Strictly Murder (6 page)

"Holly Danvers, her secretary." She spoke into the phone. "Hi, Holly. It's Candy. Are you free to see a magazine reporter who's writing a piece about JayJay? Yes. She's here with me now. Good. I'll send her along."

The redoubtable Candy Clark rose, our interview over.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Long. Holly's office is down the corridor, third on the left."

I smiled and closed the door behind me.

Jaynee Johnson's producer obviously had no love for the dead woman, I reflected as I headed down the corridor, but whether she'd killed her or not remained to be seen.

Chapter 3

I liked Holly Danvers almost as soon as I set foot in her office. She was a total, and welcome, contrast to the brassy producer I'd just left. In age, in looks, in style. Her genuine smile greeted me warmly as she offered me a seat. I trotted out the lies about my fictional magazine and its non-existent readers, ashamed to be deceiving this girl - she couldn't be more than twenty - with her clear, fresh skin unadorned by any make up except for a flicker of mascara and her childlike gaze.

"Candida tells me that JayJay was clever. Would you agree?"

"Oh, she was. Very clever. She had been to university and had a degree, you know."

The thought of Jaynee Johnson dancing through the halls of academia was a new one.

"Really? What in? Media studies?"

"No. She had an MA in English from Durham."

So, maybe not the air head I'd presumed her to be, then.

"What was she like to work for?"

"She was lovely," came the unexpected reply - I'd hardly pictured JayJay as a model employer. "She was really nice to me. She bought me a lovely silk scarf for my birthday, and … and…"

Suddenly she was in floods of tears. Real tears, not the crocodile variety employed by Candida Clark.

"I'm sorry, Miss."

She opened a drawer and pulled out a box of tissues.

"No." Instinctively, I reached a hand across the desk to offer comfort. "I'm sorry to upset you."

I waited until the weeping abated, unsure whether to go round the desk to her or stay where I was.

"She was so kind," Holly dabbed at her streaming eyes. "I really liked her. Why would anyone want to kill her?"

She gazed at me, beseechingly, but I had no answer to give her.

"I don't know, Holly, but I'd like to find out."

Uneasy at my own deceit in the face of her real grief, I thought it time to live up to my name. It was time for honesty.

"Holly," I began. "I'm not a magazine reporter."

"You're not?" Baffled, her fingers worked on the bundle of wet tissues, scrunching them into a ball.

"No. I'm a PA, like you. I work for Kathleen Davenport."

"Really?" She perked up. "I've read all her books."

"And, well, you see, it's just that I found the ..." I had been about to say 'body' but thought better of it, no need to set her crying again. "I found JayJay."

Her eyes widened.

"You mean you …? In that house?"

I nodded

"Oooh. How awful."

"So, I feel involved, you see."

"And so you're going to investigate. Just like Agnes Merryweather."

I groaned inwardly.

"Well, that's the police's job. I just wanted to find out more about her. Talk to her friends, her colleagues. Build up a picture of JayJay."

She nodded enthusiastically from the opposite side of the desk.

"Oh, I see. Like a detective, building up your case till you uncover the killer."

This kid's innocence was remarkable. Did she really think I could beat the police at their own game?

"Holly, this isn't a book. This isn't a story - it's real life. There really is a killer out there. JayJay is really dead." Her face threatened to crumble again. I hurried on. "So all I'm doing is trying to find out information that will help the police, without putting me, or anyone else, in danger. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"So, what can you tell me about Jaynee? Was she popular?"

"Oh yes. Everyone liked her. She got on well with everybody."

"Including her producer?"

Holly's viewpoint certainly didn't tally with what I'd heard from Candy Clark.

"Yes. I remember once in the canteen, somebody spilt vinegar and it went on Candida's dress. JayJay was really sympathetic and said how disfiguring the acid could be, but then she looked at the mark and said it would all come out in the wash."

I wasn't as sure as Holly seemed to be that this was a mere girl-to-girl chat about laundry but I let it pass.

"And what about her co-star?"

