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Victoria started to laugh. ‘There are few people who would be quite so candid, so I appreciate your honesty. How can I help?’
‘Monty Dunhill,’ Kim said.
‘Oh, what’s the vicious old bitch done now?’
‘You know him well?’
She shook her head. ‘Not well but we’ve met a couple of times.’
‘And?’
‘And what? I called him an elitist, superior, snobby, privileged knob, and he called me a nouveau, tacky, tawdry low-class fraud. We’ve always been very honest with each other. It’s how it works within such a competitive industry.’
‘Competitive enough that he wrote a scathing hit piece where he had a lot to say about you.’
‘Yes, I was flattered that he felt I was such a threat.’
‘And are you?’
‘Absolutely not. Monty likes the sterile intimacy of one-on-ones. He likes the feeling of exclusivity, as though he’s some kind of secret weapon to the rich and famous. I don’t do many private readings as I prefer the energy of a crowd. I like to feed off their emotion and anticipation. It’s heady stuff.’
‘And did the article bother you?’
‘For about ten minutes while I wondered how it was going to affect my livelihood, and then the phone began to ring.’
Kim nodded for her to continue.
‘No one north of Stoke had heard of me and suddenly my name was out there. The day the article came out I was booked for a show in Edinburgh and one in Liverpool, both venues I have now visited repeatedly. The article did me a favour. I now get to pick and choose the shows I want to do. And, I might add, they’re always sold out.’
Well, that had been a definite miss on Monty’s part, Kim thought.
‘It didn’t really do Monty any good either, if you want the truth,’ Victoria offered.
‘How so?’
‘It was intended as an exposé of us, but many of his own clients relied on him being totally out of the limelight. The article mentions his rich, influential clients and, though he doesn’t name names, many of them dropped him because of his sudden media visibility. I’m sure you’ve seen his house. It’s not cheap to run.’
‘You think he’s broke?’ Kim asked. Did Monty somehow blame other psychics because he’d lost money exposing them? Twisted but possible, given the size of his ego.
Victoria shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but it’s fair to say he had a lot less disposable income after the article, and I’ve heard his current client list includes a couple of Z-list reality stars and a WAG or two.’
‘Ouch,’ Kim said, not finding it hard to imagine Monty’s feelings about that.
Victoria cringed. ‘Needs must, I suppose.’
‘I’m sure you’ll remember that Sandra Deakin was featured in that same article, and you obviously know that she was murdered on Sunday night.’ The name of the victim had been officially released by the press liaison team earlier that day.
‘Of course, yes, but I had completely forgotten that she was ripped to shreds in it. He loathed her. He has little nicknames for us all. He calls me Show Pony for obvious reasons, but he called Sandy Fish Course.’
Kim shook her head.
‘Because he said it was the course at a dinner party that no one wanted. He called her bland, vanilla, forgettable and many other cruel names.’
And yet she’d still been trying to meet with him just days before her death.
‘And then of course he had one name that was meaner than anything.’
‘Which was?’
