PI Kate Brannigan Series Books 1-3: Dead Beat, Kick Back, Crack Down. Val McDermid

with the furnishings it hurt my head to look at her. ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘Where’s Jett?’

      ‘The rehearsal room. Straight down the hall, down the passage at the back and first right.’ Before she’d even finished talking, she’d returned to her magazine, her foot tapping in time to the music.

      I emerged in the hall to find a furious Gloria standing guard outside the door. ‘How dare you!’ she exploded.

      I ignored her and set off to follow Tamar’s directions. Gloria chased after me, plucking ineffectually at my jacket sleeve. When I got to the door of the rehearsal room, I shook off her arm and said, ‘Now you’ll see whether or not I’ve got an appointment.’

Chapter 5

      I opened the door and walked in to hear a man shouting, ‘How many times do I have to tell you? You just don’t need anyone else to …’

      At the sound of the door, he whirled round and fell silent. There were two other men in the room. Neil Webster was sitting in a canvas director’s chair with an air of fascinated satisfaction. Jett was leaning against a white grand piano with a sulky expression on his face. The third man, the shouter, I recognized at once. I’d seen him talking to Jett at the dinner where we’d met. Richard had told me he was Kevin Kleinman, Jett’s manager.

      Before any of us could say anything, Gloria erupted into the room and shoved past me. I couldn’t believe the transformation in her. She’d altered from the dragon at the gates to a sweet little kitten. ‘I’m so sorry, Jett,’ she purred. ‘But this woman just forced her way in. I tried to stop her, but she just pushed past me.’

      Jett shrugged away from the piano with an exasperated sigh. ‘Gloria, I told you I was expecting Kate. Christ, how could you have forgotten?’

      The effect of Jett’s words on Gloria was out of all proportion to their sting. She blushed scarlet and almost seemed to cringe out of the room, muttering apologies. To Jett, not to me. Her exit did nothing to diminish the air of awkwardness in the room. With an almost palpable effort, Jett turned the full force of his charm on me and smiled. ‘Kate,’ he said. ‘I’m really glad you could make it.’

      My reply was drowned by Neil, who called across, ‘You’re really going to be doing all of us a big favour, Kate. I can’t tell you how pleased I am for Jett that you’re going to sort this business out.’

      I caught Kevin’s scowl at Neil before he too turned to me and gave a forced smile. ‘Kate hasn’t made any decision yet, if I understand it correctly,’ he said. ‘Maybe we should wait and see what she decides before we start dishing out the congratulations.’

      I hadn’t been too impressed by Kevin when I’d first seen him, and the second meeting wasn’t improving my opinion. His average height and build were diminished by his lousy posture and rounded shoulders, and when he walked his feet seemed to slide over the floor. His thin brown hair was receding fast, emphasizing the sharpness of his features. Richard had told me he’d had a nose job, but looking at the finished product I found that hard to believe. Judging by his outfit – a soft brown leather blouson over a toffee-coloured cashmere crew neck and a pair of Levi 501s, he was doing his damnedest to ignore the fast approaching fortieth birthday. Aware of my scrutiny, he moved over to me and extended his hand. ‘You must be the lovely Kate. I’ve heard so much about you from Richard. I’m Kevin, I take care of business for Jett.’

      ‘Pleased to meet you,’ I lied.

      ‘I want to make it perfectly clear that whether or not you take on this job for Jett, it’s vital that you do not mention outside this room what we discuss today. In the wrong hands, that information could do Jett a great deal of damage,’ Kevin smarmed, holding on to my hand for fractionally too long. I had to fight the impulse to wipe it on my trouser leg.

      ‘I’ve already told Jett that our confidentiality is guaranteed. We wouldn’t have so many corporate clients if we had loose mouths.’ My reply came out sharper than I intended and I noticed Neil smiling wryly.

      ‘Fine, fine, I just wanted to be sure we understood each other,’ Kevin oozed.

      I deliberately walked away from him and crossed the room to Jett. ‘Do you want to tell me why you’ve asked me here?’

      He nodded and, taking my arm, he steered me across the room to a group of chairs round a low table. I took the chance to look around the large room. It was the size of a tennis court and was obviously a recent addition to the beautiful eighteenth-century mansion Jett had bought five years before. In one corner was a built-in bar, the only thing in the place that looked tacky. The long windows that looked out over the house’s adjoining parkland had heavy shutters that could be drawn across to improve the room’s acoustics. As well as the piano, there were banks of synthesizers, a few guitars, both acoustic and electric, a drum kit and an array of other percussion instruments. It was an impressive sight and I said so.

      Jett smiled. ‘It’s not bad, is it? I’ve turned part of the cellars into a recording studio. I mean, for a man who can’t tell Château Margaux from Country Manor, it was a hell of a lot of wasted space.’

      Kevin walked across to join us. Jett ignored him and leaned on the bar, staring intently into my eyes. ‘I want you to find someone for me. I knew as soon as we met that I could trust you, Kate. I had the feeling that we’d met before. In a previous life.’

      My heart sank. I really wasn’t in the mood for some rehashed New Age philosophy. The last thing I needed right now was a loop for a client.

      ‘It’s the flux. When I really needed someone to do this job for me, our paths crossed. I realize this isn’t the kind of thing you usually take on, but you have to do this one.’ Jett patted my hand.

      ‘So tell me about it,’ I stalled, sipping my drink.

      ‘When I started out, I had a partner. I suppose you know about that, huh? Moira was my soul mate, the one person I was meant to be with. We wrote all the songs on the first two albums together, we were magic. But we blew it. I didn’t look after her needs, and she couldn’t take the pressures without my support. So she went. I was too full of my success to realize what a fool I was to let her go. And she left enough of her energy with me for me to keep going a long time without noticing how much I’d needed her.’ His eyes were shining with tears, but Jett showed no embarrassment at baring his soul in front of so motley a crew.

      ‘I don’t need to tell you that I’ve run out of that energy. My last two albums have been shit.’ He looked up defiantly at Kevin, who shrugged. ‘You know it’s true. I just can’t cut it any more. It’s not just my music. It’s my whole life. That’s why I need you to find Moira for me.’

      I congratulated myself silently on having guessed correctly. ‘I don’t know, Jett,’ I hedged. ‘Missing persons takes a lot of time. And if Moira doesn’t want to be found, no amount of work will bring her back to you.’

      Kevin, who had been bursting to interrupt, could contain himself no longer. ‘That’s exactly what I said, Jett,’ he said triumphantly. ‘I told you it would be nothing but grief. You don’t know that she’d want to see you. You sure as hell don’t know if she can still write lyrics the way she used to. Kate’s right. It’s a waste of time.’

      ‘Don’t tell me that shit,’ Jett roared. I nearly fell off my stool with the shock of the sound wave. ‘You’re all the goddamn same,’ he carried on shouting. ‘You’re all shit-scared of what will happen if she comes back. Neil’s the only one of you who agrees with me. But just for once, Kevin, I’m going to have what I want. And Kate’s going to get it for me.’

      The silence after his outburst was more deafening than the noise. I shook my head to clear it. I had to admit that Kevin’s opposition had aroused the contrary side of me. I almost wanted to take it on just to spite him. I took a deep breath and said, ‘I’d need a lot more information before I could decide if this is a case we can take