to have had a reason to. No one benefits from her death, other than Dean, who becomes the only child whether he wants to or not. And we know he didn’t do it.’
‘Right.’ Ty looked through the drawer full of DVD’s beneath the huge television. They told him nothing. ‘Let’s go back down and talk some more to Hammond.’
William Hammond managed a brief, humourless smile when they returned to his living room. ‘Any help?’ he asked.
‘Some,’ Ty replied. ‘If you could let me have your contact details, I’ll email you a contract for my services.’ He told him what his daily rate was, adding fifty per cent to the normal figure. Hammond didn’t bat an eyelid as he handed him his thick, embossed card.
‘You will give me daily updates?’
‘Absolutely.’ Ty paused and, on a whim, sent out a request that tested a theory. ‘Just one more thing. I’d like a copy of the notes you provided Juliette with regarding everyone connected to the show.’
Hammond looked astounded. ‘How the devil did you know…’
‘I didn’t but you just confirmed it for me. You like to win, Mr Hammond. You didn’t want Juliette to compete in a cookery show on prime time television but didn’t try too hard to dissuade her when she seemed determined because you didn’t think she’d get through the selection process. When she did, you knew you had no choice but to go along with it, so you had people find out everything there was to be found on the competition in an effort to give her an advantage.’
This time Hammond’s smile was admiring. ‘You’re good,’ he said. ‘Just a moment.’
‘I hate to say it,’ Alexi said softly when they were left alone, ‘but you are pretty impressive. That wouldn’t have occurred to me.’
‘Well, what can I say?’ Ty flashed a rueful grin. ‘Sometimes I surprise myself.’
Hammond returned with a sheaf of papers enclosed in a plaster folder. ‘This is everything that I gave to Juliette.’
Ty flipped through it. There were brief notes on the Hopgoods, including their financial situation. Alexi wouldn’t be happy about that. She’d be even less enthralled to know there was stuff about her. Backgrounds on Marcel and all the main players in the production team were included. But there were several pages devoted to each of Juliette’s competitors.
‘Hardly in the spirit of fair competition, Mr Hammond,’ Ty said, raising a brow.
He shrugged. ‘Like you just said, I play to win. No one ever remembers the person who came second.’
‘Right. Did you give a copy of these notes to the police?’
‘No. They didn’t ask and I didn’t volunteer.’
‘I see.’
Ty and Alexi shook
hands with Hammond and took their leave.
‘Well,’ Ty said, patting the file of papers Hammond had given him as they got back in his car. ‘At least now we’ll find out what Juliette had on Anton.’
Chapter Eleven
‘What!’ The file of papers was now on Alexi’s lap, but so was Cosmo. There wasn’t room for both and it was clear Cosmo had no intention of budging. ‘What did you read about Anton? You only glanced at the papers for a moment.’
‘I’ll buy you dinner and you can read it for yourself.’
‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘It’s the least I can do if you’re giving me free board.’
‘Is that what I’m doing?’ Alexi had been wondering when the subject of his living arrangements would come up. ‘Good to know.’
‘Well, I suppose I kinda assumed…but, if it’s not convenient I’m sure Fay would—’
‘You can have my spare room, Ty, but it would have been nice if you’d asked instead of just taking me for granted.’
‘Has it occurred to you that I didn’t ask earlier in case you said no?’ He sent her a supplicating smile that caused her resistance to evaporate. ‘I figured that if I left it until it was dark and cold outside you’d take pity on me.’
‘I’d be half convinced, but for the fact that the insecurity act doesn’t jibe with the Ty I know and find so infuriating.’
He chuckled. ‘Ah, but you love me anyway.’
‘Don’t push your luck, Maddox.’
‘I’m housetrained.’
‘Speaking of which, we’d best eat at home. For some obscure reason, Cosmo isn’t welcome at most of the eateries around these parts.’
‘I know a place halfway between here and Newbury that does takeaway.’ He turned the car in that direction. ‘Won’t take five minutes to get there.’
‘Afraid to sample my cooking?’
‘I didn’t think you could cook.’
‘It’s been a case of having to learn since I moved here. As you just pointed out, takeaways and home deliveries are few and far between. I can manage pasta and…well, okay I’ll ‘fess up, Marks and Sparks idiot-proof ready meals.’
Ty laughed. ‘Glad you’re not a completely reformed character. I like you fine just the way you are.’
‘Hold the compliments, Maddox.’ Alexi warded him off with a raised hand. ‘I’ve already said you can have the spare room.’
‘That’ll do.’ He removed one hand from the wheel and placed it on hers. ‘To start with.’
‘Don’t pressure me, Ty. You just hit me with this relationship stuff yesterday and we’ve had a few other things to think about since then.’
‘You’re right and I’m sorry.’
‘You mentioned Fay just now,’ Alexi said to alleviate the loaded silence.
‘How’s she doing?’
‘Better than I thought possible,’ Alexi replied, referring to Natalie Parker’s adoptive mother. She had inherited Natalie’s cottage. When she discovered her husband had been responsible for Natalie running away as a girl, Fay left him, moved to Lambourn and took over Natalie’s floristry business. She seemed to find solace in surrounding herself with her murdered daughter’s possessions. ‘She designed the landscaping around the annexe at Hopgood House and has settled well into local life. I see her once a week. She insists on cooking for me and then giving me enough leftovers to last Cosmo and me for another two days.’
‘Ah, so you exaggerated these new cooking skills of yours.’
Do you want a bed or not?’ Even in the dim interior of the car she could see him waggle his brows. ‘Mind out of the gutter, Maddox.’
‘Gutter-thinking has a lot going for it.’
