Germaine enjoyed (or endured) a pampering in the hotel’s doggy daycare centre, while I and my new bestie Faith had facials – an organic revitalising bio-active cleanse and tone, no less (I still had no idea what that actually was, even after having it done), followed by an Ayurvedic Vishuddha detoxifying massage, which may or may not have detoxified me but which certainly pummelled me into submission. We sat by the spa’s private plunge pool, wrapped up in fluffy white towels and sipping at freshly squeezed fruit juice, and I marvelled at how all the stress I’d been feeling without even really being aware of it had just faded away… And of course the minute I realised the stress had gone, it started creeping back. I banished it to the back of my mind. I’d had an emotional morning and I was now being thoroughly spoilt – and I was going to make the most of it.
But I was here for a reason, and although the ex-copper part of me was feeling bio-actively cleansed and Ayurvedically detoxified, it was still on duty. Kind of.
I sipped at my mango and pineapple smoothie and gave a little moan of satisfaction, then turned to Faith. She was lying back with her eyes closed and for a moment I thought she’d fallen asleep. But she hadn’t, because without even opening her eyes she said, ‘What?’
‘Last night … you really weren’t ill?’
She opened her eyes and sat up to take a sip of her drink. ‘No, I wasn’t. I did feel a bit funny but I think now it was more psychological, more because I was expecting to feel ill. Was it the pufferfish? Does your hunky copper know something?’
I shook my head, hoping I looked innocent. ‘The lab results aren’t back yet, but he’s pretty certain it was. It’s mad, innit? You all ate it, but only Jeremy died. And you didn’t even get sick.’
She looked at me suspiciously. ‘Do I need my lawyer?’
I laughed. ‘No! Not unless you’ve got something to confess…’
She sighed. ‘All right, I have. I didn’t eat the fish.’
I looked at her in surprise. ‘You didn’t? But you were clearly angry about it last night; you looked like you were ready to take a pop at Mike Mancuso for letting Zack serve it.’
‘I know. I did try a tiny, tiny piece, just to be polite,’ she admitted. ‘Raw fish is not my thing, but I didn’t want to upset Zack. And Jeremy… It was horrible, the way he died…’ She shuddered, and looked genuinely upset. ‘We’d just watched a big, strong man die so quickly, and it was really disturbing…’ She fixed me with a frank expression. ‘Jeremy and I had a past. We had a fling years ago, when we were both married to other people, and, well, let’s just say it didn’t end well. We’d worked together since, and he seemed fine, but I always felt a bit awkward with him. I didn’t wish him dead, though.’
I reached out and patted her hand. ‘I’m sure you didn’t.’
‘Anyway, I forced myself to eat some of the fish because I didn’t want to hurt Zack’s feelings. I already get the feeling he doesn’t like me, for some reason. No idea why. But I really didn’t like it, so when no one was looking I gave it to Kimi’s dog.’
So Princess had had TWO portions of the fish, and wasn’t even sick? I thought. Then it definitely wasn’t in the fish…
‘When I realised what had poisoned Jeremy, I felt terrible. I was scared for myself, of course – I don’t know how much pufferfish you’d have to eat for it to kill you – but I was also worried about the dog. Have you seen how Kimi talks to it? Like it’s her baby.’ She shook her head. ‘I know you’ve got a dog, but I’m really not a doggy person. More of a cat lady.’
‘And our friendship started off so well…’ I said. She snorted.
‘No, it didn’t. You helped rescue me from my trailer and I tried to snare your boyfriend in return.’ I opened my mouth and she spoke again quickly. ‘I know, I know, he’s not your boyfriend. There’s something there though, isn’t there?’
‘We’re best friends,’ I said. ‘The best you can get without it being more than friendship. And as it turns out, we’re both happy with that.’
She nodded. ‘I see… I decided a long time ago that life is less complicated when you’re single. But it does get lonely, especially when you’re filming somewhere away from home … and Tony does have a nice smile, doesn’t he?’ I nodded, because he really did, even if it didn’t have the same effect on me as one of Nathan’s. ‘So yes, I felt terrible about the dog, but it doesn’t seem to have suffered any ill-effects.’ She frowned. ‘So maybe it wasn’t the fish. Is that why you’re here?’ She looked at me more closely. ‘I can’t work out if you’re just the caterer or some kind of cop. Although you are sitting here in a towel, so you’re obviously not on duty…’
I laughed. ‘Busted. I’m a private investigator-cum-consultant. And a chef. We genuinely don’t know for certain yet if it was the fish, but it was a similar kind of neurotoxin that killed Jeremy, so…’ I wasn’t going to share my suspicions with her, even if she had just shouted me an afternoon in a swanky spa getting my blackheads done.
‘If it wasn’t the fish, there has to be something else everyone who got sick ate,’ said Faith thoughtfully. ‘Kimi says she wasn’t ill, and
