“You didn’t know about the security man?”
“Should have realised, but didn’t. I was naïve. I rented a van and drove in there bold as brass. I was shifting things into the van when the guy caught me red-handed. Came at me with a bloody great baton. In self-defence I hit him with a silver candlestick. Put him in hospital. Didn’t think he would already have phoned the police. Your lot stopped me before I drove out the gate.”
“And you got three years? I’d say that was lenient.”
“In Shepton Mallet clink? No, officer. That wasn’t lenient.”
Diamond didn’t argue. Shepton Mallet was the most depressing prison he’d visited. The oldest in Britain, dating from the seventeenth century, it had been closed in 1930 and then reopened during the war and brought into use again, finally decommissioned as recently as 2013. “Before we talk about your life since then, I’d like to hear about Lord Deganwy.”
“David? We were on first-name terms. He didn’t stand on ceremony. He was a sweet man, a real gent, but I saw the change in him as the Alzheimer’s got a grip. It happened horribly fast. And he had no family to care for him. He brought in nurses. I didn’t see much of him in the last months. I was left to my own devices, managing the estate. It wasn’t huge, nothing like Longleat, or Prior Park, or even Widcombe Manor, but it was a full-time job. I didn’t have a lot of experience when he took me on, so I was grateful to him. Still am.”
“Did you come across a man by the name of Sidney Harrod, who befriended him in the last year of his life?”
The eyes glittered enmity. “I know a bit about Harrod, yes.”
“Tell us.”
“He arrived out of nowhere, and he seemed to know David. I’d see his rusty van parked on the drive, not much of a motor for a guy who behaved like he was family. First I thought he might be some distant cousin, but it turned out they’d met through the Beau Nash Society. They’d go to pubs together and come back late. I’d hear them drive in. He used to strut around as if he owned the place. I was introduced, but he had no interest in me. All his focus was on David.”
“You didn’t trust his motives?”
“Didn’t trust his actions. I saw stuff go into his van. Chairs and a writing desk. They were Chippendale, worth thousands. I’m certain he was nicking them.”
“Did you challenge him?”
“I asked where they were going and he said they needed expert repairs. I asked if he was a furniture expert and he grinned and said he knew a man who was. I never found out where he lived.”
“He lodged on the Moon Street estate and had a lock-up garage there. It wasn’t used for the van. Your theory about the furniture ties in with our information.”
“Typical. He shifted quite a lot of David’s property and got away with it. I tried it one time only and got sent down for three years. What happened to him?”
“Don’t you know?”
“He cleared off while David was still alive, simply vanished as suddenly as he arrived. That’s the way his sort operate. He’s probably in another town right now, ripping off some millionaire. Losers like me are the ones who get caught.”
Was this an attempt to deceive, or was the man truly ignorant about Harrod’s fate? Diamond let it pass. “Did anyone else come visiting during those last weeks of Lord Deganwy’s life?”
“Doctors and nurses mostly. I didn’t see all the comings and goings.” Spearman leaned back on the sofa and clasped his hands behind his head as if it would aid the memory. “There was a professor from the Beau Nash Society. He only visited the once. Can’t remember his name.”
“Professor Duff, I expect.”
“That was him, yes. He came because they hadn’t heard anything from David and he was still their president. They didn’t know he was so far gone.”
“Duff took over as the Beau. Dead now.”
“Is he?” Spearman couldn’t have sounded less interested in Duff’s death.
Diamond had learned enough for the time being about the year of Lord Deganwy’s decline. He was keen to move on. He had urgent personal concerns. “It’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it, that after you came out of prison you got a job with someone else from the Beau Nash Society?”
Spearman’s cheeks flushed. “What are you saying? That I’m up to my old games? You’re dead wrong there.”
“I said no such thing.”
He carried on as if he hadn’t heard. He hadn’t listened for sure. “I went straight. You can ask Sir Ed. No way am I going back to prison.”
“So what happened after your release?”
He shifted awkwardly on the sofa. “I don’t like the way this is going. I have a wife and son and a steady job now.”
“And a roof over your head,” Halliwell put in.
“That’s no crime.”
Diamond was impatient. “Tell it like it happened.”
