‘Congratulations. Are you sure he isn’t in your choir, singing like that?’
She gave an uneasy laugh. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Shall we get on with this, ma’am? Has the van been searched?’
‘I gather DI Leaman has had it open and found nothing.’
‘They’re somewhere in the station, then.’
‘Apparently not.’
He gave her the quizzical look she seemed to expect.
‘No joy so far,’ she said and leaned closer. ‘Who’s the lady in your car, if it isn’t a personal question?’
‘Ah, but it is.’ Bloody cheek, he thought. Spotting Leaman, he turned his back on Georgina and went over.
‘I don’t get it, guv,’ Leaman said. ‘The van’s been parked for some time. The engine’s almost cold. No one inside. They’ve vanished.’
He didn’t believe that for a moment. Taking a few steps into the shed, he peered up at the arched girders. By day, the glass roof gave plenty of light. At this late hour it was impossible to see what was up there. ‘Let’s have some lights. If he’s still about he knows we’re here.’
He wanted to see if the tell-tale plastic cord had been drawn over any of the girders and tied to one side, ready for the hanging.
Powerful flash-lamps probed the roof. A vehicle equipped with rotating lights was driven in. In the next five minutes numerous pairs of eyes stared up at the ironwork and sighted nothing.
‘I don’t get it,’ Leaman said for the second time.
‘Shut up, then.’
Diamond was near the end of his tether. He walked to the far end, the former booking hall. By day and evening it was in use as a brasserie, sometimes with live jazz, but at this hour it was in darkness. There were no signs of a break-in. He rattled the door. ‘Let’s have this open.’
‘What with?’ one officer asked.
‘What do you think? Your magic wand?’
A kick did the job. They went in, switched on the lights and made a swift search of the seating area, bar, kitchen and toilets.
Nobody was in there.
‘What’s upstairs?’ he asked.
‘The Bath Society meeting room.’
He felt movement in his pocket and took out the mobile and looked at it. Who on earth knew his number besides Paloma and Leaman, who were both near by?
He slapped it to his ear. ‘Yes?’
‘Guv.’
Ingeborg. She’d shown him how to use the thing.
‘Guv, he’s here, round the front entrance. You’d better come fast, but try not to panic him. There’s a noose round Martin Steel’s neck.’
His skin prickled. He ran to the door that led on to the street and kicked it open. He was among a cluster of metal tables and patio heaters. He ran on across the cobbled forecourt to where he saw Ingeborg standing beside a police car parked in James Street West to block the traffic. She was pointing.
He turned to look at the station front with its six columns above the metal canopy that had once protected passengers waiting for taxis. He couldn’t see Jerry Kean or Martin Steel. ‘Where are they?’
‘On the roof,’ Ingeborg said. ‘He must have seen the activity. I’m sure he knows we’re here.’
He stared up at the balustrade extending along the whole facade of the building. The roof was flat and about thirty feet high. ‘I can’t see anything.’
‘He’s pulled back out of sight. He’s definitely there. Look.’
As she was speaking, a figure came into view, silhouetted against the sky, edged towards the parapet and stopped. From the reluctant movement, this person could only be Martin Steel, hampered by some kind of restraint. His hands were fastened behind his back and there was something odd about his head.
A voice at Diamond’s side said, ‘Oh God, no.’
It was Paloma. She’d got out of the car and followed him.
‘We need people up there,’ he said. ‘And lights, and a hailer.’
Ingeborg already had her personal radio out and was calling for the back-up.
Diamond’s eyes adjusted to the conditions and he picked out more detail. A long cord was lashed to one of the balusters and hung down in a loop. The other end was tied in a noose around Martin Steel’s neck. The strange shape of the head was explained. He was hooded, as if for a judicial hanging.
‘You know what that is over his head?’ Diamond said, more to himself than anyone else. ‘One of those totebags he uses for shopping. We found some grains of sugar in one victim’s hair. Now we know why.’
A sob came from beside him.
‘Paloma, you’d better not watch this.’ He felt a pang of sympathy for her. This killer had been her child.
‘I want to be here.’
He didn’t argue. He turned to Ingeborg. ‘Tell them I reckon the way up is through the meeting room. There must be a hatch to the roof.’
He was trying to be positive in the face of imminent tragedy. One shove from behind and Martin Steel would topple forward and dangle dead on the end of the line. Somewhere out of sight was his executioner primed to act. In truth it would take a miracle to stop it happening.
He cupped his hands and shouted, ‘Martin, the police are here. We’ll get you out of this.’
There was no response from the hooded man.
But Diamond guessed this would bring Jerry Kean into view to check the situation below, and he was right. The second figure materialised.
‘Jerry, this is Peter Diamond. Do you hear me? It’s all over. We can end this peacefully if you do as I say.’
Jerry shouted back, ‘Go to hell.’
Paloma took a sharp breath, on the point of appealing to her son, but Diamond gripped her arm and said, ‘No.’ He called up, ‘You’ve made your point five times over. It’ll all be written up in the papers. There’s no sense in taking another life.’
From the roof came the riposte: ‘“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”’
‘What on earth are you on about?’ Diamond called back.
‘He’s quoting from the Old Testament,’ Ingeborg said.
‘If he’s going to give us a sermon, we might gain some time.’ He shouted back at Jerry, ‘Would you repeat that? I didn’t catch what you were saying.’
‘Jeremiah, one, five. They’re the words of the Lord,’ Jerry called.
‘“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Proof positive that human life begins at conception. These people have been murdering their unborn children. They deserve to die.’
‘But you didn’t know these people. You stole their case notes from the hospitals, but you didn’t know them personally until you kidnapped them.’
‘Judges don’t know the people who appear before them, but they decide on their guilt.’
‘You’re judge and executioner, are you?’ Diamond was working at full stretch to prolong this. ‘What are your qualifications?’
‘It’s my mission. “The Lord called Samuel, and he answered:
Here am I.”’
‘You’ve been talking to God?’
‘He spoke to me, just as he spoke to Samuel.’
Diamond turned to Ingeborg. ‘He’s crazy. Did you get through?’
‘They should be on their way, guv.’
‘All right, Jerry,’ he returned to the debate, ‘and is this action of yours supported by your church?’
‘They don’t know what I’m doing. But like me they believe it’s a mortal sin to murder the unborn.’
‘Are you saying you’re all in it together? Who was it I spoke to on the phone? Virginia. Is she an accessory to
