Oh, he definitely had the floor now. He rose, as though he couldn’t stand to stay seated one more minute. He paced, wretched and angry. “I warned her not to come here. I told her it was dangerous. But she wouldn’t listen. You see, she was a woman in love.”
Everyone turned to stare at Alex, who looked sullen and angry. His face reddened.
“She gave me something for safekeeping. I should have handed it over to the police, but my friendship for Alex prevented me.”
He shook his head, looking almost ill with grief. “I’m sorry, Alex.” And then, from his breast pocket, he pulled out a photograph. He laid it down in the middle of the table.
Naturally, everyone peered in to look at it. Dolph was the first one to speak. “But that’s not Alex.”
“No. It’s his father.”
And it was. The photograph showed Pamela coming out of a hotel, and with his arm around her, smiling down at her, was Hugo Percival Brown.
Miles pointed at Hugo with a hand that shook. “You were having an affair with Pamela. She was in love with you, and you spurned her.”
There was absolute silence until Mrs. Percival Brown said, “Oh, really, Hugo. A waitress?” Her toned dripped with contempt, and I suspected it wasn’t the infidelity she minded so much as the class of woman he’d committed it with.
“This is ridiculous,” Hugo said, also rising. “That woman was seeing my son.”
“She only went out with him to get your attention,” Miles said. “She told me everything.”
“Where did you get this?” He glared at Miles.
“I told you. Pamela gave it to me for safekeeping.”
“That’s a lie.” He looked around, but everyone was staring at him. “Anyway, I was on the phone with my wife when that young woman was killed. You’ve got the records.”
DI Chisholm said, “That’s right. You were on the phone with your wife from London from ten p.m. until twenty-seven minutes past.” He hadn’t even checked his notes. Impressive.
Rafe nodded. “Yes, you were. But Pamela was already dead by then. That’s where this didn’t make sense. The timing was wrong. But you killed Pamela when you went down to get the wine with her. What happened? Did she tell you that if she couldn’t have you, she was going to marry your son?”
“Dad?” Alex looked at his father as though he’d never seen him before. His face was twisted with horror.
“It’s not true. Alex, Genevieve, I…this is a mistake.”
Miles pushed the picture closer to the squirming man. “You killed her. I know you did.”
But Hugo was a man used to keeping a cool head. He fought back. “If I killed her, then how did she get into the billiards room?”
Rafe said in a cool, expressionless tone, “You moved the body while you were talking to your wife on the phone.” And that had to be the worst case of multitasking I’d ever heard.
“What? That’s disgusting,” his wife said.
“Of course, I didn’t. This is nonsense.” He rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. “This photograph is obviously a fabrication,” Hugo said. The shock was wearing off now, and I could see his brain, that same brain that had made him one of the richest men in England, was working overtime. All he had to do was refute that one piece of evidence, and there was nothing, nothing at all that connected him with the murder of Pamela.
“That boy must be insane,” he said, pointing at Miles.
There was a silence hanging like noxious fumes around the table. No one moved or said another word. Miles glanced at me and then back at Hugo.
My gamble hadn’t paid off. Not all of Miles’s acting and not all of Hester’s and Carlos’s brilliance with photo manipulation had worked.
Rafe glanced over at me as though I might have something else in my back pocket. But I had nothing.
Everyone had played their part brilliantly. Miles could have received a BAFTA, even an Oscar for his performance as the grieving friend. Even I’d believe him, and I was the one who’d coached him in his scene. I could feel our chance to catch a killer slipping away. I was wracking my brains. What could I do? Was there some kind of a spell I could throw out there that might cause a killer to reveal his truth?
And then Alex stood up. Lochlan Balfour kept his eye firmly on the young man, but he wasn’t trying to move. He wasn’t trying to go after Jeremy. He was staring fixedly at his father.
“You slept with my girlfriend?” He was so horrified. I could see the lines of disbelief and disgust carved in his young face. “My own father? You slept with my girlfriend?”
Hugo turned to him. His face was almost purple. “No. You slept with my girlfriend.” And in that moment, I saw the man snap. “You stupid fool. She was mine. She left her husband to be with me, and it all began to unravel when she realized I wasn’t prepared to marry her. Oh, but she was determined.” He laughed softly. “I’ll give her that. It was one of the qualities I admired in her most. She had a ruthlessness and determination that reminded me of myself. When I told her I wouldn’t divorce my wife and marry her, she said she’d make me change my mind. I imagined the usual female attempts. Tears. Throwing herself in my path if she ever got the opportunity. But oh, she surprised even me. She got to me through you. She didn’t want you. Young and untried. She wanted a real man. She wanted me.” He shook his head almost in disbelief.
“Chivalry. That’s what this order has always been about. Sure, we get carried away and act like drunken apes, but
