Chapter 13
SATURDAY EVENING
Deliberately avoiding looking at myself in the mirror, I donned my costume – including the grotesque mask – and tied the big, red ribbon onto Oscar’s collar.
I left my room at six with him at my side giving me suspicious looks once more.
I went along the terrace to the pergola where I found that I was the first guest to arrive.
The only other person out there was Diego, dressed in his medieval servant costume, preparing a table full of bottles and glasses. When he saw me, he beckoned me over.
‘Ciao, Dan. You look good in your costume. How’re the tights?’
I grimaced. ‘Don’t ask. I don’t suppose you’ve got a beer, have you?’
He smiled and reached down to a cool box on the floor at his feet.
‘I thought you might ask me that, so I managed to find you an authentic Renaissance-style beer mug.’ His smile broadened.
‘Or at least a reasonably convincing imitation.’ He opened two bottles of beer and emptied them into the sturdy-looking pewter mug, roughly the size of a pint glass. ‘Here you go, cin cin.’
I toasted him and raised the mug to my lips, inadvertently immersing the hooked nose of my mask into the beer as I did so.
I snorted, wiped off the froth and pushed the mask up onto my forehead before taking a long, very welcome draught.
I glanced at my watch, idly wondering if I should have taken it off for the sake of historical authenticity.
‘Ten past six and nobody else here. Did I get the time wrong?’
‘No, six was what Miss Graceland told everybody. I dare say they’ll start arriving soon – those of them who wake up in time.
They got through a lot of wine at lunchtime.
Did you see how much the fat man drank?’ There was awe in his voice.
‘Two and a half bottles of Barolo, followed by a huge glass of grappa, and he still managed to get up and walk after that. If I drank that much, you’d have to pump me out – assuming it didn’t kill me. ’
I grinned. ‘I’ve a feeling that Mr Sloane is going to cost Alice a fortune in alcohol this weekend.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t think she noticed, and she probably didn’t care. She had enough trouble at lunchtime today as it was.’
‘Trouble? What sort of trouble, an argument?’ He nodded and I shook my head ruefully. ‘How weird. I was sitting at the opposite end of the long table, but surely I would have spotted something like that.’
‘Two arguments, to be precise. They came right at the end of the meal, and a number of people had already left. I think it might have been after you’d gone out to give Oscar a walk.
The first row was between Miss Graceland and Foster, the actor with the perfect teeth.
’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘I’ve never seen teeth that white.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they glow in the dark. ’
‘What was the row about?’
‘I’ve no idea. My English isn’t too good, and they were speaking very fast. I think it was about something that happened in the past, because he kept repeating the words “a long time ago”. It only lasted a minute or so, but voices were raised on both sides.’
This chimed with what Gupta and Rodriguez had told me about the brief affair between the two actors, culminating in the explosive conclusion. But that had been over twenty years ago, and I was surprised that relations between Alice and Foster hadn’t thawed in the meantime. But apparently not.
‘And the other argument? Who was that with?’
‘That was the old man, the one who smokes those torpedo-sized cigars. I didn’t hear anything of what was said, but he was the last to get up from table and as he passed Miss Graceland, he stopped and said something to her under his breath that must have really hurt.
She jumped to her feet and, for a moment, I really thought she was going to slap him but, instead, she just gritted her teeth and the two of them had what looked like a really nasty row, all conducted sotto voce.
I might not have heard what was said, but it looked like one hell of a bust-up. ’
I had no further time to chat to Diego as Alice herself put in an appearance. She was looking drop-dead gorgeous in her formal Renaissance costume of cream silk gown and gold mask. I hastily pulled down my mask and doffed my floppy hat as I bowed low towards her.
‘Donna Alicia, good evening. May I say that you look wonderful tonight?’
Oscar at my side obviously agreed as he started wagging his tail enthusiastically.
She extended an elegant hand sheathed in a lace glove towards me and I duly kissed it.
She then transferred her attention to Oscar and bent down to make a fuss of him.
‘How smart you look tonight with your bow, Oscar.’ I kept a close eye on him in case he might decide to jump up and make a mess of her dress, but he behaved like a true gentleman and limited himself to kissing her gloved hands just as I had done.
