The actor was hilarious and regaled them with tales of working on the American soap The Young And the Restless, and it turned out the father of the girl singer had once walked to the South Pole, pulling a sled. There was a half-hour performance of highlights of Les Miserables that was stunning. The food was surprisingly good and the organisers had laid on some very good wines, so by the time the auction came around Carolyn was feeling very relaxed. There were ten dates up for auction, including a Member of Parliament, a Radio One DJ, a former topless model who had married a well-known footballer, and a tennis player who had promised a lesson instead of lunch.
The tennis player fetched eight thousand pounds with the winning bid coming from an overweight woman in her forties who, from the look in her eyes, was hoping for more than coaching. The lowest was the MP, with just a thousand pounds offered, and that bid had come from the MP’s own table.
Eventually the comedian who was handling the auction pointed over at Carolyn’s table and a spotlight swung around to illuminate them. ‘And the big prize of the night, lunch with two of the biggest stars on television, Carolyn Castle and Sebastian Lawton. Let’s have a big hand for them, shall we?’
The audience burst into applause. Carolyn and Seb stood up and waved.
‘Let’s get them up on the stage, shall we, folks? Let the dogs see the rabbits!’
Carolyn and Seb threaded their way through the tables and joined the comedian on the stage. The lunch with Seb was auctioned first, and won by a silver-haired woman in a too-tight Versace suit who blew Seb a stream of kisses as the bidding went higher and higher. Her winning bid was just over twelve thousand pounds.
Seb went back to his table as the comedian started the bidding for lunch with Carolyn. The opening was a thousand pounds, from a bald-headed man in a shiny suit. It went up quickly in multiples of a hundred pounds, then five hundred pounds, and within a minute they had passed Seb’s figure. The audience went crazy when the bidding went past fifteen thousand pounds.
There seemed to be three main bidders. To Carolyn’s right was a forty-something woman with flame-red hair and a thick gold chain around her neck, to her left was a chubby square-jawed man with a sovereign ring who kept dabbing at his perspiring forehead with a napkin, and at the back was a dark-haired man in a black suit.
The bidding kept going up with all three waving their hands in the air. The woman dropped out when the price reached twenty thousand pounds and the comedian announced bids would then be accepted only in multiples of a thousand. Bidding was soon up to twenty-five thousand pounds. There were lights shining in Carolyn’s face and she shielded her eyes as she tried to get a better look at the second bidder from the back of the room.
CHAPTER 31
Richards could see Carolyn was looking right at him. He waved his hand, taking the bidding to twenty-six thousand pounds. His last remaining rival was hesitating and Richards knew he was going to win. Richards kept his hand in the air, showing he was going to bid no matter what the other man did. The rival shook his head and flopped back in his chair.
‘The winner at the back with a bid of twenty-six thousand pounds!’ shouted the comedian. The audience went wild, applauding and cheering, and Richards stood up to acknowledge the applause.
Richards knew all the people at his table – three were employees of his and six were VIP regulars at the club who’d been invited to join him. Halpin was outside minding the Porsche. Richards figured it would be better to keep Halpin away from Carolyn until he’d worked out whether or not she’d seen him at Cohen’s house.
She was shading her eyes against the lights as she looked in his direction and he waved at her and flashed her a beaming smile. Including the two actors in the auction had been Halpin’s idea and it had been a good one. She’d get to see him in a public situation and he’d get to judge her reaction. If he felt she hadn’t recognized him, he’d do the one-on-one lunch and then he’d know for sure. As he looked at her on the stage, she seemed totally at ease.
A pretty blonde appeared next to Richards holding a clipboard. Richards took out his cheque book, wrote out a cheque for twenty-six thousand pounds to the charity, signed it with a flourish and handed it to her. ‘You could take me to lunch for a lot less than this,’ she said.
‘Really?’ said Richards.
She pressed a card into his hand. ‘Really,’ she said.
‘I might take you up on that,’ he said.
CHAPTER 32
Seb raised his glass to Carolyn. ‘I think your mystery admirer is heading this way,’ he said. They were back at their table and had started on another bottle of vintage claret. Carolyn looked over her shoulder and saw the man walking purposefully towards her table. Her stomach lurched when she saw the man’s face and she swore under her breath.
‘What’s wrong, darling, he looks fine to me,’ said Seb.
Carolyn swallowed. Her mouth had gone bone dry and she almost gagged. She took a quick sip of wine. It was him, the man she’d seen at Nicholas Cohen’s house. Or was it? How could it be? She tried to remember what the killer had looked like but her memory wasn’t good for faces. He was certainly the right size and build. Tall and dark with wide shoulders.
‘For God’s sake smile, darling, he’s going to think there’s something wrong with him.’
Carolyn forced a smile as she looked at the man heading her way. He was tall and good-looking and exuded confidence with his head held high and his shoulders back. But was it him? Was it the man she’d seen at the house? How could it be? What were the odds that the man she’d seen would turn up at a charity do and bid to have lunch with her. And if he was the killer, why would he want to meet her? Her mind whirled and she fought to stay calm.
He locked eyes with her from six feet away and smiled showing teeth so white and even that she thought they must be capped. ‘Miss Castle? I thought I should come over and introduce myself.’ He held out his hand and she caught a glimpse of a bulky gold cufflink. ‘Warwick Richards. Big fan.’
She smiled and shook his hand.
Seb stood up and waved at his chair. ‘Seeing as you paid twenty-six grand for the lady, the least I can do is to give up my seat,’ he said.
Richards offered his hand. ‘Good to meet you, Seb. I gather you’re a regular at the club, I’ll pop over and see you next time you’re in.’
‘Of course,’ said Seb. ‘Warwick Richards. That Warwick Richards.’
‘You know each other?’ asked Carolyn.
‘I sometimes drink at Warwick’s club,’ he said. ‘But I don’t think we’ve ever actually met.’
‘I tend to give VIPs the privacy they deserve,’ said Richards. ‘The last thing you want is the staff bothering you when you’re out for a quiet drink.’
‘Staff?’ said Carolyn.
Richards grinned. ‘Well, owner actually,’ he said. He shook hands with Seb then sat down next to Carolyn. He looked into her eyes as he smiled at her. He had wonderfully blue eyes, she realised. ‘I just wanted to reassure you that I’m not a stalker and if you don’t want to go through with the lunch, that’s fine. I’m happy enough to help the charity.’
‘You don’t look at all like a stalker,’ said Carolyn. A waiter poured champagne into a glass for Richards and he nodded his thanks. ‘What’s the club you mentioned?’ asked Carolyn.