Darkness Falls (Kate Marshall, #3)(50)

“The whole Joanna Duncan case has troubled me over the years,” said Ashley, leaning back in his chair.

“How long were you her editor?” asked Kate.

“It was around a year and a half.”

“You quit as editor two weeks after Joanna went missing. Why?”

“There was a conflict of interests,” said Juliet, fanning herself with one hand and pouring milk into her espresso with the other. Kate noticed a large pear-shaped diamond ring on her finger. “My company was under fire from the press about the government contracts we’d signed . . .”

“Yes. In 2001, Frontiers People signed contracts with the UK government worth a hundred and twenty-five million pounds,” said Tristan, paging back through his notes. “And you took a large dividend shortly after the government paid you. Nine million pounds of public money.”

There was an icy silence.

“I started the business in 1989, building it up from nothing. I reinvested millions back into the company in the nineties. I took that dividend of nine million pounds, which I was well within my rights to do after years of barely drawing a salary from the company. The newspapers got hold of this, twisting the story that I was taking taxpayers’ money out of the company. It didn’t help that I used the money to buy this place from the Thornbridge family, who’d owned it for centuries,” she said, indicating the house behind them. “The Daily Mail had a field day. A journalist from the West Country News wrote a piece on it all. Ashley refused to run the story. He was called up before the board and stood by his decision, and he resigned.”

“So when you left the West Country News, it was nothing to do with the disappearance of Joanna Duncan, or any story she was working on?” asked Kate.

“No. It was my refusal to make myself the news,” he said, and for the first time, the smile left his face briefly.

“It was imperfect, perfect timing. We needed a full-time public relations person,” said Juliet.

“In hindsight, it was the best choice I ever made,” said Ashley. “In 2002, the internet was really kicking off, so we were able to do so much of our business online. Look at this place. It’s paradise!” His face broke into a wide grin, and he laughed, but it seemed a little forced. Juliet smiled thinly and put a hand on his leg.

“Of course, the whole business with Joanna was terrible, wasn’t it, Ash?” she said.

“Yes. Yes, of course,” he said, his face now earnest.

“Was Joanna working on any controversial stories at the time of her disappearance?” asked Kate.

“What do you mean by controversial?” asked Juliet.

“Joanna worked on the Noah Huntley corruption story, which resulted in him losing his seat in Parliament.”

“Yes. That was a real scoop,” said Ashley, nodding and taking a sip of his iced tea.

“We understand that there were other aspects to this story which you asked her to drop before publication,” said Kate, carefully watching Ashley for his reaction. He nodded and swallowed the last of his iced tea.

“Yes. She, er, found out that Noah Huntley was having sex with young men . . . whilst married.”

“Was he paying them?” asked Tristan.

“He had paid an escort, yes. He had also had sex with men at bars and clubs.”

“Why did you ask Joanna to drop that part of the story?” asked Kate. Ashley sat back and rubbed at his face.

“Joanna had persuaded one of the young men to go on record. Then the young man involved withdrew his statement, and without him, we couldn’t verify that part of the story,” said Ashley.

“How many young men did Joanna interview?”

Ashley wiped at his face. He was starting to sweat in the heat.

“It was a long time ago, but I believe it was a few young men, but only one of them had actual proof we could use. Huntley was brazen. He’d paid this lad, the escort, with a check! If you can believe it.”

“Can you remember the name of the young guy?” asked Kate.

Ashley gave a long pause. There was just the faint wafting sound of Juliet and her fan. Kate could feel the light breeze from it on her damp face.

“Yes. Gabe Kemp.”

Kate couldn’t disguise her reaction; nor could Tristan.

“Were there any other names you remember?”

“No. As I say, Gabe Kemp was the only rent boy we had concrete proof from that Noah Huntley paid him for sex.”

Juliet looked between them. “Why would Ashley remember the names of rent boys after all these years?”

“When did Huntley pay Gabe Kemp for sex?” asked Kate, ignoring Juliet.

“I really can’t remember the exact details,” said Ashley.

“Did you know that Gabe Kemp went missing in April 2002, a month after Joanna’s exposé of Noah Huntley was printed?” said Kate.

“No. I wasn’t aware of that,” said Ashley.

“Gabe Kemp also served time in a youth detention center. When he was sixteen, he raped a fourteen-year-old girl.”

“That’s awful. But I wasn’t aware of that either,” said Ashley.

“Did you authorize Joanna to pay him for his story, or offer him money for his story?” asked Tristan.

“The West Country News is a local newspaper—it’s not like the tabloids, and we didn’t have vast amounts of money to buy stories, but Joanna would have been authorized to pay him two hundred pounds for any expenses, and he would have been paid if the story was picked up by the national newspapers,” said Ashley. “But Gabe Kemp withdrew his statement, so we never printed the details of Noah Huntley using rent boys. Anyway, the exposé story was stronger without it.”