Page 6 of Veiled Justice
‘Indeed.’ He nodded,though he didn’t look the least bit distressed. In fact, his eyes were a little too bright. Ava was right: he wasexcitedabout this development.
‘Did you know the victim?’ I asked coolly.
‘No,’ he answered and didn’t elaborate even when I let the silence linger.
Finally I broke it myself. ‘Have you seen her before?’
He gave a shrug. ‘I couldn’t tell you because I haven’t seen the body. I’m told she’s an ogre and, to be honest, they all look alike to me.’ Another shrug. He didn’t care in the slightest that I might judge him a racist arsehole. In spades.
Wanker.
‘Items on her person indicate her name is Helga Jónson. Does the name ring a bell at all?’
‘No.’
Again with the one-word answers. ‘Was she a guest at the ball?’ I persevered.
Quintos barked a short laugh, ‘Heavens, no – she’s anogre.’ Perhaps realising that he was outing himself as a human-supremacist, he added quickly, ‘It wouldn’t work well with a masquerade ball, would it? With the horns poking out, I mean.’
Uh-huh. ‘Tell me a little about this event.’
Looking amused, he raised a perfectly waxed eyebrow. ‘What do you want to know? It istheevent of the year. Tickets are limited and attendance is through invitation only. A seat at a table is £5,000. The raffle alone has already raised a quarter of amillion pounds for charity.’ He puffed out his chest and gave me a supercilious smile.
‘Which charity?’
‘The NSPCC.’ He smiled. ‘We must all do our part to help the next generation.’ He winked.
The NSPCC was a children’s charity. Something in his tone led me to conclude that he didn’t give two shits about the children but rather the way that supporting it made him look. Still, I supposed that didn’t really matter. Regardless of his motivation, his money would be spent for the benefit of the kids.
‘How many guests are present?’
‘Two hundred were invited and paid. I don’t know the final number of attendees.’ He waved a hand airily. ‘People have last-minute things to attend to – as a businessman, I understand that. I’m not offended if someone doesn’t turn up.’
‘Would you refund the cost of their ticket?’
Quintos looked at me with disdain. ‘Good gracious, no. That would be taking money away from the children.’
He was laying it on thick and I wasn’t buying it in the slightest. ‘You have a guest list?’
‘My PA will have it. Lisa Smeltin.’ He stood. ‘If that will be all, I’d best go and see to my guests. This disruption is really unfortunate.’
‘Thisdisruptionis someone’s murder,’ I said in a hard voice. ‘And none of your guests may leave until I or my colleague have spoken to them all.’
His mouth tightened into a grim line; clearly, he wasn’t a man who was used to being told what to do. ‘Inspector … ?’ He trailed off, waiting for me to supply my name.
‘Inspector Wise.’
‘Inspector Wise, I appreciate that you are doing your job, darling, but there are a lot of important people in that room. We don’t have time to waste.’
That grated on me, so I smiled. When I spoke, however, there was nothing friendly about my tone. ‘That’sInspectorDarling. And as little time as you all have, you appear to have had more than enough time for a little dress-up party.’ I sent him a patronising wink like the one he’d shot me when he’d spoken about the NSPCC. ‘I’ll make sure to be brief. Thank you for your time, Mr Quintos.’
I walked out of the library likeIowned it.
Time was ticking. A man like Quintos wasn’t going to let us interrogate his guests; he’d pull strings then I’d get a call telling me to stand down. The murky politics were my least favourite aspect of the job.
I had to move as quickly as possible. I had more than two hundred people to speak to with only Channing to help. Luckily, I loved a challenge.
Chapter 4
