Killing with Confetti

29

Forensic science is a true friend of the investigator, but maddeningly unresponsive when you most need results. In the first forty-eight hours, you are on your own. Diamond had sent the corpse to the dissection table and the items collected from the hypocaust and the roof, the firearms, balaclava, backpack and other items, to the lab for DNA testing. Yet until the white coats reported their findings, he was reliant on the time-honoured process of question and answer. He complained loudly about the delay and secretly relished the chance to exercise his brain.

Although it was Sunday and the morning after an exhausting night, he was energised by the prospect of some real detective work. He never wanted to be on protection duty again. He had rallied the team for an 11 A.M. meeting. Matins without the praying, he’d called it, and was pleased to get a full congregation. The bishop himself was there, in the shape of DCC George Brace, who had asked to be kept in the loop. Even the choirboy Paul Gilbert was present, as pale as the surgical dressing on his head.

‘I’m calling it a suspicious death,’ Diamond told them, ‘and straight away I see some eyes rolling. Hold your horses until you’ve heard me out. Something isn’t right. A hitman on a mission to kill turns the gun on himself. I don’t buy it. I wouldn’t buy it if it came with all the tea in China.’

‘You’re a coffee-drinker,’ DI John Leaman, the pedant of the team, said.

‘Yes, and I told you to hold your horses and I knew you couldn’t.’ He switched to young Gilbert. ‘Paul, you’re the only one of us who met this guy. Was there anything about him that suggested he would kill himself?’

‘It never crossed my mind, guv. I was too busy thinking he would kill me.’

Some of the team chuckled at that.

Diamond glared at them as if they really were in church. His main witness had suffered enough. ‘You told me you tried to get him talking.’

‘He wasn’t saying much.’

‘And neither were you with duct tape over your mouth. We get that much.’

Smiling was encouraged when Diamond made the joke.

‘When he first attacked me, there wasn’t much said and that was one-sided. He was questioning me and I was in shock.’

‘In pain, I should think.’

‘Well, yes. And a gun at my head. All I could think was to give away as little as possible. He’d overpowered me and disarmed me, I’m ashamed to say. He chucked everything out of reach.’

‘What did he want to know?’

‘My name. He’d guessed I was a plainclothes officer. I couldn’t stay silent. He would have shot me. All I could see was this masked face and the staring eyes behind the mask and they weren’t bluffing so I said who I was.’

‘Anything else?’

‘He wanted to know if anyone would be coming up there to relieve me. I think I said no to that.’

‘Quite right. We don’t do relieving,’ Diamond said. ‘Anyone works for me, he’s lucky if he gets the chance to relieve himself.’

Smiles all round.

‘And he asked about my personal radio. I said I’d already reported in, thinking it might discourage him from keeping me prisoner for long, but it didn’t. He asked for my call signal and I made something up. After that, he well and truly trussed me up.’

‘And left you lying in the gutter?’

‘He forgot about me. The rain came and the drains couldn’t cope and I nearly drowned. I only survived by wriggling along to where my backpack was and propping my head on it. I wouldn’t want to go through that again. Finally he came back and saw the state I was in. He ripped the gag off to help me breathe and dragged me out of the gutter to a higher place on the slope of the roof.’

‘Did he say anything?’

‘He didn’t say sorry.’

Gilbert’s chance to earn some laughter.

‘But he gave me water.’

‘The last thing you needed, I should think.’

‘Actually no. With the gag on, I was dehydrated. And he talked a little. He said he hadn’t bargained for the rain. I asked if he’d done what he came for and he said he wouldn’t still be there if he had. This must have been after everyone had gone into the abbey because he asked me how long a wedding service lasts and I said I thought about an hour. I tried to keep him talking and find out what he would do next. He said, “They’ve got to come out, haven’t they?” I asked him if he was under orders to kill the bastard — trying to be chummy, like, and let him know we’re no friends of Irving — but he didn’t rise to that. Too obvious, I suppose. He covered my mouth again.’

‘Would you say he was depressed?’

‘Don’t know about him. I was.’

This earned the biggest laugh of all.

‘Definitely not depressed,’ Gilbert added, to bring the meeting to order.

‘Desperate?’

