“You’re in no position to look after her yourself,” Diamond said. “You’ve got your hands full investigating two murders.”
“Tell me about it!”
“She lost confidence in Special Branch, just as you and I did. She was about to jump ship. They should be grateful someone is willing to take her on board.”
“That’s a neat way of putting it. I’ll use it if they get on to me again.”
“I wouldn’t bother,” Diamond said. “They’re probably listening to us, anyway.”
Barneston’s voice registered alarm. “Do you think so?”
He didn’t go down that road. “How’s the Porter investigation going?”
“The PM results are in. Death was definitely caused by a missile the shape of a crossbow bolt. He was killed elsewhere some hours before and the body was transported to the golf course and dumped in the bunker.”
“Traces?”
“This time we got lucky. They found some fibres on the victim that could have come from whatever the killer was wearing. While he was manhandling the body he must have rubbed against the clothes. I wonder why he bothered moving it out to the golf course.”
“Making a point, Jimmy. The Mariner has an agenda, and he’s carrying it out to the letter. Remember what Emma Tysoe wrote in her file: ‘methodical and cool under stress.’ She was spot on.”
“So are you taking good care of Anna Walpurgis?”
“Star treatment.”
“No problems, then?” he said, unable to hide his disappointment. He’d obviously been through purgatory with the lady.
“None that I noticed.”
“You want to watch out,” he said with a definite note of relish. “I don’t mind betting the Mariner finds his way to Bath.”
If the threat from the Mariner was uppermost in Diamond’s thinking, the matter of Emma Tysoe’s murder was not to be shelved. He called Ingeborg to his office.
“Have you listened to the tape of the Ken Bellman interview?” he asked her.
“Yes, guv.”
“Don’t say a thing,” he said, picking up the fault-finding note in the first word. “I wasn’t happy with it myself. We know a bit more now, but we don’t have the full picture yet. He was on that bloody beach the day she was killed. He admits it. He’d been stalking her day and night. He claims he gave up and went home after she told him to take a hike, but I don’t believe him. I want to put this bugger away, Ingeborg.”
“Are you going to have another go at him?”
“You bet. Only I need more to work with. Do some digging for me. Go right back to when he first met Emma as a student at Liverpool. He says there was nothing in it. Well, not exactly nothing-”
“They didn’t have sex.”
“Right.”
Ingeborg said, level-eyed, “You don’t have to be coy with me, guv. I’ve been around the block a few times.”
“Right.” He was parroting “right” to mask his unease. He
“Not easy to find out without talking to him,” she said.
“I know. You may get nothing. The problem is that Emma Tysoe didn’t share her confidences. The people up at the university weren’t much help when I talked to them. You might do better than me. There was a black woman called Helen Sparks who seemed to know her better than most.”
“They’ll be off on vacation, most of them.”
Ignoring that, Diamond added, “See if she knows anything at all about Bellman.”
“I’ll get onto it right away.”
“I haven’t finished. We didn’t get much out of Bellman’s employers, either. This lot who call themselves Knowhow & Fix. Have a session with them. We don’t have to worry any more about alerting the fox. He knows we’re on the scent. In particular find out where he worked previously. He mentioned somewhere in London.”
“SW1,” said Ingeborg. “And he claimed he was living in Putney at the time.”
“See if that’s true, then. I want the authentic life history.”
“Understood.”
“And Ingeborg…”
“Guv?”
“Got any plans for this evening?”
She blinked, uncertain what he was about to suggest. “Not much-I think.”
“You
She’d coloured deeply. “There could be something in my diary I’ve forgotten.”
“Check it, then. You can do some overtime. Impress me with your efforts. You could swing this case yourself.”
She looked relieved. Eyes shining with so much responsibility, she returned to the incident room.
21
Shortly after ten next morning Diamond took the lift to the top floor of the Bath Spa Hotel. No news, he hoped, was good news-but he knew of course that policemen can’t afford to rely on hope. John Leaman, looking tired but comfortable, was seated in an armchair outside the Beau Nash Suite with the
“Did the management provide this for you?”
Leaman rose like a startled pheasant. “Morning, guv. What was that?”
“The chair?”
“That was Anna’s idea. It comes from inside.”
“You’re on first-name terms, then?”
“She suggested it.”
“How’s it been? Quiet?”
“Remarkably.”
“She is still in there, I suppose?”
“Well, she hasn’t come out, guv. The breakfast went in about nine-fifteen.”
Diamond said in a taut voice, “What do you mean-went in? You allowed someone to go in there?”
“Room service, guv.”
“And you didn’t go in with him? Christ almighty, man. He could have been the Mariner. What do you think you’re here for?” Diamond pressed the bell on the door.
There was an agonising delay before they heard footsteps inside, and it was opened. Anna Walpurgis, triumphantly still of this world, looked out. “My shopping escort! What a star!” she said. “It doesn’t get better than this. Five minutes to finish my face, guys. Come in, and wait.” Leaving the door ajar, she vanished inside.
Knowing every word would be repeated with relish in the Manvers Street canteen, Diamond said curtly to Leaman, “You’re in the clear, then. She survived. Go home and get some sleep.”
An order Leaman was only too pleased to obey.
Inside the main room, Diamond found more of the morning papers scattered about. A Flintstones cartoon was showing on the widescreen TV. A strong whiff of perfume wafted from the open door of the bathroom, more musky than the brand Hen used to mask her cigar smells. He helped himself to a banana from the fruit bowl and unpeeled it.
He’d assumed her five minutes would mean at least twenty, and that was an underestimate by ten. But he
