Bloody Valentine Part 7

'I saw them when I left.'

'Zee didn't knock on your door?'

'If she did, I didn't hear her, but I could have been on the telephone or in the bathroom.'

'Would you describe your relationship with Zee as close?'

'She's more than twenty years younger than me. We have different interests.'

'How would you describe your sister-in-law?' Amy pressed.

'In a word: devious. She wormed her way into Jack's affections when he was grieving for his first wife.'

'Your brother's first wife died?' Amy sat forward.

'In a fire in a castle that Jack was renovating in Wales. Jack was devastated. Jodie his first wife was pregnant at the time. It was heartbreaking. Michael and I thought that was why Zee got herself pregnant so soon after meeting Jack. She knew he'd marry her if there was a child on the way. I only wish I could have been as sure as Jack that the child was his.'

'What made you think Jack wasn't the father?' Ben asked.

'Jack never said a word to me or Michael about planning to have a child with Zee. But Jack was besotted. He wouldn't listen to reason once Zee announced her pregnancy. It worried Michael and me.'

'Why?' Amy probed.

'Zee was fifteen years younger than Jack. Pretty enough, in a common way, but she'd barely been educated. She was neither a social nor an intellectual match for Jack.'

'What caused the fire that killed Jodie?' Ben was interested.

'Faulty electrical wiring. The electrician was fined for negligence. Not enough, in my opinion.'

'You said Jack was devastated,' Amy reminded her.

'I thought he'd have a breakdown.'

'But he made a recovery?' Amy prompted.

'Once he started dating Zee, four months after Jodie's death. He married her a week after she told him she was pregnant.'

'You thought that was too quick?' Ben suggested.

'Yes, but Jack's always been a womaniser. For all his insistence he loved Jodie, he couldn't stop playing around with other women.'

'Your brother's first marriage wasn't happy?' Amy asked.

'In my opinion, that was only because each ignored what the other was doing. As for Zee ... well,' Leila pursed her lips. 'It's not for me to speak ill of the dead.'

'In what way?' Ben enquired.

'Ted Levett,' Leila spat out his name. 'I couldn't believe it when Zee brought him here. Old school friend indeed-'

'Yet Jack employed him,' Ben interrupted.

'Because Zee asked him to and he couldn't refuse her anything. It was obvious what Zee and Ted were up to,' Leila declared. 'I saw them giggling and touching one another at all hours of the day and night. Every time they saw me watching, they'd stop and pretend Zee was just pa.s.sing through the foyer.'

'Did Jack say anything to you about Zee's relationship with Ted?' Amy set her notebook on the desk.

'No. I think he ignored it because in his eyes Zee could do no wrong.'

'Are you saying he was faithful to Zee but not to Jodie?' Amy checked.

'Jack was besotted with Zee but I doubt he was faithful to her. It's not in his nature. He doesn't only have an office above his restaurant. There's an apartment with a hot tub and luxury bedroom and bathroom. Possibly he takes his women there.'

'You've seen it?' Ben was surprised.

'Mamie and I stayed there for a few nights when the heating failed in our apartment last winter. But, as I said, Jack's always been the same. He'll chase after any woman who flashes a smile and a thigh. I think that's why he encouraged Jodie to buy a place she could retreat to in Wales when he was working or so he claimed.'

'Why Wales?' Amy was curious.

'Jodie had family there. Jack thought it would be a good idea for her to have her own place close to her mother.'

'Was Jodie happy about it?' Ben queried.

'She didn't complain, but Jodie was a saint compared to Zee. Pretty, educated, she'd lectured in ancient history before marrying Jack. Zee was a waitress; a n.o.body when she flung herself at Jack.'

'Your brother must have thought something of Zee to marry her,' Ben commented.

'As I said, he married her only after she told him she was pregnant. He showered her with presents. Gave her a credit card and paid the bills every month. Money was no object after Zee moved in with Jack.'

'Did Jack complain about Zee's spending?'

'I keep telling you, Inspector, he was blind to her faults, but I saw through her. She tried to take over my charity work. Asked if she could help, then claimed credit for my efforts. Well, I wasn't having that. That's why I wouldn't answer the door to her this morning ...' Leila faltered.

'You knew Zee knocked on your door this morning, yet you didn't answer it?' Amy recalled the roses and cards that Zee had delivered to everyone.

'I knew it was Zee. Anyone coming in from outside would have been announced on the intercom by the doorman. I looked through the spyhole, saw her standing there and walked away. I have better things to do with my time than waste it on Zee.'

Amy looked up at a knock on the door. 'Come in.'

