Peter Lovesey - Skeleton Hill

The Assistant Chief Constable didn’t see it his way.

‘Peter, it isn’t on,’ she told him across her great mahogany desk. She was in uniform as usual, glittering with silver braid and buttons.

‘What isn’t, ma’am?’ he said.

‘Another murder enquiry.’

He tilted his head as if he must have misheard. ‘It’s our job. We can’t pick and choose. If two come together we have to cope. All I’m asking is that you open another box of bobbies.’

‘Not possible.’

‘Plenty of keen young coppers are out there wasting their time on binge-drinkers and pre-school kids nicking sweets from corner shops. They’d jump at a chance to work on a murder.’

‘You’re not listening.’ Georgina wasn’t listening either, but she outranked him. ‘I’m saying we can’t take this on.’

‘Where’s it going, then? We can’t walk away from it.’

‘Bristol.’

His buttocks went into spasm. ‘You’re not serious.’

‘The victim came from there.’

‘Yes, but the killing was on our patch, not theirs.’

She inhaled and her twin emblems of disquiet threatened to surge across the desk and demolish him. ‘What do you mean by “ theirs ”? We’re in the same constabulary.’

‘I’ve got a crime scene going on Lansdown Hill.’

‘Peter, I don’t need to tell you, of all people, that the scene ceases to be of interest after forensics have been through. The body has been removed. All the interest will now shift to Bristol, where Rupert Hope spent ninety-nine per cent of his time.’

A one-man mutiny threatened. ‘You’re seriously proposing to make them a gift of this?’

‘I just told you. They’re Avon and Somerset, the same as we are.’

‘But I’ve called a press conference this afternoon.’

‘Go ahead with it. Tell them this will be conducted from Bristol. Any calls to this station can easily be transferred.’

‘What exactly is the problem here?’ he said, trying to stay reasonable. ‘Is it the skeleton? That’s been buried twenty years. It can go on the back burner while we deal with Rupert Hope.’ The imagery wasn’t the most elegant, but she knew what he meant.

‘It cannot,’ Georgina said. ‘You’ve set up an incident room and spoken to the press. Your people are working on the case.’

‘They’re on the new case as well. Halliwell is at the post mortem as we speak. Ingeborg Smith is checking hostels for the homeless in case the victim stayed there.’

‘It’s not efficient to have the same officers investigating two unconnected murders. I can’t justify it to Headquarters.’

She had a point there. He was running out of arguments. His brain whirred. ‘How about this? I hand the skeleton case to Keith Halliwell. The whole bag of tricks. He’s got years of experience and he’s ready to lead an enquiry. Then I can give all my attention to the cavalier.’

‘And have two incident rooms going simultaneously? Not in my police station. I’ve made a decision, Peter. This is final.’

‘I thought you’d have more confidence in me,’ he said, forced to play the loyalty card. ‘I haven’t messed up a case since you arrived here. This isn’t such a sticky one. It could be sorted in a couple of days.’

‘Why do you always think it’s about you?’ she said with a sharp intake of breath. ‘It’s resources. The case goes to Bristol. Now would you go back to work? I have calls to make.’

Desperation drove him to say, ‘What I meant when I mentioned Halliwell is that it frees me up to go to Bristol and head the enquiry from there.’

She stared at him as if he’d just performed a pirouette. His dislike of change was known to everyone in Bath. ‘You’re willing to relocate to Bristol?’

‘It’s a short drive when the traffic is light. I’ll be getting there early and coming back late.’ He could hardly believe he was speaking these words.

Georgina gripped the arms of her chair, unsettled.

He added, ‘And Halliwell deserves a case of his own.’

She’d gone silent. She was definitely wavering.

He dangled a real tempter in front of her. ‘You won’t see me for at least a week.’

That did it.

‘If you’re that keen, I’ll see what can be done. I’ll have to speak to colleagues there.’ Her eyes rolled upwards. ‘They don’t know what’s about to hit them.’

He left her office wondering if he’d made the right decision. There wasn’t time to ponder it for long. The press conference was in twenty minutes and he needed to bone up on the details.

When Halliwell returned from the post mortem Diamond was winding up with the press. He’d made his prepared statement and given follow-up interviews for radio and television.

Ingeborg was outside the briefing room with eyes that had just seen a unicorn.

‘What’s up?’ Halliwell asked.

‘The boss said the incident room will be in Bristol Central. He’s in charge and he’s going to be there.’

‘That’s news to me.’

‘It’s about resources, he told them. Plus the fact that the dead man spent most of his time in Bristol.’

‘Resources? Doesn’t sound like the guv’nor talking,’ Halliwell said. ‘What’s got into him?’

Diamond emerged, bouncy as ever. ‘There you are, Keith, back from the dead. What’s the story?’

Halliwell told him about the partly healed wound at the back of the victim’s head. ‘Dr Sealy says it could well have caused concussion and loss of memory.’

‘Which may explain his odd behaviour.’ Diamond rubbed his hands. ‘This is good, Keith. We must step up our enquiries here in Bath.’ He paused before adding, ‘When I say “we” I’m not including you, old chum.’

Halliwell reddened. ‘Why not?’

‘Don’t look so suspicious. I’ve got terrific news for you. As from this moment you’re heading the skeleton investigation.’

‘Get away.’

‘Check with Georgina if you like. It’s official.’

‘Bloody hell.’

‘That’s more like the man I know.’ He clapped a hand on Halliwell’s shoulder. ‘You owe us all a drink.’

‘But what about you, guv?’

‘I’ll be handling the new case – and from Bristol. You don’t have to cheer. It’s only temporary.’

‘What about me?’ Ingeborg asked. ‘Who am I with?’

Diamond looked over his shoulder to check that no one else was listening. ‘For the record, you’re with Keith, right? I’m not asking you to come to Bristol. But I need someone here I can rely on, and you may find yourself doing things for me between whiles.’ She frowned. ‘Serving two masters?’

‘We’re not ogres.’

‘I’ll find out, won’t I?’

Diamond let that pass. He needed her good will. ‘As a first step, find me the two patrol car officers who met Rupert Hope.’ ‘Now, you mean?’

‘I could be in Bristol tomorrow.’

A remark of Georgina’s had stayed with him longer than anything else she’d said. It’s not efficient to have one officer investigating two unconnected murders. But were they unconnected?

The two sets of human remains on Lansdown had been found within a couple of miles of each other and had little else to link them that Diamond could fix on. They were separated by about twenty years, by the method of disposal and the sex and age of the victims. Lansdown was the one discernible link. It would not be wise to make too much of that.

And yet…

The repeated trips up the hill to one crime scene or the other kept reinforcing his hunch that these cases were linked. Over the years he’d often driven along the great limestone ridge and got the idea that it was isolated, a suitable place to commit murder and dump a body. Only in recent days had he become aware that the down buzzed with activity at weekends, not just occasional horse-racing, but golf, football, kites and model aircraft, car boot sales, dog walking and rambling. All this on a site with a proven history dating back to the Iron Age. Maybe the Lansdown Society had a point. Someone needed to keep an eye on things.