Cold Blood by Jane Heafield (great books to read txt) 📕

‘Well, this changes things. Now it looks like the director must have been meeting his people out in the fields. I’m sorry for snapping at you, but this was something I really could have done with knowing way before right now. Tell me the truth. You knew exactly what they were filming, didn’t you?’

She said nothing.

‘It’s okay to talk to me, Gemma. I think that film crew came in here on the sly. They didn’t waltz in with a fanfare because they knew exactly how they were going to be treated. They knew they were going to open old wounds. I think that’s why all four didn’t take rooms here. It’s why they recruited a former resident instead of a current one. They wanted to try to film their scenes without alerting anyone. Because they knew it wouldn’t go down well. But despite their caution, word got round. And word got as far as the Panorama, didn’t it?’

Her eyes widened, as if her deepest secrets were about to unearth. He gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Relax. It’s fine. A dark time for the village, and nobody wants that brought up again. I believe the director didn’t tell you why he was here, but you already knew, didn’t you?’

Now she seemed to relax. Bennet had seen the same look on stubborn criminals at the very moment when overwhelming evidence left no choice but submission.

‘I didn’t know what he was doing at first, not until…’ She wheeled to the batwing doors and had a look to make sure no one was around. Back she came. ‘I got a phone call from a friend. She told me about them, said they were coming to Lampton. I think they’d emailed a former resident, wanting help, and he had passed the word on to someone here. I think they’d been spotted already.’

‘Spotted by who? Doing what?’

‘I heard that some people had said they’d seen people acting suspiciously. Two people, at least, had been seen talking together outside the village, but when they came in they pretended not to know each other. They just weren’t acting like normal tourists. And one of them was on the green, where the police think Sally was taken from. Like they were doing secret filming. We were all warned to be on the lookout.’

‘And then the director came here for a room? Carrying only, as you said, a satchel.’

‘Well, by the time I heard all this, he’d already checked in. When he told me he was a director, I knew. We had been order– it was thought we shouldn’t let them into our places, and then they’d leave. But it was too late for me by then. I’d already given him a room.’

She’d tried to cover herself, but the mistake had been made and Bennet hadn’t missed it. And by her face, she knew it.

‘Relax once more. You were about to say you were ordered to…’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

Bennet took a chair so they’d be at eye level. ‘Gemma, relax and level with me. You won’t get in trouble. The town meetings are once a month, every Saturday evening. But earlier you hinted that the last meeting the Keys had was on Sunday. An impromptu one, it would seem, and not listed on the latest newsletter. Like an urgent COBRA meeting when there’s a nuclear attack, or the sort a council might have if a meteor destroys a city centre. Was this meeting the Lampton version of such a state of emergency? To decide to tell the film crew to leave?’

She couldn’t face him. ‘Yes. After word spread, a meeting was called. We get what you called impromptu meetings sometimes. My Proxy told me about the meeting. It was called in the afternoon. I didn’t attend because not everyone is required to for the short notice ones.’

‘Wait a minute. You didn’t attend? So you could have? This wasn’t a meeting for just the Keys? What they call a Key Addendum?’

‘No, those come after. Usually after village meetings, the Keys remain behind to have their own. No, this was a normal village meeting, where it was decided we should all band together and make sure we didn’t allow the crew to feel welcome here.’

‘There was a Key Addendum Sunday night. So that would have happened after the main meeting?’

‘Yes. They normally rule on things the rest of us aren’t supposed to hear. And we can’t access those on the website because they’re password protected. Sometimes, later, we can work out what they’ve decided based on changes in the village. But no, we don’t get told the result of these meetings. I do recall, though, that the Keys left when we did. So their meeting must have been called quite a bit later, probably in the evening.’

Bennet thought. The Key Addendum might have been about discussing the events in the Lion, or an overview of how their give-the-silent-treatment programme had worked. Or something else. Curious. ‘Okay, let me jump back a bit again. You said Proxies? I’ve heard that term, but remind me.’

‘Well, they’re important people. But they can’t be Keys. They haven’t been here long enough.’

‘Okay. Like mafia men not of Italian descent, who can’t become made men?’ This point seemed to go over Gemma’s head. ‘And what do Proxies do?’

‘They’re responsible for sections of the village. A bit each. And each Key controls a number of Proxies to do their work and pass their messages on.’

‘Okay. So you mean if a Key tells a Proxy he wants a giant pancake, that person goes out to their section of the village and tells everyone in that zone to bring all their flour and eggs? You’re saying the Keys decided to ostracise the film crew and their Proxies rushed round and told everyone to give this Lopers crew the cold shoulder? And you kicked the director out of your hotel?’

‘No, no, I wouldn’t ever kick someone out in the middle of the night, unless