‘So when do you think this happened?’
‘I’ve no idea how long she’s been up there. People are walking through here a lot, but you don’t look up unless you have a reason.’
‘What was your reason?’
‘I told you, I was with Gisella. She’s the understudy who took over from Clarion. I wanted to show her the lucky butterfly – as encouragement.’
Diamond’s interest quickened. ‘Butterfly, you said?’
‘Not a real one. A piece of scenery from way back. You can see it yourself right up near the roof if you stand in the right place. A dusty old thing more than sixty years old, but we value it as an emblem of good fortune.’
‘Show me.’
Shearman moved a few strides to the left and pointed upwards, across the tower and at a higher level from where the corpse was lodged. A flashlight would have helped. Fortunately the thing suspended among other strips of scenery was colourful enough to make out. Red, purple, green and yellow and with scalloped edging, it didn’t look like any species of butterfly known to biology.
‘The scene painter enjoyed himself by the look of it.’
‘It was for a pantomime.’
‘Ah, I heard about this from someone else. So you looked for the butterfly and saw the body?’
‘Gisella spotted it first. To her credit, she didn’t scream. I almost did myself when she pointed.’
‘Gisella stayed calm?’
‘I wouldn’t say calm. She was in control, but obviously shaken.’
‘So you’re saying the body could have been there some hours without anyone noticing?’
‘Quite possibly. It’s dark up there, as you see.’
‘Nobody goes up between performances?’
‘There’s no reason to. The scenery for this production is all in place and we won’t be changing it this week.’
‘I’m trying to work out when it happened. She wasn’t at home overnight. We searched her house this morning.’
‘Then it’s not impossible she did this some time yesterday. She phoned in about two in the afternoon.’
‘And spoke to you? How did she sound?’
‘Exhausted, really. She said she was sorry but she’d have to let us down because she couldn’t face the evening performance. Denise is not a skiver. I knew it was genuine. I told her to get some rest and we’d cope without her, which we did.’
‘Who was the last person who spoke to her here?’
‘One of yours.’
‘A police officer?’
‘A sergeant in uniform with a policewoman taking notes. He was doing all the talking.’
‘Sounds like Sergeant Dawkins.’
‘With a rather abrasive style of speech.’
‘Definitely Dawkins.’
Shearman was quick to add, ‘I’m not suggesting your sergeant said anything that caused Denise to take her own life.’
Privately, Diamond reserved judgement on that. He’d been driven near the limit by Dawkins. ‘Why did she come in yesterday morning?’
‘It was the obvious thing to do after what happened to Clarion. She felt responsible, being the one who made her up. I don’t think she’d slept much. Neither had I, come to that.’
‘Did she appear depressed?’
‘Anxious, certainly. Depressed, probably. Whether suicidal is another question. I had no inkling of that, I assure you. But I can imagine how it preyed on her mind as the day went on and we had no better news of Clarion. Listen, can’t we bring her down from there?’
‘Not until the pathologist has seen her and photographs are taken.’
‘It’s obvious how she died. She jumped.’
Diamond didn’t comment. He was psyching himself up for a duty he didn’t relish. ‘How would I get up there?’
‘Do you want to get closer?’
‘Well, I wouldn’t be doing it for nothing.’
‘The quickest way is up the iron ladder in the corner.’
He eyed the ladder, close to where the counterweight-carrying arbor moved up and down a track parallel to the wall. A vertical climb with the rungs spaced a foot apart looked a stern test of an overweight detective’s agility. He