'Sergeant Reece is asking if you can come upstairs immediately, ma'am. It's urgent.'

Chapter Seventeen.

Amy and Ben heard the shouting before the lift doors opened on to the studio floor.

'd.a.m.n, I forgot about the sculptures.' Amy ran into the studio. Sergeant Reece was speaking slowly, calmly in contrast to Anni Jones, who was hysterical.

'No, you can't break open that sculpture. You'll kill it. I'll not allow it. It took me months ...'

'Don't you dare touch it.' Michael Barnes grabbed a constable, who was moving towards one of the sculptures that lined the studio walls.

'Everyone stop!' Amy shouted at the constables who were searching the room.

'We're being careful, ma'am,' Sergeant Reece rea.s.sured Amy.

'Those sculptures are a nightmare.' Ben stared at the life-sized pieces.

Amy gazed at the bronze and marble sculptures. 'The bronzes have been cast for some time.' She wrapped her fingers in a tissue and tapped the marble sculptures that depicted the same man and woman in a series of cla.s.sical poses. 'And these are solid. They're also excellent.'

'Now you're an art critic?' Michael mocked.

'No, but I studied fine art at college. You want to move these?'

'Some of them,' Anni confirmed.

'The bronze and marble sculptures can be moved, Sergeant Reece,' Amy said.

'And these? Your savages want to cut them open.' Michael indicated a row of colourful papier-mache fairytale figures. They ranged from witches, goblins and princesses to dwarves and giants. Like the bronzes and marble, all were life size.

'My children's range,' Anni explained.

'You sell them?' Ben was amazed.

'To toy shops, children's theatres, and to people who buy them for their children's rooms.'

Ben tapped a witch. It echoed hollowly.

'You damage it, you pay. They fetch over four thousand pounds each,' Michael warned.

'Want to cut them open?' Ben asked Amy.

'What on earth for?' Michael questioned angrily.

'We haven't found Zee's body.' Amy watched Michael and Anni as she spoke.

'If you haven't found her body, how do you know she's dead?' Michael demanded.

'I'm not at-'

'Liberty to divulge,' Michael finished for her.

Amy turned to Anni. 'There are joins down the side.'

'They're made in pieces and welded together with resin. Please don't damage them. As Michael said, I've put two years' work into this exhibition. The gallery owner picked out the pieces she wanted. I can't let her down by delivering an incomplete list.'

Amy thought for a moment. 'Can you see if we can get the dogs at short notice?'

'Cadaver or blood?' Ben asked.

'Both. Meanwhile, you can take out the marble and bronze sculptures,' she advised Michael and Anni, 'but none of these papier mache figures.'

'I can't wait for dogs. They have to be at the gallery tonight. I promised,' Anni pleaded.

'Then we cut them,' Amy declared. 'Your choice? What's it to be?'

'Will just one suit you?' Michael picked up a Stanley knife and inserted a blade.

'Michael ...' Anni began.

'If you want to get these to the exhibition, Anni, you're going to have to sacrifice one. Once these idiots see the weights inside them, they'll let the rest through.' He looked at Amy. 'Pick one, but only one.'

Chapter Eighteen.

Amy looked along the row. She chose a witch, simply because there were two similar sculptures.

Anni turned her face to the wall. 'I can't look.'

Michael sliced down the sides of the figure. He finished by lying it flat on its back and cutting round its head and feet before pulling the two halves apart. 'Satisfied?' he demanded of Amy.

Amy turned to the sergeant. 'Compare the weight of every papier-mache sculpture removed from this studio with that one. If any appear unusually heavy, leave it here.'

'Yes, ma'am.'

Amy and Ben returned to the incident room. Ben pulled up a couple of chairs and set them in front of Liam's desk. Exhausted, Amy sat between the men.

'This is the first sighting of Zee Barnes, ma'am.' Liam slowed the tape.

Amy watched the door of the penthouse open. Zee emerged. A shadowy figure was in the doorway behind her. 'Her cleaner?'

'Sara Hilger,' Ben noted the time in the corner of the screen. 'Eleven oh-one a.m.'

The door closed. Zee walked to the lift and pressed the b.u.t.ton. As Amy had feared, she found the images disturbing. She wanted to wind the clock back. To stand in front of Zee and demand that she return to her apartment and safety.

'Zee entering the lift, riding down one floor,' Liam commented.

The image of Zee in the lift wasn't as clear as the one in the hall. The film was grainy. Zee was wearing a light-coloured suit. Her blonde hair appeared paler than her clothes, her handbag and shoes darker.

'Leaving the lift on the floor below her apartment,' Liam continued.