The Stone Wife
- Автор: Ловси Питер
- Серия: Peter Diamond #14
- Год: 2014
- Язык: английский
- Год: Sphere
- ISBN: 978-0-7515-5405-2
- Жанр: Полицейские детективы
Электронная книга - «The Stone Wife». Краткое содержание книги:
‘But you keep your job.’
She gave a broad wink. ‘Made myself indispensable, haven’t I? If they sacked me, they’d lose my contact list, which I guard like the Crown Jewels. It is the Crown Jewels.’
‘Can’t someone hack into it?’
‘No chance. The numbers aren’t on any computer. They’re in a battered old Filofax that stays zipped in my bag. It’s there now. And if anyone nicked it they wouldn’t be able to read my shorthand. You’re under the letter S with all the other Smiths, in case you’re wondering. I’m rather chuffed to have a private line into Bath CID.’
‘Not much use to you,’ Ingeborg said.
‘No?’
‘Absolutely no.’
‘Go on. I wouldn’t mind betting you know secrets about the glitterati of Bath I could share with my readers. A hint about some celeb in the frame for pimping in the pumproom?’
‘Sylvie, if it happened, you’d be the first to know.’
‘Says who?’
‘You’d be on the case before I was.’
‘Oh, come on. Now I understand where the word “copout” comes from. You must have any number of juicy stories crossing your desk.’
‘You wish.’
The good-natured fencing continued right through the main course. It was becoming obvious to Ingeborg that she’d have to give a little to get the favour she wanted.
‘That was truly out of this world,’ she said when she put knife and fork together on her empty plate. ‘You should write the food column for your magazine.’
‘Between you, me and the manager, I sometimes do.’
‘I still read your feature articles regularly. Even when you don’t give yourself a byline the style is unmistakable.’
Sylvie took a long sip of the Chablis and stared over the glass with a look that refused to be schmoozed. ‘And the reason we’re here must be because some piece of deathless prose I wrote lately has caught your beady blue eye? Go on, nice cop. I’m listening.’
No backing off now. Out of sight under the table Ingeborg’s fingers laced together and squeezed. She hoped to God she’d judged this right. ‘The issue before last, you had a piece on a singer from the Far East who is moving up the charts.’
‘Lee Li. You saw it?’
‘I did.’
‘Okay,’ Sylvie said. ‘She’s definitely one to watch. She blends classical Chinese melodies with modern music of all sorts from reggae to soul. A bright kid who will make it big if I’m any judge.’
‘Was she pleased with what you wrote?’
‘Over the moon. I’m quoting her actual words, as texted on the day of publication. She talks in clichés, by the way, and I found it rather endearing. English is her second language. What’s your interest? Professional, no doubt.’
‘I downloaded her Cherry Blossoms album. The voice is special, thrilling on the lower registers.’
‘But that’s not what we’re here about,’ Sylvie said with her trademark directness.
‘True. Towards the end of the article you throw in the names of some people who helped Lee in her career so far, producers mostly.’
‘Lifted straight out of the promo literature. They all like their credit if they can get it.’
‘One name stood out because I didn’t know he has form in the popular music world.’
‘Who’s that?’
‘Nathan Hazael.’
‘Can’t hear you.’
Of course she’d heard. She just wanted a moment to think. Ingeborg leaned forward and repeated the name without raising her voice.
Sylvie laughed. ‘He’s not a muso. He’s a crook.’ She stabbed a finger in Ingeborg’s direction. ‘Now I know what this reunion is really about.’
‘You could be getting warm.’
‘Well, I hope Bath police will be picking up the bill. I only mentioned the son of a bitch because the girl kept on about him and his many acts of kindness.’
‘So he wasn’t in the promo material?’
She laughed. ‘He’s the sugar daddy. She may be talented, she may have a voice in a million and a sweet personality, but it’s who you know, isn’t it? She needs Nathan’s help to rocket her to the top of the music business.’
‘Is she living with him in his mansion on the Leigh Woods estate?’
‘That’s the price of success.’
‘And does she know he supplies the firearms for threequarters of the serious crime in the southwest? Allegedly.’
‘Remarkable as it may seem to you, my precious, my interview with Lee didn’t get round to the subject of guns. She spoke of him with unbridled admiration every time his name came up. That’s what I’m telling you and that’s what I’ll tell Nathan’s lawyers if they come visiting. Have you got something new on the scumbag, because it had better be foolproof.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ Ingeborg said with feeling. ‘The last time a major investigation targeted him he walked out of court a free man and the DCI on the case and two others were suspended. No, I don’t have an arrest warrant in my back pocket. I simply find it bizarre that this godfather figure suddenly has a stake in a pop singer from Taiwan.’
‘A peach of a singer. And a rising star. You said so yourself. It’s the old, old story. He likes young flesh and Lee Li needs funding. It may be distasteful, but she’s a grown-up. It’s not against the law.’
Trying to sound casual and not feeling it in the least, Ingeborg put the question she’d rehearsed in her mind a hundred times. ‘If I wanted to meet her what’s the best way to go about it?’
‘Meet her — or him?’ Sylvie said. ‘You’re too transparent for a super sleuth, darling.’
‘I can’t knock on his door with my list of questions,’ Ingeborg said.
‘I wouldn’t recommend it. He’s nobody’s fool. And he’s very, very dangerous. Even I know that, and I haven’t met the guy.’
‘So the best approach is through Lee.’
‘And you want me to set it up? How, exactly?’
‘It can’t be too obvious. I’m thinking of telling her I’m a freelance.’
‘As you were.’
‘And wanting to do a photo feature.’
‘As youБ’ Sylvie rocked back in her chair. ‘Hold on, you’re no photographer.’
‘Let me explain. I’d tell her I’m pitching an idea for a regular two-page spot in one of the weekend colour magazines in the national Sundays, a new take on one of those “day in the life” things. It would be called iPhone Diary and consist of up to a dozen shots taken with my phone to give a record of her wild and wacky day from wake-up to lights out.’
‘Wicked — but no picture editor I know would agree to use your fuzzy iPhone pictures.’
‘The fuzziness doesn’t matter,’ Ingeborg said. ‘It’s meant to have a slightly amateurish look, as if these are sneaky pics of something private. With an intro from you, I can convince Lee that I’m genuine. I’ll flatter her by telling her she’s been picked because she’s so famous and attractive, my number one choice for the pilot feature.’
‘This is your passport into Nathan’s fortress?’
‘I reckon.’
‘Isn’t there a tiny flaw? He’s not going to let you and your iPhone anywhere near his stately home, sweetie.’
‘Oh, come on. You know as well as I do that the male ego knows no bounds. He’ll be chuffed to bits to let the world see him sitting up bare-chested in bed with a stunning little creature like Lee. But if I have to settle for Lee in her bathrobe eating muesli, so be it. The object of all this is to get me under Nathan’s radar.’
‘And then what?’