‘That’s security. They checked it and sent me up with it.’
‘As long as no one’s sending me up.’ He unwrapped the loose end. ‘It doesn’t weigh much.’
It was a brand-new mobile phone. ‘Someone’s feeling generous,’ he said in a throwaway tone, knowing for certain who had sent it. ‘I guess I’ll have to find out how to use the thing.’
‘Can I see?’ Ingeborg fingered the controls. ‘It’s ready to go. Someone has charged it up already and put in an SIM card.’
‘Is that good?’
‘It makes life easier.’
‘You mean there’s no escape?’
‘Do you want a quick lesson?’
She went through it with him. His fingers were like bananas trying to use the keys.
‘It’s a fab little phone,’ Ingeborg said. ‘See, it’s got a vibrating function.’
His face was a study in mystification.
‘When you’re in a meeting and a call comes in, it doesn’t have to ring. You feel the movement in your pocket.’
‘And have a coronary.’
Ingeborg didn’t comment. She was scrolling up and down. ‘Hello, there’s a name already in your phone book.’
His priority remained the murder of Delia Williamson. Ram raids are regrettable, but a lost life can’t be recovered. Leaving Halliwell to deal with the aftermath of last night, he drove out to Bradford on Avon.
Amanda Williamson was at the door of the weaver’s cottage on the hill when Diamond appeared along Tory, as the little path was known. She had empty eyes and a tired stance. Anyone would after days of caring for two newly orphaned children. She told him she was about to go down into the town for some shopping. Her two granddaughters were inside in the care of her friend Meg, the young woman Diamond had met briefly on his last visit.
He offered to go with her and she must have known it wasn’t from the goodness of his heart, but she didn’t seem dismayed, especially when he said he was better than a pack-mule at carrying bags. ‘It looks a stiff climb,’ he said. ‘I bet you feel it, coming up.’
‘Don’t I just.’
He asked how the girls were adjusting and heard that they seemed to be internalising the grief. They weren’t saying much. It was no bad thing that they were living in a place new to them, and Amanda was glad she’d taken his advice and dodged the press.
She asked how he was doing and he surprised himself by confiding that he’d met someone and been on a date for the first time since his wife had died.
‘Good for you,’ she said, then added, ‘It was good, I take it?’
He gave a shy smile.
‘Good for her, too, then. Will you see her again?’
‘It’s kind of understood.’
‘Lovely. There’s too much grief in the world. I like to hear about anyone who makes another person happy. I’ve had my moments, too, and that’s what they’ve been — moments — but no worse for that.’ She giggled a little at some private memory. ‘And how are you doing professionally?’
She wanted to know how the investigation was going. Too late, it clicked with him that this was what she’d meant the first time.
‘Not enough progress in that department,’ he said. ‘More questions than answers.’
‘And you have some for me?’
‘Do you mind?’
‘Go on.’
‘I’d like to know more about your daughter and Danny. I didn’t ask you about their beliefs.’
Her gaze moved swiftly to him, checking his meaning, and then ahead to the spire of Holy Trinity. ‘Like religious beliefs?’
‘It’s one theory among many. People sometimes get too wrapped up in certain stuff that isn’t good for their sanity.’
‘The black arts?’
‘Or some such. Cults.’
She gave it thought as they picked their way down the steps known as the Rope Walk. ‘I think I would have known if Delia had got into anything like that,’ she said finally. ‘She was never morbid. Too excitable, if truth be told.’
‘And Danny?’
‘He was more guarded certainly, a bit strange, even, thinking of the bats, but I wouldn’t say it was unhealthy. The natural world was what he’d studied for years. He cared about living things. I remember an incident once. We were driving along one of those lanes near Holt and a small bird flew out of the hedge and hit the car. He stopped and got out and went back to make sure it wasn’t suffering, as he said. I think he put it out of its misery. I didn’t watch. How many of us would do that?’
They completed the descent to the centre of the small town. Her thoughts had turned to shopping. ‘I need something from the butcher’s and I always get my greengroceries in the Shambles. Is my pack-mule capable of carrying five pounds of potatoes?’
‘Sure is steep,’ he said. ‘Why don’t we water the old beast?’
They picked the Dandy Lion in Market Street, a comfortable, shadowy, low-beamed place that hadn’t decided whether it was coffee shop, pub or restaurant. She had tea and he ordered a strong black coffee.
‘Don’t ask,’ he said.
‘I don’t need to. The whole of last night is written on your face,’ she said. ‘I could probably get by with three pounds of potatoes.’
‘I’ll be fine. I suppose your daughter never worked here?’
‘All her waiting jobs were in Bath.’
‘Remember which restaurants?’
‘The first was a pizza place that’s long since gone. Then she was in the coffee shop in Rossiter’s.’
His voice warmed as a good memory came back. ‘Upstairs, padded armchairs, king-size scones, the newspapers. I used to go there with Steph. That went, too, more’s the pity. How strange. I may have met Delia, then.’
‘Quite possibly.’ She didn’t seem to think there was anything remarkable. ‘Then I think she started at Tosi’s. She had quite a long time there. She enjoyed it.’
‘She was able to go to work in the evenings because Danny was home looking after the girls?’
‘Yes. And sometimes I think she went on dates. I’m her mother, so I can say that. My Delia was easily tempted.’
‘And Danny was rather dull?’
She confirmed it with a soft, stricken sigh. ‘They weren’t married, as you know, but her relationship with Danny was steadier than a lot of marriages I’ve heard of. True, he wasn’t every woman’s ideal of a dashing young man, but he cared for her. He showed his love in practical ways, like looking after the children. It would be quite wrong to assume he murdered her.’
‘Why do you say that? The break-up may have upset him more than anyone realised.’
‘He wasn’t like that, vengeful or jealous. To have harboured anger for years and then attack her — that’s not the Danny I knew.’
‘You suggest your daughter may have been dating other men,’ he said, aware how hurtful this could be, yet needing to probe more. ‘Can you name any of them?’
She smiled faintly. ‘If Delia were here, I doubt if she could answer that.’
‘But ultimately she moved in with Ashley. Don’t you think Danny would have hated that?’
‘I expect so.’
‘And let it fester for a time?’
‘For over two years? Danny? I don’t see it.’
