“Yes. Is that you?”
“That depends on who’s asking, darling.”
“I want to ask her a few questions which, I’ve been reliably informed, will cost me.”
“Will they now? And what was the name of this person who told you that and gave you this address?”
“Jason Single.”
“Oh, that gorgeous man. I could just eat him up, he’s so lovely. So you just want to talk? Well I haven’t had one of those in a long time.”
She was rummaging through the bottom of her oversized designer handbag for the door key and finally found it.
“I’m sorry I was a bit cagey just then. But I have to be careful. There are a lot of weirdos around these days. A friend of mine was murdered about a month ago. It unnerved me to the point of almost giving up the city and moving to the quiet life in the country.”
“I wouldn’t be stood talking to you on your front doorstep in broad daylight if I intended to harm you, Stella. Can I come in?”
Stella was eyeing Dillon suspiciously. “You say Jason gave you my address?”
“That’s right; we had lunch at that flashy restaurant of his about two hours ago. We’re old friends, so please give him a call if you’re unsure.”
“You’d better come in then.”
Stella opened the door and went inside. Dillon followed her, admiring her shapely legs as she walked ahead of him. When they entered the living room he was surprised by the tastefulness of everything he saw. The place looked invitingly lived-in, but the décor was flawless; contemporary light colours blended well with modern light oak furniture and natural sisal grass floor covering. Stella either had very good taste or a clever interior designer. She was obviously not short of money and certainly didn’t need Paul Hammer’s.
“Please, sit down,” she said, sitting down. Crossing her legs, she gestured Dillon to an identical antique leather chair directly opposite her.
“Now, lovely man, what would you like me to call you? What I mean is it’s not a problem to me if you don’t want to give me your real name.”
“How about Jake?”
She gave Dillon a devastating smile, her dark eyes even more seductive than before. “Okay, Jake it is.”
“Jake is good for me.”
“So you only want to talk, do you? Well it’s still going to cost you my hourly rate, you know?”
“And how much is that, Stella?”
“Two hundred and fifty. Cash.”
“Naturally,” Dillon said as he produced a roll of notes far in excess of anything she would expect, and laid it on the low occasional table between them.
“So, let’s talk, Stella. Do you know a man called Paul Hammer?”
He saw a marked stiffening in her demeanour at the mention of Hammer’s name. She then suddenly stood up and was about to ask him to leave when he added smoothly.
“I’m trying to protect his back against a threat he doesn’t know exists yet. He’s got himself involved in a major business deal that looks like it’s turning cold on him, and I’m trying to cover him.”
“I don’t know anything about his business dealings.”
She sat back down and, collecting the notes up off of the table, started counting carefully. Dillon did nothing to stop her. Once she’d peeled off what she wanted, she leant forward to give Dillon what was left of the money roll.
“Leave it on the table. The charge may increase.”
Dillon had already made up his mind about the lovely Stella. She wasn’t in need of money — that was evident by her surroundings and how she looked after herself. But, like so many, she was greedy for it. Because of her extraordinary good looks she had graduated to being kept by one man at a time, so far as he could make out. Hanging around the likes of Jason Single had obviated pimps long since, they wouldn’t dare try to move in on Stella.
Dillon watched her put the money into a zipped compartment in her handbag and he said, “If you don’t know about his business, you must know something about his personal life and those people who he socialises with. After all, he’s a well-educated and extremely wealthy man. Surely his bedroom talk can’t always be about sex. Ever heard of a man called Charlie Hart?”
“Can’t say I have, Jake.”
Dillon was patient, but put an edge to his voice. “Just a little too quick there, Stella. If you carry on like this, I’ll be wanting a full refund.”
“Well, you won’t get one. What do you want me to do, make something up about these people? I can’t help it if I don’t have the answers to your questions.” Something about Dillon’s shift in attitude was making her nervous. “I may have heard of him. But I’m not sure, though.”
“Don’t be mistaking me for a fool or a soft touch Stella. Because if I say I’ll get a refund, I will get a refund. So far I’ve been more than fair, but that can change. Now, have you heard the name or not?”
She put both hands palm down on her knees as if to brace herself. “It was only pillow talk, you understand? He was drunk once and was babbling on about how rich he was. He told me about his hotels, but I already knew about them from Jason, and Paul had already told me himself. He’d had far too much to drink and I don’t think he ever knew what he actually said.”
“Perhaps that’s just as well.” There was a morose tone to Dillon’s voice that made her wince. “Never let him know what he told you. But you’ve still told me nothing.”
He could see that she was worried. “Paul wouldn’t hurt me, would he?”
“I wouldn’t spend too much time asking him. Now, can you please get on with it, Stella?”
“He mentioned Hart’s name, and another man; a politician.”
“Can you remember his name, Stella?” She shook her head, and he asked, “Was it Latimer?”
However, she couldn’t remember, and he didn’t want her agreeing just to get rid of him, so he pressed it no further.
“Did he say what they were all up to?”
“No. I wouldn’t have remembered anyway. I wasn’t that interested but had to sound as if I was. He was so boozed up that he couldn’t even get it up that night and fell asleep.”
“Surely he must have said more than just giving you a couple of names. Think. Because that refund is looking more likely by the minute.”
“He kept rambling on about something, but I couldn’t make out exactly what it was. Sorry.”
“Close your eyes and picture the words in your head, Stella. Come on, think about that night.”
“I can’t remember what the bloody hell it was. If I did, I’d tell you. No, wait, I remember. He kept saying ‘there’s blood in the harbour’, over and over again just before he passed out.”
“Okay. Look, I’m sorry for getting heavy, but this is extremely important, Stella. And to be completely open with you, anything else that you can remember will only help Paul. I’d really appreciate it if you’d call me on this number.”
Dillon wrote his mobile number on a piece of paper and handed it to her. “Perhaps there is something else you could do for me. If I said that I’ll give you a thousand in cash up front, and another thousand on completion, if you can get him that drunk again and ask him a few questions that I’ll write down for you, what would you say?”
“I’m sorry, Jake. But I really don’t want to get involved.”
“Shame, because you’ve not really got a choice in the matter, Stella. You see, just by telling me what you already have, has broken his confidence. And all for two hundred and fifty quid. Now, what would he say to that if he found out?”
“You rotten bastard. I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. Not content with scaring the living daylights out of me, you’re now trying to blackmail me. I don’t know who you are, but I want you out of here right now.”
Dillon knew he was playing a dangerous game, but if he was to stop Stella passing any of this back to Hammer, he had to scare her just a little bit more.