‘I didn’t think so. Angry is more like it, because he hadn’t been able to do what he came for. He went back for another try.’

‘And failed again. When did you see him next?’

‘After the wedding ended. The bell-ringing had stopped for quite a long time.’

‘How did he seem at that stage?’

‘Calmer than before, quite a lot calmer. He took the tape off my mouth and gave me water and a few bites at the apple from my backpack. He must have already decided to go over the wall into the Roman Baths and leave me tied up and helpless, but he didn’t want me dying of thirst.’

‘Is that what he told you?’

‘No, it’s what I think.’

‘Stick to what actually happened, Paul.’

‘He said he wouldn’t be hand-feeding me for long. I remember asking him what he’d got against Joe Irving and he told me to shut up and eat the apple.’

‘Is that what you call calm?’

‘In control, anyway. I tried to find out what time it was and he wouldn’t say. I said I hadn’t heard a shot and that really pissed him off. He pressed the tape over my mouth again and left me. That was the last I saw of him.’

‘Did you see his face at any stage?’

‘No, he kept the mask on.’

‘But you saw the handgun.’

‘Did I?’

‘At the beginning.’

Paul Gilbert shut his eyes, struggling to remember. A few seconds passed. Then: ‘Of course. After he bashed me with the assault rifle, he put the pistol against my head.’ Another pause. ‘I couldn’t tell you what make it was.’

More laughter.

Not from Diamond. His facial muscles tightened. ‘If anyone thinks it’s funny being hit about the head and body with the butt of a rifle and threatened with a bullet through your skull and then tied up and left in rising water, they don’t deserve to be in the room with this young officer. You’re a credit to the force, DC Gilbert. I have no more questions for you. If you want to go home and get some rest, feel free.’

‘Thanks, guv. I’d rather stay.’

That storm cloud passed. Diamond leaned back in the chair and linked both hands behind his head. He was in charge here — even with George Brace outranking him — and keen to share his ideas about the death. ‘Okay. Here are some reasonable assumptions. Stop me if you disagree.’

If you dare, more like.

‘Our gunman was twice prevented by the rain from making the kill — both before and immediately after the wedding. All he would have seen from his viewpoint was umbrellas. He decided to have another go during the reception in the Baths. He left the assault rifle on the roof with other things he didn’t need because now he was planning a close-up killing. The handgun was a more useful weapon. He will have got into the Great Bath by climbing over the dividing wall accessible only from where he was. The pathologist noticed some slight damage to his hands. The new plan was to hide up and ambush Joe Irving at the first opportunity. Are you with me so far?’

Nobody dissented, so he continued. ‘Paul tells us the guy appeared to be in control when he last saw him. He’d modified his plan, but he was still committed to carrying it out. At some stage of the evening, Joe would leave the party. A trip to the toilet, a quiet smoke, an early escape. If you’re using a handgun to make a clean kill, you need to get close, however good you are. This guy was a professional, that’s clear enough. He will have found somewhere in the Roman ruins to hide up and wait for his opportunity.’

‘Where exactly was the reception going on?’ Leaman asked.

‘Sorry. I should have said. It started with drinks in the entrance hall. Big room. Plenty of people milling about. Definitely a chance to get in close. I was there and I was expecting trouble, believe me.’

‘He won’t have been dressed for a party,’ Ingeborg pointed out. ‘Anyone in jeans and a T-shirt would stand out.’

‘Right, he couldn’t pass as a guest. I was thinking he’d step out from the side of the room, behind a plant, say. But he didn’t. The guests were ushered downstairs to the Great Bath, where the photos were taken. The photography didn’t happen earlier because of the rain.’

‘That’s an even more dangerous location,’ Ingeborg said.

‘A nightmare. The place is surrounded by bits of old columns and other chunks of stone from Roman times. Dead easy to hide behind. What’s more, the lighting was by flaming torches. Great place for an ambush, you’d think, especially when everyone was being lined up for the camera. My thought was that the hitman would come from behind when everyone was standing along the edge of the bath facing the other side. I guarded Irving’s back as well as I was able. He was a soft target there. But as you know, the hit didn’t happen. They took more photos of the main guests in various groupings while everyone else went upstairs for the meal.’

‘Where was that?’ Halliwell asked.

