Chapter 1: A body on the beach.

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‘OK, Shep,’ said Webb. ‘I’m going over the road for some breakfast,’ said Shepherd, looking at the Seaview Café. ‘I’ll see you at the hotel in half an hour.’

Webb watched Shepherd walk over to the café. ‘She wants the job done quickly,’ he thought to himself, ‘but first she wants breakfast. This could be a long and difficult day.’

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Chapter 2: MacNab Music International.

Twenty-five minutes later Shepherd walked through the front doors of the Grand Hotel. She felt much better after a bacon sandwich and a cup of coffee. It was eight o’clock and Webb was waiting for her. There were a number of comfortable sofas and chairs near the front desk, but at this time in the morning not many people were around.

‘I’ve got us a room,’ said Webb, leading the way to the back of the hotel. ‘It’s the Wells room – named after H.G. Wells, the famous writer. Did you know that he lived near here – between Hythe and Folkestone?’ ‘No,’ said Shepherd, her voice uninterested. Soon they came to a door with the word ‘Wells’ on it. Webb opened the door.

‘It’s not a very large room,’ he said. ‘The hotel uses it for small meetings and parties.’ ‘It’s fine,’ said Shepherd looking round. There was a table in the Centre of the room and four chairs down each side of the table.

Shepherd took a chair and waved a hand for Webb to sit down too. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘What have you got?’ ‘The dead woman is Claudia Engel,’ said Webb. He took a piece of paper from inside his jacket and looked at it. ‘She’s German, but she lived in London. She was here with three other people from a company called MMI – McNab Music International. They’re a music company from London.

They use the hotel for meetings from time to time.’ ‘Who are the others?’ asked Shepherd.

Webb looked down at his piece of paper again. ‘James McNab. It’s his company. Then there’s Ajit Chowdury and Harriet Johnson.’ Just then the door opened. A man came into the room and stopped. He was tall, in his early forties, clean-shaven and good-looking. He was well dressed: expensive dark grey suit, clean white shirt and red tie. Shepherd could almost smell the money. The man looked at Webb, then at Shepherd. ‘I’m James McNab,’ he said to Shepherd. ‘Your sergeant said you wanted to see me.’ His voice was rather high for a tall man. ‘I asked him why, but he said he couldn’t tell me.’

Shepherd got the feeling that this was a man who liked to be the boss. He certainly didn’t mind walking into a room without knocking first. ‘Well, what’s the problem?’ said McNab, looking at his watch. ‘I’ve got a meeting at nine o’clock and a lot to do before it.’ With Webb so new to the job, Shepherd couldn’t see him asking many questions. She looked at McNab and tried to decide how to begin. ‘I’d like him to feel less sure of himself from the beginning,’ she thought.

‘Does Claudia Engel work for you?’ asked Shepherd. ‘Yes, she does,’ replied McNab. ‘And?’ ‘I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news,’ said Shepherd. ‘We found a body on the beach this morning. We believe it is Claudia Engel. We also believe that someone murdered her.’ ‘What?’ McNab’s mouth fell open. ‘Claudia? I don’t believe it. It can’t be true.’ ‘I’m afraid it is,’ said Shepherd. ‘That’s terrible!’ said McNab. ‘Terrible!’ ‘I need to ask you some questions,’ said Shepherd. ‘Take a seat.’ ‘Well,’ said McNab, looking at his watch again. ‘Of course, I’ll do what I can to help.’ He pulled a chair out and sat down. ‘Tell me why you’re here in Hythe,’ said Shepherd.

McNab took a moment to think. He looked at Webb and then at Shepherd.

‘Two or three times a year we come here for a day or two,’ he began. ‘Our offices are in London, but it’s sometimes easier to work without the phone going every five minutes. We come here to get away and talk about important business.’ ‘What important business?’ asked Shepherd. McNab moved on his chair. ‘Why do you want to know?’ he asked. ‘I don’t like to tell people too much about our business. Do you need to know this?’

Shepherd put both hands on the table and sat up. ‘Mister McNab,’ she said quietly, a hard look in her eyes, ‘we’re talking about a murder. I’m going to ask any question I want and you’re going to answer it.’ McNab put both hands up in front of him, as if keeping

Shepherd away. ‘OK, OK,’ he said. ‘I was only asking.’ Shepherd sat back. McNab put his hands down and started speaking again. ‘MMI is a music company. We make and sell CDs. We sell music over the internet. We work with musicians. Anything to do with music, we do it – like I say, we’re in the music business.’ ‘So what did you come here to talk about?’ asked

Shepherd. ‘We had to decide a number of things,’ replied McNab, but said no more. Shepherd looked at him. ‘Mister McNab,’ she said angrily, ‘this is going to be much easier if you help me. What things did you have to decide?’ ‘We have some new bands we’re interested in – we wanted to talk about them,’ answered McNab, not looking at Shepherd. ‘Two of them are very good. And I wanted to talk to the others about where the company is going over the next few years.’ ‘Tell me about the other people who work for you,’ said Shepherd. McNab looked happier now he was talking about the people in the company and not company business.

‘Well, there’s Ajit Chowdury,’ said McNab. ‘He’s the money man, the company accountant. Harriet Johnson looks after sales. She sells MMI’s music all round the world. And then Claudia looks … looked after the music side of things. The music itself, and the musicians and the bands.’ ‘And how does everyone get on?’ asked Shepherd. McNab thought for a moment. ‘I think we get on well,’ he said. ‘Of course, we don’t always agree with each other, but we’re always adult about it. Nobody takes their ball home and says they don’t want to play anymore, if you see what I mean.’ McNab smiled. Shepherd didn’t smile back.

‘Tell us about last night,’ she said. ‘There’s not much to tell,’ answered McNab. ‘We worked until about five. Then we met in the bar sometime between seven and seven thirty. We had dinner together in the restaurant and finished about nine thirty. Then we went our different ways. I went to my room and watched TV for half