‘No chance. I think he’s the murderer.’
After a pause, to be sure that he was serious, she spoke her mind. ‘This is an about-turn, isn’t it? You’ve been telling all and sundry that Rose is the killer.’
‘Of the farmer, yes.’
‘Is she, then?’
The lack of contact between them had never been so apparent. ‘No, Rose is innocent’
‘After all that you’ve been saying?’
Unwisely, he was still trying to claim some credit. ‘The way I prefer to put it, Julie, is that I confirmed my earlier theory. Allardyce was our main suspect from the day we met him. Remember the missing shoe? You can’t have forgotten us watching his car for hours.’
She said, ‘We were investigating something else.’
‘Right. I hadn’t connected Hildegarde’s death with the farmer’s. This new information that Emma has been hiding Rose stands the whole thing on its head. William is our man.’
‘Both murders?’ she said in disbelief. ‘William Allardyce?’
‘Don’t tell me you like the man.’
‘That’s neither here nor there.’
‘But…?’
‘He was easier to deal with than the rest of them. He went out of his way to be pleasant.’
‘His job,’ Diamond cynically dismissed it. ‘PR.’ He swayed against her as they swung left into George Street. ‘God, don’t you hate being driven fast?’
The car’s speed didn’t bother Julie. Being crushed against the arm-rest didn’t either, but being crushed by force of personality was something else. she said nothing. She was waiting for him to make his case against Allardyce.
Instead, he asked, ‘Did you believe what Sally just told us?’
‘About what – her husband with Emma?’
‘The tyre, Julie. The slashed tyre.’
‘Yes, I believed her.’
He sighed. ‘So did I.’
‘What is it about the damned tyre?’ she asked. ‘You won’t let go.’
‘I won’t let go because it’s crucial to the whole shooting match.’ Competing with the engine, he explained, ‘We have two angry spouses, Guy Treadwell and Sally Allardyce: reason enough to sabotage the car. I put it to them both and they denied it, and we believe them, right?’ Julie nodded.
‘And there’s no earthly reason, is there, why Allardyce would have done the slashing himself and then reported it?’
‘I can’t think of one.’
‘So who else knew where the car was parked last night?’
She pondered the options. ‘Only Emma. But she’s supposed to be his lover. She had no reason either.’
‘Oh, but she had,’ he said. ‘She had a reason, Julie, a far better reason than anyone else.’
Emma was not sleeping. She was lying in the cell wrapped in the blanket, but that was to keep warm. When the door was unbolted, she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.
‘Straight answers, now,’ Diamond demanded. ‘Where did you take Rose?’
Her mouth tightened.
He told her, ‘William Allardyce isn’t home yet. We just came from there. His wife says he followed you when you went out this evening soon after seven.’
She drew in a sharp breath and still said nothing.
‘Emma, you don’t want another killing on your conscience. You’ve been protecting Rose. That’s why you disabled his car last night. Isn’t that so?’
She stared away at the blank wall, absorbing what he had said.
‘You put his car out of action to stop him following you. But he’s out there now and he came after you tonight. How long is it since you left Rose?’
Now, giving way to emotion at last, her face creased in anguish.
‘You loved the man,’ Diamond went on, still taking the tolerant line with her. ‘You had an affair and it went horribly wrong. He’s a killer twice over, your lover. He shot the old farmer, didn’t he? And he threw the woman off the roof of your house. You know he won’t stop at two. If Rose isn’t dead already, she will be shortly. Where is she, Emma? Where are you keeping Rose?’ He grasped her arms and practically shook her.
She turned her terrified eyes on him. ‘Prior Park Buildings.’
‘Where’s that? You’re coming with us.’
In the short drive across the Avon and out along Claverton Street, Diamond got some more things straight with Emma.
‘He was using you – you realise that? Putting you out front, getting the plans of Marton Farm through your official duties as a surveyor. No doubt you were excited by his stories of a fabulous hoard waiting to be dug up. But did you know he was willing to kill for it?’
She was ready to talk now that she understood the danger Rose was in. ‘William was jealous of Guy. He was so reasonable in every other way,’ she said in a voice drained of all emotion. ‘Totally charming and civilised, much more in control than my husband.’
‘You say “in every other way”.’
‘He had this obsession – there’s no other word for it-with beating Guy at his own game. Guy seems to lead a charmed life. You’ve heard us talk about his good luck, and it’s true. Well, his hobby is archaeology.’
‘William wanted to beat him at that?’
She nodded. ‘By making a sensational find. He read about an Anglo-Saxon sword dug up during the war.’
‘The Tormarton Seax.’
Diamond’s status improved several notches. she said after a surprised interval, ‘That’s right.’
‘Go on.’
‘Well, you seem to know about it. The family have never allowed anyone onto the land. Because of the war and the dog-in-the-manger attitude of the family, nothing actually happened after the sword was found. William researched the site. He sent me to the County Planning Office – which, of course, I’m familiar with – to copy maps of local burial sites. He read everything he could about the Anglo-Saxons and decided there was a real chance that other objects were waiting to be dug up. He believed it was worth buying the farm to make a search.’
‘Buying it? He was as confident as that?’
‘Massively confident.’
‘And you encouraged him?’
‘He didn’t need encouraging.’ She sighed and coloured a little. ‘It was the sure way of pleasing him.’
‘So what happened? He offered to buy the land?’
‘At a fair price. But old Mr Gladstone wouldn’t sell.’
‘One stubborn old farmer stood in his way. Wouldn’t even let you run a metal-detector over it.’
‘That wasn’t suggested. William was careful never to mention why he was interested in the farm. He said to me – and I think he was right – that any talk of possible finds would wreck the deal for ever.’
‘So when he couldn’t acquire the land by lawful means, he shot the old man.’
She was quick to close him down. ‘It wasn’t so crude as that. William visited the farm and made a good offer that Mr Gladstone turned down. He refused to leave the cottage. He’d been born there and he would die there, he said.’
‘And he did.’
She ignored that observation. ‘Then, William went back with a better idea. He would buy the land and the cottage on the understanding that Mr Gladstone would remain in the cottage as tenant – and for no rent. And William would pay for renovations as well. But it just seemed to inflame the old man.’
‘When was this?’
‘The Friday evening before…’
‘Before the body was found? And you were there?’
To confirm this could easily make her an accessory to murder, but she answered without hesitation, ‘Yes. The
