HOLLY WENT ONLINE TO RESEARCH THE women she intended speaking to before she made the calls. These were the professionals who’d played a big part in Rick Kelsall’s working life. Sally Baker was the executive producer at the television company where Rick Kelsall had been employed for most of his career. There were photographs of her at awards ceremonies, looking glamorous if slightly dishevelled. She was in her late forties. Holly could find no mention of a husband or children, but in the photographs, she was often on the arm of a good-looking man, an actor or another producer. She was a short woman and her head was usually tilted upwards, staring adoringly into her companion’s eyes.
The resignation of Rick Kelsall was widely covered, and Sally Baker was quoted in most of the articles. We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour, even in our most established stars. Rick has recognized that he acted inappropriately and has resigned.
‘Poor Rick,’ Baker said, when Holly was put through to her. ‘Though really, I think he might have enjoyed all this drama, and being the centre of attention again.’
It seemed an unsympathetic response.
‘You don’t seem surprised that somebody killed him.’ Holly’s tone was conversational. She didn’t want to sound too disapproving. She needed the woman to talk.
‘Honestly? I’m not. He provoked me almost to murder at least once a month.’ A pause. ‘He was a consummate professional, of course, but he hadn’t realized that the business has moved on. We don’t have the resources that we had when he started out. He could be rather demanding.’
‘So, you weren’t sad to let him go?’
‘I’m not saying that. I actually liked the man. As a person. To spar with and bounce ideas off. I had the confidence to stand up to him and he knew better than to mess with me, but he was becoming a bit of an embarrassment.’ Baker paused. ‘A dinosaur.’
‘You weren’t surprised when Eliza made her allegations?’
‘Well, I was rather. She’s a timid little thing. I wouldn’t have thought she was Rick’s type. He was never particularly attracted to the innocent little interns.’
Holly wondered if Sally Baker had been Rick’s type. She could imagine the two of them having a fling after a few too many drinks at some wrap party. Then Sally living with the awkwardness of seeing him at work every day, wondering if he was going to make her indiscretion public. Perhaps she’d had her own, very personal, reasons for wanting to get rid of him.
‘Yet you believed Eliza?’
There was a moment of silence and Holly wondered if Baker had hung up on her or if the connection had been lost, but after a few seconds the woman responded.
‘Of course! We have to, these days. There can be no more sweeping these things under the carpet and blaming the victim. Really, if there was any sniff of a cover-up, the press would rip us apart.’
So, truth, Holly thought, had nothing to do with it.
The woman was still speaking. ‘Then there was Eliza’s mother. Of course, we had to take Katherine Willmore into account. She’s a very powerful woman, with an axe to grind when it comes to women’s issues.’ There was another pause. ‘Though she was much more concerned about keeping her daughter’s name out of the press than pushing for justice. She’d have been perfectly happy, I think, if we’d taken no action at all against Rick.’
‘So why did you get rid of him?’
Baker took a while to answer. ‘We decided that the whole thing was bound to come out in the end and we couldn’t be seen to have been complicit.’ She paused, then her tone softened, became more confidential, almost conspiratorial. ‘And to be honest, Rick didn’t present the image that the company needed anymore. He had a loyal following with the oldies, but we’re trying to target a younger audience, and Rick Kelsall wasn’t the man who would pull in the under-thirties. Or even the under-fifties.’
‘So, the allegations came at a very convenient time for you?’
‘Well, that is a little harsh, but yes, I suppose it’s true.’
‘When did you last see Rick Kelsall?’
There was another hesitation.
‘Actually, it was just the week before he died. We met up in Soho for a few drinks and a bite to eat.’ A pause. ‘It was in a way a farewell celebration. Just the two of us. Obviously, I couldn’t do anything more formal – we could hardly have a jolly leaving bash in the office – but it seemed a bit heartless just to send him on his way after all those years. He’d seen the company through some difficult times. There were periods when his show kept us afloat.’
They’d definitely had a fling.
‘How did he seem?’
