‘When were you going to tell her that the programme wasn’t going to happen?’
‘She would still have had a programme, but it would be based in this country, and she’d have to do her bit. No more every man’s fancy, but someone who’d be willing to get dirty, to take a risk.’
‘To jump off a bridge,’ Larry said.
‘As you say. How was I to know that the cord was going to break?’
‘You weren’t. What had you told McAlister? Offered him her job? No doubt he was a lot cheaper than her, and you only needed to fill the time slot. You’ve just admitted that financially you’re covered.’
‘It’s still the company I set up. I don’t want it to fold.’
‘No doubt you don’t, but you’re a pragmatist, not an ideological fool. If it’s over, then you’ll walk away with your money and your reputation intact.’
‘You’re right, Chief Inspector. How did you figure this out?’
‘It was obvious. Once I had proved that Hampton’s sister shot Angus Simmons, the pieces fell into place, and as Breslaw had said, with the number of cameras focussed on the bridge, there was no way that Mike Hampton could have cut that cord.’
‘And now?’ Jaden said.
‘Are you about to tell your people that you’re financially secure, but they’re not?’
‘That’s for me to decide, not for me to answer. I’ve broken no law.’
‘Breslaw reckoned he got out at the right time. It seems that man knows you better than anyone else.’
‘He should. We set this station up together. He is, regardless of what he may say about me, the only person I owe any allegiance to. As to you, Chief Inspector, I would appreciate it if you and your inspector leave my office.’
‘With pleasure,’ Isaac said.
***
Otto McAlister sat in the interview room. He listened to the facts as they were laid out. He was told that Deb Hampton had taken the shot at Angus Simmons and subsequently confessed. And that he had been right, in that Mike Hampton was capable of walking, and there was the possibility of a full recovery.
Jerome Jaden confirmed that Tricia Warburton would never get the programme she had signed a contract for. And he had inferred that Otto McAlister was a possible replacement host and that he had covered his losses and didn’t care either way.
‘I still don’t understand,’ McAlister said. A legal aid sat to one side, not saying much, unlikely to get a chance. Detective Chief Inspector Isaac Cook of the Challis Street Police Station, Homicide, was on a roll. He wasn’t about to be stopped by anyone.
‘Then let me spell it out in simple terms that you’ll understand,’ Isaac said. ‘Otto McAlister, you murdered Tricia Warburton, not through neglect, but because you saw Mike Hampton standing near you. How did you expect to get away with it?’
‘I saw him there. I assumed he wanted to talk to me, to have it out with me, and pressure me not to tell Ashley Otway any more. And hasn’t he confessed to both murders?’
‘He has, but Mike Hampton’s no fool. He had suspected his sister, not because he wanted to, but because he had told Deb that he wanted Simmons dead, to pay him back for what he had done to him. Deb Hampton had a rough life as a child and then as an adult, and she has admitted that madness ran in the family. She killed Simmons for her brother, for herself.
‘Mike Hampton confessed to two murders, not because he had committed either, but his confession of Tricia Warburton’s death would not be easy to disprove. After all, he had been there, and if he had confessed to one murder, then the other one wouldn’t be doubted, not if his condition continued to improve. He saw a solution on how to protect his sister, not that she had ever admitted it to him, but the bond between Mike and Deb is deep, deeper than any of us would understand. And you, Otto McAlister, would have got away with murder.’
‘If he thought all that up, he’s as mad as his sister,’ McAlister said.
‘He might be, but that’s not why we’re here. When did you decide to kill Tricia Warburton?’
‘I didn’t. Why should I?’
‘Here’s what I reckon,’ Isaac said. ‘You’re up there. You’ve checked the cord, taken a jump. It’s safe for Tricia Warburton, and you know that if she’s successful, your chance of a job with Jaden is slim. You’re enamoured of fame, of being recognised as someone important, a better class of women. After all, you had Ashley Otway, and you want more women like her, not the usual easy lays, but you can’t see a way around it.
‘You’re committed to making sure Tricia’s safe, but there’s Hampton. He’s disguised, but you know the man well, can see that it’s him standing there. You’re on the bridge, a split-second decision, knowing that we will recognise Hampton in time and he’ll get the blame.’
‘I deny it.’
‘I’ve not finished. It’s a decision you could make on a mountain, whether to cut the climber’s rope below to save your skin and that of others. Have you ever made such a decision?’
‘No.’
‘Has Mike Hampton or Angus Simmons? Was it Simmons who caused Hampton to fall, or was it the other way around? Or was it an accident?’
‘Who knows?’
‘Precisely. It might have been Simmons for all we know, but that’s unimportant. The bridge, a split-second. You kneel, we’ve got that on camera, the bungee jump crew jostling to get their faces on the television. You can see that Hampton had walked away, probably decided it wasn’t worth it. Is that how it was?’
‘You can’t prove it.’
‘Can’t we? What if I told you there was another camera focussed on that bridge, a keen amateur making home videos?’
‘Okay, it was me.
