Read Online Classic Calls the Shots by Amy Myers - Free Book Online Page B

cordoned off as a crime scene. Brandon and I had taken each other’s measure on a previous case, and though I can’t say the rapport between us was strong, he didn’t seem to be automatically assuming I was in the frame for this murder. He is serious, with a one-track mind, the automaton type. Keeping one’s nose to the trail you are on is a good attribute for a copper, but he can carry it too far, until you wonder what makes him tick when he’s at home with his wife and kids. He listened with only one or two interruptions to my story.
    â€˜This car theft,’ he said at last. ‘You think that was part of this dirty tricks campaign?’
    â€˜From what I’ve been told, I do. Angie Wade was as fond of that car as Bill was, and she was identified with it by everyone here.’
    â€˜And she wasn’t popular on the set.’
    â€˜An understatement.’
    â€˜Any line on that missing car yet?’
    â€˜No, but it’s early days. I have a feeling that it’s not that far away.’
    â€˜A pricey job, from what Dave tells me.’
    â€˜He’s right,’ I agreed. ‘Too rare to be an easy mark.’
    â€˜So the theft could have been a warning to Angie Wade. But why bother to warn her? Seems odd.’
    â€˜I agree. She told her husband there was something weird going on over the cars.’
    A pause while the automaton gobbled up this information. Then: ‘You’re going on looking for that car?’
    â€˜Unless called off by Dave or Bill Wade.’
    â€˜Good. Keep in touch over anything I need to know, will you?’
    Good
? Was this really Brandon letting me on the ground floor? I decided to put this to the test. ‘What time was she killed?’ I asked.
    â€˜She arrived with her husband in their BMW more or less on the dot of six. He seems to be a stickler for punctuality. Estimate is that she’d been dead between two to three hours when you found her. Some leeway necessary.’
    That meant she’d been killed between six and eight, and so that open gate figured even higher in importance. Anyone could have used it.
    I tried another question. ‘Who opened the patio doors in Roger Ford’s office? It could have been Angie herself. The rear door was locked until eight thirty.’
    â€˜Not yet known, but it could have been. Roger Ford denies opening them. Says he was only in there first thing this morning about six fifteen and they were shut then. After that, he was dividing his time between the studios and production building. Question is, why should Angie Wade have decided to spend a bit of time in the garden that early?’
    I’d no answer to that. ‘No chance it was suicide?’ I asked.
    â€˜Would you like it to be?’ Brandon asked surprisingly.
    â€˜Yes.’ If it was murder, I could see a very messy road ahead.
    Brandon turned into a human being. ‘Don’t get too involved, Jack. You’re no use to us that way. Answer: we need the lab report, but suicide doesn’t look likely.’
    â€˜Not from where I’m sitting either.’ I rose to go.
    â€˜By the way, Jack,’ he added, ‘the gun’s a Smith and Wesson thirty-eight pistol, with silencer. Bill Wade says he owns one.’
    When I returned to the green room, it was empty, but Louise had left a note that she and Jane were going down to the canteen to ‘join the others’, so I made my way there. When I reached it, I could see that ‘the others’ meant everyone at the studios. It was, to my surprise, already lunchtime, and the canteen, despite the circumstances, was doing brisk business. I stood in the doorway for a moment or two, thinking about what Brandon had said: ‘Don’t get too involved.’ Perhaps it was too late. I spotted Louise at a table with Joan Burton and – yes – Tom Hopkins. Sacked or not, here he was. At another table Eleanor Richey was deep in conversation