Fatal Act (12 page)

D
irk had moved into Megan’s flat at the beginning of the year, when Megan’s flatmate had gone to live with her boyfriend.

‘The students tend to move around. Sometimes couples fall out or get together, and that can cause a bit of tension, but by and large everyone gets on and it all works out fine. It’s important for them not to get too stressed about their personal lives, because it’s a very demanding course.’

Geraldine grunted.

‘No one realised straight away that Dirk and Megan were actually living together, not just flat sharing,’ the girl added, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘She’s besotted with him – can you blame her? But the relationship surprised us all.’

‘Because – ?’

‘No one thought she was his type. But –’ she hesitated, ‘what I’m going to tell you now is absolutely in confidence.’

G
eraldine leaned further forward and nodded. What she heard came as no surprise. According to the receptionist, Dirk had continued seeing Anna, right up until her death.

‘In a relationship with her, you mean? Not just friends?’

‘Not just friends.’

‘But what about Megan, and Piers Trevelyan?’

‘What about them? Anna was living with Piers, but –’ She shrugged. ‘None of the students will tell you this to your face, but some of us thought Anna was playing a dangerous game. I mean, an actress messing a casting director around, and someone as powerful as Piers. She was asking for trouble.’

‘Did Megan or Piers find out?’

The girl shrugged.

‘Who knows? In any case, it’s all water under the bridge now.’

T
he situation might have given Piers a motive for wanting to kill Anna, if the gossip was true. It might have driven Dirk to kill Anna, if she had decided to stop seeing him. As she walked away, Geraldine wondered whether Dirk had really been in a funk about his rehearsal, or if he had wanted to speak to Megan before Geraldine had a chance to question her about Friday night. He would probably have no trouble persuading Megan to lie to protect him. No doubt she was convinced of his innocence. Maybe she didn’t even care. Infatuated women were hard to crack. But in covering for Dirk, she would also be providing herself with an alibi for Friday night. She was crazy about Dirk. He was still seeing Anna. Megan also had a powerful motive for wanting to be rid of Anna.

‘That’s two more possibilities, Dirk and Megan,’ she told Reg.

‘You’re forgetting one thing,’ Reg pointed out. ‘It was Piers’ van that killed her. If he found out Dirk was still seeing Anna, there’s motive, opportunity and means handed to us on a plate. Why are we looking any further?’

M
EGAN
SCURRIED
BACK
UPSTAIRS
without waiting for Dirk. He had told her to let the director know he was on his way, and she hurried to comply. It wasn’t her fault Dirk hadn’t returned straight away, but Wendel still growled at her until Dirk appeared.

‘Have you forgotten what you’re doing here?’ the director bellowed as soon as Dirk stepped into the room. ‘If you were out there in a real production in the real world,’ he gestured towards the window, ‘you’d be relegated to understudy by now. What the hell are you playing at? This is a rehearsal, not a fucking drop in session!’

‘Sorry, Wendel, I had to talk to that detective.’

‘I don’t care if she was the Queen herself, this is a rehearsal. If you’re not committed, then you can bugger off.’

The grey-haired director switched off his anger abruptly and the rehearsal resumed. Although they all knew his rage was only an act, there was a subdued sigh of relief around the room when he stopped yelling.

‘Y
ou coming for a drink, Dirk?’ another member of the cast asked when the rehearsal finally ended.

They were all relieved to have the evening off as Wendel was busy elsewhere.

‘How about some chips?’ someone suggested.

There was a general buzz of agreement in the group. Megan was hungry, but she had something more pressing on her mind. She grabbed Dirk’s arm before he could answer.

‘We might see you later,’ she said, answering for him as well. ‘Dirk and I are going over lines this evening.’

It was a convincing enough reason to forego socialising. Playing the lead, Dirk hadn’t mastered his lines yet and they were opening in a couple of weeks.

D
irk began to laugh off her interruption.

‘Later –’

She glared at him. Still clutching onto his arm, she dragged him towards the door.

‘Come on, we can get something to eat on the way.’

‘All right, I’m coming. Although I can’t see what’s so urgent.’

‘You need to go through your lines.’

