Chapters (64)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- Five Years Later
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- Fifty-four
- Fifty-five
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- Canelo Crime
- About the Author
- Also by Sheila Bugler
‘I thought I did,’ Clodagh said, ‘but he hasn’t been picking up my calls or replying to any of the messages I’ve left him. I wish I knew where he was. I’m worried about him.’
‘Simon thinks he might have killed Nick.’
‘Ivan?’ Clodagh stared at Bella. ‘Jesus, you’re serious, aren’t you?’
‘I know he’s your friend,’ Bella said. ‘But the fact is, somebody at that hotel killed Nick. Simon and I have been trying to work out who might have had a motive. And no one had more of a motive than Ivan.’
‘Because of what happened with the restaurant?’ Clodagh said. ‘That was ages ago.’
‘Two months. Hardly ages. Ivan told me about it on Saturday night. So he was definitely still angry about it.’
‘What did he say?’
‘That Nick had promised him a job in his new restaurant,’ Bella said. ‘The one he opened in Brighton last September. According to Ivan, Nick got him to do loads of work helping to get the restaurant opened, all on the promise that Ivan would get the head chef’s job. Except at the last minute, Nick changed his mind and said there’d never been any job offer.’
‘That’s right,’ Clodagh said. ‘It was a really shitty thing to do.’
She could feel the burn of anger as she recalled the dejected look on Ivan’s face when he’d finally got through to Nick on the phone. She’d encouraged Ivan to make the call. Sitting close enough so she could hear Nick’s voice down the line, telling Ivan he was grateful for all his help but he had never promised Ivan a job, because the last time he’d checked, Ivan had never worked in a Michelin starred kitchen before, and surely Ivan knew that Nick only ever hired chefs with that sort of experience? And then Nick had laughed, long and hard, as if the very idea of hiring Ivan was a joke.
And Ivan – brave, funny, clever Ivan who’d already been through so much – had laughed right back and said, sure Nick, no problem, but maybe you keep me in your mind if there is any other work I can do?
And Nick, the bastard, had said, I wouldn’t hold your hopes up, Ivan.
‘Nick made out it was all a big misunderstanding,’ Clodagh said. ‘But that’s not what happened.’
‘You sure about that?’
‘Positive.’