James Craig - The Circus

‘If you fell in here,’ Sergeant Sidbury remarked cheerfully, ‘we’d only have a couple of minutes in which to fish you out.’

‘Fucking great,’ Carlyle grumbled as he tiptoed along carefully.

‘The Thames is two hundred and thirteen miles in length,’ Sidbury explained, sounding more like a tour guide now than a member of the Marine Policing Unit — the Met’s river police.

‘Interesting.’ Joe nodded politely.

‘We normally get a dead body washed up about once a week, but there’s been more of them than usual so far this year. This one is DB32.’

‘Okay,’ said Carlyle, trying to inject some cheeriness into his voice, ‘let’s just hope Dead Body Thirty-Two is our man.’

‘That’ll be for you to decide,’ Sidbury replied. Shuffling between a pair of Targa 31 fast-response boats, they came to a stop in front of a small wooden jetty. On the jetty was a single-storey structure about ten feet high and eight feet wide, built out of metal scaffolding poles and covered with blue plastic sheeting.

‘This is where we bring all the bodies we find,’ Sidbury continued. ‘We wash ’em down and do a preliminary examination, looking for anything suspicious and that, before they go to the morgue for a proper post-mortem.’

Great, thought Carlyle. Squeamish at the best of times, he reckoned that he had seen more than enough dead bodies just recently. Worried about puking, he took a series of deep breaths as a precaution against the onset of nausea.

‘Do you want to go inside?’ Sidbury gestured towards the blue-covered structure. ‘This one’s definitely a bit of a mess, I’m afraid. We’ve got nothing left below the waist.’

Nothing below the waist? The inspector inhaled again, trying hard not to make it obvious.

‘Where’s the rest?’ Joe asked casually.

Sidbury waved a helpless hand across the shit-coloured waters. ‘Could be anywhere. The size of the river down here and the strength of the current will make it impossible to search for it. I doubt if we’ll ever find any more. Shall we go and take a look?’

This was definitely time to delegate. Half-turning back in the direction whence they’d come, Carlyle gazed thoughtfully at Tower Bridge and, beyond that, the London Assembly building.

‘I’ll do it,’ said Joe, finally picking up his cue.

‘Thanks,’ said the inspector, already making his way back towards dry land.

Twenty minutes later, Joe was looking more than a little green around the gills himself. Carlyle shot his sergeant an amused look as he entered the canteen in the Wapping police station. ‘Feeling okay?’

‘Not nice.’ Joe made a face. ‘I need a coffee.’

‘Good idea,’ his boss nodded. ‘Get me another espresso while you’re at it.’

By the time Joe returned with their drinks, the colour had begun to come back to his cheeks.

‘Well?’ Carlyle asked. ‘Is it our guy?’

‘Could be. There are bruises on the face and chest consistent with being hit by a vehicle.’

‘Mm.’

‘But that doesn’t matter much if we can’t get an ID.’

‘Yeah,’ Carlyle agreed, sipping his espresso. ‘If we can’t work out who it was that shot Zoe Mosman, we’re fairly fucked.’

‘The MPU are running his prints through the system. I’ve asked them to do Interpol as well. We should know in a couple of hours.’

‘What about his phone?’

‘For some reason, we couldn’t get any usable prints from that.’

‘No, no. I mean did the phone have a service contract?’

‘Nah.’ Joe shook his head. ‘It was just a cheapo pay-as-you-go.’

‘Okay,’ Carlyle sighed. ‘So what have we got now? We know that Dario Untersander was acquainted with Mrs Mosman.’ He gestured to the magazine he’d taken from Harris Highman’s office, which lay on the table between them. ‘There’s a photo of them together there, looking very friendly. Maybe there was more to their relationship than he’s letting on.’

‘She was shagging him, you mean?’

Carlyle adopted a philosophical demeanour. ‘That kind of carry-on is not unheard of, Joseph, particularly in artistic circles.’

‘No, but-’

Ignoring his colleague’s reservations, Carlyle went on, ‘Indulge me here. Zoe Mosman was responsible for the GAC. There have been significant thefts from the collection. So, maybe Mosman was nicking them for Untersander to sell?’

‘Thin.’

‘Maybe they were worried that the thefts were about to come to light as a result of Highman’s audit. .’

‘Getting thinner.’

‘. . and they had some kind of falling-out.’

‘Thinner than Kate Moss after a three-month detox.’

‘It’s possible,’ Carlyle insisted. ‘Business deals go wrong all the time.’

‘So he got a hitman to blow up her son and shoot one of the neighbours?’

‘It’s just a theory.’

‘It’s just a totally crap theory. Why would Mosman get into bed with a Euro-sleazeball like Dario Untersander?’

‘Physically or metaphorically?’

‘Whichever way you like.’

‘Money.’ Carlyle rubbed together the thumb and index finger of his right hand.

‘You saw Mosman’s house,’ Joe protested. ‘Why would she need the money?’

‘She could have been living beyond her means. Did we check her finances?’

‘Not as far as I know.’ Joe scratched his head. ‘And I’d be surprised if we were allowed to. Technically we are investigating her son’s murder and I doubt if we could get a warrant.’

Carlyle waved away this objection. ‘Let’s try. Go to a friendly judge.’ He mentioned a couple of names. ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Check the husband’s bank accounts, as well. Doesn’t he run some business or other?’

‘Yeah, a vehicle-leasing company.’

‘Okay, let’s find out about that, too.’

‘Fine,’ Joe sighed, ‘but this is a fairly scattergun approach. We need more help on this one if we are going to know what to focus on.’

‘Fair point,’ Carlyle agreed. ‘I’ll speak to Sir Michael Snowdon about how best to approach the GAC end of it. It’s another reason to go and see him. I’ve put it off for too long already.’

‘I’ll come with you, if you want.’

Getting to his feet, Carlyle smiled at him. Joe clearly didn’t want another excruciating visit to Rosanna’s parents any more than he did, but it was good of him to offer. ‘It’s okay, I can handle it.’

A look of relief washed over the sergeant’s face. ‘Thanks.’

‘I’ve got someone else to see first, then I’ll head up to North London and report in with the old man. Let me know if we get a lead on the floater’s fingerprints.’

‘Sure thing.’

‘And remember, next time there’s a body to be fished out of the river, you’re on your own.’

Standing in a semi-derelict fruit warehouse just south of Covent Garden’s piazza, Carlyle waited patiently while a tiny make-up girl fluttered around the D-list celebrity Margaretha Zelle. Finally satisfied with the job done, the girl bounced off, leaving the two of them alone in the makeshift changing room. Under a red Puffa jacket, Zelle was dressed in a white silk maxi-dress with crystals scattered around the neck. Her hair had been cut short and the inspector had to admit that she was looking good.

A sly grin crossed her face as she caught him gawping. ‘Armani.’

‘You look like you’re going to the Oscars.’

‘Hardly,’ she sighed. ‘I’m supposed to be an ordinary hostess. Imagine you’re a guest at my Christmas drinks party. .’

‘Thank you.’ Carlyle gave a small bow.

‘And I am introducing you to the delights of Prince Percy’s Perfect Peanuts.’ Shifting round in her chair, she grabbed a 500g tin from the table behind her and waved it in the air. ‘They’re be- yond tasty!’