Take Two

CHAPTER 54

Terry looked over the top of his wine glass at Carolyn and narrowed his eyes. ‘You’re as mad as the proverbial hatter, you know that?’ It was close to midnight and they were sitting in Carolyn’s kitchen. Filming had kept her in the studio until after ten and, as Billy was driving her home, she’d phoned Terry and asked him if he fancied a nightcap. As they’d demolished a bottle of Nuits St Georges from Gabe’s cellar, she’d told him about the visit from the two detectives.

‘Why do you say that?’

‘What, the day after Max Dunbar is murdered, you’re going out onto a boat with Warwick Richards?’

‘You think there’s a connection?’

‘Carolyn, will you listen to yourself? You pay Dunbar to check up on Richards and five days later someone cuts his throat.’

‘Oh, come on, Warwick’s not like that.’

‘What do you mean, he’s not like that? He’s absolutely like that. You saw him kill Cohen with a blunt instrument, have you forgotten?’

‘I saw someone who looks like Warwick hit Cohen over the head. We don’t know that Cohen’s dead, remember?’

‘Well I called his office this afternoon and he’s still not turned up.’

‘You did not.’

‘Bloody right I did. His office has no idea where he is or when he’ll be back.’ He sipped his wine. ‘You need to keep the hell away from Richards. Seriously.’

Carolyn sighed. ‘We don’t know for sure it was him I saw in Cohen’s house.’

‘Only you know that, darling.’

‘Exactly. And the more I think back, the less I think it was Warwick.’

‘And you think Dunbar being killed is just a coincidence?’

‘His house wasn’t in what you’d call a salubrious area,’ she said. ‘Break-ins aren’t unusual, drug addicts looking to pay for their latest fix.’

‘You believe that? Seriously?’

Carolyn shrugged. ‘I believe that more than I believe Warwick Richards slit Max’s throat.’

‘Like I said, you’re as mad as a hatter. And I can’t believe you didn’t say anything to the cops. They were there, in Day’s office. All you had to say was that you think you saw Richards smashing Cohen over the head and you asked Dunbar to check him out. They could have gone off and done their police thing and you could have got on with your life.’

‘And what if Warwick didn’t do it? What’s he going to think?’

‘He’ll think you’re crazy but he’ll get over it. If he has an alibi for the night Cohen was killed, and an alibi for when Dunbar died, then that’ll be the end of it. And if he doesn’t have an alibi, then you did the right thing by telling the cops.’

‘And then the papers get hold of it and they’ll ask why I was in the middle of nowhere after being given my lifetime achievement award and then my career will be pretty much over.’

Terry refilled their glasses. ‘So what are you going to do?’

‘I’m going to finish my wine. Then I’m going to bed. Then, tomorrow, I’m going for drinks on Warwick’s gin palace.’ She grinned at him. ‘Why don’t you tag along?’

‘Maybe I will,’ he said. ‘Do you think he’d be up for a threesome?’

‘I’m not sure whether I should be flattered or insulted by that,’ laughed Carolyn.