The Deadline Series Boxset

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘We need an alternative suspect just as much.’

  ‘That, too. I’ll get Cassie to delve a little deeper into Dakin’s background. There might be text messages or even emails between him and Juliette if we’re really lucky. People are impossibly careless about that sort of stuff.’

  ‘That would prove they had something going, but we already know that and Dakin’s admitted it to me. I assume he’s told the police as well. He’d be a fool not to.’

  ‘Even so, I’ll have Cassie work that angle.’

  ‘What angle?’ Drew asked as he and Cheryl appeared together from their private apartment.

  ‘We have bad news.’

  Alexi brought them up to date on the Marcel situation and explained why they didn’t think he’d actually be arrested.

  ‘Have you warned him?’

  ‘No,’ Ty replied, ‘and we can’t. Vickery will be here any moment, probably before Marcel finishes in the kitchen. So will the solicitor I’ve engaged to represent him.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad he won’t have to rely on that Grenville fellow,’ Cheryl said. ‘Pompous and condescending doesn’t come close to describing his attitude.’

  Drew sat at the table next to his wife and threw an arm around her shoulders. ‘Don’t look so glum, love. It’ll all work out. You’ll see.’

  ‘It had better or we’ll be on the dole.’

  ‘Talking of which,’ Alexi said. ‘I did wonder if we’re coming at this the wrong way.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Ty and Drew asked together.

  ‘Well, think about it. We’re all assuming that Juliette died because she severely pissed off someone connected to the contest. But, what if it’s nothing to do with that? Ty and I trod on a few toes when we exposed Graham Fuller for the murdering scumbag that he is. Even though our proof was irrefutable and he finished up admitting killing his own daughter, some people around here still blame us for depriving the area of one of the country’s best trainers. They took it as an insult to Lambourn.’ She shared a look between them. ‘What if someone was out for revenge against me? What better way than to attack the reputation of this hotel and its star chef? Marcel’s reputation ensures that the restaurant is booked solid and keeps us solvent…just about.’

  Drew and Ty exchanged a prolonged look. ‘It’s possible, I suppose,’ Ty said, ‘but extremely risky, what with all the cameras everywhere.’

  ‘And who would care enough to take the chance?’ Cheryl asked.

  ‘Fuller’s son is trying to hold his father’s business together but most of the owners with decent horses have taken them away,’ Alexi replied. ‘He thought he would be stepping into his father’s shoes, relying on his reputation to take over a thriving business. Instead he’s left with third rate horses and must feel resentful, especially since his mother who held the purse strings has legged it back to the States and left him in the lurch. Young Fuller might want to blame someone and we would be convenient.’

  ‘How would he gain access to the annexe?’ Ty asked.

  ‘Easy if you’re a local and know the lie of the land,’ Cheryl replied. ‘There’s a shortcut across the paddocks we back onto. They’re privately owned but who’s going to be looking out for someone crossing them in the dark on a freezing November night?’

  ‘And if Fuller, for the sake of argument, was dressed in dark clothing and had his face covered, even if he was caught on camera he wouldn’t be recognisable,’ Alexi reasoned.

  ‘How would he know Juliette would be obligingly hanging about in the courtyard?’ Ty asked. ‘Like Cheryl just said, it wasn’t a night for lingering outside.’

  ‘Pure luck,’ Alexi replied. ‘Juliette wouldn’t necessarily have been his target. Anyone would have done. And that needn’t have been his first try.’

  ‘But how would he have got into the kitchen and got hold of Marcel’s knife?’ Drew asked. ‘The door only opens if you know the code.’

  ‘I’m working on that part.’ Alexi wandered up and down, pondering. ‘There has to be a way.’

  ‘Someone could slip in and out unnoticed at the lunchtime height of service, I suppose,’ Drew said. ‘The door is open then and provided they were dressed in chef’s whites and kept their head down no one would realise they didn’t belong. It gets hectic and no one takes much notice of anyone else at such times.’

  ‘So, if you’re right, the knife would have been stolen before the crime was committed?’ Ty blinked. ‘That would make it premeditated.’