She was determined to get him home before tackling the subject of his wandering eye. All the way back on the train she hid her feelings but as soon as they were back in their flat she turned on him.

‘W
ell?’ she demanded, scowling, her hands on her hips.

‘Well what?’

‘What’s going on?’

She stood with her arms folded, angry. For a second, Dirk was baffled. Realising what she was talking about, he wasn’t sure whether to be angry or amused.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake, what is wrong with you? The woman was a police officer, Meg. She’s investigating Anna’s murder.’

Megan looked sceptical.

‘What? Don’t you believe me?’

‘Of course I believe you,’ she snapped, ‘but why did she want to talk to you?’

‘Look, you can go to the police station and ask her all about it, if you’re so interested. I’ve had enough for one day. Are you going to fix something to eat or shall I go out? I’m starving.’

M
egan wasn’t sure if she was being unreasonable, but she couldn’t back down now.

‘So what did she want with you, then?’

Impatiently, Dirk explained that the detective was investigating the car crash where Anna had been killed.

‘What do you mean, they’re investigating it? I thought it was an accident. And what’s it got to do with you?’

She glared at him suspiciously, while Dirk told her that the police wanted to trace the driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash.

‘If you don’t believe me, go to the police station and ask them yourself. For Christ’s sake, Megan, what the hell’s the matter with you? Do you really think I was having it off with Anna right under Piers’ nose? I’m sick of your crazy suspicions. If I wanted to be with someone else, why the hell would I be here now?’

M
egan wondered fleetingly if she was being insensitive. One of his ex-girlfriends had just been killed in a car crash. Instead of comforting him, she was pestering him with questions.

‘I’m the one who should be upset,’ he went on, with growing anger, ‘not you. I’ve just lost a good friend, a friend who was going to help me get started. It could have been my lucky break. Chances like that don’t come along every day. Without Anna to influence Piers, I’m back to square one, scrabbling around with everyone else, trying to get noticed. But you clearly don’t give a stuff about my prospects. All you care about is yourself. It says a lot for our relationship. Maybe it’s time we called it a day and moved on.’

M
egan stared at him, aghast. Ending their relationship was the last thing she wanted. She burst into tears and he stopped his tirade against her.

‘Don’t cry,’ he said quietly. ‘Let’s not argue. You must know how I feel about you.’

She wished she could trust him, but it was hard to believe he was really interested in her. Although she wasn’t bad looking, of all the girls in her year at college she was easily the least attractive, constantly struggling with her weight, while Dirk was one of the best looking guys she had ever met. Like most of the girls in her year, she had developed a crush on him right from the first week of classes. No one had been surprised when he and Anna had started seeing one another. They had made a really good-looking couple.

A
fter he and Anna split he had been out with a few of the other girls before moving in with Megan when her flat share had fallen through. They weren’t officially a couple yet, but they were kind of together and she was biding her time. Once they graduated, she was determined to stay with him, whatever it took.

‘I’m sorry,’ she hiccupped. ‘I’ve been a complete bitch. It’s just that you always seemed to be so close to Anna. I know it’s stupid to be jealous, but now –’

‘Look, she’s dead, so you can stop worrying. It was over between us a long time ago.’

D
irk bent down and kissed her, and she felt her legs go weak. After they made up, she was chuffed when he suggested they go out for a pizza and a bottle of wine that evening, just the two of them.

‘What about your lines? Are you sure you don’t want to run through them again?’

He still hadn’t learned the whole part.

‘They’ll keep. Tonight I want to take my girl out.’

‘I’ll just change my top.’

‘There’s no need, you look great.’

Gazing into his beautiful blue eyes, she felt her face go red at the compliment.

L
ater, when they were lying in bed, chatting quietly, he raised himself up on one elbow and reached across to stroke her hair gently with his other hand. The tenderness of his gesture made her want to cry. She was disappointed when he began talking about Anna’s accident.

‘You know I told you the police are looking for the other driver?’

‘What about it?’

He hesitated, still stroking her hair.

‘The thing is –’

‘Yes? What is the thing?’ she asked, smiling.

‘You know we used to be together for a while, me and her.’

H
e hesitated and she had the impression he was trying not to upset her again.

