Page 6 of Beyond the Darkness (Basic Instincts #3)

Julian

At first there was silence, followed by gasps of shock all around the room. Murmuring and questions then statements of disbelief. Hudson dropped onto the nearest chair, gripping the armrests for additional support. It took a full minute for what Rav had said to sink in.

“He was found dead in a back alley,” he said numbly, staring between the producer and the two police officers. “Found dead? Do you mean he was killed? Murdered?”

“All lines of enquiry are open at the moment,” one of the cops, a young blond guy with a receding hairline, said.

“If he was found in an alley, then it’s unlikely he dropped down dead of natural causes,” Hudson said.

“We need to speak to everyone here,” the second officer said. “CID will be along soon, but we need to get started with your initial statements.”

“We’re in the middle of rehearsals.” Andie had the good grace to look appalled at her own words as soon as they were out of her mouth. “Sorry. Of course. Yes.”

A long, low moaning sound started behind him, quickly turning into a heartfelt wail.

It was Manuella. She sat with her hands raised beside her head, her mouth wide as her anguish poured out.

Andie and a couple of the team rushed to her, but she seemed utterly inconsolable.

Tears ran down her face and dripped off her chin.

Hudson hadn’t realised how close she’d got to Julian.

Maybe things had been more serious between them than Julian had let on.

Steven held his phone in a two-handed grip and tapped at the screen with both thumbs.

Rav stood open-mouthed, gawping at the police officers without a sound coming out. Hudson realised he would have to take charge.

“Has anyone told his family yet?” he asked.

“We were hoping you could provide us with their contact information,” the blond cop said.

“Absolutely.” He gestured for Ruth. “You know how to get into the personal files on Andie’s laptop. Pull up Julian’s details right away.”

She nodded, seemingly grateful to have something to do.

“Who knew Mr King the best?” the second cop asked.

“I did, I guess. And Manuella.”

The leading lady was in no condition to give a statement at that moment, so while one cop found out what they needed to know from Ruth, he sat down with the blond officer, PC Jenkinson. Hudson told him everything he knew about Julian.

“We only met a couple of weeks ago, but we hit it off straight away. He’s also understudying my part, so we’ve been helping each other with the lines.

Fuck.” It hit him in that moment that Julian was dead, and he wouldn’t do any of that again.

No opening night celebrations. No anxious wait for the first reviews.

For Julian, there was nothing. “Are you sure it’s him? Could there be a mistake?”

“How likely is it he wouldn’t show up for work?”

“Not at all.”

“There you go then. We haven’t made a positive ID yet, but we’re ninety-nine per cent certain. When did you see him last?”

“Last night, when we finished here. We often go for food afterward. It was nothing special. Just a quick bite at the restaurant downstairs. We left before seven.”

“Did he know anyone else in the city? Someone he could have met with?”

“He had a bit of a thing going with Manuella. They sometimes saw each other on an evening, but I can’t say about last night. He didn’t mention it.”

“Did he ever talk about anyone else? Besides those connected with the play?”

Hudson shrugged. “He never mentioned meeting anyone, so I doubt it. I think the whole cast and creative team are from out of town. None of us are local to the city.”

“Did he ever mention having trouble with anyone? Any issues he was worried about?”

“Julian? Absolutely not. He’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever worked with. I don’t think you’ll find a single person here with a bad word to say about him.”

He wondered if he should mention his own hate mail, then decided against it.

It was his problem and had nothing to do with Julian.

Besides, none of it was particularly threatening.

It was just creepy shit from some anonymous rando.

They were rarely the kind of person to put themselves in the way of any kind of confrontation.

“You can’t seriously think it was someone in this room. Can you tell me anything about what happened?” Hudson asked. “Was it a mugging, mistaken identity? Wrong place, wrong time?”

“I’m not at liberty to say at the moment, sir. But as soon as my CID colleagues arrive, I’m sure they’ll have further information for you.”

