For what he had done, he would never be able to live with himself again.
Myrna, Felicity was informed, could not be contacted. ‘This is a matter of life and death,’ Felicity pleaded. ‘It concerns the girl she is protecting. Please let me speak to her. I need to speak to her. It’s vital…’ And here Felicity made a guess. ‘Bussola knows where they are and he’s going to kill the girl — and Myrna, if she gets in the way. I’ve got to speak to her! I’m Steve Kruger’s ex-wife. It’s imperative…’
‘ Just hold the line,’ the polite telephonist said.
‘ Fuck!’ Felicity closed her eyes, which flipped open when the changing-room door clattered open.
Gus appeared, breathing heavily, the sales assistant behind him, remonstrating. ‘You cannot barge in here like this!’ Gus rammed the palm of his big hand into her face, scrunched it up like a piece of paper and said, ‘Go away, please.’ He pushed her with such force that she crashed through the closed door of the changing booth opposite.
Gus lurched across to Felicity, a hurt and disappointed look on his face. He pulled the phone out of her hand and threw it to the floor, ramming his heel down on it.
‘ You shouldn’t ought to have done that, Mrs B. You lied to me, so get dressed, please. I’m gonna take you home.’
The service lift doors opened, Henry stepped out and immediately saw the man sitting on the overhead mesh.
All the way up Henry had been sifting through the possible openings he might use to begin the process of talking the man down.
He strolled to the left of the man, who looked down and showed recognition in his face. Henry recognised him too.
Before Henry could open his mouth, the man gave himself a push and went over the edge.
Chapter Twenty-three
‘ This is a lovely house,’ Danny commented to Myrna. They were standing in the kitchen. The refrigerator was open and appeared to be crammed full of Hurricane Reef Lager, row upon row of bottles. Danny saw them. ‘Somebody seems to like this.’
‘ Yeah, try one.’ Myrna slid a bottle out, flipped the cap and handed it to Danny. She took a drink.
‘ Gorgeous,’ she said approvingly.
‘ Come on, let’s walk out here.’
Myrna led the way to the terrace at the rear of the house where they sat by the pool. The sun was bright and hot, the sky crystal clear. Danny closed her eyes and tilted her face upwards. ‘Fantastic
… you don’t know how lucky you are.’
‘ Good weather, bad criminals.’
‘ Bad weather, bad criminals,’ Danny rejoined.
Myrna smiled. She let her eyes wander around the pool, dreaming of the moment, not many days before, when Steve Kruger had entered her whilst they balanced precariously in the shallow end, her legs wrapped around him. She blinked away the beginning of a tear. It had been wonderful, intense… made her feel so alive. She sighed.
‘ It is a nice house, belongs to my employer Steve Kruger who is now dead, murdered. I think you know the full story.’
‘ Yes, I got a telephone briefing from Karl Donaldson before I left. He filled me in on everything.’
‘ Why does Tracey wish to speak to you only, Danny?’
‘ Not sure. When the murdered girl went missing all those years before, I interviewed all the friends we could find, but the files I re-read before I came don’t have a Tracey Greenwood as being one of them. So I don’t know why she wants to speak to me. She obviously knows me, but I don’t know her.’ Danny sipped her lager, revelled in the sunshine on her face. ‘If she can come up with what she claims, we have a very good chance of nailing Mr Gilbert — but we’ll have to protect her. The last witness we had against him has ended up dead. Coincidence? I think not.’
‘ I’ve seen Gilbert in action. He was disgusting.’ Myrna shuddered.
‘ And there are possibilities of more stuff from her once she gets talking, I suppose. There’s the American angle, for example. When we get back, Karl Donaldson will be coming up to interview her about what she knows about Bussola — but that’s for the future. My priority now is to get her home in one piece, get a statement from her on the way, and get Gilbert charged with another murder before he walks free. If I’m late returning and he’s out on bail, there’s a good chance we won’t see him again. I don’t want that to happen.’
Myrna looked towards the house.
A bare-footed Tracey plodded out of the French windows towards them.
Danny’s eyes narrowed as she immediately recognised her.
Twenty minutes after discovering Felicity making an illicit phone call, Gus dragged her back to the Miami Beach mansion and paraded her in front of Bussola.
‘ Who were you calling?’ Bussola demanded. ‘Tell me now, or I bust you up again.’
‘ Just a friend, that’s all. A girlfriend — someone to talk to. Women’s things. I’ve been like a prisoner in here. I need to get out, I need some company. Honestly, that’s all. I wouldn’t do anything stupid. Not again, not ever. I’ve learned.’
Bussola was unsure. He looked at Felicity with a deadly glint as he considered what she had said. He spoke to Gus, the bodyguard. ‘You did well, very well. Now fuck off and have the rest of the day off.’
‘ Thanks, boss.’
‘ And as for you, I’ll think about what to do with you.’
He hovered and hesitated before eventually leaving Felicity on her bed.
She held her breath and could not believe how fortunate she had been.
She had another chance.
Better not blow it this time.
Maurice Stanway’s body had to be scraped off the roof with shovels and put into a plastic bag. He had landed head first and his skull was no more, other than a pulp of brain, skin, bone and blood. His shoulders and the upper part of his body had also been crushed to a mush; only his lower abdomen and legs remained intact.
Henry thought it was a good job he had seen Stanway’s face just before he jumped, otherwise there was a good possibility that identification would have been a problem.
What the hell drives a man to this? Henry pondered, as he watched the gruesome task of body recovery take place. Fortunately it wasn’t a job for CID. Suicides were dealt with by uniform. Henry was happy to hand it over to the patrol Sergeant.
Was it anything to do with Charlie Gilbert? Henry thought, then dismissed the idea. Enquiries would probably reveal money troubles, a complex personal life and a myriad of other things, none of which were Charlie Gilbert- related. Henry imagined that working for Gilbert would have been quite lucrative and not something for which you’d chuck yourself off Blackpool Tower.
‘ If you don’t mind,’ Danny said to Myrna, ‘I think it might be worthwhile getting a few things down on paper now. The return flight isn’t until later this evening and I might as well make use of these hours, even though I’d rather be shopping in the city.’
‘ Tell you what, then. You spend, say, a couple of hours doing this. In the meantime, I’ll arrange for another member of my staff to stand in for me and look after Tracey and later this afternoon I’ll drive you into Miami, maybe do some shops, hit a restaurant and then pick Tracey up on the way to the airport. How’s that sound? Tight, I know — but possible.’
