“Whoever killed the others probably did for Jake Nicol as well.”
“But why? Why would Candida want to kill him? Had she even met him?”
“That’s what I need to find out. Jake was a rigger, like Fergus, so there’s a link there. Anything more is speculation right now.”
Their debate was interrupted by the waitress asking if their food was acceptable. Paloma said hers was delicious and Diamond made a sign of excellence with his thumb and forefinger.
“One thing is certain,” Paloma said. “You’ve got to be grateful to Candida.”
“Why?”
“She’s come to the rescue. You told me you were being threatened with retirement, but now the story has broken about you investigating the jinx, everyone is looking to you to find the answer.”
He grinned. “Cool.”
“You get it now?”
“I do. When you say ‘everyone,’ you mean Georgina. She called it a public relations disaster. She thinks her own job is on the line. Suddenly I’m needed. It’s Operation Showstopper.” He raised his beer glass. “To Candida, who saved me from the scrap heap, whatever else she may have done.”
Paloma took a sip of her wine and said, “Coupled with Georgina, who came to her senses.”
“I can’t drink to her. She really spooked me with her talk of retirement. But you’re right. I’ve been given a reprieve.”
They resumed their meal. After some minutes, Paloma said, “Coming here was a good idea. I’m enjoying this. Did you want to talk about something else?”
“I’m enjoying your take on the case. You’ve got such a good grasp of it. Who else comes under suspicion?”
“Fergus, of course,” she said at once.
“Tell me why.” He wasn’t disagreeing. He was interested to hear her reasons.
“You told me he’s been there from the start. I know he isn’t employed by the TV company, but he must have known Mary Wroxeter from way back.”
“He did. He worked with her on the Robeson documentary before Swift was started. And so did Dave Tudor. Those two have a history.”
“Well, I’m guessing here, but you did ask. Could the motive for Tudor’s killing — if indeed he was killed — be a grudge over something that happened years before?”
“That’s possible.”
“When did Fergus start his friendship with Candida? Before Tudor went missing?”
He smiled. “You’re so quick. It took me a while to work that out. Neither of them will say much, but it’s clear she and Tudor had something going before Fergus started taking an interest in her.”
“The two men were rivals?”
“I’m sure of it.”
“Tudor vanished when?”
“2015.”
“And Mary, who was no fool, may well have got suspicious about what really happened to Tudor. She was working closely with Candida, who she’d appointed as her production assistant. This is starting to make sense. Mary put two and two together and asked Fergus for the truth and so signed her own death warrant.”
“Neat, but I’m not sure Fergus is bright enough to have carried out three killings and covered his tracks.”
“Was he at the Shield and Dagger the evening Mary died?”
“Most of the actors were. I’m not sure about the crew. He could have been.”
“So when Candida offered to drive Mary home, Fergus could have got suspicious about what those two would talk about. If Candida had suspicions about him she might have decided to share them with Mary.”
“But she wanted to tell Mary the good news about the pregnancy. Fergus was the father. He would have known what was on Candida’s mind.”
“Not necessarily. Perhaps she hadn’t told Fergus at that point. She’d only just got the test result.”
“Surely she’d have phoned him or texted the minute she knew.”
Paloma’s answer was a small movement of her shoulders.
He paused his eating. New scenarios were always worth exploring, but this one took some believing. “I’ve met them both and there’s certainly some friction in the relationship. He doesn’t know she spoke to the press about the jinx and she’s terrified how he’ll react when he finds out. But if he isn’t smart enough to figure out that his own partner is the whistleblower, is he a triple murderer? I’ve yet to be persuaded.”
“Who else is on your list?”
He smiled. “How long have you got? Greg Deans, for a start.”
“The producer?”
“A man who ought to be content with running a successful show, but clearly isn’t. He’s stuck with a concept that wasn’t his own. Everyone knows Mary handled it brilliantly and he’ll never come up to her high standards. He can’t stand his leading lady or most of the cast and crew, come to that. Whether that’s enough to justify murdering them, I’m not sure.”
“Mary’s sudden death suited him nicely,” Paloma said.
“Exactly. His rise to the top was meteoric, from production assistant to top banana in under four years, and now he’s there, he isn’t happy. He may be a good manager, but he’s aware of his limitations and so are the people he works with.”
“They see through him?”
“I suspect they always did.”
“Doesn’t he have any redeeming features?”
“They’re not obvious. There was a moment of insight today when I asked him if he was a family man. He wasn’t keen to tell me anything and I had to get heavy with him. Finally he told me he has a disabled wife called Natalie and they never talk shop. She has a pottery studio and he does the heavy work for her when he gets home. He looked and sounded genuine at that moment. The rest of the time he’s trying too hard to pass himself off as one of the luvvies.”
“Insecure.”
“I reckon so. At work, he’s surrounded by professionals who look to him for a spark of creativity he doesn’t possess. I almost feel sorry for the man.”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve never met him, but I’m sometimes in touch with his wardrobe people and he has this reputation of being pleasant and civil without actually letting anyone get up close and personal. What you just told me explains a lot. You did well to get him to open up about his wife. If that was generally known, there might be more sympathy for him. How about the two men who went missing? Were they standing in his way somehow?”
“Not in any obvious sense. He’d only just joined the show when Dave Tudor went missing. The person who benefited was Candida. As for Jake Nicol’s disappearance...”
“Or death,” Paloma said.
“I’m trying to keep an open mind here. Jake was only a rigger, not even employed by Swift and Proud. I can’t think of any way Greg would profit from him being no longer there.”
“Who else is on your list of suspects?”
“You’re really into this.”
“Absolutely. It’s turning into a whodunit.”
“I hope not. I can’t see myself bringing them all together in the last chapter and naming the murderer.”
“What do you want — a car chase and a shoot-out?”
“That wouldn’t go down well with my bosses. I expect I’ll do it the boring way: an arrest, an interview under caution and a charge.”
“Be predictable, then, but give me another name.”
“You won’t have heard of her. Trixie Playfair.”
“Trixie with an ‘x’?”
He grinned. “She’s not tricksy in the way you’re thinking. What you see is what you get. She’s the bitter ex-actress originally cast as Caitlin Swift. She quit before it got past the rehearsal stage.”
“Why?”
“She insists it wasn’t stage fright, but it seems to have been an extreme form of it. Terror was the word she used. She wasn’t in front of an audience at the time, just the director and a few of the crew. She called it an out-of-body experience, watching herself in the studio and knowing she was a flop.”