|
SELL FILM SCRIPTS * BUY MOVIE SCRIPTS * FIND A FILM DISTRIBUTOR
Sell film scripts * buy movie scripts * find a film distributor * looking to get into the film industry as a scriptwriter * publish your work online
We are online literary agents who can publish your film script online, as a whole or in part, giving you the widest possible audience to find a director, film production company or distributor to buy your script. Find out how to earn money from writing.
Find more
book rights and film scripts.
This film needs a film distributor.
Start of book
Book Murder at the Regal Hotel continued:
On Sundays, especially after a late night on Saturday, Sian never worked. That didn't mean that I didn't. The name H.V. Smethhurst was still in my mind so I called Bill Butcher who works as a researcher for the South Wales Echo. He agreed to look in their morgue. That's what they call their library of cuttings of articles which have appeared in the Echo over the past twenty years. It's indexed so I guessed it wouldn't take him long if the name H. V. Smethhurst had been mentioned somewhere. It didn't. Within half an hour he called back.
"There is just one mention," he said, " About four years ago. It was just a small article because, as luck would have it, it coincided with the general election so it was pushed into a tiny slot in a middle page. H.V Smethhurst was found not guilty of receiving stolen goods. Two other men, Peter Allen Maybury and Sydney Ivor Williams, were convicted. They apparently stole an old stone statue from a convent if Yorkshire."
Bill paused. "Look, he said, "It was just as little item, but there should have been a much fuller report published. As I said, it got cut down because the space was needed that day. I've got a copy of the original article, the one that should have been printed. I'll fax it to your office."
It's good to have friends like that. Sometimes I'm able to give him items so he gets the credit for a good story.
I met Jane in the afternoon and we went to see Greg again. Jane took him some clean clothes and his shaver, so after half an hour he seemed a lot fresher, in appearance if not mentally.
We told him we needed to know a lot more about the case that Frenchie was so secretive about but he insisted he didn't know anything about it.
I kept at him, "How did arrange the meeting? How did he contact you?"
"He left a message on my answer-phone."
"Where, in the office or at home?"
"At home. In my flat"
"Was anyone with you when you listened to it?"
"No. Nobody."
"What did the message say? Exactly."
"To meet him at midnight."
"No. The exact words."
This was difficult for him, 'I don't think I can remember the exact words."
Jane started to get impatient with him. 'Of course you can, Greg. It was only two days ago. Try. You can always remember more than you think."
Greg frowned as he tried to concentrate.
I said, "Have you erased it? We could listen to it again."
"No. I always erase messages. As a safety precaution."
Jane was the one who was impatient with him now. "Well it didn't do you much good this time."
I tried to help him, "Try to remember how you heard the message. When did you go into the flat.?"
"Oh. I got home about a quarter to eleven. I'd been to the cinema."
"Good, and did you see the light flashing straight away?"
"Yes, more or less. I was taking my coat off, and I saw it then."
He needed a lot of prompting, "Yes . . ."
" I made some coffee before I listened to it. Then I lifted the receiver and pressed the button. I had one message. It was from Frenchie. That was the message." He stopped.
Jane was becoming exasperated, "What did he say?"
"I'm trying to remember."
"How do you know it was Frenchie?"
"Oh. He said . er . . 'Greg? This is Didier. Listen, I have to talk to you. . . . er . . meet me in the Regal Hotel. It's in Gabalfa. At twenty-four . er . .midnight' That was it. That's what he said. He started to say twenty-four and then said 'midnight'." He looked as pleased with this achievement of remembering something, as if he had solved a whole case.
"But he didn't say why?"
"No."
"Weren't you curious? Had he ever done that before?"
"No. But a couple of days before he had said to me he was going to Newport, on Friday and I shouldn't tell Y.Y. That's why I thought he was doing something secretly. Working on another case. If it had been the same case we were both working on, he would have told me."
"Newport? Did he say where in Newport, or why?"
"No."
He couldn't give us any more information, even though we kept it up for nearly an hour longer. When we left the Police Station it was clear that Greg would have to stay in at least another night, and then be brought before a magistrate in the morning, Monday. Jane was hopeful that he would be bailed but I thought that was most unlikely. It was after all a murder charge. I thought he'd be remanded into Cardiff Jail until his trial. I couldn't see Sherlock Holmes letting go of this one, and I told Jane so.
"He'll have to let him go when we find the real killer," she said, and I said nothing more. Her optimism was making me depressed. I'd have been much more cheerful if she'd been distressed and depressed. So to raise our spirits, I took her to Spice Avenue for an Indian meal. I introduced her to Lamb Saag, which she agreed was terrific.
Turn page
Sell film scripts * buy movie scripts * find a film distributor * looking to get into the film industry as a scriptwriter * publish your work online
|
