The House Sitter

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 would have a visitors’ book. And Anna Walpurgis’s visit would be recorded and remembered for ever.

“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.”

“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 was coy with her. She looked about fifteen. “That’s one thing to discover if we can. Did they or didn’t they? What about the years since then? Did they stay in touch? He claims they didn’t. He just met her in the library one day. Can that be true?”

“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 think?”

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.