private address.”
“A private address,” she repeated with mock excitement. “Would that be yours, by any chance? You’re pretty confident for an old guy, huh?”
“You’ll have the place to yourself.”
“There goes the last of my reputation, I guess.”
“With a guard outside.”
Blue eyes are not supposed to flash with such intensity. “So it’s another safe house? No way will I spend the rest of my life locked away with some gun-toting boy with a short haircut and no conversation. Pathetic is what it is.”
Hen said, “It’s not the rest of your life, Anna. It’s just until this killer is caught.”
“And how long exactly is that?”
“This won’t be anything like the regime in a safe house. If you’re willing to help us, it can be over in a short time.”
“They all said that.” She turned to Hen. “Is he married?”
Hen hesitated, then shook her head.
“Funny,” Anna said to Hen, “but I’m quite attracted by the stiff upper lip. Sort of brings up all those old British movies on cable, Kenneth More and Jack Hawkins.” She flashed a look at Diamond. “That you, is it? Cool in a crisis? The sort I could trust with my life?”
He said, “This isn’t about me. It’s about you.”
“Yeah, you know all about me. Everyone knows about me, the gold-digger who married an elderly millionaire when her singing career was on the slide. The tabloids have done it to death. Nobody ever asks me if I love Wally. That’s not in the script. I shut my eyes to the wrinkles and went for the wedge, wrote off two years of my life for the legacy. It’s in the papers, so it must be true.”
The bitterness was inescapable. Diamond had to respond in some way. “I never read that stuff. I’ve heard you sing. I respect you for that.”
“Per-lease,” she said. “You obviously know how to press all the right buttons. Why don’t we do a deal, you and me, Humph? If I keep my head down until tomorrow, stay away from the shops and take all the meals in my room, will you come shopping with me tomorrow?”
“All right,” he said at once. It was the best trade he would get. “And the name is Peter Diamond.”
“As in…?”
He sighed. “Yes-a girl’s best friend.”
She flapped her hand in front of her face. “Too much. Too, too, too, too much.”
20
Later in the afternoon, Georgina, the ACC, was tidying her desk, her thoughts on that Nile cruise, when Diamond knocked on her door.
“You sent for me, ma’am?”
“So I did, Peter. It was mainly about my house sitter, Ms Wal-purgis. Is that a firm arrangement now?”
“Couldn’t be firmer,” he said, beaming reassurance at her in case she was having second thoughts. “She’s already in Bath. She’ll spend tonight at the Bath Spa Hotel, and move into your house tomorrow, after you’ve gone. You’re still OK with it, I hope?”
“I’m depending on it. I’ve cancelled the cattery arrangement for Sultan.”
“Saved yourself some money then.”
“That’s not a consideration,” Georgina told him curtly.
“Of course not. Sultan’s well-being is the main thing.”
“I’ve been home,” she said, “and written out some instructions about his routine. There’s enough tinned food for the ten days, but he likes a little fresh fish, steamed. If Ms Walpurgis would be so good as to collect a fillet of lemon sole from Waitrose every two or three days and cook it between two plates over a saucepan of water he’ll be her friend for life. I’ve left some money in an envelope.”
“You’ve thought of everything,” Diamond said, feeling a pang of guilt about Raffles, who hadn’t had a sniff of fresh fish of any variety since Christmas. Actually he doubted whether Sultan had much prospect of his steamed lemon sole. Anna Walpurgis didn’t seem the sort of person who cooked.
“I’ve also cleared a space at one end of my wardrobe and found a couple of spare hangers.”
With difficulty, he suppressed a smile. “I can guarantee she’ll make use of those, ma’am.”
“And be sure to ask her to sign the visitors’ book. I’ve left it open on the table by the front door.”
The visitors’ book. Georgina
“Table by the front door. Sorted.”
With the important matters settled, Georgina leaned back in her chair. “I understand you interviewed a man about the murder of Dr Tysoe.”
“This morning, ma’am.”
“A suspect?”
“Definitely, but it’s early days. We’re looking at his alibi-so-called.”
“So isn’t he in custody?”
“No, ma’am. We let him go home. I don’t rate him as dangerous to anyone else. He was the jilted lover.”
“A crime of passion, you think?”
“Yes, if he’s the killer, it’s all about jealousy and thwarted love. Don’t worry. He won’t be picking off the citizens of Bath.”
“God forbid. Are there any other suspects?”
“An Australian lifeguard we’re still trying to trace. He went missing soon after the murder. And a couple of men who were at the beach that day and could have killed her for the car.”
“It must have been a good car.”
“A Lotus Esprit. It hasn’t been traced.”
“Well, I suppose it’s possible,” Georgina said. “When I hear of things like this I’m glad I don’t own a car myself.”
“People have been murdered for less,” Diamond said. “Do you have a mobile phone?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Keep it out of sight, ma’am. Don’t tempt them.”
“What’s happening to our world, Peter?”
“Easy pickings, ma’am. The haves display their property and the have-nots relieve them of it.”
“Aren’t the streets of Bath safe any more?”
“Never were. We’d be safer in the backstreets of Cairo.”
After that, Diamond wished Georgina a wonderful holiday in Egypt and she entrusted him with the spare key to her house in Bennett Street.
Hen had already driven back to Bognor-with some reluctance. She had enjoyed seeing the opening moves in the Diamond-Walpurgis game. She would have liked to remain for a sight of the shopping expedition. It was a pity there were important things to do in Sussex.
Back in the incident room, Halliwell told Diamond that Jimmy Barneston had been trying to reach him on the phone. Events had moved ahead so fast that Barneston seemed like part of a previous existence.
He returned the call. Barneston was under stress again.
“I’ve had Bramshill onto me demanding to know what the hell is going on. Special Branch told them you’ve taken over responsibility for Anna Walpurgis. They seem to think you’ve hijacked my investigation as well. I tried telling them it isn’t like that, and we lost confidence in Special Branch after the fiasco with Matthew Porter, but they told me I made a mistake handing her over to you.”
“Pillocks.”
“I agree.”