  ‘And unlikely, I know that,’ Alexi said, sighing. ‘But still, it’s worth putting it to Vickery as another lead to follow. And if we get nowhere, Ty, we could make a few enquiries along those lines too. It’s another area of doubt that would help to clear Marcel’s name, if it comes to it.’

  ‘Clear my name of what?’ Marcel asked, joining them and throwing himself into the nearest seat. ‘God, I wish I hadn’t agreed to do this.’

  ‘Think of the fame and glory,’ Alexi said, trying and failing to appear cheerful.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked.

  Right on cue, Vickery walked into the kitchen with D.C. Logan and asked Marcel to accompany him to the station.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ben Avery arrived just after Vickery. He was a tall man in his mid-thirties, with an open, friendly face that had deceived more than one opponent into underestimating his fierce intelligence. He had a mop of unruly red hair, the freckles to match, and long, gangly limbs that made him look a bit like a praying mantis.

  ‘Thanks for coming so fast,’ Ty said, shaking his hand.

  ‘Glad to oblige.’

  ‘This is Marcel Gasquet and Alexi Ellis. Drew and Cheryl Hopgood.’ More handshakes were exchanged. ‘Inspector Vickery and D.C. Hogan you probably already know.’

  ‘Welcome aboard,’ Vickery said with a droll smile.

  ‘Wouldn’t miss it.’

  ‘Marcel, Grenville Scott has gone back to London,’ Ty explained. ‘So, if it’s okay with you, Ben will take care of your interests from now on.’

  ‘Sure, but I still don’t know what’s going on.’ Marcel looked bemused. ‘Why do I need to go to the nick? I’ve already given a statement.’

  ‘There’s new information we need to talk to you about,’ Vickery said.

  Marcel blinked. ‘Give me a clue.’

  ‘All in good time, sir.’

  ‘Can I have five minutes with Ben?’ Ty asked.

  Vickery nodded. ‘We’ll take Mr Gasquet back with us. Mr Avery can follow when he’s ready. We won’t start the interview without him.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ Ty replied.

  ‘Don’t say a word until I get there,’ Ben warned Marcel as he stood up, muttering beneath his breath about the police wasting his time. But Ty could sense that beneath the bluster he was frightened. He hoped the charismatic chef had told them everything and that there was no foundation for that fear.

  Once the police had left with a very unhappy-looking Marcel, Ty lost no time in explaining the developments to Ben. He took no notes. He didn’t need to because Ty knew he had a sharp mind and near photographic memory. Ty and Alexi between them, with occasional contributions from Drew and Cheryl, laid out all the reasons why it had to be a clumsy set-up. When they ran out of words, Ben nodded.

  ‘I agree and Vickery obviously knows it too, otherwise he’d have arrested Marcel. It would help, though, if we had an explanation for that fingerprint.’ He pulled a face. ‘And it would help even more, in a high profile case like this one, if we had an alternative suspect.’

  ‘We do,’ Alexi replied. ‘Paul Dakin. In police parlance, he had means, motive and opportunity. But the studio’s lawyers have cut Marcel loose and circled their wagons around Paul instead.’

  ‘We’ll keep digging,’ Ty said. ‘If we knew who the father of her baby is, it would help. That definitely can’t be Marcel. He wasn’t involved with the qualifying heats and didn’t meet Juliette until she came here.’

  ‘If he’s telling t
he truth about that,’ Alexi added.

  ‘He is,’ Cheryl said. ‘I can vouch for that. I know when they took place. Being local everyone was talking about them and Marcel was working here the entire time. We didn’t even know at that point that this hotel would be used to film the actual contest.’

  ‘That helps,’ Ty said, ‘in that it gives Marcel less of a motive.’

  ‘Juliette seemed to have issues with all the other contestants,’ Alexi added. ‘We haven’t spoken with John at all yet and need to do a follow up with Anton.’ She explained about his financial situation and the large loan he’d taken from a dubious source. ‘Juliette might have been using that against him. If it was construed as an illegal activity it could have got him thrown off the show, which gives him a motive. And he would know how to disconnect the cameras. Anyway, we’ll try and pin him down this afternoon.’

