Peter Lovesey - Stagestruck

‘Having a five-star shag. You don’t have to be coy. Hed was over the moon because the theatre was saved. I was in a great mood, too, thinking I might get a reprieve and get my job back.’

‘This was when he told you Clarion was actually in the theatre?’

‘Bless her little cotton socks, yes.’

‘Did anyone else backstage know that she was in the box?’

‘Melmot, of course. And the security man.’

‘Binns.’

‘Yes, he’s a waste of space, that one. I much prefer old Basil, our regular stage doorkeeper. I hope they don’t sack Baz.’

‘Binns has the freedom to move around the theatre, doesn’t he?’

‘Part of his job. He should be the last to leave. He checks round and makes sure it’s safe to close up at night.’

‘Can the staff get in after hours? Say you left your handbag in wardrobe and needed it, could you go back and collect it?’

‘No problem. I know the security codes. I could go back tonight if I want and burn the whole place down.’

‘But you won’t, because you’ll be here.’

Her mouth curved upwards. ‘Unless I discharge myself. I have a right, you know. I could bum a lift back to Bath with you.’

‘No chance,’ Diamond said at once. ‘You’ve got an interview coming up with the accident investigation team. They have a lot to ask you about.’

On the way back to the car, Rogers said, ‘You decided not to arrest her, then? Is she innocent?’

‘That isn’t the word I’d choose for Kate,’ Diamond said, ‘but I doubt if she killed anyone.’

‘She had motive, means and opportunity.’

‘In spades, Lew, in spades. But there’s a clear brain and cool planning behind these killings, someone confident enough to think ahead and pass off the murder as something it wasn’t. Attention to detail, timing, method. Kate is capable of managing a wardrobe department if everything goes well, but under pressure she lost it. She was outfoxed by Denise. Her system collapsed into chaos. These killings aren’t hotheaded crimes. They’re planned and followed through with precision. We’re not looking for someone who bonks the manager and runs her car into a tree and gets half-pissed in hospital.’

He grinned. ‘Now you put it like that, guv, I’ve got to agree.’

CID wasn’t exactly buzzing when he walked in about 9.30 p.m. Leaman had his feet up. Paul Gilbert had found a football match on the internet. Halliwell was eating a pasty. Ingeborg was texting.

‘Okay, people,’ Diamond said.

Order was restored. Paul Gilbert replaced the football with a screen saver. ‘Hi, guv.’

‘I thought you were out and about testing printers.’

‘I’ve checked more than twenty. The theatre, of course, Melmot Hall, Shearman’s flat, Binns’s security firm, Titus O’Driscoll’s house. I even went round all the city copying shops in case it was done there.’

‘No joy, then?’

‘None at all.’

‘What about the actors – Barnes and the rest of them?’

‘They’re in digs. They don’t have printers.’

‘Their landladies do.’

He blushed.

‘Tomorrow morning,’ Diamond said.

Ingeborg, keen to show she, too, had not been idle, said, ‘I checked with the lab and they’ve detected significant levels of Rohypnol in Denise’s blood.’

‘That ties in nicely. And are we any further on with our major suspects? Keith, you were marking Shearman’s card.’

‘He’s a bundle of nerves, as you saw,’ Halliwell said. ‘I got a CV out of him. Bath was his first big job as theatre director. He’s been through the hoops of assistant stage manager, front-of-house. Worked in any number of provincial theatres. Wants desperately to hang on to this job, so he kowtows to Melmot. If he planned these murders, I can’t work out why. His reputation is in shreds.’

‘And Melmot?’

‘Inge did the digging on him, with some help from me,’ Leaman said, feet now under the desk instead of on it. ‘He’s all front. Likes everyone to think he’s the money behind the theatre, but in reality his only asset seems to be the house, and that’s too expensive to keep up. I checked with the land registry and it’s owned by his mother.’

‘So he’s not all he seems, but does that make him a murderer? What would he have gained from killing Denise and Clarion?’

‘He’d be better off killing his mother,’ Ingeborg said.

There were some smiles. Not from Diamond. ‘Is that it? Is that where we are at the end of the week, reduced to making tasteless jokes about old ladies?’

Ingeborg turned scarlet.

‘How about Binns?’ Halliwell said, always the man to steer everyone into calmer waters. ‘Fred Dawkins made some notes before he left for the Sweeney Todd walk-through.’

‘Decent of him. Fancy going to all that trouble,’ Diamond said with sarcasm even he regretted after speaking it. His mood was bleak. ‘I was told his findings didn’t amount to the proverbial hill of beans.’

‘Those weren’t my words,’ Ingeborg said, still smarting from the putdown. She got up and handed him Dawkins’ notes. ‘Fred worked hard on this before he had to leave.’

He put up a hand in conciliation. ‘I’m sorry, team. It’s been a bloody long day. Let’s draw a line under it. See you in the morning.’

They didn’t need any persuading. Desks were cleared, computers put on standby. In two minutes only Ingeborg and Diamond remained.

‘About Melmot’s mother,’ she said. ‘I wish I hadn’t said that. It was a cheap remark.’

‘Forget it, Inge,’ he told her. ‘I’ve said plenty cheaper than that, as you well know. You caught me at a bad time.’

‘This case must be the toughest ever,’ she said.

‘Yes, and I’m trying to deal with a personal issue as well. I thought I could settle it today and I didn’t.’

‘Anything I can help with?’

He shook his head. ‘Like I said, it’s personal. You get home. I’ll read these notes Fred made.’

After she’d left, he took the notes into his office, but he didn’t read them. He closed the door and called Paloma.

‘Are you still there at this hour?’ she said.

‘Winding down. It wasn’t one of my better days.’ He told her about his visit to Flakey White. ‘I came away feeling a bully and an idiot. He appears to have led a blameless life since he got caught.’

‘I wouldn’t waste sympathy on him,’ she said. ‘Those underage girls he had sex with won’t have forgotten or forgiven.’

‘I know, but it’s different from abusing small boys. He never touched me.’

‘Are you certain? Do you know about paedophiles? Do they make a distinction or do they just prey on children because they’re vulnerable?’

‘In this case I am certain. I saw the surprise in his eyes when he realised what I was on about. That was genuine.’

‘So you’re left in uncertainty again?’

‘I asked him if any of the others might have touched me and he pretty well convinced me it didn’t happen.’

‘Something happened to you. Something deeply upsetting,’ Paloma said. ‘Let’s get this clear. After the play finished you went directly on holiday at the farm in North Wales.’

Her desire to help was well meant. He suppressed the sigh that was coming and repeated the salient facts. ‘Where my sister had her eleventh birthday and for a treat we were taken to the Arcadia Theatre at Llandudno and I refused to stay in there. I kicked up a fuss even before the show started.’

‘You were in your seat?’

‘Yes.’

‘So you hadn’t objected to going into the theatre? Whatever this upset was, it happened when you were in there. Do you see what I’m saying, Peter? It wasn’t the idea of going inside.’