"Mr Ferrari? He's gorgeous, really nice." Her eyes looked wistful for a moment though I hadn't missed the formality. "My friend Lauren, in make-up, says he hardly needs to spend any time in her chair before recording the show."

"Did he and JayJay get on?"

"Oh yes. They got on really well together. She always said that as a presenter he made an excellent dancer."

My head shot up from my notebook. That hardly tallied with what Candida had told me. The producer had reckoned the two stars had had a romance.

"Really? Were they seeing each other?"

Fleetingly, a pinched look crossed Holly's face, though whether in distaste or disapproval, I couldn't tell.

"I think they might have gone out on a date a couple of times but I don't think it was serious." She dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "JayJay had lots of admirers."

Hmmm. Holly was either too young or too innocent to be a good observer of human nature and the people around her, by the sound of it. Time to change tack.

"Did anyone ever threaten her?"

"What, here?" She sounded aghast. "Oh no."

"She didn't, for example, receive threatening letters or hate mail?"

Holly shook her head.

"No, just loads of fan mail. She was really popular."

I began to think I was wasting my time. Holly's sunshine view of the world offered no clues to the dead woman's real personality, what she truly thought about others - or what her colleagues felt about her. Once again I moved on.

"Can you tell me more about the show, Holly? I got the general gist of things from Candida but it would help if I had more details."

At least, I hoped it would help. Just at the moment I felt totally in the dark, floundering around in unknown names and an unfamiliar subject.

"Sure. What do you want to know?"

"I understand that the series lasted eighteen weeks? When did they start?"

She flicked through a large upright calendar on her desk.

"The programmes were recorded every Monday afternoon and the first one of this series was on..."

I waited while she found the right place.

" ... Monday 22nd February."

I wrote this down before asking, "What about rehearsals?"

"There was a meeting here every Tuesday morning when the new contestants would be paired with the professionals," Holly explained clearly. "They then rehearsed for three hours every weekday morning. There would then be a full rehearsal, including the presenters and the judges, the following Monday morning before recording, in front of a studio audience, later that afternoon."

Tempting though it was to ask if that was 'a live studio audience' - you don't, after all, get dead ones - I refrained. I didn't think Holly would get the joke so I merely nodded.

"What about the first week's recording? Did they meet the Tuesday before that?"

Holly looked at me witheringly.

"Of course. The very first contestants would need a week to practice, too."

"Did JayJay and Greg rehearse this often?"

"Oh no," Holly laughed at the idea, "they're professionals. The contestants wouldn't get to meet the stars until the full rehearsal on Monday morning, prior to the recording which could go on until late in the evening. JayJay and Greg practiced their routine for the next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before returning the following Monday. They were never here after Thursday or before Monday morning."

I frantically scribbled all this down whist trying to get it clear in my head. One full day and three morning's work a week hardly amounted to the gruelling schedule Candida Clark had claimed.

"Thanks, Holly. I think I understand it better now. Did the two stars stay in hotels?"

"No, they both rented out houses during the run. They could be up here for nearly six months. JayJay had a house on the Golden View estate."

I knew of the place. Only for people on celebrity salaries.

"I don't know where Mr Ferrari stayed."

Again, I noted the formality whilst wondering why she would know where one star lived but not the other.

"Golden View is a long way from Willow Drive. I wonder why she went there?"

Holly shrugged but said nothing. I felt I was getting nowhere fast. I tried one last question, one angle I'd not touched on yet.

"And JayJay was happy in her work here at the studios?"

She pulled at her lower lip.

"Well ..."

"Yes?"

"I did once hear her say, 'I shall be glad when I'm out of this place', but I think she just meant she was ready to go home, you know, to the house she rented when she was up here doing the show."

It didn't sound like it to me but perhaps Holly was right. She'd certainly given me plenty to think about.

"Well, if you can think of anything else will you give me a call? Here's my home number."

I scrawled my name and number on the back of one of KD's business cards and passed it across the desk. She looked at it briefly and slid it into a drawer.