Diamond thought about challenging this assumption and then decided there was more of value to be learned by moving on. ‘You viewed the body this morning?’ he asked Allardyce.
‘This morning, yes. What happened was that the paperboy found her first. He knocked on Guy’s door-’
‘Repeatedly, about seven-fifteen, when I was feeling like death myself,’ Treadwell pitched in, unwilling to have his part in these events reported second-hand. ‘When I got up to look and saw her lying there, it was obvious that she was past help. I called the police and then went up to tell William.’
‘I came down and we were together when your patrol car arrived,’ Allardyce completed it.
‘So you both saw the body?’
Treadwell answered for them, ‘We were asked by your people to go down the basement stairs and look. Not a pleasant duty when you’re totally unused to the sight of blood. We confirmed that we don’t know who the poor woman is.’
‘Other than my seeing her on the stairs with her friend the evening before,’ Allardyce added. ‘But as to her identity, we can’t help.’
Diamond nodded to register that he’d digested all of that. ‘We’d like to see how she got onto the roof. I expect our people have already been up there?’
‘I think half the police force have been up there,’ Allardyce said. ‘The access is from the attic room, which is above the room we sleep in. I’ll show you. You’ll have to excuse the chaos. We haven’t even had time to make our bed.’
‘There were people in here while the party was on?’ Diamond asked in the bedroom, a vast high-ceilinged room with pale blue drapes on the wall above a kingsize bed.
‘They were everywhere. You can’t imagine how crowded it was. When we finally came to bed, there were beer-cans scattered about the room. We pushed them to the edges, as you see. I don’t like to contemplate what else we’ll find when we begin to clear up properly.’
‘But you won’t do that until I give the word,’ said Diamond.
‘Save your breath. We’ve had our instructions.’ Allardyce escorted them across the room to the door leading to the attic. He offered to show them up.
Diamond said there was no need. He and Julie went up the stairs to what must once have been a servant’s room. Now it was a junk room largely taken up with packing-cases and luggage. The window was open and it took no great effort for Diamond to shift his bulk across the sill and stand outside.
‘Fabulous view,’ said Julie as she joined him.
‘That isn’t why we’re here.’
‘But it is terrific, you must admit.’
He gave a nod without actually facing the view. ‘Where did you learn about eighteenth-century plasterwork?’
‘I didn’t. We’ve got an acanthus in our garden.’ She leaned over the balustrade. Quite far over. ‘It is a fair drop.’
‘I wouldn’t do that, Julie.’
She drew herself back and gave a faint smile with a suggestion of mockery. ‘Do you have a fear of heights, Mr Diamond?’
‘No, no. Not at all.’
‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of.’
‘I said I’m all right. I only spoke because…’
‘Yes?’
‘Your skirt’s undone.’
‘Oh, hell.’ Blushing deeply she felt for the zip and pulled the tab over a small white V of exposed underwear.
Diamond was tempted to make some remark about the view, but for once he behaved impeccably. ‘The woman was seen sitting here on the ledge, apparently. It doesn’t suggest she was forced over.’
‘She could have been pushed.’
‘True. But she’d got herself into a dangerous position. The odds are that she meant to jump.’
‘Or fly.’
He let that sink in. ‘You’re thinking drugs?’
‘It was a party.’
‘We’ll see what the blood shows.’
‘The other possibility is that she fell by mistake,’ said Julie. ‘She could have been sitting here to show off, made braver by a few drinks, and then lost her balance. Easy to do.’
They returned to the living-room where the shocked tenants sat in silence.
‘How much did you win?’ Diamond asked no one in particular.
‘Win?’ said Sally Allardyce.
‘The lottery.’
‘We don’t know yet,’ said Treadwell. ‘It won’t be much. The mob who descended on us seemed to think we’d won the jackpot.’
‘Four numbers should get you something over fifty pounds,’ said Diamond. ‘Maybe as much as a hundred. Enough to get your carpets cleaned.’
‘Not enough to pay for the food and drink we were robbed of last night. Where did we go wrong?’
Treadwell’s wife reminded him, ‘Our problems are nothing beside the tragedy of the young woman’s death.’
Treadwell grasped how insensitive his remark had been. ‘What a fatal chain of circumstances. If we hadn’t shouted about our winnings in a public bar, she’d still be alive.’
‘We were all looking out for the numbers on the TV,’ said Sally. ‘We couldn’t have kept quiet, Guy.’
‘Who picked the numbers?’ Diamond asked.
‘Guy,’ said Sally. ‘We all have faith in Guy. He’s one of those amazing people who win things all the time.’
‘That’s an exaggeration,’ Treadwell pointed out.
‘Have you won the lottery before, then?’
‘It was our first time as a syndicate.’
‘First time winners. You should do it again.’
‘No way,’ said Emma.
Diamond adopted a sagelike expression and commented, ‘“He who can predict winning numbers has no need to let off crackers.”’
‘What are you on about?’ said Treadwell.
‘I was quoting from Kai Lung.’
The relevance of the saying – if relevant it was – escaped them all.
‘So how does this lucky streak manifest itself, Mr Treadwell?’
There was a huff of impatience from the lucky man.
Sally said, ‘Own up, Guy. There was that inheritance that came out of the blue. Five grand from a cousin in the Channel Islands you hadn’t even met. And that Sunday paper that featured you as the architect of the nineties. A big spread in the colour supplement.’
‘That wasn’t luck,’ said Treadwell.
Emma chimed in, ‘The lucky bit was that you went to the same Cambridge college as the editor.’
He snapped back, ‘So are you inferring it wasn’t in the paper on merit?’
‘Of course not. We’re saying you’re a winner, and you are. You go on your digs and you’re the only one who finds anything all weekend.’
“What’s this,’ said Diamond. ‘Archaeology?’
‘A pastime, at a very amateur level,’ said Treadwell.
‘You found those gorgeous old bottles on the river bank,’ said Emma.
‘They’re nothing special,’ said Treadwell.
‘Admit it, Guy. You get all the breaks.’
Allardyce said gallantly, ‘And your luckiest break of all was getting hitched to Emma.’
Emma blushed at the compliment, but her churlish husband said nothing.