‘Surprisingly buoyant,’ Baker said. ‘And I don’t think it was all bravado. He said he had other fish to fry. He was moving in a new direction. We drank too much champagne, then I staggered home and hadn’t heard from him since. It was a shock to see his face all over social media yesterday.’
‘He didn’t give any details of his new ventures?’
‘No,’ Baker said. ‘It was all very mysterious. But then there was nothing Rick liked better than a good mystery.’
Holly’s research into Rick Kelsall’s agent had pulled up her website. Cecilia Bertrand ran an agency representing clients who worked mostly in the news media. There was one photograph, showing a tiny, elderly and very elegant woman. Everything about her was beautifully styled and understated. She was sitting in a wood-panelled office, behind a large desk, with a long window behind her. References from other sources described her as ‘the queen of broadcasting’ and ‘deliciously ruthless’.
Cecilia was obviously expecting Holly’s Zoom call and she answered immediately. Her voice was beautifully modulated, almost regal, but as the conversation went on Holly discovered that she could swear like a Newcastle United fan on match night.
‘How can I help you, Constable? Of course, I’ll give you everything you need. Such a fucking tragedy, just as Rick was about to embark on his exciting new project.’
‘What exactly was that?’
‘He’d turned his hand to writing. A thriller. Of course, every bugger in the media is doing it at the moment, but it seems he was really rather good. Not my field, but my co-agent got him a very good deal with a major publisher on the strength of a synopsis and some early chapters. He promised me he was writing like a demon and he’d have the first draft finished by the end of the year.’
‘Had you seen what he’d written so far?’
‘I’m afraid not. He was most secretive about the whole thing.’
‘So would that have replaced his television income?’ This was a completely new world and Holly was struggling to work out the implication of the information.
‘Well, he made more from personal appearances and lectures than he did from his salary. These days the Beeb is notoriously mean-spirited when it comes to presenters. But Rick Kelsall was no pauper, Constable. He had a good lifestyle, despite paying off two wives and supporting his kids. And yes, he got a very nice advance from publishers here and in the US. He was using incidents from his personal experience to kickstart the story, and there’s nothing the media likes more than revelation about a celebrity’s past.’
‘Can you give me any detail about the content of the novel? It could be useful in our inquiries.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t. As I said, he submitted a short synopsis, but that was rather vague. Sketchy even.’ A pause then an admission. ‘Hardly more than a paragraph, actually.’
Holly wondered how the woman could make any judgement about the quality of Kelsall’s writing on the strength of a brief synopsis. And how a publisher might be persuaded to part with an advance. Perhaps celebrity would be enough.
Cecilia seemed to read Holly’s mind. ‘If Rick was struggling a bit with the structure of the writing, the daily grind so to speak, the thought was that a good editor would be able to help.’
Or even write the thing for him … ‘You must have some idea about the plot.’
‘Well of course! It started with a killing on a small island. He was absolutely fired up by the idea, though he’s been hugely secretive ever since.’ She stopped suddenly. ‘Shit, that’s all rather prescient, isn’t it? As if he were predicting his own death.’
‘Could I see what he’d written?’
‘Of course! I’ll email it across.’ Cecilia Bertrand paused for a moment. ‘If you find any material on his computer, of course, we’d love to see it. It would be ours under contract. He might even have nearly finished that first draft. My God, the publisher would wet themselves if we could deliver something they can use. They might be able to find some big name willing to complete it. Can you imagine the publicity? It would be a worldwide sensation.’
She closed her eyes, dreaming, it seemed, of posthumous fame and fortune for Rick Kelsall. And fortune for her. All pretended sadness at her client’s death had disappeared.
Holly ended the meeting and sat for a moment at her desk. She thought that Vera would be delighted at the information she’d gained. The advances from publishers, which Cecilia had negotiated on her client’s behalf, meant that Kelsall’s decision to leave a proportion of his estate to Annie Laidler and Charlotte Thomas was even more relevant as a motive. And the fact that his thriller was about a death on an island brought Isobel Hall’s car crash back into focus. She was about to call Vera to pass on the information, when her own phone rang. It was the boss, asking if Holly was ready yet to interview Charlotte Thomas. And with a request of her own.