‘What about it?’ she prompted him gently. ‘You can tell me.’

‘The police are looking for someone who was involved in the accident that killed her.’

‘Yes.’

‘I think they suspect someone caused the accident deliberately.’

She turned her head and looked at the little hairs inside his nostrils, his soft lips and the stubbly hair roots on his firm chin.

‘Murder, you mean?’

‘I guess so.’

‘Oh my God! Don’t tell me they think you had anything to do with it.’

H
e sighed.

‘Well, I am her ex, which could make me a suspect.’

‘That’s ridiculous.’

She sat up, indignant.

‘Of course it’s ridiculous. It’s insane. But the inspector asked me straight out what I was doing on Friday night, when the accident happened. I’m scared, Meg.’

He reached out and took her hand in his. Her brow creased in a frown. She had gone away on Friday evening, visiting her parents for the weekend.

‘Didn’t you go out with the others on Friday?’

‘We went for a drink and the others went up to Leicester Square but I was knackered, and –’ he paused to kiss her, ‘it wasn’t the same without you.’

S
he felt a happy glow.

‘I came back after one pint and was here about ten. When the inspector asked me where I was between two and three on Friday night, I said I was here –’

‘Which you were.’

‘With you.’

‘What? Why did you say that?’

He took a deep breath and explained that he thought it best to have an alibi for the time of the accident. Of course he had nothing to hide, but once the police got hold of him they might question him endlessly.

‘If it interrupts the rehearsal schedule, Wendel’s going to fire me. He came that close today, I could feel it.’

Megan nodded. Wendel wasn’t impressed that Dirk didn’t know his lines yet.

‘T
hey can prove you weren’t in the other car. They won’t find your finger prints, or DNA, or anything. They can’t arrest you without any proof.’

‘That’s true in theory, but do you trust the police? They’re going to be desperate to get a conviction. And even if you’re right, and they play it by the book, it would waste time, and interrupt rehearsals. This is the best part I’ve had. I can’t afford to lose it.’

‘But why did you say you were with me?’

‘I don’t know. I panicked. I couldn’t think what else to say. I couldn’t risk being thrown out of the play. You understand that, don’t you?’

M
egan considered.

‘I thought I could rely on you of all people to understand how important this role is to me. It’s a chance to showcase what I can do. And now I’ve lost my contact with Piers, I’ve got to think of my career. That has to come first.’

‘If they find out you were lying –’

‘But they won’t,’ he interrupted, ‘not if you say you were here with me all Friday night.’

‘You want me to lie to the police?’

‘It’s not exactly a lie,’ he said. ‘It’s like you were here because I was here, thinking about you.’

She couldn’t help smiling.

H
e leaned over and kissed her.

‘I can’t imagine they’re ever going to check it out with you, but if they do it’s simple. All you have to do is say we were here together on Friday night. They’re never going to know any different, and it will save me being hassled by the police for telling them a lie. I might get in trouble, and for sure I’d lose my part.’

‘Why did you do it?’

‘I knew you’d be there for me,’ he said simply. ‘You won’t let me down. I know I was stupid, it’s easy enough to see with hindsight that I was daft to lie, but it’s done now and I can’t take it back. You won’t let me down, will you? I need you, Megan.’

‘You can rely on me,’ she said, and he put his arms round her and kissed her again.

P
IERS
WAS
IN
A
foul mood. He lay on his back trying to work out how everything could have gone so badly wrong. His life was spiralling out of control at breakneck speed. He felt dizzy just thinking about it. Only five days ago, everything had been going so well with Anna. He knew that couldn’t last, but he hadn’t expected his life to degenerate into bedlam overnight. He hadn’t had time to even begin to cope with the horror of her death before the police began sniffing around. Now the papers had scented a story. Not content with raking over Anna’s life, they had started spewing out whatever scandal they could dredge up from his past. Stretching out his arm, he knocked a glass of whisky off his bedside table. He watched the damp patch spread on the carpet, inhaling its sharp smell, before reaching for the bottle. He raised it to his lips. The door bell rang and he ignored it, but it rang again and again. The caller was certainly persistent. If it was that bloody police officer again, he was going to tell her exactly what he thought of being hounded like this in his own home.