Peter Lovesey - The Secret Hangman

They were ahead of him after he’d parked the car, carrying bags of shopping into the building. He stepped out and caught up with them in the entrance hall. Jerry was collecting his post from the pigeon-hole system near the lift. Paloma turned and kissed Diamond. He was aware how tense and tight his lips had become. He was shaking a little. This interview would be about as stressful as any he’d done.

He took over Paloma’s bag of shopping. Strictly, it was Jerry’s shopping. No doubt of that, because it was one of those Hosannah totebags. All the shopping was bagged like that. He had no use for Sainsbury’s carriers. The ecology was safe with Jerry.

‘We did a joint shop,’ Paloma said. ‘My stuff is still in the car. At least, I think it is. I hope Jerry hasn’t got my wine.’

‘Mother, if I have, you know it’s safe with me,’ Jerry said as he joined them.

‘“Eat, drink and be merry,”’ she said, winking at Diamond.

‘That’s somewhere in the good book, isn’t it?’

‘And you know how it goes on?’ Jerry said.

‘Never get into a quoting contest with my son,’ she said to Diamond.

‘All I can quote is the official caution,’ he said, ‘and I try not to do it among friends.’

Jerry let them into his flat. The first impression was that it could do with some lighter wallpaper. The heavy maroon in the hall set off a couple of pictures to nice effect, but only after the lights over them were switched on. They were views of cathedrals. That figures, Diamond thought. They wouldn’t be reclining nudes.

The kitchen where they took the bags looked as if no one used it. Every surface was clean and uncluttered.

‘Put your frozen stuff away and then Peter can ask you his questions,’ Paloma said. ‘He’s still working, unlike you and me.’

‘Listening to you,’ Jerry said, ‘anyone would think I was still about nine years old.’

‘Darling, you are, to me,’ Paloma said, winking at Diamond.

The fridge-freezer, when opened, was a miracle of arrangement, everything sized and sorted. The newly purchased items went into slots that were the only possible places for them.

‘Cup of tea?’ Paloma said.

Diamond said he hadn’t time, so they went into the living room and sat on padded upright chairs with ornate wooden backs. There was a piano, and it was easy to imagine a Victorian musical evening here, with polite guests watching the chiming clock on the mantelshelf and wishing the chairs were more comfortable. A bookcase and sideboard completed the furniture. The books were of the sort those Victorians would have called ‘improving’ — biographies of Mother Teresa and Anne Frank shared the space with Pilgrim’s Progress and Golding’s The Spire. The CDs were mostly of church music. It takes all sorts, Diamond decided.

‘So is there some query about the love of my life?’ Jerry asked.

Diamond, his mind on higher thoughts, was thrown until Paloma said, ‘His Pathfinder.’

‘Got you.’ It was a rare moment of humour from Jerry.

‘My late lamented Pathfinder,’ Jerry said.

‘The night after you reported it missing a ram raid took place — a jeweller’s in Westgate Street.’

‘Westgate Street? I saw the shopfront all smashed in. Did my car do that?’

‘I’m asking you, Jerry.’

He vibrated his lips, more puzzled by the question than upset. ‘How would I know? I wasn’t at the wheel.’

‘Someone says you were. He was involved in the raid and says you planned the whole thing.’

Paloma said, ‘Peter, that’s crazy.’

Jerry shook his head slowly and curled his lip in disdain.

It was easy to understand how this was an affront to both of them. ‘That’s why I’m here,’ Diamond said, ‘to get Jerry’s side of the story. Where were you on Sunday night?’

‘Easy,’ Paloma said, folding her arms defiantly. ‘Evensong.’

‘Perhaps Jerry would like to speak for himself.’ This sounded like a put-down, and was. He’d have said it to anyone interrupting. But it pained him to see how Paloma turned pale and then shrank into herself.

‘She’s right,’ Jerry said. ‘I never miss evensong.’

‘But that’s early, isn’t it?’

‘True. It wasn’t me who mentioned it.’

Paloma was red-eyed, her mouth shut tight.

Diamond tried to focus. This was one of the toughest situations a policeman is ever faced with, questioning close friends about a serious crime, yet he had to press on. ‘So it doesn’t cover the time I’m interested in.’

Jerry was answering with confidence, as if he’d heard the questions already. ‘After the service several of us went for a fish-and-chip supper.’

‘Where?’

‘Spike’s, in Railway Street, just across the street from your police station.’

Diamond knew Spike’s. He’d taken many a warm packet home from there. ‘These were people from the church?’

‘The young crowd, anyway.’

‘What time did you leave?’

‘I suppose about nine thirty.’

‘The thing is,’ Diamond said with an effort to match the buoyant mood of Jerry’s answers, ‘the raid took place about one in the morning.’

‘That’s all right, then,’ Jerry said. ‘Virginia can vouch for me, if that’s all you need to know.’

There was a momentary break in the flow.

‘You have a girlfriend?’ Paloma said, recovering some of her sparkle.

‘No, mother. This was our Save the Sinner Group. We had a meeting at Virginia’s house in St James’s Square. There’s a mission month coming up and we have to plan it.’

Saving sinners was a far cry from ram-raiding if it was true.

‘What time did this meeting break up?’ Diamond asked.

‘Close to one in the morning. Why don’t you speak to Virginia?’ Before any more was said, Jerry took out his mobile and pressed a couple of keys. He held it to his ear. ‘Virginia? Jeremy. I’ve got a policeman here asking where I was after midnight last Sunday evening. You can tell him, can’t you?’ He handed the phone to Diamond.

The speaker at the other end sounded suspicious. ‘Is this a practical joke?’

‘No, Miss.’ Diamond told her who he was. ‘Jeremy tells me he was at your house. Is that correct?’

‘Let’s be crystal clear, officer,’ Virginia said, and the frost was tangible, ‘it wasn’t only Jeremy. Seven of us were here. And we were on the Lord’s business.’

‘And what time did you finish?’

‘At five past one. With a prayer.’

‘You’re certain of the time?’

‘Absolutely. It’s in my report of the meeting.’

‘And that’s written down somewhere?’

‘Jeremy has a copy of the minutes. I sent them out yesterday.’

‘Really? That’s all I need to know.’

‘The Lord be with you, then.’ The blessing came over as just a tad conditional, but no doubt sincerely meant.

‘Thanks.’ He returned the phone to Jerry. ‘She says you were sent a report of the meeting.’

‘Could be in the mail I just picked up,’ he said, reaching for the letters he’d placed on the piano. ‘Yes, this is one of her envelopes.’ He opened it and handed the folded sheet to Diamond to open.

The summary of the meeting began with the list of those present, including J. Kean, and ended with the words: The meeting ended at 1.05 a.m.

In his mind Diamond added the words Thank the Lord. ‘That clears it up, then.’

Jerry shrugged. ‘If I’d opened this first we needn’t have troubled her.’

‘Thanks, anyway.’

‘Who was it who tried to set me up?’ Jerry said.

‘You wouldn’t have heard of him. He’s a lowlife, desperate to shift the blame. He’s made it worse for himself.’

‘So it wasn’t one of those personal trainers you asked me about?’