‘He didn’t like paperwork.’
‘He’s not alone there.’
‘Yes, but he skimped and got caught out a few times.’
‘Hardly a capital offence if it didn’t upset the running of the place too much. Anything else?’
‘They said he was a bit physical.’
‘Meaning what?’
‘Being strong, he’d grab people by the arm to make a point and let them know he had a firm grip. I’m talking about his colleagues, not just villains. A couple of the girls said he’d left bruises and they told him to be more considerate, but he never seemed to learn.’
‘Annoying, but not enough to make anyone want to murder him. Did he make any real enemies at Wells?’
She gave an impatient sigh. ‘If he did, no one was saying.’
‘I can understand why. And what about the nickname? Where did that come from?’
‘The “Ossy”? I didn’t find out. They said he was given it before he joined the police. He didn’t seem to mind. When he started at Wells he said he preferred Ossy to to his real name of Martin.’
‘Nobody asked where it came from?’
‘If they did, they didn’t get an answer. No one could tell me. Does it matter?’
‘Maybe, maybe not. Nicknames are usually given to people for a reason, some quirk of character they have, or an incident that happened to them. I was hoping we might learn something we don’t know already.’
‘If you really want to find out, his widow would know.’
He snapped his fingers. ‘Good thought. And she might tell us a whole lot more that could be useful.’ Then he hesitated. ‘No, I’d prefer not to approach her at this stage. I’m assuming she’s been interviewed already by Jack Gull or one of his team.’
‘A widow too far?’ Ingeborg said.
He frowned. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘I’m wondering if Emma Tasker has put you off interviewing widows. I don’t mind going to see this lady if you want.’
He wasn’t amused. ‘It’s not that. I don’t intend to give Gull any grounds for complaint. He could close us down if he gets the idea we’re running a rival show.’
‘Which we are,’ John Leaman said.
‘In the interest of the truth. But let’s face it, Gull is the headquarters man and his remit is to investigate serial crimes. Ours is to assist him over the murder of Harry Tasker. We need to tread carefully.’
‘That’ll be a first,’ a voice said from the back, and got a laugh. The mood of Bath CID was still bordering on rebellion.
Diamond had the sense not to jump down the joker’s throat. ‘Inge, did you learn anything else from Wells?’
‘Not really.’
‘And you went on to Radstock and made enquiries about PC Richmond. Did he have a nickname?’
‘None that I heard about. He was Stan to everyone there. A loner, wrapped up in his folklore hobby. Always willing to talk about ancient fairs and stone circles, but clueless about the things the others were into, like football and last night’s television. He often had his head in a book.’
‘A good copper?’
‘No one had any complaints. He did the job and evidently knew the law better than most. Unlike Ossy Hart, he had no desire to be promoted. He worked his shift and overtime when required, and that was all he seemed to want. They used to joke that he was away with the fairies the rest of the time.’
‘How did he take that?’
‘In good humour. He didn’t seem to mind.’
‘He wasn’t gay?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘The fairies they meant were the little people.’
‘He didn’t make enemies?’
‘No. It was a massive shock to everyone when he was shot. There’s no question Stan Richmond was well liked. They were genuinely sad that he was killed.’ She paused. ‘They’d be amazed to hear it suggested he was shot by someone who worked with him.’
Another nudge. More like a dig in the ribs.
He was trying to stay calm. ‘Stan Richmond moved around a lot in his career. Is it possible he overlapped with either Ossy Hart or Harry Tasker?’
‘Certainly not Ossy. He only ever served at Wells.’
‘He trained at Portishead.’
‘Yes, but almost twenty years after Stan Richmond went through. As for Harry, I wouldn’t know about his service record before he came to Bath.’
Halliwell was shaking his head. ‘I’ve looked at his postings. There’s no overlap.’
‘Okay,’ Diamond said, needing to lay out the realities. ‘Let’s deal with what we know so far. The sniper uses a G36 rifle — and that’s also a police-issue weapon — with deadly accuracy. He’s well informed about foot patrols. He’s good at hiding up and escaping stake-outs. He seems to anticipate our moves and know our routines. I’m going to need a list of all personnel who served with the three victims — and I mean everyone, top brass, CID, uniform, PCSOs and civilian staff.’
Total silence.
Ingeborg was the first to speak. ‘That sounds to me like a witch-hunt.’
‘And that’s a comment that does you no credit, Inge,’ he said. ‘This is a murder enquiry, remember? “You’re next” — right? If we take it seriously — and I’m telling you that’s our duty — Harry was picked out to be shot. We must assume the others were picked, too, all serving policemen. If they were lorry-drivers or construction workers, you wouldn’t think twice about checking the career records of people who served with them. I’ve been around long enough to know that not all police officers are angels. In fact I could name several who committed murder. This may go against the grain, but it has to be done.’
Ingeborg shook her head and went silent.
You could have built a wall from the antagonism in the room. Still, he wasn’t backing off.
‘Keith, you can take this on,’ he told Halliwell.
‘Do I have to?’
‘What?’ This time the shock was on Diamond’s side and it was like being hit by a demolition ball. For his oldest colleague to question an order, this had to be a full-blown revolt. ‘It’s a routine job, for pity’s sake. Someone in personnel will press a computer key and the names will roll out at your end.’
Halliwell had turned crimson. ‘I’m not happy with it, guv. It seems disloyal.’
‘Not to me, it isn’t.’
‘You’re putting me in an impossible position. We’re being asked to investigate hundreds of brother officers for murder. I’ve never done that before.’
‘If we had a union,’ Ingeborg started up again, ‘it would be a strike issue.’
She earned sounds of support for saying that.
‘But we don’t,’ Diamond said, ‘and our job is to uncover the truth. I don’t like what I’m hearing. All I want at this stage is that list of names. No one is being fingered. We’ll eliminate most of them straight away.’
‘And finger the ones who are left,’ Ingeborg said.
He was incensed. ‘That’s out of order.’
Flushing all over her blonde skin, Ingeborg paused before saying, ‘Guv, have you any idea what this kind of shakeout is going to do for everyone’s confidence, morale, team spirit — all those things we pay lip service to.’
He hadn’t expected this degree of opposition. No one was siding with him and neither could he expect them to now that Keith Halliwell had dug his heels in. Ingeborg sounding off was one thing, but Keith wasn’t a hothead. He carried the respect of the entire team.
It came down to a test of Diamond’s own self-belief. He’d been arguing that the killer’s knowledge of police duty rosters made it inevitable that the crimes were internal. Was there a flaw in his logic?
There was. He had been expecting someone on the team to nail him.
