He hadn’t been sitting in his favourite armchair for five minutes when he had his brainwave. If Rachel Diamond hadn’t been watching TV and reading the papers, it was possible she hadn’t seen a picture of Yousef Aziz. She may have seen her husband in his company without even realizing it. He needed to make sure. He needed to see her reaction to a photo of her husband’s killer.
He fished his phone out of his pocket and called Carol’s number. She answered, sounding breathless. ‘Not now, Tony, she said. ‘I’m right in the middle of something. I’ll call you in an hour or two.’ And she was gone. An hour or two? In two hours, he would be out of energy. He would want to be upstairs, horizontal under the duvet, sleeping in the warm embrace of his own bed.
Well, she couldn’t say he hadn’t tried. He’d have preferred to have had someone with him, if only to make the drive more congenial. But Carol had made it plain she didn’t want him suborning her people. He’d just have to go it alone.
While he was waiting for the taxi, he called Stacey and had her email him the best head-shot they had of Aziz. Then he realized his printers were upstairs. So he had the taxi wait while he dragged himself upstairs, printed out the photo, and winced his way back down again. ‘You look knackered,’ the cabbie said, insisting on helping him aboard.
‘I feel it,’ Tony said. He put his head back on the seat and was out for the count by the time they reached the end of the street. He woke with a start when the cabbie shook his shoulder twenty minutes later.
‘We’re here, mate,’ he said.
‘Can you wait?’ Tony said. ‘I shouldn’t be long.’
He went through the rigmarole of getting out of the taxi, smoothing down the hair that the cabbie pointed out was sticking up, and walking up to the front door. The bell was answered by a woman in her early sixties. She looked like a Jewish version of Germaine Greer and actually had a pencil sticking out of her unruly steel grey hair. She peered at him over little oblong glasses. ‘Yes?’ she said, looking puzzled.
‘I was looking for Rachel,’ Tony said.
‘Rachel? I’m sorry, you’ve had a wasted journey. She’s gone into the office. I’m her mother, Esther Weissman. And you are?’
Before Tony could introduce himself, Lev appeared at his grandmother’s side. ‘I know you. You came yesterday with the policewoman.’ He looked up at his grandmother. ‘A man hit him with an axe.’
‘How very unfortunate,’ Mrs Weissman said. Lev slipped past her and craned his head to the side so he could see the photo Tony was holding against his crutch.
‘Why have you got a picture of Mummy’s friend?’ he asked.
Startled, Tony balanced himself on the arm supports and held the photo right way up. ‘his is Mummy’s friend?’
‘We met him in the park one time. He bought me an ice cream.’
Mrs Weissman was trying to see the photo. Realizing that he was holding the equivalent of a rucksack full of TATP, Tony moved so she couldn’t see it. ‘What have you got there?’ she demanded.
‘Just someone from the thing on Saturday,’ he said, trying to suggest this was something not to be discussed in front of a child. ‘A question of identity. I hoped Rachel might be able to help. I’m with the police. It’s all right, I’ll catch her at the office.’ He was trying to back away, keep the photo out of sight and not fall over Lev. It was a major achievement just staying upright.
For a terrible moment, he was afraid Mrs Weissman was going to grab the photo from his hands. But the manners of polite society prevailed and she managed to stop herself. ‘I’ll be off, then,’ he said, swinging himself round and making for the cab as fast as he could.
‘I didn’t catch your name,’ Mrs Weissman called after him.
Childish though it would have been, he wanted to shout,
‘I can’t she said. ‘The chief gave me a bit of a lecture about how I don’t work for you.’
‘Paula, this is vital. I tried to call Carol, but she was too busy to speak to me. Look, I went out to Rachel Diamond’s house, to see if she might recognize a photo of Aziz. Given that she said she’s not been following the media, I thought it was possible she’d seen him without knowing it. Only, she wasn’t there.’
‘And?’ Paula sounded exasperated.
‘And Lev saw the picture and went, “Why have you got a picture of Mummy’s friend?”’
For a long moment, Paula said nothing. Then she breathed, ‘Oh my God.’
‘Yeah. They met in the park. Aziz bought the kid an ice cream, which will be why he remembers him so clearly.’
‘Oh my God. You need to talk to the chief.’
‘I told you. Whatever she’s doing, she’s too busy to take my call.’
‘She’s gone to Pannal Castle with Chris,’ Paula said absently. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Rachel’s supposed to be at her office. Call to make sure she’s there, and then stake the place out till I can talk to Carol. I’m sure her mother’s already on the phone to her, telling her about the strange man who came to the house with a photo. We don’t want her to take off.’
‘We’ve got no evidence,’ Paula said. ‘There’s no way you’re going to get the kid to testify against her.’
‘True. But I have one or two ideas about that. Please, Paula. I’ll take the flak. If there is any. But we need to not let her out of our sight.’
‘She knows me.’
