Part 18 (1/2)

'She told me most things. At least I thought she did, but perhaps your friend will prove me wrong.'

He looked at Josephine, almost challenging her to do so. 'I doubt that,' Josephine said. 'It was a very brief conversation. But she'd obviously been weighing up her life, which is probably what we'd all do in her position. I caught her at a time when she needed to talk but I'm sure she wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been a stranger.' She glanced apologetically at David Franks. 'You don't burden someone you love with your own fears, do you? But an outsider is different.'

Penrose knew Josephine well enough to understand that she would not have been untouched by her meeting with Bella, no matter how much of a stranger she was. 'Tell me what she talked about,' he said gently. 'Everything you can remember, no matter how insignificant it seemed at the time.'

She hesitated, and he knew that she was reluctant to discuss it in front of an audience, but he wanted to see how the others reacted to what she had to say. 'She talked about her early career and meeting her husband. From what she said, it was obvious that she still loved him; it seemed to me that he'd hurt her very badly, though.'

'She didn't like the way he ran his business,' Franks explained. 'For someone who had spent so long at the top of her industry, Bella could be very naive about the deals that were done and the way money was made. She thought he exploited peoplea and I suppose he did, but Max could never understand why that made a difference to her or to their marriage. He loved her every bit as much as she loved him. I remember being caught in the middle when it started to go wrong. G.o.d, those two could fight.'

'And he's still in America?'

'I don't think he was prowling the woods last night, if that's what you mean.'

'I mean he'll need to be informed of her death,' Penrose said evenly, although the thought had crossed his mind.

'Oha I see. Yes, he's still in LA. Sorry.'

'What else did Bella tell you?' Penrose asked, turning back to Josephine.

'She talked a lot about her family and what had happened to them after she moved away from here.'

'Here? You mean Portmeirion?' He listened as Josephine explained, furious with himself for dismissing what Constable Powell had been about to say just because the man irritated him. 'Her older sister created the dog cemetery, and her younger sister died in childbirth.' She paused and looked at David Franks. 'That was your mother?' He nodded. 'So it was your father . . .'

'Who was murdered by a pack of dogs, metaphorically speaking? Yes, it was.' He didn't give Penrose the chance to ask for an explanation, but described the circ.u.mstances of his father's death with a calm matter-of-factness which was undermined by the anger in his eyes.

'So what you said last night wasn't a joke? You really did watch your father burn to death?' The compa.s.sion in Alma's voice was as strong as it had been the night before, even though she had been lied to.

'Yes, but I don't know why I said that. It was out of order. I'm sorry.'

'There's no need to apologise, David,' Hitchc.o.c.k said, looking at his wife. 'Sometimes a joke is the only way to get through.'

'Bella took me away because Grace begged her to,' Franks continued. 'It was dangerous for me here: I was frightened and angry, and the mob would have found a way to get to me, too. There's no stopping violence like that once it starts.' He looked round the room. 'It's ironic, but this was where Bella told me that I was leaving with her. If you look carefully, you can still see the mark where I threw a doorstop at the fireplace. I didn't want to go.'

'The child who went missing was related to Bella,' Penrose said, piecing the details together with what the policeman had told him. 'Her brother's child. Is that right?'

Franks looked surprised. 'Taran? Yes. He was only three at the time. How did you know?'

'One of the local officers told me. He also said that Bella's brother never knew his son because he ran off with another woman. Branwen Erley's mother, to be precise. That's how she and Bella were connected. Did you know that?'

'Yes.'

'And were you going to mention it?'

'No, but only because I was trying to protect someone.' His honesty was disarming, and Penrose looked at him in surprise. 'What's the point now, though? You're going to find out anyway. Bella's brother a it's Leyton Turnbull. He changed his name when he left here.'

It was obvious that this was a revelation to everyone in the room, including Josephine. 'Why didn't you tell me this before?' Penrose asked.

'Because he's all I've got left, dammit.'

Penrose left the room for long enough to control his temper and find James Wyllie. 'Will you take one of these officers to Leyton Turnbull's room and find out if he's there? If he is, bring him down here but don't tell him what it's about.' He went back to the Mirror Room and sat down opposite Franks. 'Right. Tell me everything you know about Leyton Turnbull.'

'He turned up in America about eighteen months after I got there. He'd spent some time in Europe a Denmark first, then Germany after the war ended, and he'd had a few small parts in terrible films. By that time, Bella was very famous and very richa and he wanted to cash in on her success. He arrived at the studios one day, completely out of the blue.'

'With Branwen Erley's mother?'

'No. That can't have worked out because he was on his own when he got to us. Bella was horrified, but he hit it off with Max straight away. He found Turnbull some work on the production side. That didn't go down very well with Bella.'

'But she put up with it?'

'As long as there was never any acknowledgement that they were related. She didn't want anything to do with him. Then Turnbull pushed his luck too far, Max refused to rein him in, and Bella had had enough. She filed for divorce and came back to England.'

'Was that when he raped an actress?' Astrid asked. 'Bella told me he'd destroyed a young girl's life. Did the boys stick together and turn a blind eye?' She looked at Penrose. 'Had Branwen Erley been raped?' He said nothing. 'She had, hadn't she?'

'Jesus Christ, what about Bella?' Franks demanded. 'She hadn't . . .'

'No,' Penrose said. 'There's no sign of a s.e.xual a.s.sault on Miss Hutton.' He chose not to add that it was about the only atrocity that had not been performed on the movie star's body.

'Turnbull was with that waitress last night, Archie,' Spence said quietly. 'He brought her back in his car at about seven o'clock and dropped her off at reception. I saw them when I was walking down to the hotel. She kissed him goodbyea and her stockings were ripped.'

'Obviously begging for it, then,' Astrid said sarcastically.

'That's not what I meant,' Spence said impatiently. 'For Christ's sake grow up. People have died.'

'You've been very quiet, Mr Lascelles,' Hitchc.o.c.k said, his confidence seemingly restored by the growing antagonism in the room. 'I couldn't help noticing that you were quite interested in Miss Erley last night while she was singing for us. Is there anything you'd like to share?'

Danny flushed, as he had the night before when Hitchc.o.c.k had picked on him. 'I was looking at her because of something Turnbull told me.' He caught Penrose's eye. 'He said he'd f.u.c.k her one way or the other before the night was out. You heard him, didn't you, Astrid? He offered me a bet on it.'

Astrid ignored him and continued to glare at Jack Spence. 'Why is Turnbull here this weekend?' Penrose asked.

'I told him about it,' Franks admitted. 'We kept in touch now and again. He begged me to get him an invitea and Mr Hitchc.o.c.k needed someone to play a certain role, so it seemed to kill two birds.'

Penrose didn't bother asking what that the role was: Hitchc.o.c.k's games had ceased to be important. 'He didn't come because he knew Bella was going to be here?'

'I don't think so, but I couldn't swear to that.'

'So it's not impossible that he could have known and seen an opportunity to settle the score with her? From what Miss Lake says, she was spreading allegations about him quite liberallya and he must have wanted to stop that?' Franks hesitated. 'Is that why they were arguing in her room last night?'

'How did you know that?'

Ronnie had her moments, Penrose thought, but he didn't explain. 'Was that the reason?'

'No. At least not entirely. Turnbull only found out yesterday that he'd had a child. Branwen Erley let it slip a he told me he'd picked her up on the Harlech road, said she'd had an accident on her bike and had to abandon it. She didn't know who he was,' he added, antic.i.p.ating the next question. 'She was just telling him the local gossip, oblivious to the damage she was doing. He was livid with Bella for keeping it from him.'

'And was he angry with you? You didn't tell him either.'