***
Homicide was convinced, even if Windsor had been noncommittal, as to who the intended victim had been.
Jerome Jaden sat transfixed in his office chair, barely able to comprehend the situation. Jim Breslaw sat opposite; Bob Babbage took a neutral position.
‘The programme’s not going to work,’ Tom Taylor said. He had remained standing, not sure what to say or do.
‘Legally, we’re covered,’ Babbage said.
‘Is that all you can think of at a time like this?’ Karen Majors said on entering the room. ‘Tricia’s dead. The police will be swarming over this place. I’ll be lucky to keep any of our advertisers, not after this is splashed over the media.’
‘She was murdered,’ Jaden said.
‘How do you know?’ Taylor asked.
‘It’s a conspiracy.’
‘Do you believe what you just said?’ Babbage asked.
‘We need to act fast.’
‘It sounds callous,’ Karen Majors said. ‘Tricia was one of us; so was Angus.’
‘Emotions are not for now. Action is, and for that, I need you all on board. Jim, how about you?’
‘This has become too grubby,’ Breslaw replied. ‘Count me out, wherever this is leading.’
‘It leads to survival,’ Jaden said. ‘Within a couple of hours, the police will be here. Whoever or whatever is responsible for Simmons’s and Tricia’s deaths is not important for now; the rumours are just hearsay, innuendo or downright lies. Either we take advantage, or we might as well shut up shop now. Do you want that, Tom?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Great. You’ve got twelve hours to put together a fifteen-minute documentary: the history of the programme they hosted, interesting excerpts, Simmons’s mountaineering exploits, Tricia’s if she’s got anything of note. He’s to be the outdoor adventurer, following in the footsteps of Andrew Irvine and George Mallory, mountaineers from the 1920s. Lay it on thick, a man who had no fear, a man’s man, charismatic, loved by all. You know the sort of thing.’
‘I’ll need help,’ Taylor said. ‘I’m not sure I’ve got the skills to do this.’
‘Take Alison. Grab hold of the production team. Jim, you’re in?’
A nod of the head from Breslaw.
‘Great,’ Jaden continued. ‘In the meantime, schedule one of Simmons’s documentaries. The news team can show the necessary sympathy. And as for you, Bob, you can check out our legal liability, make sure Tricia’s daughter is looked after, payments to whoever as soon as possible.’
‘Can we afford this?’ Karen Majors asked.
‘Get whoever it is that we have – Helen Moxon, I think that’s her name – to run through the figures, also what it’ll cost to set up a new programme, murders that have never been solved, that sort of thing. Time is of the essence, and you, Karen, have got to sell it. The world’s watching, and we’re taking note.’
‘And what of Tricia Warburton?’ Breslaw asked.
‘If McAlister killed her, for what reason we can only guess, he’ll be charged. Maybe he got a knockback from Tricia. After all, he was sleeping with Ashley Otway, and she gave him the push. Who knows what goes through the mind of such a man?’
‘If he didn’t?’
‘Jim, don’t worry about this for now. Focus on preserving this station; the station of law and order, compassion and love. Karen, can you work with this?’
‘Was this planned?’ Karen asked.
‘Tricia’s murder? Why would you say that?’
‘It seems that her death has given this station another lease of life, that’s all.’
‘It’s providence. There’s always a solution. Only sometimes it’s not so easy to see,’ Jaden said.
Chapter 23
The consensus in Homicide after Tricia Warburton’s death was that whoever had taken the shot at Simmons could have tampered with the bungee cord. Gordon Windsor confirmed the probability that it had been partly cut with a sharp knife, enough to have weakened it, the reason that it took two jolts before it snapped.
Although, as Isaac said at the first meeting in Homicide after the tragedy, that speculation came with provisos, in that no one except McAlister had been alongside the woman as she jumped.
‘Then it’s McAlister,’ Wendy said.
‘What possible motive could he have for killing Tricia Warburton?’ Larry said.
‘Or the intended target wasn’t the woman,’ Wendy added.
‘Are you suggesting the cord had been cut earlier, and she wasn’t the target?’
‘McAlister was the first to jump that day. We know that the woman wasn’t keen and that he jumped to show her that there was nothing to worry about.’
‘This is common knowledge,’ Isaac said, ‘but where’s this heading?’
‘McAlister has the dirt on Hampton. We know that well enough. He’s a liability and possibly to others who know the truth.’
‘Others?’
‘I’m not sure of who, so maybe nobody.’
‘There’s a flaw in your argument,’ Larry said. ‘Even if we agree with you that McAlister’s the target, there’s still the question of the damage to the cord.’
‘Is there?’ Wendy said. ‘Hampton knows ropes and what to look for, and even though a bungee cord is not the same, he’d be able to research on the internet how much to cut the cord.’
‘It would have been seen,’ Isaac said.
‘Would it? A cold morning, high on a bridge, a tight schedule. And how often do they check them? Once a week, once a month, every time someone jumps?’
‘Hampton’s not on the bridge. How could he do it?’ Larry said.
‘Wasn’t he? And even if he wasn’t, couldn’t he have got to the cord beforehand? The company has somewhere they store the equipment. Not so difficult for a determined person, and Hampton’s single-minded. What if it was McAlister that was to plummet to his death, and somehow it held? Tricia Warburton could have died instead of him.’
‘Larry, you and Wendy, bring Hampton to the station. Bridget, use a Section 29 request form, get
