Unfortunately the two lads on duty hadn’t been around on the day of the murder. “You want to speak to the Aussies,” one of them said. “They know all about it.”
He would have to leave the Aussies for another day. He crunched across the pebbles to Seton and said, “Let’s go. Mustn’t keep you from your researches.”
Seton didn’t smile. He was probably thinking Diamond was a suitable case for analysis.
7
Diamond got back to Bath just before seven and dropped Dr Seton outside his lodgings, where else but in Odd Down? He swore a few times to release the tension, lowered the windows for some fresh air, and then set off directly for the university campus at Claverton.
Tired from all the driving, which he knew he didn’t do well, he found himself in the early evening snarl-up. Coming down Wellsway into the city in a slow-moving line of traffic he let his attention wander. Halfway down, they had erected one of those mechanical billboards with rotating strips that displayed three different ads. These had the same slogan, BECAUSE IT’S BRITISH METAL, but the pictures altered. He watched an image of Concorde being replaced by the Millennium Bridge-and then jammed his foot on the brake just in time to avoid running into the bus in front of him. Fortunately the driver behind him was more alert.
He was relieved to complete the drive without mishap.
The Department of Behavioural Psychology was quiet at this hour, though not deserted. A research student confirmed that Professor Chromik had been in earlier.
“Do you happen to know where he lives?”
The young man shook his head.
“It’s important.”
“You might catch him at the end-of-semester bash later tonight if he hasn’t already pissed off to Spain, or somewhere.”
“Where’s it held?”
“The clubhouse at the Bath Golf Club.”
Dr Seton hadn’t mentioned a staff party. Possibly his colleagues had decided not to tell him.
There was time to go home to Weston and shower. He called the nick to make sure he still had a job, as he put it to Keith Halliwell. Nothing more dramatic had happened in Bath than a middle-aged streaker running down Milsom Street. “He didn’t have a lot to show to the world,” Halliwell said. “Nobody complained.”
“How did we get to hear about it, then?”
“A Japanese tourist tried to get a photo. The streaker grabbed the camera and carried on running and we had to decide whether to do him for theft. But you know how it is trying to nick a naked man. Not one of the foot patrols answered the shout, so he got away. The camera was recovered later behind a bush in Parade Gardens.”
Unwisely, Halliwell asked if the trip to Bognor had turned up anything.
“Which reminds me,” Diamond said. “You went up to the university and spoke to the professor, right? Did he tell you about the tosser he unloaded on me for the day?”
“Not a word,” Halliwell said.
“Is that the truth?”
“Didn’t you get on, guv?”
“Don’t push me, Keith. I have a strong suspicion you were in on this.”
“In on what? I’m not following you at all.”
He seemed to be speaking sincerely, so Diamond moved on to other matters. “What’s this professor like? I’m going to meet him tonight.”
“He’ll talk. Doesn’t give much away, but I don’t know how much there is to tell. The dead woman was very brilliant, he said. She’s on the list of approved offender profilers and the university seem to be under some obligation to let her go off and assist with investigations.”
“Pressure from the Home Office?”
“Could be. All their undergraduate students have to be found placements in their third year for job experience. Some of them go to the Crime Analysis Unit at the Yard.”
“Did he talk about the cases she’s involved in?”
“He was guarded about that.”
“Let’s see if I can catch him off guard tonight.”
He took that shower, and decided on the dress code for a university staff party at a golf club on a summer evening. Cream-coloured trousers, navy shirt and pale blue linen jacket. As a safeguard, he tucked a tie into an inner pocket. Golf clubs could be sniffy about open necks. The shirt was a favourite, made of a fabric that didn’t crease. In the year since Steph had died, he’d scorched a couple of shirts trying to iron them.
It was after eight when he parked his old Cortina in a nice position outside the club, only for some member to point out that he was in the space reserved for the club captain. Tempted to riposte that the captain wasn’t using it, he controlled himself and found another berth. As an extra gesture to conformity, he put on the tie, a sober- looking black one with a repeat design of silver handcuffs, some wag’s bright idea for a birthday gift for a copper.
Inside, he located the psychology crowd in a private room upstairs. Plenty of beards and bow ties. Leather jackets seemed to be
“You don’t have the look of a trick cyclist,” he told her.
She said, “Can I take that as a compliment?”
“Of course.”
“I’m Tara, the PA.”
“To the boss man, by any chance?”
“He’s the only one of this lot who rates a PA. And who are you?”
“The unlucky cop who took Dr Seton to the seaside today.”
Tara gave the beginning of a smile, and no more. Like every good PA, she was discreet-which Diamond was not.
“After five hours in the car with that weirdo I deserve this drink,” he said, and told her his name. “Which one is Professor Chromik?”
“Over on the right, with his back to us.”
“Frizzy black hair and half-glasses?”
“That’s him. Did he invite you, then?”
“No, but I’m here to talk to him. You must have heard about Dr Emma Tysoe.”
Her features creased. “It wasn’t really Emma?”
“Seton identified her.”
She put her hand to her throat. “None of us thought it was possible. She went missing, but… this!”
He was silent, giving her time to take it in.
“And here we are, enjoying ourselves,” she said. “Did you come here specially to tell the professor?”
If the truth were told, he hadn’t. He’d come to ask questions, not pass on the bad news. It hadn’t occurred to him that someone had to tell them, and it was unlikely Seton would have got in touch already. However, it legitimised his presence here. “I intend to break the news to him,” he said as if it had always been his painful duty. “Have you any idea what she was doing down at Wightview Sands?”
She lifted her shoulders a fraction. “Maybe she likes the seaside.”
“Was she on holiday?”
“Not officially. She had this arrangement to take time off to help the police with difficult cases. I expect you know about it. She told us she was on a case. But she usually lets us know where she is. She phones almost every day to check in.”
