All the Colors of Darkness

“No. He hated them. Used to go spare every time one went off during a performance. And that was more often than it should be, despite the warnings. What’s happened to Mark? I still can’t make any sense of this. You say he’s been found dead. Has there been an accident? Did someone kill him?”

The others all sat on the edge of the stage listening closely. “What makes you think that?” Winsome asked.

Ross looked at her. “Well, you’re here, aren’t you? Major Crimes.”

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet, Mr. Ross,” Winsome said. “In all cases of suspicious death there are certain protocols to follow, certain procedures.”

“So he didn’t just drop dead of a heart attack, then?”

A L L T H E C O L O R S O F D A R K N E S S

1 7

“Did he have a bad heart?”

“It was just a figure of speech.”

“No, he didn’t drop dead of a heart attack. Was he ill?”

“His health was fine,” said Ross. “As far as we knew. I mean, he was always healthy enough, lively, full of energy and vitality. Mark loved life.”

“Did he take drugs?” Annie asked.

“Not that I was aware of.”

“Anyone?” Annie glanced around the room. They all shook their heads. She counted six people on the stage; that made seven, including Ross. “I’ll need to talk to you all individually at some point,” she said.

“For the moment, though, can any of you tell me anything at all about Mr. Hardcastle’s recent state of mind?”

“Did he commit suicide?” asked the young woman who had been paying close attention from the start. She had a pleasant, heart-shaped face, free of makeup, and her light brown hair was tied back in a po-nytail. Like the rest, she wore jeans and a T-shirt.

“And you are?” Annie asked.

“Maria. Maria Wolsey.”

“Well, Maria, why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. Just the way the two of you are talking. If it wasn’t an accident or a heart attack, and he wasn’t killed . . .”

“Suicide is one possibility,” Annie said. “Was he depressed or upset about anything?”

“He’d been a bit edgy lately,” Maria said. “That’s all.”

“Edgy? In what way? Why?”

“I don’t know why. Just . . . maybe, like there was something worrying him.”

“I understand that Mr. Hardcastle was gay,” Annie said.

“Mark was quite open about his sexuality,” said Vernon Ross.

“Open without being . . . well, without overdoing it, if you understand what I mean.”

“This trip to London with Derek Wyman,” Annie went on. “Anything in it?”

Comprehension dawned on Ross’s face. “Good Lord, no,” he said.

1 8 P E T E R

R O B I N S O N

“Derek’s a happily married man. With children. Has been for years.

They’re just colleagues with a shared interest in theater and film, that’s all.”

“Did Mark Hardcastle have a partner?”

“I think so,” said Ross, clearly a bit embarrassed by the whole idea.

“Maria?”

“Yes, he did. Laurence.”

“Do you know his surname?”

“I don’t think it ever came up.”

“Were you a particularly close friend of Mark’s?”

“I suppose so. I like to think so. I mean, as much as you could be.

He never let you really close. I think things had been difficult for him.

He’d had a hard life. But he was one of the best men I’ve ever known.

Surely he can’t be dead? Just like that.”

“Was this relationship recent?”

“Six months or so. Just before Christmas, I think,” said Maria. “He was very happy.”