“Poor woman.”
“You’re going to feel sympathy for all my suspects, aren’t you? Trixie is out of it now, teaching drama in a posh girls’ school, claiming to be no longer interested in Swift.”
“Don’t you believe her?”
“It’s clear the anger with herself still burns and she’s jealous of Sabine, who took over the role and is now a star performer.”
“I’m not surprised she’s bitter. How different life could have been for her.”
“And I must decide if her state of mind is enough to make her a killer. At the beginning, I was doubtful. I remember Keith Halliwell disagreeing with me and I shrugged off his suspicions. Keith has his own hang-ups. I’m more inclined to believe him now. Trixie is a damaged personality.”
“Peter, that isn’t the same as murdering someone. Why kill Dave Tudor and Mary? Nice people, both of them, by all accounts.”
“There’s the difference between real life and fiction,” he said. “In a whodunit, the victims have to get up everyone’s nose. The two you just named were heroes. Under questioning Trixie spoke well of Mary, as everyone does. Called her lovely and said she had amazing empathy. The thing is, she lied about other things and she may have been lying about Mary.”
“What other things?”
“Sabine, for one. She claims she doesn’t give a toss about her when it’s obvious she envies her. She’s more jealous than the Mona Lisa’s best friend.”
Paloma nearly choked on the tortelloni. “You come out with some corkers.”
“It’s not difficult finding a motive for Trixie. She hates the show and everyone in it. And she’s super-fit, strong enough to murder a man and dispose of a body. Had to be, to get the part of Swift.”
“If that’s true, Sabine had better watch out.”
“I don’t know about that.” But he realised before the words were out that he ought to know. Paloma had touched on a possible flashpoint. He spoke his thoughts aloud. “Sabine didn’t steal the part. She was there from the beginning, when the show was being cast. The two women met at the audition. I was thinking they didn’t know each other and there couldn’t be any aggro between them.”
“Hadn’t you better warn her?”
“About Trixie? No chance.”
“You can just say you believe she’s at risk.”
From the look on his face, she could have suggested walking through fire. “Sabine is a complicated person as it is, deeply superstitious and with a superiority complex, quite the diva, to quote Greg. I don’t intend to unsettle her even more.”
“You’ll feel terrible if anything happens to her.”
“I’ll have to deal with that. This is only a suspicion on our part. God only knows how it will get blown up if I say anything. Sabine isn’t the sort to keep calm and carry on. She’ll tell her agent we think she’s lined up as a serial killer’s next victim.”
“Where does she live?”
“In an enormous motorhome built like a fortress. She has a minder and maid-of-all-work called Chen who lives in and drives it for her.”
“And she has an agent looking out for her as well? It sounds as if she’s well protected already. Sorry, Peter. On second thoughts, you’re right about keeping this to yourself. From what you’ve told me, she’ll be alert to any potential danger.” Paloma leaned back in her chair. “And I suppose Sabine is also a suspect.”
“Has to be. As the star of the show, she’s been there right through. She worked with all the people who came to grief in one way or another — Tudor, Wroxeter, Burbage, Summerfield, Nicol. Her motorhome was parked up at Charmy Down the night Jake Nicol went missing.”
“You’ve met her, obviously?”
“Interviewed her in the fortress. I expected a tough session, but she was charming. After some of the stuff I’d heard from other people, I was surprised. Not one of my main suspects has a good word to say for Sabine.”
“Except you?”
“Ingeborg was with me.”
“And did Inge find her equally charming?”
He had to think back. “She wasn’t quite so bowled over as I was. She pointed out that she’s an actress.”
“Ingeborg saw the effect she had on you.”
“I’m no pushover, Paloma.”
“No?” She smiled.
Challenged, he rested his hands either side of the plate, holding the knife and fork upwards like steel gateposts. “I’m not easily influenced, you know. Sabine is a serious suspect with the same physical attributes as Trixie.”
Paloma was openly amused by his attempt to get serious. “You took note of her attributes, then?”
“I’m speaking about her strength and fitness. She’s got a mini-gym inside the motorhome. She could take me on in a fight, no problem. And what’s more, the motorhome could be used to move a body to some place far away where it could be disposed of.”
“But that would involve her driver.”
“Chen? She’s totally loyal.”
“Loyal to the point of being an accomplice? She’d need her help to drag a body on board.”
“True. It’s high off the ground. Seriously, she has the means to get away with murder and she can make the opportunity.”
“But what’s the motive?”
“For Sabine?”
“She’s in a good place here, earning a star’s salary, getting treated like royalty. Why would she put that at risk by killing people on the show? It makes no sense.”
“People don’t always behave rationally. I almost said ‘women,’ but you would have shot me down in flames.”
“And stamped on the wreckage,” she said. “Fair play, this lady doesn’t sound well grounded. Can you think why she might have decided to do away with Dave Tudor?”
“She spoke in glowing terms of him, couldn’t recall anyone who clashed with him.” He plucked another phrase from the interview. “She went so far as to say he was quite sexy.”
“She said that to you?”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s more like the way one woman speaks to another.”
“Actually, it was his accent she found sexy.”
Paloma’s brown eyes locked with his. “Did she make a play for him and get the elbow? That wouldn’t please a diva like her.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
She gave him the look that said men are not much above the apes in making fine distinctions.
He was thinking back to the conversation in the motorhome. “I remember asking her if he made out with anybody and her words were ‘Not me, unfortunately.’”
“There you are, then.”
“It was lightly spoken and I took it to be a piece of wit, just something you say in conversation.”
“She doesn’t sound like a great wit to me. A few minutes ago you said Candida had something going with Tudor at one time. If he was dating other women on the show and ignoring Sabine, she’d be incensed.”
“I can see that, but wouldn’t she focus her anger on Candida?”
“Not at all. Sexy Dave was her target. She’s the star and he’s supposed to come running when she snaps her fingers. He doesn’t and there’s wounded pride mixed in with the pull of the hormones. Hell hath no fury et cetera. He’s a dead man.”
He laughed. “You’ve solved it, then. She kills him out of frustration. And now the difficult part. Why kill the others, Mary and Jake?”
Paloma switched her gaze to the chandelier above them. “Now you’re asking.” After a short pause, she had her answer. “Well, Mary was no fool. She will have summed up Sabine’s personality. What if she accused Sabine of killing Dave?”
“Two years after it happened?”
“She’d suspected it for a long time and then something came up like Sabine getting into an argument with Greg — two strong personalities there — and Mary gets annoyed with her and blurts out that if Dave were still alive and in the job as PA she wouldn’t have to deal with Greg.”