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you?”
    â€œYes,” Daniel said, wondering what he was implying.
    â€œI only met her once. What was she like?”
    â€œShe was unique, to say the least. I’ve never met anyone else like her.”
    â€œYeah. They broke that mold, didn’t they? I don’t mean to malign the girl’s character, but she was a bit of a one-off, if you know what I mean. I couldn’t believe it when Hugh told me he was marrying her.”
    â€œWhen was the last time you spoke to Hugh?” Daniel asked, trying to change the subject.
    â€œHe called me a few days before the wedding. He seemed fine.”
    They sat in silence for a minute, pulling on their pints. Outside, the rain began to slam against the window and a bolt of lightning reflected on the bottles behind the bar. Daniel might have thought it an omen if the worst hadn’t already happened.
    â€œBefore that,” he pursued, feeling rattled. “When had you last spoken to him?”
    â€œI was here in February, although we email occasionally. I’ve been in LA doing a vampire film. They’re fucking obsessed with vampires there. You can hardly get away from it. Anyway, I asked him if he wanted to try his luck there.”
    â€œIs your film going to be released this year?”
    â€œIn a few months, if all goes well.”
    Daniel understood what he meant. He’d already been involved with a few producers who were struggling to make ends meet and having difficulty getting the product into the public domain. It was a tricky business. He’d been lucky, considering the relatively short time he’d been acting, but there were plenty of others he’d known who couldn’t get anything going at all. Even Tamsyn had been given her breakout role due to Hugh’s clout and power of persuasion.
    â€œAnd when did you meet Tamsyn?” he asked, though he had an idea.
    â€œAt one of your parties, I should think.” Hayley smirked. “I remember thinking, Who the hell is that, hanging all over Richardson? She hadn’t targeted Hugh yet.”
    â€œBy then, they were already together. We were just friends.”
    â€œI don’t think the poor bastard knew what hit him. I mean, could she possibly have been less suitable for a man of his class? Now, you or I, that might have been understandable. But Hugh? He doesn’t usually mix with the less desirable elements of society.”
    Daniel ignored the multiple insults and concentrated on finishing his pint. He wanted to sit there and drink until the back of his neck went numb, then lay his head upon a table and sleep for hours. If only he could wake up the next day to find it Saturday morning all over again. Had Tamsyn truly been killed by one of the twenty-seven people the police had interviewed that day? Someone who had been brazen enough to risk being caught in front of family and friends? Did Marc Hayley have some obscure motive of his own? Had he been jealous of Hugh?
    â€œI keep thinking we were probably in the same room as the murderer this evening,” Hayley said suddenly.
    â€œIt hardly seems possible,” Daniel replied. “It must have been someone who escaped out a window or something.”
    â€œNo. She was stabbed in the chest. That’s face to face, a crime of passion. Imagine being killed by someone you invited to your wedding.”
    Hayley got up and ordered another round, bringing the drinks and setting them on the table with a slosh. He was already a little drunk. “Who was the last person to see her alive? I heard someone say it was you.”
    Daniel put down his pint. “That statement precludes the existence of someone else as the murderer, does it not?”
    â€œI’m not suggesting—”
    â€œI don’t know what the hell you’re suggesting, but I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
    â€œWe’re a bit testy, aren’t we?”
    Daniel tried to calm down. It was pointless