don’t understand is why you need me to show you around the building.’
‘There’s a double incentive,’ Diamond said. ‘It’s a warren backstage. I’d soon be lost on my own. And I get a man-toman talk with you.’
‘Really?’ Titus pressed the combination on the digital lock and they passed into the red-carpeted corridor behind the royal circle.
Diamond’s nerve came under immediate test. The auditorium was visible through several entrances. He looked away, avoiding even a glimpse of the curtains. ‘Shall we start with that haunted dressing room you mentioned?’
‘We can’t go in. It’s in use,’ Titus said.
‘Who by?’
‘Gisella, the young woman who understudied Clarion.’
‘She gets the spooky room?’
‘It’s comfortable and close to the stage and I don’t suppose she knows about the manifestations,’ Titus said. ‘After the accident she was offered the number one and turned it down.’
‘Everyone was called for a meeting this morning, so she may be in,’ Diamond said, refusing to be put off. ‘She’ll invite us inside, won’t she? How well do you know her?’
‘We’ve spoken.’
‘Cordially, I hope?’
‘Of course. Unlike some I could mention, I’m not a prickly personality.’
‘Which way, then?’
They had reached the pass door to backstage. Titus worked the digital lock again.
‘Is there one combination for all the doors?’ Diamond asked.
‘No, they’re different. Newcomers are given a plastic card with the numbers. I long ago committed them to memory.’ He pushed the door open and they went through. ‘Dressing room eight is on the OP side. We have to cross behind the stage.’
A passing stagehand smiled at Titus and winked.
‘People are obviously used to seeing you here,’ Diamond said. ‘I expect they’d notice a stranger.’
‘You’re being a detective again,’ Titus said. ‘This is supposed to be a ghost hunt.’
‘A stranger could turn out to be a ghost.’
‘Or an evil person who maims famous pop singers. If you really want to know, it would be almost impossible for a stranger to pass through here unnoticed.’
‘They’d get lost as well.’
‘Very likely.’ In the passageway close to the stage, Titus stopped and pointed ahead. ‘Dressing rooms eight and nine, usually occupied by some of the principal actors, but not the leads.’
‘Let’s see if she’s in.’ Diamond knocked on number eight.
‘It’s open,’ a childish voice came from inside.
He raised a thumb at Titus and turned the handle.
‘Oh,’ Gisella said from her chair in front of the dressing table. ‘I thought you were the boy bringing more flowers.’ She was looking at them through everyone’s idea of a theatrical mirror, fringed with light bulbs. All they could see of her was the permed nineteen-thirties haircut above a slender, white neck. ‘If you’re press,’ she said, ‘it isn’t convenient now. I’ve done so many interviews already that I need a break.’
‘Now come on, Gisella,’ Titus said. ‘You know me, the dramaturge. And this is my friend Peter.’
‘I’m sorry, guys, but I don’t have time to socialise.’
‘That goes without saying,’ Titus said. ‘We’re only here to look at the room.’
This unflattering comment seemed to intrigue her. She swivelled in her chair to look at Diamond. ‘Peter who?’
He told her his name.
‘Are you an actor?’ Before he could answer she added, ‘Do you have a stage name?’
He realised what this was about. She thought he was being shown the room because he’d be using it when the next production got under way.
He was about to deny it, but Titus got in first. ‘One could easily mistake him for Timmy Spall. Is that who you’re thinking of?’
‘No.’
‘Kenny Branagh? Martin Shaw?’
‘I’m a policeman,’ Diamond said to get realistic. ‘Do you mind if I look round?’
Gisella was definitely surprised, but she had the wit to make a melodramatic gesture out of it, pressing a hand to her brow. ‘The police! I am undone.’
‘Don’t be like that,’ Titus said. ‘He’s a nice policeman.’