  ‘Juliette didn’t exactly make friends and influence people. We have yet to find anyone who has a good word to say for her, other than Cheryl. And no one other than her father appears to mourn her death.’ Ty slapped Ben’s shoulder. ‘Anyway, you’d better get off to the nick and stop Marcel from blowing a fuse. We’ll keep digging into Juliette’s background.’

  ‘Gotcha.’

  Ben waved to them all and took himself off. The four of them watched out of the window as his gangly legs carried him across the car park and he climbed into an old Volvo.

  ‘Now what do we do?’ Cheryl asked.

  ‘Lunch,’ Drew replied. ‘Starving ourselves won’t fix anything.’

  ‘That fingerprint,’ Ty said as they tucked into the platter of smoked salmon and avocado sandwiches Drew had knocked up.

  ‘What about it?’ Alexi asked, wiping mayonnaise from the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

  ‘I’d really like to know, just for my own peace of mind, how it came to be there. Is all the furniture in the annexe new?’

  ‘Yes,’ Cheryl said. ‘We wanted everything to match.’

  ‘So it’s interchangeable?’

  ‘All the bedrooms have the same furniture, but Marcel is adamant that he hasn’t set foot in any of them.’ Cheryl shrugged. ‘If he thought he’d left prints he could easily invent an excuse for having done so. No one would think it odd.’

  ‘Even if for some reason, a bedside table was moved from another room into Juliette’s, Marcel would have had no reason to touch it,’ Drew added.

  ‘I don’t suppose he helped set it all up?’ Ty asked, more in hope than expectation. ‘I gather it was all hands on deck to get ready in time.’

  ‘God no!’ Cheryl and Drew said together. Cheryl almost choked on her sandwich and took a hasty sip of tea to clear her throat.

  ‘It was a manic time,’ Drew said alone, patting his wife’s back. ‘All of us pitched in but it didn’t occur to us to ask God’s gift to culinary excellence to get his precious hands dirty.’

  ‘Ah well, it was just a thought.’

  ‘So, what next?’ Alexi asked, pushing her empty plate aside and looking at Ty.

  ‘We need to try and speak with Anton and find out more about his interaction with Juliette.’

  ‘You can’t do that yet,’ Drew replied. ‘They’re about to have a session with Paul on camera.’

  ‘That ought to be interesting,’ Cheryl remarked. ‘I mean, they’ll have to bring up the subject of Juliette and the others won’t be able to say what they really thought of her.’

  ‘No one ever does when a person dies unexpectedly,’ Alexi said. ‘At least not in public.’

  ‘I’ve just thought of something.’ All heads turned towards Drew. ‘I’m not sure if it means anything, but Marcel had a falling out recently with the guy he worked with in London before he came here. I heard him yelling at him on the phone. Something about a dispute over money, he told me. It got pretty heated.’

  That’s right,’ Cheryl agreed pensively. ‘Marcel and a guy called David Rowe, another French-trained chef, opened a restaurant together in Chelsea but it didn’t work out. There’s such a thing as too many cooks—’

  ‘Especially when they have egos the size of small independent countries,’ Drew added. ‘I gather they fell out all the time over signature dishes, sourcing their ingredients, pricing…you name it, they fought over it. They used to have bust ups in the middle of the restaurant apparently and the customers came in the hope of witnessing one of those as much as for the food. Marcel said he got sick of all the fighting, that it wasn’t possible to have two stars in the same kitchen, so he cut his losses and came to work here.’

  ‘Why Lambourn?’ Alexi asked. ‘No offence but it’s not exactly the last word in trendiness.’

  Drew shrugged. ‘A lot of well-known chefs are setting themselves up in restaurants attached to country hotels. Marcel likes the gee-gees, so Lambourn would have seemed attractive to him for that reason, I guess. Tips direct from the horses’ mouths, so to speak. Besides, he was hurting financially; that much I do know. He had to buy his way out of his commitment with David and the place hadn’t been running long enough for him to see a profit from it. His ego had also taken a bashing, which is why he was so excited about this chance to star on the box.’

  ‘How bad is the situation between him and David Rowe?’ Alexi asked.

