I gave her a smile. ‘You’re dead right. I’m still trying to get myhead around what I’ve learned over the last few minutes. Does the name “the Bloc” mean anything to you?’
They both shook their heads, and I recounted what I’d read online and what Antoinette had just told me. As I did so, I saw her exchange glances with the sergeant. As soon as I’d finished, she delivered judgement.
‘That’s fascinating. From what Antoinette Latour has told you about Freddie Baker being short of cash and convinced that he was the victim of a deliberate campaign by the mysterious cartel, I think we should seriously consider him for the murder of Jack Sloane, but I still can’t see any reason why he would want to kill either Lucy or Alice.’
I nodded in agreement. ‘My thoughts exactly. We must be missing something. How did the search of the guests’ rooms go?’
Sergeant Scarpa answered. ‘Nothing suspicious. As well as searching the bedrooms, Forensics have been poking around the whole complex, including the gardens, but without seeing anything untoward. Whoever it was who killed the first or even both victims, we’re going to struggle to prove it.’
Giulia looked similarly pessimistic. ‘I’ll get onto my people back at the station and ask them to investigate this Bloc organisation, but I’m not going to hold my breath for an immediate breakthrough. As Scarpa says, we’re struggling, and I’m conscious that these people – important people with friends in high places – are expecting to be able to leave tomorrow at the latest. I’ve already had a number of them asking for permission to go today. I’ve said no, and it didn’t go down well.’
I sat there and thought about it as I picked at my food. To my shame be it said, I barely tasted what was yet another excellent meal and I could almost feel the disapproval emanating from my ever-hungry Labrador. I handed him down a couple of prawnheads – and they disappeared in a flash – while I did a bit more thinking out loud.
‘But Freddie Baker isn’t the only one. It wouldn’t surprise me if Sandra Groves turned out to be the person who tried to murder Alice. She struck me as a particularly tough character. Her husband potentially has a lot to lose if the book comes out, so she had a strong motive to silence Alice – or even Lucy, who is, after all, the only witness to what happened when she was an abused teenager. Carlos Rodriguez – maybe aided and abetted by Greg Gupta – had motive to kill Alice, because she saw what happened at his party all those years ago, but why wait so long to silence her? Maggie McBride is clearly furious with Alice after what was in the book, but surely hurt pride isn’t normally enough to make people resort to murder. But even if it was one of them, why kill Sloane as well?’ I looked up from my plate of rapidly cooling food. ‘Maybe wearelooking at two different perpetrators after all.’
The sergeant’s gloomy expression darkened. ‘And we don’t have a shred of proof against any of them.’
I nodded in agreement. ‘Then there’s the question of the poison. I doubt whether any of the guests would have recognised the suicide tree here in the greenhouse, so my feeling is that the killer must have brought the poison with them.’
‘Unless the killer was Graceland herself or her PA, Mary Stevenson.’ The sergeant wasn’t giving up on his original theory.
I shared another grilled prawn with Oscar. ‘Anything’s possible, Sergeant, but there’s been an interesting development on that front in the last few minutes.’ I went on to tell them what Mary had just told me about her parentage and both officers looked as surprised as I had originally felt.
The inspector was the first to react, echoing my own thoughts. ‘I wonder why Alice Graceland chose today, of all days,to break the news to her daughter?’ She glanced around, but there was nobody near enough to hear. ‘Assuming that it did come as news to Mary Stevenson. Might she have been play-acting, Dan? Might the two of them be working together to murder their guests?’
‘I seriously doubt it. Mary looked totally convincing to me. I may be completely wrong – it wouldn’t be the first time – but I can’t see what possible reason either of them might have had for killing Lucy O’Connell – Sloane, maybe, but surely not O’Connell. I believed Alice when she said she loved Lucy dearly. As for why Alice chose today to give Mary the news, I’m only guessing, but I wonder whether she deliberately planned to tell Mary when Dirk Foster, the father, was here as well.’ I tasted a piece of the grilled cauliflower, now cold, and decided that I wouldn’t be in a hurry to try this again on my own barbecue back home. I handed a piece down to Oscar for his opinion and, most unusually for him, he took it suspiciously, held it in his mouth for a couple of seconds and then deposited it on the ground with an affronted expression on his face.
While I was still registering the fact that I had at last found a food that even my omnivorous dog wasn’t prepared to eat, the inspector took a drink of water and sat back. ‘As you so rightly say, Scarpa, we are desperately short of proof. To make matters worse, I agree that we might have to start looking for two different killers, rather than just the one, simply because it seems impossible to find any of the guests with a motive for murdering both. I’m going back to the office to see how they’re getting on checking the backgrounds of everybody here and to look into this Bloc cartel, but I have a feeling my superiors aren’t going to be too happy.’ She sighed and stood up. ‘You never know, maybe we’ll have a stroke of luck. We certainly need it.’
24
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
After giving Oscar a walk around the garden, I went back to my room to resume my online investigation. There had been no sign of Alice, Mary or Dirk Foster, and I hoped this meant that they’d been able to sit and discuss things amicably. Before opening my laptop, I called Anna to tell her what had been happening, and I heard her groan.
‘What is it about you, Dan? Everywhere you go, murder seems to follow you. So who’s the murderer this time? Don’t tell me you haven’t solved the case by now?’
I decided it would take far too long to run through all the suspects so I just muttered something about needing a bit of time and changed the subject to her holiday in the mountains. She told me all about the long walk she’d had this morning and how much Oscar would have enjoyed being there and then she reminded me of my obligations. ‘Have you phoned your mum? She was complaining that you’re awful at staying in touch, so why not surprise her with a phone call?’
I can recognise a direct order when I hear it, so when my callto Anna finished, I obediently rang my parents. Mum answered the phone and immediately told me off.
‘Daniel, honestly, you phone at the most inconvenient times. I’ve just put the roast on the table, and your father’s carving it as I speak. Is something wrong?’
I adopted my humblest tone. ‘Nothing’s wrong, Mum, and I’m sorry about the timing. I forgot the UK’s an hour behind Italy. I just wanted to ring and tell you that I’m okay and to see how you two are doing.’
Just like Giulia Trevisan, my mum doesn’t miss much. ‘Anna put you up to it, didn’t she? I bet she told you to call.’ I mumbled something in reply, and she took pity on me. ‘Well, I’m pleased to say we’re both fine, and it’s good of you to call. Now I’m going to hand you to your father while I go and get the gravy.’
A couple of seconds later, I heard my father’s voice. ‘Hello, Dan, you okay?’ He never was a great conversationalist, but then neither am I.
‘Hi, Dad.’ There was silence for a couple of seconds before, desperate for something to say, all I could think of was the case. ‘I’m here in Venice and two people, Hollywood people, have been murdered. It’s a complex case, and I’m a bit stumped.’
This brought an immediate reply. He wasn’t the father of the boy in the Sherlock Holmes Club for nothing. ‘Presumably, it was the same killer in both cases?’
‘That’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve come to, but I’m struggling to find motive for both murders.’
‘Same MO?’ I had a feeling he’d been watching more of his beloved murder mysteries on TV. He certainly sounded as if he had picked up the jargon. I confirmed that they had indeed both been killed in the same way and he carried on. ‘Were the victims male or female?’
‘One of each.’
