Diamond Dust

'So get lost. Yes,' Stormy said, 'I was told that.'

Encouraged, Diamond moved a stage on. 'Yet if you and I put our heads together we'd be more likely to get to the truth than anyone else. We know who we crossed swords with. They don't.'

Stormy's brown eyes met Diamond's, slipped away and then came back. 'You're right,' he said with sudden fervour. 'Together we could nail this jerk.'

Warming to the man, Diamond took him into his confidence, telling him about the case files Louis Voss had copied.

Stormy heard all this with awe. He'd only just grasped that unofficial action was possible. Diamond's bull- necked attitude must have come as a shock. But as soon as the Joe Florida inquiry was mentioned Stormy recalled being on the surveillance team. 'He was given a long term.'

'Twelve. He was out after seven.'

'Out?' Stormy was appalled. 'That beats everything. That toerag. Most professional crooks have something to be said for them. Florida was evil.'

'You met him personally?'

'Twice. I sat in on interviews.'

'Questioned him?'

'No, I was only a DC at the time. Blaizy was in charge. You do remember Jacob Blaize?'

Too well, Diamond thought bitterly. 'Retired to Spain, the last I heard.'

'For some reason, he wanted me as the back-up in those sessions. I didn't mind. Saw myself as the up-and- coming detective, hand-picked by the guvnor. I didn't know Blaizy couldn't stay in an interview room for more than ten minutes at a time.'

Diamond frowned, then grinned as the explanation surfaced. 'His prostate problem? I'd forgotten about that.'

'It meant I spent more time alone with Joe Florida than anyone would wish to.'

'Did he talk?'

'Did he hell. He was after cigarettes. He could see I was a smoker. I may have been wet behind the ears, but I knew you don't dish out fags for nothing. So I took a fair amount of flak from Joe Florida.'

'Did he threaten you?'

'Let's say I wouldn't have needed a vasectomy if he'd got to me first.'

'He made his living out of threats,' Diamond recalled. 'I took a few. And in the protection racket you're not a serious player unless you mean what you say.'

'Joe did. Two shops torched, was it?'

'And a child almost died. She was in the cot upstairs. They got her out in the nick of time.'

'I remember.'

'So you spent time alone with him?' Diamond said eagerly. 'I didn't know that. Was there anything more serious from him than bumming a fag?'

'Such as?'

'He didn't try and make a deal? What I'm driving at, Dave, is something big enough for him to hold a grudge all the time he was in jail.'

'And then murder my wife, just to get back at me? No, there was nothing that extreme. I can't think of anyone who would behave like that. Even a shitbag like Florida.'

Diamond nodded. 'I keep saying the same. It's not just evil. It's twisted. Insane.' He paused. 'Do you think prison blew his mind?'

'He wouldn't be the first.'

'I mean to find out. I'm going to find him. If he murdered Steph, I'll have him.'

'I'm with you all the way.'

The hackneyed phrase had never meant so much to Diamond.

'Another beer?'

When he returned to the table, he said to Stormy, 'I was telling you about those files.'

'Files?'

'From Louis Voss at Fulham.'

'Right. I'm with you.'

'One was the Brook Green shooting.'

'I remember that.'

'You do?'

'Only I wasn't on the team.'

Diamond blew gently at the froth on his beer. 'Okay. There are others. Let's shuffle the pack again. How about