  ‘Not sure.’ It was Cheryl who replied. ‘I know they used to be tight but now there’s a lot of bad feeling. David couldn’t keep the restaurant going without Marcel. Marcel was the main draw for the customers, which wouldn’t have done much for David’s ego. I think David’s on the point of taking legal action against Marcel. He claims he defaulted on their agreement, which is why the business failed, costing David everything he had, and then some. Marcel says not.’ Cheryl shrugged. ‘Who do you believe?’

  ‘Has David ever been down here to confront Marcel?’

  Cheryl and Drew exchanged a look and both shook their heads. ‘Not so far as I know,’ Drew said. ‘But if you’re thinking he might have had a hand in Juliette’s death—’

  ‘It crossed my mind,’ Ty said. ‘Sounds as though their fight has become acrimonious. If David’s lost everything, been boxed into a corner, then he might figure he has nothing left to lose and come out all guns blazing.’

  ‘Sabotaging the show that’s making Marcel a star and implicating him in a murder would be a great way to get revenge, but there’s no way he could have done it,’ Drew said. ‘Besides, would someone with a grievance really be prepared to commit murder in order to come out on top?’ He shook his head. ‘Can’t see it myself.’

  ‘Perhaps not,’ Alexi said, ‘but it’s another area to explore.’

  Guy sauntered into the kitchen, taking a shortcut from his room to the annexe.

  ‘Did I just hear you talking about David Rowe?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Alexi replied. ‘Do you know him?’

  ‘Not personally, but I do know he was shortlisted to be the chef on What’s for Dinner? before it was decided to shoot it at this hotel.’ He grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table and made for the back door. ‘Have to dash. Our star presenter is about to work his smarm on the contestants. Can’t miss recording that piece of television legend. See yah.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ Alexi said into the ensuing silence. ‘Sounds like I might be indirectly responsible for David Rowe suffering another setback.’

  ‘How?’ Cheryl asked.

  ‘Well, as you know, Patrick suggested they shoot the show here and use Marcel as a favour to me. He knew we were trying to reinvent the hotel and…well, my point is, David might have got his opportunity to shine on the small screen if it weren’t for that.’

  ‘Don’t beat yourself up about it,’ Ty said. ‘None of this is your fault but I can see that if David and Marcel fell out over their restaurant and then he lost out on the show to Marcel, he would have one massive motive to set Marcel up. Arranging a murder to make it happen no longer seems like quite such a stretch. Not sure how he could have done it, though.’

  ‘You’ll figure
it out, Ty,’ Cheryl said. ‘I have every faith in your abilities.’

  ‘That makes one of us,’ Ty replied with an affable grin.

  Cheryl went off to check on the baby. Drew had chores elsewhere in the hotel and needed to check on the work young Mike was doing for him inventorying supplies. Alexi and Ty headed for the residents’ lounge upstairs and Ty fired up his laptop.

  ‘What are you looking for?’ Alexi asked.

  ‘Anything on record about Marcel’s fight with David Rowe.’ He pored through pages of stuff while Alexi caught up with her personal email. ‘Here we go,’ he said, sitting back so she could read over his shoulder. ‘There’s a hearing in four weeks’ time in London.’ Ty let out a low whistle. ‘David’s suing Marcel for breach of contract, loss of revenue and damage to his reputation. He’s asking for a million quid.’

  Alexi laughed. ‘In that case Marcel ought to kill him.’

  ‘He’s obviously short of readies, or not too sure that he’ll prevail, because he’s using a no-win no-fee outfit to represent him.’

  ‘They must think he has a good chance of success then, or they wouldn’t have taken the case. They only take sure bets and try to settle out of court. I hear a lot of organisations, insurance companies and the like, prefer it that way. Saves the time and expense of court appearances and any negative publicity.’

  Ty shrugged. ‘Perhaps they see this one as an opportunity to make a name for themselves; to publicly flex their muscles and show what they can do. The case is bound to hit the headlines. I’m surprised it hasn’t already, given what went down here.’

  ‘It’ll only be a matter of time. Still, Marcel should have mentioned it.’

  ‘I think we ought to track Mr Rowe down and go have a little chat with him.’

  ‘You think he’ll tell us anything when he finds out we’re in Marcel’s corner?’