‘The wedding breakfast? In a glorified corridor overlooking the bath.’ He caught George’s frown from the back and put it more tactfully. ‘No, that’s too sweeping. It’s bigger than that, known as the terrace. They can seat eighty people at tables along one side. That’s where the meal was eaten and the speeches were given. Not so easy for an ambush. But when the formal stuff had been got through, we were told to move downstairs for the disco. Back to the reception hall, now transformed. Strobe lighting. A DJ at one end with his workstation. The main lights were off and we were sitting in the dark apart from the flashing beams. Real danger again. However, there was no shooting. Why? Because the killing had already been done downstairs in the hypocaust and the victim was the hitman.’

‘When you say “victim...”’ Leaman began.

‘I used the word deliberately. I can’t believe he killed himself.’

‘Are you thinking Joe Irving got to him?’

‘In a word, yes. There was a change in Joe at the wedding reception. He was more laid-back and confident, as if he knew any danger was already over.’ He brought George Brace into the discussion. ‘Is that how you saw it, sir?’

‘Now that you mention it, yes,’ George said in support. ‘He made a rather good speech, better than any of us expected.’

‘The speech, yes.’ Diamond raised a finger. This was a point he’d missed. ‘I was surprised how confident he was.’

‘He should have been, guv, with you as his minder,’ Ingeborg said.

Diamond gave her a sharp look to see whether a smile had underpinned the remark, but it seemed to be meant as a genuine compliment. ‘I don’t think he rated me at all.’

‘But there’s another side of the coin, isn’t there?’ she said.

‘What’s that?’

‘With you watching his back all evening it’s difficult to see how he could have killed the gunman.’

‘Before we come to “how,” I want to deal with “when.” It will help us later.’ He was in his element now, dissecting a crime. ‘Through no fault of my own, I spent a large part of the evening in the company of two of Joe Irving’s nieces, and that’s a story in itself. You’ll need to know that their daughters were the three bridesmaids. These kids soon got bored sitting at the table and were allowed to go wandering. Modern parents don’t seem to have much control, or these didn’t. Their offspring had the run of the place for an hour or more. They came back after Joe had made his speech and just before the bridegroom stood up to speak and they were over-excited and claimed they’d found a dead body. The mothers dismissed it and I thought much the same, but I checked the time, just in case. It was ten-twenty. With hindsight we know the kids were right and this gives us one of the parameters for the incident. Ten-fifteen is the very latest it could have happened.’

‘But you were with Irving all through the evening,’ Leaman said, repeating Ingeborg’s point.

‘I’m coming to that,’ Diamond said. ‘Obviously we need to establish the earliest the fatal shot was fired. The Roman Baths were open to the public all day. People are coming through all the time. There’s no chance the shooting happened before closing time, which is six P.M. The reception started at seven-thirty. I was there at the start and as John just reminded us I kept tabs on Joe Irving from then until the party ended.’

‘Which narrows it down to the ninety minutes between six and seven-thirty,’ Ingeborg said.

‘If Irving killed him,’ Leaman put in, ever the sceptic on the team.

Ingeborg didn’t allow him to divert her. ‘There will have been people around the complex for some of that time, mainly caterers and security staff, but an area like the hypocaust is closed and gets left alone. An ideal place for the gunman to hide until the reception gets underway.’

‘Does that fit your timescale?’ Leaman asked — and the ‘your’ made clear that he wasn’t yet convinced. ‘When did Paul last see him?’

Paul Gilbert was shaking his head. ‘The wedding was well over. That’s all I can say for sure. I asked him what time it was, but he wouldn’t say. I’d lost track by then.’

Diamond said, ‘He must have waited for the baths to close. I reckon he went in shortly after six.’

‘So, like I just said, we have a time slot,’ Ingeborg said. ‘Next question: where was Joe Irving? Did he arrive early? Presumably he went home after the wedding to get ready for the evening event.’

‘There wasn’t much getting ready,’ Diamond said. ‘He was wearing the same clothes he’d been dressed in at the abbey. Some of us had taken the trouble to go home and change.’

Looks were exchanged among the team. Almost everyone had seen the suit the boss had changed into, but nobody was bold enough to comment.

