The Hero's Fall (DCI Cook Thriller Series Book 14) by Phillip Strang (best classic romance novels txt) 📗

of you going hell for leather? Those videos last forever, and you’ll be the butt of jokes, not to mention ridicule. Whatever you do, don’t sleep with him again.’

‘I’ve no intention.’

‘Does he know?’

‘I told him he was a piece of slime.’

‘Which he thought hilarious, believing that you’d be back.’

‘He did. What’s the deal?’

‘We mutually agree to release McAlister’s information at times that suit us.’

‘Which is never.’

‘Is it? Think about it. I can’t be connected to his death, although Breslaw might have known about Simmons and his stunt.’

‘You’d damn him?’

‘Breslaw’s bourgeois, to use your cute term. He can go back to his garden and his vegetables or whatever else he does in his spare time. He’ll not be that concerned, not if I make a deal with him to take the blame for allowing the climb.’

‘Did you agree to the climb?’

‘My conscience is clear.’

‘That’s not an answer.’

‘Hear me out,’ Jaden said. ‘Those photos you published of Simmons and Hampton, not very good, but good enough for the public. Whatever’s next could be more damning.’

‘It will not reflect badly on the station.’

‘Very well, but what I need is a copy of all that McAlister has.’

‘He wants two hundred thousand pounds.’

‘It’s not worth that,’ Jaden said. ‘He’ll not get it.’

‘He’ll trade.’

‘A discount if you put out?’

‘That’s what he has in mind.’

‘Would you?’

‘Not with him, no.’

‘Your editor? Have you put a proposal to him?’

‘I have. He’ll pay for a recording of Simmons and Hampton’s conversation, but he won’t pay the full amount.’

‘I’ll pay.’

‘Why? What possible use could it be to you?’

‘We, and I mean the two of us, will go through what we’ve got, decide on when to release it, making sure you get the credit from the newspaper, and I get to release it soon after on the television. That way, both of us get what we want.’

‘If it’s damning to the station or one of your people?’

‘As I said, we agree on what we say, on how we report it.’

‘Concealing the truth? Ashley said. ‘I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this.’

‘Not concealing, choosing the time of release. Do you agree?’

‘I’ll consider it,’ Ashley said. ‘You were willing to have Tom Taylor seduce me. Why?’

‘I needed you on my side.’

‘You hadn’t thought this through.’

‘Not in total. No plan is set in concrete, and certainly not this one. All I know is that we both need McAlister to hand over the goods.’

‘And Tom Taylor?’

‘McAlister’s not the first one you’ve slept with for a story.’

‘Maybe we’re both a couple of old whores,’ Ashley said.

Jaden laughed, then caught the eye of the waiter. ‘Your best champagne,’ he said.

***

McAlister brooded on why Ashley wasn’t returning his phone calls. Justin Skinner consoled himself with Rachel in North Wales. Kate Hampton attempted to stay in the same house as her husband.

Homicide met at Challis Street Police Station, unaware of the scheme being hatched by Jaden and Ashley Otway, only knowing that the motive for a man’s death was as unclear as on the day Simmons had died.

A jealous lover didn’t seem likely, given Simmons’s ambivalence on matters of the heart, and Tricia Warburton’s complicity in the death seemed a long shot. After all, she was a capable woman, smart enough to find another job if Simmons had taken over the programme’s hosting.

‘McAlister’s feeding Ashley Otway the proof,’ Isaac said. He was tired; it had been a long day, and he had only slept three hours the night before, as the young Cook had a nasty cough, the mother fretting, the father providing moral support.

‘He’s out for what he can get,’ Larry said.

‘Fringe benefits,’ Wendy said. ‘You do know she’s sleeping with the man?’

‘We do,’ Isaac said. ‘She tried it on with me that time when I met her.’

‘Run a mile, DCI?’ Wendy asked, a broad smile across her face.

‘Two,’ Isaac’s reply. He tried to maintain a straight face, but in the end, he had to smile as well.

‘A man-eater?’ Bridget asked.

‘Not from what we know. Ashley Otway’s ambitious, a good investigative reporter, demoted after she had exposed a senior politician for corruption.’

‘The man’s been given a more senior position since then,’ Larry said. ‘One law for the rich and influential, another for the rest of us.’

Wendy didn’t comment. Her politics were well known, and she didn’t expect anything better from those in power.

‘He’s not important at this juncture. Who took that shot is,’ Isaac said. ‘Any luck on the rifle?’

‘It’s in the report,’ Bridget said.

‘Humour me.’

‘A person of medium height, a universal rifle mount you can buy at any reputable gun store. Forensics and the crime scene team can’t be more specific than that.’

‘Trajectory, wind deflection? How about impact velocity?’

‘Lucky the first time. Even if the person had taken a couple of trial shots to check the rifle’s scope, there was still the wind, and in between the two buildings, it’s funnelled into a narrow canyon.’

‘And the person had time to pack up their belongings, not taking the mount, believing it was unimportant.’

‘A professional would have left it, possibly the rifle, certain that it couldn’t be traced back to him.’

‘We know that Charles Simmons is a good shot, and Skinner is. Who else?’

‘Gwyneth Simmons. Angus used to go hunting, but he was more traditionalist, setting traps and tickling trout.’

‘Discount the mother, and besides, it’s a long way down from Scotland to shoot your son, and we’ve found no evidence that she made the trip.’

‘Mike Hampton, but he wouldn’t have been able to make the climb,’ Larry said.

‘Unless he’s fooling us all. People do recover from back injuries. Bridget, you were looking into his medical records. Anything of interest?’

‘After the accident, Hampton