‘I can’t remember, I must have left them down at the lake when I went swimming.’
‘Have you visited Skelwith Bridge while you’ve been here?’
He looked at her oddly. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said.
Kelly maintained her cool exterior and nodded to his drink.
‘And that’s just vitamins and juice?’ she asked.
He smiled. ‘As well as some hidden treats,’ he said. He held his finger up to his mouth in collusion, but she wasn’t impressed.
‘Such as?’
He shrugged.
‘You don’t know?’ she asked.
‘Jamie and Sandy took care of that.’
‘Are you compelled to test it, or do you like it?’
He stared at her dumbly and she reckoned she’d caught him out.
‘What’s it like?’
Paul looked down.
‘If the company coerces you to take it, you should tell me.’
He smiled again and the moment was lost. A faraway look descended over his face and he looked melancholy, depressed even. He certainly didn’t behave as if he was in control of all his faculties, but shock did funny things to people.
‘So, why don’t you explain your relationship with Jamie to me, and your role in the company.’
Kelly listened as Paul Burlington gave her a precis of his career history with Hampton-Dent. He told her how they met and how they clicked instantly. Their shared love of technology and health and fitness.
‘They’re a great company to work for. I have share options allowing me to retire soon; that’s my plan.’
Dear God, she thought. Retirement for her on her police pension would likely be at seventy the way she was going. Paul was twenty-eight.
‘Was Jamie happy at Hampton-Dent?’
Paul looked at his hands and Kelly saw emotion stir in him again. He ran his fingers though his hair and rubbed his eyes. ‘It was everything.’
‘What was everything?’
‘The deal with Hampton-Dent. We came up with this idea five years ago. Now, the market is saturated with products promising miracles, but this one is different. It makes you strong. And I mean so tough you can stay up all night working, you can stand up to a boss, you can walk out on bullshit, you can bench press another fifty pounds…’
She watched as he transformed before her eyes. Then she looked at the sachet which had blown off the table onto the grass. He truly believed in this stuff. Some things were simply too good to be true.
‘Fuck, I can’t believe he’s gone. He had vision. This was his product really. I designed the branding, but he had the original innovation. He was a genius. He could have gone all the way and been a director of Hampton-Dent one day.’
‘Did he want that?’
Paul stared at her. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Do you think he wanted out? Do you think he was disillusioned? Bored? Scared?’
Paul’s head snapped up and he stared at her. His eyes looked like those of a drug user and Kelly wondered why Tilda Dent would accuse Jamie of drug taking and not Paul, who clearly was high on something.
