Stagestruck

time that she was coming to the play. See if what they said checks out.’

‘Right, guv.’

‘Then there’s a second tier of suspects, the actors. They had a view of the box.’

‘Not a good view,’ Leaman said.

‘Did I use the word good? They could tell it was occupied if they happened to look and, as I understand it, that box isn’t used much.’

‘The Schneider woman admitted she saw someone,’ Halliwell said.

‘A ghost,’ Paul Gilbert said.

‘Saw something, then. And at the start of the interval she was busy telling everybody about it, enough to alert anyone with half a brain that someone had been sitting there.’

‘She told Gisella for sure,’ Ingeborg said.

‘And Preston Barnes,’ Diamond said. ‘Find out how they spent the rest of their interval. Did they go to their dressing rooms and stay there? Were they alone?’

‘Fraulein Schneider wasn’t,’ Halliwell said. ‘She had people with her trying to calm her down.’

‘Which people?’

‘Stagehands, she told me.’

‘We can’t ignore any of the crew,’ Ingeborg said. ‘They could have heard Fraulein Schneider panicking about the grey lady.’

‘The wardrobe woman,’ Halliwell said.

‘Not to forget the dramaturge,’ Fred Dawkins added. ‘He was with Schneider towards the end of the interval.’

‘Did you take his statement last night?’ Leaman asked.

‘No. I was Earping.’

‘What?’

‘Marshalling,’ Diamond said, not wanting a bout of wordplay at this stage. ‘Fred was making sure everyone got seen. Who was it who took Titus O’Driscoll’s statement?’

Halliwell raised his hand. ‘He told me the news of the grey lady’s appearance reached him in the Garrick’s Head and he went backstage for a first-hand account.’

‘Do you see what we’re up against?’ Leaman demanded, his hellfire preacher voice soaring. ‘The entire theatre was in on this. Some of the audience always step outside at the interval for a drag on a cigarette, so it was known on the streets as well. Any nutter could have gone up to the box and killed her.’

‘Get wise, John,’ Ingeborg said. ‘They didn’t know Clarion was in the building. Only three people knew that.’

‘And those three are firmly in the frame,’ Diamond said to get on track again. ‘We may be close to an arrest. I’m assigning Keith, Inge and Fred to getting the fullest possible profiles of our three main suspects – everything about them, their past, present and, above all, any link, however remote, to Clarion. And you don’t have to be too subtle about it. They know they’re under scrutiny.’

Fred Dawkins had heard his name and looked as if he’d won the lottery. ‘Which one is mine?’

‘That’s up to Keith.’

‘You can take Binns,’ Halliwell said at once.

‘I shall take him and dismantle him. No portion will go unexamined.’

‘Sounds painful.’

‘Not for me. I’m a fully fledged member of the team now.’

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Diamond said. ‘Let’s see how you cope.’

Then Georgina spoke. ‘Please bear in mind, Peter, that Sergeant Dawkins has a rehearsal tonight.’

He jerked back in disbelief. ‘Rehearsal? For what?’

‘Sweeney Todd. We’re doing a walk-through of the moves in the rehearsal rooms, the entire cast. As our choreographer, he’s indispensable.’

‘He’s on the strength, ma’am. We’re flat out on this murder enquiry.’

‘I appreciate that. I’ll speak to you presently.’

He felt his blood pressure rocket. He could protest, knowing he had right on his side, but it would get him nowhere. He hadn’t asked for Dawkins in the first place. The man was a pain, anyway. Let him do his bloody walk- through – walk through the door and out of CID for good.

With a huge effort, he controlled himself. ‘Let’s not lose sight of the other unexplained death at the theatre. There’s compelling evidence that Denise was not alone in the minutes before she fell to her death from the fly tower. I can’t at this moment see a definite link, but two violent deaths in two days make a double murder more likely than not.’

‘Post hoc, ergo propter hoc,’ a voice spoke up. It was Fred Dawkins.

‘Did you say something?’ Diamond asked, feeling a stronger throb in his veins.