I had a feeling he was a bit troubled by the fact that we were wearing masks, but this hadn’t stopped him recognising her immediately.
She straightened up again and looked around.
‘My guests don’t appear to be in a hurry to come and join the fun. ’
‘They’re probably still recovering from that wonderful lunch.’ There was nobody else in sight so I thought I would take a chance. ‘Can I ask you something, Alice? Is it just my impression or are some of the people not exactly thrilled to be here?’
She laughed. ‘What a wonderfully English way of putting it. I should have known that an expert detective like you would have picked up on that. You’re quite right, there are definitely some of my guests who would rather be somewhere else.’
She was sounding quite relaxed, so I thought I would push my luck a little bit more. ‘And maybe one or two of them aren’t your favourite people in the whole world?’
‘Right again, Sherlock.’ I distinctly saw her do a full 360-degree survey of her surroundings before continuing. ‘They all have one thing in common, and I bet you don’t know what it is – not just that they all come from the world of showbiz.’
I decided to take a stab at it. ‘I couldn’t help noticing a manuscript on your desk. Might that have something to do with these people?’
She reached over and gripped my forearm. ‘Selena was right. You are a great detective.’ She sounded impressed. ‘The answer, Dan, is yes. I hit sixty a couple of years ago, and I’ve taken time out to sit down and write my autobiography. And I really have written it myself. No ghostwriter for me.’
‘And your guests here tonight all feature in the book?’ She nodded her head, and I carried on. ‘Not necessarily favourably?’
‘You could say that.’ Her tone was more serious now and, even though I couldn’t see her face beneath her mask, I could tell that she was in the prey of powerful emotions.
‘When I sat down to write my book, I knew I was going to dig up a lot of memories, and I knew that not all of them would be pleasant. The people I’ve invited here this weekend all play parts in my autobiography and I wanted to be able to sit down with each of them and give them a chance to explain and maybe apologise for certain things that took place.
A lot of bad stuff happened in the past, and if I get the feeling that some people are genuinely sorry for what happened, then I intend to cut them out of the book and save them any embarrassment.
’ Her voice hardened. ‘As for the ones who aren’t prepared to say they’re sorry, I intend to blow them out of the water. They deserve it.’
I stood there and took stock while Oscar, clearly picking up the emotion in her voice, leant against her leg and stared up at her with a concerned expression on his face.
A thought occurred to me. ‘What was your reasoning behind deciding to do a murder mystery weekend? Could it be that the roles you’ve assigned to your guests bear a resemblance to how they behaved in real life? ’
‘Exactly.’ I couldn’t see her face but I could hear satisfaction in her voice.
‘Just in case they have any doubts, I’ve deliberately marked down on the cards that I’ll be distributing in a minute some unmistakable parallels between the historical characters they’ll be playing tonight and what each of them has done in real life.
And for the avoidance of any doubt, I’ve had copies of the first draft of the manuscript made, and Mary’s going to deliver them to each of the rooms in the course of this evening.
By tomorrow morning, nobody’s going to be under any illusions as to why they’re here.
That’ll be when I sit down with each of them and see how they react. ’
I reflected on her words. ‘I would imagine it’s safe to say that tomorrow’s going to be an uncomfortable day for your guests and for you.
In fact, I imagine the brighter guests will probably be able to work out from the cards you give them this evening what’s in the back of your mind.
’ Remembering what Diego had just told me about the rows after lunch, I hazarded a guess.
‘Or maybe some of them already have.’ Not for the first time, I felt a twinge of foreboding.
Hopefully, tonight’s murder mystery wouldn’t turn out to be a disaster – or worse.
She didn’t respond but I sensed, more than saw, the slightest movement of her head indicating that I was right.
I pushed my mask up onto my forehead so she could see my face, in particular my eyes.
‘The next twenty-four hours are going to be very stressful for you. Are you sure you’re ready for that? ’
She nodded decisively. ‘I’m ready.’ She picked up a small envelope from the table beside her and handed it to me.
‘Good luck with your investigation, Chief Inspector. I’ve a feeling you’ll work it out.
If not, here’s the answer just in case.’ She turned her head slightly and lowered her voice. ‘Here come the first of my guests now.’