Alexi shook her head. ‘As well as running the business and taking a few landscaping assignments that she picked up after doing so well with the annexe, Fay also spends time with Darren Walker.’ Alexi was referring to a retired Civil Servant who’d recently moved to the area and whom Fay’s daughter had met on a dating website.
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, they’re both lonely so it works well. She’s trying to interest him in doing something creative with his garden. He’s teaching her to play golf.’
‘All those years she was married to a golfer and he never tried to get her interested.’
‘It’s probably not the game that attracts Fay but the teacher. They go out to dinner once a week, I gather, plus Fay has plunged herself wholeheartedly into all aspects of village life. She has a busier social life than I do.’
‘We’ll definitely have to do something about that.’
‘Anyway, I told Fay you were around and we have an open invitation to go and eat with her whenever we have the time.’
‘We’ll be sure and do that.’ His hand landed on her knee. ‘Will it be a date?’
Alexi sighed. ‘You don’t give up, do you?’
‘Nope.’ He pulled up into the car park of a small restaurant that Alexi had passed several times but never set foot in. ‘Stay put, I won’t be long. You happy to let me choose for you and Cosmo?’
‘Sure. And get dessert. Cosmo likes lots of cream.’
‘Of course he does.’ Ty sent her a sexy grin and scratched Cosmo’s chin. ‘Read those notes on Anton while I’m gone. They cast up a whole new raft of possibilities.’
Alexi did want to know what they said but didn’t immediately look at them after Ty left the car. Instead she stroked Cosmo and thought about the whirlwind that was Tyler Maddox; a man who appeared to want a permanent place in her life. But for how long? And how permanent? He hadn’t exactly beat a regular path to her door since the Parker case wrapped up. Was that an example of out of sight, out of mind, or had he told her the truth when he said he wanted to give her some space?
Patrick had been relentless in his determination to win her back. He was too up himself, too convinced he knew her better than to believe that she had put her London life, and him, behind her. But she had. He had betrayed her in the worst possible way and their relationship could never recover from that. The only reason why she didn’t sever all ties was because she still freelanced for Patrick’s paper.
She liked Ty. More than liked him. It would be way too easy to fall for him, but what if he shafted her in the same way that Patrick had? Better to be alone, without expectations, than to be used and then cast aside.
Alexi sighed. For a woman of the world she was…well, unworldly when it came to men. The permissive society had passed her by, which meant she spent a lot of time feeling frustrated. Ty could do something about that. She didn’t imagine he’d need a map to find his way around a woman’s body but…oh, hell. She threw up her hands, causing Cosmo to mewl a protest.
Alexi turned her mind off from Ty and switched on the car’s interior light. She awkwardly flipped through the papers, her arms aching as she held them out over Cosmo’s body since he still refused to move off her lap.
‘You are going to have to go on a diet,’ she told the cat. His weight was causing her to lose all feeling in her knees and he was so large that he was slipping over the sides of her lap. ‘Sorry, baby, but facts have to be faced.’
Cosmo retaliated by getting up, turning in several tight circles that required him to dig his claws into her denim-clad thighs, and finally settled down again.
Alexi started to read, swearing when she saw the bits about her and the Hopgoods. Even though there was nothing there that wasn’t in the public domain, it still felt like a violation of their privacy. She rummaged until she found Anton’s profile, which was detailed. He’d been born in Trinidad and raised there by his grandmother. Been in the UK for a few years. Nothing surprising there. She already knew all that about him so what had got Ty so excited?
She found it on the second page.
‘Holy shit!’
Anton was in deep doo-doo to the tune of over twenty grand. He’d borrowed heavily from the sort of loan sharks you don’t mess with; the type that don’t advertise on TV, charge criminal rates
of interest and have persuasive methods of dealing with late payers.
‘You stupid idiot!’ Alexi muttered.
It wasn’t illegal to impose such extortionate terms but it was unethical. Chances were that if the television station knew about this he wouldn’t have been selected. He’d obviously gone out of his way to keep it quiet for that reason, so how had Hammond managed to find out?
‘Why do you need that sort of money, Anton?’ she asked aloud.
‘Gambling debts is my bet,’ Ty said, returning to the car with bags full of food. The smell made Alexi salivate. Cosmo also stirred himself and took an interest.
‘You scared the life out of me!’ Alexi slapped a hand over her heart. ‘I didn’t hear you coming.’
‘You should have locked the doors. I could have been anyone.’
‘No need,’ she said, pointing to Cosmo.
‘Ah yeah, I forgot about your bodyguard.’
‘So,’ Alexi said as Ty pointed his car towards her cottage. ‘Anton was in debt to some heavy types who probably aren’t on the local constabulary’s Christmas card list. There’s a note here in what I assume is Hammond’s handwriting, suggesting Anton’s less than savoury connections might be a way to put paid to his challenge.’
‘I told you Anton was holding something back.’
Alexi frowned. ‘Would it be enough to get him thrown off the show?’
‘Not sure, but if the press somehow got wind of it, it might make him look dubious and influence the outcome of the contest. And I dare say Juliette wouldn’t have had sleepless nights about ratting on him. Marcel wouldn’t be swayed, of course. He wouldn’t give a shit about that and would mark the contestants on the quality of their food alone. But don’t forget that the public get to vote, too. His financial irresponsibility would definitely harm his chances with viewers who struggle to live within their means.’
‘And yet if he gave way to Juliette’s blackmail, always assuming she was trying to blackmail him, he’d have to give less than his best and would lose anyway.’ Alexi scowled. ‘If it’s so important to him to win, and it must be because it would be his way out of debt, he wouldn’t take kindly to being threatened. I mean, there’s a big cash prize at stake and almost guaranteed financial security through work with a top chef for the winner.’ Alexi sighed. ‘Anyway, it gives Anton a motive.’
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