Bloody Valentine - James Patterson [20]
‘My children’s range,’ Anni explained.
‘You sell them?’ Ben was amazed.
‘To toy shops, children’s theatres, and to people who buy them for their children’s rooms.’
Ben tapped a witch. It echoed hollowly.
‘You damage it, you pay. They fetch over four thousand pounds – each,’ Michael warned.
‘Want to cut them open?’ Ben asked Amy.
‘What on earth for?’ Michael questioned angrily.
‘We haven’t found Zee’s body.’ Amy watched Michael and Anni as she spoke.
‘If you haven’t found her body, how do you know she’s dead?’ Michael demanded.
‘I’m not at—’
‘Liberty to divulge,’ Michael finished for her.
Amy turned to Anni. ‘There are joins down the side.’
‘They’re made in pieces and welded together with resin. Please don’t damage them. As Michael said, I’ve put two years’ work into this exhibition. The gallery owner picked out the pieces she wanted. I can’t let her down by delivering an incomplete list.’
Amy thought for a moment. ‘Can you see if we can get the dogs at short notice?’
‘Cadaver or blood?’ Ben asked.
‘Both. Meanwhile, you can take out the marble and bronze sculptures,’ she advised Michael and Anni, ‘but none of these papier mâché figures.’
‘I can’t wait for dogs. They have to be at the gallery tonight. I promised,’ Anni pleaded.
‘Then we cut them,’ Amy declared. ‘Your choice? What’s it to be?’
‘Will just one suit you?’ Michael picked up a Stanley knife and inserted a blade.
‘Michael …’ Anni began.
‘If you want to get these to the exhibition, Anni, you’re going to have to sacrifice one. Once these idiots see the weights inside them, they’ll let the rest through.’ He looked at Amy. ‘Pick one, but only one.’
Chapter Eighteen
Amy looked along the row. She chose a witch, simply because there were two similar sculptures.
Anni turned her face to the wall. ‘I can’t look.’
Michael sliced down the sides of the figure. He finished by lying it flat on its back and cutting round its head and feet before pulling the two halves apart. ‘Satisfied?’ he demanded of Amy.
Amy turned to the sergeant. ‘Compare the weight of every papier-mâche sculpture removed from this studio with that one. If any appear unusually heavy, leave it here.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
Amy and Ben returned to the incident room. Ben pulled up a couple of chairs and set them in front of Liam’s desk. Exhausted, Amy sat between the men.
‘This is the first sighting of Zee Barnes, ma’am.’ Liam slowed the tape.
Amy watched the door of the penthouse open. Zee emerged. A shadowy figure was in the doorway behind her. ‘Her cleaner?’
‘Sara Hilger,’ Ben noted the time in the corner of the screen. ‘Eleven oh-one a.m.’
The door closed. Zee walked to the lift and pressed the button. As Amy had feared, she found the images disturbing. She wanted to wind the clock back. To stand in front of Zee and demand that she return to her apartment – and safety.
‘Zee entering the lift, riding down one floor,’ Liam commented.
The image of Zee in the lift wasn’t as clear as the one in the hall. The film was grainy. Zee was wearing a light-coloured suit. Her blonde hair appeared paler than her clothes, her handbag and shoes darker.
‘Leaving the lift on the floor below her apartment,’ Liam continued.
‘Eleven oh-four.’ Ben noted.
‘Knocking on the door, moving to the stairs, reappearing outside the artists’ studio. Leaving flowers and cards. Disappearing back to the stairs. Reappearing on the floor below the artists’ studio.’
‘Leila and Mamie’s apartment,’ Ben commented.
‘Knocking on the door. Waiting for a reply. One minute,’ Liam observed.
‘That’s a long time; you’d think she’d realise no one was in.’
‘The apartments are vast,’ Amy reminded Ben. ‘You could fit ten of mine into one of them. If someone was on the balcony, it could take them a minute to answer the door.’ Amy watched Zee take cards and rosebuds from her oversized handbag. She laid them in front of the door before walking through the fire doors to the stairs and vanishing. ‘There are no cameras on the stairs?’ Amy checked.
‘Only the exits to the street and yard,’ Liam confirmed.
Zee was