‘And I can tell you something else I heard from the cousins at my table. Joe wasn’t at his house that afternoon. He had a caller, a woman friend apparently, and one of the cousins went to the door and told her he was out. They made a joke of it, saying he’d cleared off because his house was full of excited females.’

‘I’m with him there,’ Halliwell said.

‘Sexist,’ Ingeborg said.

‘Three small girls, their mothers and the bride, all getting ready for a big night out? Give me a break.’

‘The bride was back home with her new husband.’

‘Okay, only five females.’ Halliwell’s eyes rolled at the prospect. ‘I grew up with sisters. How much longer is she taking in the bathroom? What happened to all the clean towels? I just ruined my tights. My lashes won’t stay on. I brought the wrong shoes. I forgot to bring my extensions.’

‘Give it a rest, Keith,’ Diamond said. ‘I was telling you about Joe Irving being out all afternoon. He was free to turn up early at the Roman Baths and make his own security check. If he found the gunman and killed him, it was reasonable to expect no one would discover the body until next day.’

‘Which brings us to the crunch,’ Leaman said. ‘How did he do it? How could anyone have done it?’

‘Faking a suicide? You surprise your victim and get close enough to put your gun to his head and pull the trigger. Then you clean your prints off the grip, wrap his hand around the gun and drop it somewhere near him. Obviously, you relieve him of his own weapon before leaving the scene.’

‘Not so easy as it sounds. He was a professional hitman, agreed?’

‘Irving is a professional, too.’

‘Yes, but is any hitman so dozy that he lets himself get ambushed like that? He’s alone in the hypocaust and keyed up to kill. He’s going to be hypertense.’

Diamond couldn’t fault that. And Leaman hadn’t finished.

‘It’s just about impossible to creep up on anyone in that big space with all the columns of tiles and the uneven footing. I’ve studied it online. It’s an obstacle course. All those columns built on plinths in states of disrepair. Ridges to step over. Cavities between them. You’d have a job staying upright.’

‘I know,’ Diamond said. ‘Some of us have been there. But it will have been in near-darkness.’

‘Even more difficult to step through.’

‘True.’

‘And in silence? No chance.’

Leaman must have been taught by the Jesuits. He found the weak points in any theory. Typical of him to have checked the footings on his screen. He hadn’t even been inside the hypocaust. Diamond had stumbled through it himself and couldn’t deny that his main critic on the team was right.

‘Fair enough. It must have happened another way.’ How feeble was that? He knew as he said the words that he hadn’t thought of another way. He’d lost the plot.

Ingeborg came to his rescue. ‘John, you talked about this guy being a professional. In that case you’ve got to explain why a professional killer turns the gun on himself.’

‘I haven’t got to explain anything.’

‘Someone has to if it was suicide.’

Leaman wasn’t backing down. ‘We’ll know more about that when the tests come back. Until then it’s all speculation.’

‘Some of the biggest discoveries in history began with speculation,’ she said. ‘We ought to be asking ourselves why a hard man like this would take his own life. If we can’t come up with a plausible theory, then murder has to be a serious option.’

‘Try this for size, then,’ Halliwell said. ‘He was hired by Sid Felix to kill Irving. He’d botched the job and he knew what would happen to him.’

‘A contract killer?’ Ingeborg said. ‘I don’t buy it. He was well placed to shoot Joe at the reception. Any pro would see it through rather than give up at this stage.’

Halliwell shrugged. ‘Anyone got a better theory?’

Nobody took up the challenge.

The only way to wrest back control was by ordering some action. ‘Is that the verdict of you all?’ Diamond demanded of them. ‘He didn’t top himself and he wasn’t murdered?’

‘Pending the results from forensics,’ Leaman said.

‘Fuck forensics.’ As the words came out, Diamond caught a horrified look from George Brace. Easy to forget he was in the presence of the DCC. ‘I only say that because I expect results from my own team. We’re detectives, in case it slipped anyone’s mind. We investigate. Joe Irving has questions to answer and I’ll see him today. And if you’re right, Keith, and the gunman was a contract killer, someone in the underworld will know.’

‘A snout?’

‘Right. Get your pet canaries singing. Who put a notice on Joe Irving? Who acquired an AK recently? Who is our dead gunman?’