Dead Beat (30 page)

“Mmm,” I said. “That’s about the size of it.”

“So tell me all about it,” he demanded enthusiastically. He moved away from me and I heard the soft pop and hiss of a champagne bottle being opened. There was no hope of catching up on sleep now. I sat up and switched on the bedside light.

Richard blinked in the unexpected glow, then gave me his cutest smile as he handed me a fizzing glass of pink champagne. “Every cough and spit,” he demanded.

So I told him all about the showdown, and how Neil had been picked up within five minutes by the team Jackson had wisely

“Great job,” Richard said with as much satisfaction as if he’d been the prime mover. “But I still don’t understand why he killed her. Surely it wasn’t just to produce a scandal that would sell his book?”

“Not quite. I don’t think he actually meant to kill her. There was nothing premeditated about it. He was just incredibly lucky that no one else had an alibi and everyone else had better motives.”

“But why?” Richard howled in frustration.

I smiled sweetly and took a long, slow mouthful of champagne. “Can’t tell you. It’s all
sub judice
, and you journalists can never keep your mouths shut.”

“Kate!” he wailed, his face a mixture of injured innocence and pure frustration.

I had to relent. “When Moira left Jett all those years ago, she was pregnant. She had nowhere to go, and not a lot of cash left, so she had an abortion. Jett never knew about it, and it’s a pound to a gold clock that he would never have had her back if he had done. The guy’s notoriously anti-abortion, and he’d never have forgiven her for killing his own kid. Anyway, Neil found out about the abortion, and he told Moira he knew. Maybe he was even trying a spot of blackmail. She didn’t want a walking time-bomb like that around the place. I questioned Kevin about it last night, and it turns out that she was trying to do a deal with him where Neil would be kicked out. In exchange, Moira wouldn’t tell Jett about Kevin’s little games with the money. Once Neil was out the door, anything he said would be seen as sour grapes.

“She must have been crowing to him about it in the rehearsal room. The prospect of being deprived of what must have been his last chance of a meal ticket was too much for him. He snapped and picked up the nearest object and thumped her with it. Like I said, I don’t think murder was part of his plans, but having done it, he did his damnedest to make sure he got away with it.”

“And he would have done, too, if you hadn’t known about the date-stamp on the files,” Richard said. “Bloody clever of you.”

“Mmm,” I said. “I wouldn’t have known what to look for if Bill

As my body started to tingle under Richard’s familiar caresses, I made a mental note to burn the cassette of that earlier interview with Neil. It wouldn’t do for Inspector Jackson to find out that Neil not only hadn’t date-stamped his files. He hadn’t even known how to.

   Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and is a graduate of Oxford University. She worked as a journalist for 16 years, the final three as Northern Bureau Chief of a major Sunday newspaper. She quit journalism in 1991 to write full-time. Since her first novel was published in 1987, she has written a further 19 and one non-fiction book.

Val’s books are international bestsellers and have won many awards. These include the Gold Dagger for
The Mermaids Singing
, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anthony, the Dilys, the Barry and the Macavity for
A Place of Execution
, the Sherlock and the Barry for
The Distant Echo
and the Grand Prix des Romans d’Aventure for
Star Struck
. She was the first writer to be presented with the Icon of Scotland award at Tartan Day in New York. Her short stories have twice been nominated for Dagger awards and she edited a short story anthology,
Endangered Species
, for Arts Council England. Her work has been translated into over 30 languages and her series featuring Tony Hill and Carol Jordan has been adapted for the award-winning TV series,
Wire in the Blood
, which has been transmitted in almost 30 countries. She is also a regular contributor to BBC radio and founder of the Harrogate International Crime Writing Festival.

Val lives with her son and her partner in the North of England.