They did not have to wait for the investigation team to arrive to find out more. Luke was already one step ahead. When the police moved on to interview other members of the cast, Luke approached Hudson, Rav and Andie. He had his phone in his hand.

“It’s not my department, but I have friends at the paper who are already on the case. Nothing official yet, but they’ve managed to talk to people who were on the scene first. A delivery driver found a body in an alley on the other side of the river around six a.m.”

“Shit,” Hudson said.

“The guy got a mighty fright. From what I hear, it was no accident. The body was in quite a state when he was discovered.”

“What does that mean?” Andie asked.

Luke lowered his voice further. “They’re saying there were stab wounds. The body was badly mutilated and there was blood all over the alley.”

Hudson’s head was light again. This sounded more like something from one of his shitty old horror films than reality.

“And it’s definitely Julian?” he asked.

“I’ve no idea,” Luke said. He pointed at the two police officers. “But the fact they’re here must mean they think so.”

“I don’t get it,” Rav said. “Who would want to attack Julian? And so brutally.”

Luke grimaced. “It’s clear none of you are too familiar with Blyham. This hasn’t been the safest city to live in for some time. Wandering around after dark is not recommended, especially to someone on their own.”

“So, what are you saying?” Hudson asked. “Could it be a street robbery gone wrong?”

Luke spread his hands and shrugged. “I couldn’t hazard a guess right now. If you do a search of the crime rate here for the last two years, you’ll see exactly what I mean. Blyham might be a small city, but it’s got problems as severe as any capital.”

* * * *

The police didn’t want anyone to leave until the CID officers had interviewed them.

Manuella was now hysterical, being comforted by several of the team.

At a loss for anything else to do, Hudson and Luke returned to the coffee shop.

He’d told Andie to call them if the cops arrived before they got back.

Luke kept checking the messages on his phone, but he had nothing new to report.

They sat together at a table towards the rear. The last thing Hudson wanted now was to get recognised and have to answer questions.

“How long do you think it will be before the press realise who has been killed and turn up here?”

“I haven’t mentioned it to anyone at the paper,” Luke said defensively, “if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“I’m not,” Hudson said wearily. He couldn’t blame Luke for being wary after the way he’d behaved. “I just…need to prepare myself for the worst.”

Luke put his elbows on the table and leant forward a little. He pursed his lips before speaking. “Why do you have so much hate for the media?”

“I thought you said you’d done a lot of research. You don’t have to Google me for long to understand why.”

“Is it because of when you came out? I wasn’t following at the time, but it seemed to get a lot attention, especially in the States.”

“I didn’t come out. I was outed. Thrown to the wolves, in fact, to save someone else’s career.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t believe that still goes on.”

Hudson shrugged. “It’s a while ago. A different era. I don’t want to talk about it now. Can we change the subject?”

Luke nodded. His dark brown eyes were deep and warm. The more Hudson looked at him, the more incredibly attractive he became. Those eyes, the fine, straight nose, that wide mouth.

“Does Julian have any family?” Luke asked.

“He’s single right now, apart from whatever was blossoming between him and Manuella.

I don’t know if he’s been married before or whether there are any kids.

He was in his mid-thirties, so if there are kids, they’ll be pretty young.

He told me his parents have a family-run restaurant.

Whenever the acting work ran dry, he would help out there. ”

Luke sighed. “They’ll be receiving the knock at the door that no one ever wants to receive.”

Hudson picked up his phone and pulled up Julian’s credits.

There was a vast gallery of images, going way back to his youth theatre days.

He hadn’t changed all that much over the years, except to get more distinguished and handsome.

“He’s done a lot of great things. Drama, musicals, comedy. His TV credits are pretty incredible.”

“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “He’s appeared in at least one episode of just about every major British TV show there is.

Often just a scene or two, but he always made a huge impression.

I’ve never understood why he wasn’t a bigger star.

I saw him in a production down in London a year or so ago.

He was magnetic on stage. I was surprised when I saw he had such a small role in Darkest Blue. ”

“Very few actors get to choose the roles they play. Most of the time we just take what we can get. Julian doesn’t appear to have any big ego…” Hudson corrected himself. “Didn’t. Fuck. I can’t believe this.” He wrung his hands. “I keep expecting to wake up.”

“I’m sorry. I can see you’d become good friends.”

“What was that you were saying earlier? About the crime rate in Blyham.”

“It’s off the fucking chart,” Luke said.

“I can’t believe none of you guys knew. These last few years have been appalling.

When I first moved here, things were pretty good.

There would occasionally be trouble on a weekend when you’d get large groups of out-of-town people coming in to party.

Blyham has always had a reputation as a party hotspot.

But it quickly got worse. Antisocial behaviour increased, and then hate crime rocketed.

Racism, homophobia, transphobia. Things have been very dicey around the gay village area for a couple of years.

There’s not a single weekend when at least one person doesn’t get queer-bashed. ”

Hudson stared at him in disbelief. “You’re shitting me. I’m renting an apartment right in the middle of the area and I haven’t seen anything.”

“Have you been going out late on Fridays and Saturdays?”

“No, I’ve barely been out at all.”

“Then you’ve managed to escape it. I would suggest you look up the Blyham Strangler when you have a chance, though it might not be the best idea if you want to sleep well.

I’m pleased to say he’s now in prison where he belongs.

But there’s lots of other dangerous people still around.

The violence didn’t stop after he was put away. ”

“Surely that’s not what happened to Julian. He’s white, straight. He doesn’t tick any of the boxes for the kind of hate crimes you’re talking about.”

Luke took a mouthful of coffee and put the cup down thoughtfully. “No, but he dresses well, speaks with quite a posh accent. For Blyham, anyway. He’d stand out for being different, and sometimes that’s all it takes.”

Ruth appeared over Luke’s shoulder, scanning the room. She appeared more stressed than he’d ever seen her. Hudson raised his hand and waved at her.

“Hey, looking for us?”

She rushed over, relief written all over her face. “Yes, Hudson. Andie sent me to find you.” She glanced around, checking who was in earshot then lowered her voice. “The CID team have arrived. They want to speak to you.”

“Give me five minutes to finish my coffee and use the bathroom and I’ll be right there.”

She smiled nervously and hurried away.

“CID are here,” Luke said. “I guess that confirms it. They must have ID’d Julian.”

As his stomach churned, Hudson pushed his half-finished drink away, no longer interested.

“What about you?” he asked. “You told me you’ve been here eight years. If Blyham is so bad, why do you stay around?”

Luke smiled softly. “Despite everything, I still love the place. I love my job, the theatre, the culture. I’m not going to be driven away by a bunch of arseholes so unhappy in their own lives they need to make life a misery for everyone else.”

“You live here in the city?”

He laughed. “Fuck no. I don’t love it that much. I have a house along the coast. It’s only a twenty-minute drive in good traffic, but it’s far enough away to feel like another place entirely.”

“That sounds cool.” Hudson stuffed his phone in his pocket and made a move to get up. He paused. “Do you still feel like getting a drink tonight? I totally understand if you don’t, but after this, I really don’t fancy a night on my own in that apartment. I’d appreciate some company.”

Luke’s smile brightened the grim mood. “I’d love to. To be honest, I was hoping you’d say that. I don’t fancy spending an evening on my own either.”

“I take it that means you’re single?”

“Well, obviously. I wouldn’t be going on a date with a hot leading man otherwise.”

Now Hudson smiled. He could feel the heat rising over his face, colouring his cheeks. “It’s a date?”

Luke raised an eyebrow. “If it’s not, I’ll be more than a little disappointed. But given everything that’s going on, let’s keep it low-key.”

“Low-key suits me.”

He gave Luke a gentle pat on the shoulder as he walked away.

He was filled with dread as he went off to speak to the police officers, but at least he had something to look forward to at the end of the day. Then a shard of guilt lanced through him.

Poor Julian wouldn’t look forward to anything ever again.