“It was bloody tough when I came out. I was almost two years on the social. Jobseekers’ allowance. Did bits and pieces, couldn’t get steady work. Slept rough for a time. Sold the Big Issue on the streets. Then I had the good luck to meet Astra. She was on the staff at the job centre.”
“Astra?”
“My wife.”
“Hang on. You married your advisor at the job centre?”
“Not right away. That’s jumping ahead.”
“Well, don’t. We’re trying to follow this.”
“I was attending the centre for years and I got to know most of the staff in that time. Astra was the one I always hoped to get because she really cared. And she got me sorted at last.”
“With the Parises?”
“Not immediately. Jobwise, she sorted me out quite soon. I did some work on building sites, but I wasn’t up to it physically. Astra talked it over with me and we agreed an ex-con wouldn’t find a post as estate steward anywhere, but she had the smart idea of offering me as a driver to one of the big estates. I was used to working for that class of people and I had my licence. Astra’s mother happened to be a client of Lady Sally’s.”
“A client? In what way?”
“I don’t know if she uses the word client. It’s beauty therapy. Lady Sally looks after their faces. She’s a sociable lady with tons of energy and she told me she’s always worked with people. Just because she has a title, it doesn’t mean she sits by the pool all day. So Astra knew from her mum about Sir Ed being the Beau. She’s a big believer in making connections.”
Halliwell said without looking at Diamond, “Networking.”
“Spot on,” Spearman said, nodding his approval. “She told the Parises everything about my conviction and Sir Ed still agreed to take me on as their chauffeur, especially when he knew I’d been estate steward to David Deganwy.”
“The Beau Nash connection helped?”
“Certainly did. Sir Ed has been a member for a long time. He knew David and Professor Duff. Sometimes speaks about them in the car when we’re driving. He must have known that scumbag Sidney Harrod as well.”
“Has he ever mentioned Harrod?”
“No. I think he’d rather forget him.”
“So how long have you had this job?”
“Since 2006. When I joined them they were living out at Monkton Combe. Nice house and garden, but they moved to a place near Bathampton and I went with them and then made the move here. They never settle for long, but they always make sure I’m comfortable as well. I’m almost family now.”
“And when did you marry Astra?”
His eyes lit up. “Six years ago last June. The Parises were brilliant about it. They let me borrow the Bentley for the wedding and Lady Sally did Astra’s make-up and made her dress. She’s a top quality needlewoman as well as everything else. They gave us a week in Paris as their present.”
“You’re bloody lucky.”
“You can say that again. While I was ba
nged up in Shepton Mallet I’d never have believed how my life would change.”
“Obviously they value what you do.”
“I’ve always tried to be helpful. When they moved here and built the infinity pool I was able to give some advice because David Deganwy had one built when I was stewarding for him.”
“They have an infinity pool?” He’d seen such things on TV commercials.
“Haven’t you seen it?”
Diamond shook his head. “This is my first visit here. All I’ve seen is the lodge.” He could have added that he was desperate to know what was going on at the main house.
Spearman was talking about infinity pools. “They’re status symbols. People of their class get them built if they have the right kind of terrain. You need a really steep slope and that brings its own problems with the mechanics. They have to be anchored safely because they’re incredibly heavy. It works like a weir. You need a second pool at a lower level to catch the water constantly overflowing and a system of pumps and balance tanks to circulate it. The engineering is quite complex.”
“You’re on the side of a valley here, aren’t you?”
“Yes, with a great view. The pool is a feature, no question, but I’m the only one who uses it. Lady Sally sits beside it on a lounger sometimes, but Sir Ed doesn’t bother much with it. To him, it raises the value of the property and he’s happy with that.”
“They’ll be showing it off to their party guests.” Diamond was still in two minds.
“You’re right. They sent me out this morning to buy some better sunshades.”
“Do you know who’s been invited?”
“Beau Nash Society people, mostly. It’s a sort of farewell do. He’s stepping down as the Beau and he tells me he’s pleased to be shot of it.”
“His words?”
“He may have added something colourful. He can be down-to-earth when he chooses. He reckons he’s done more than his share as chairman.”
“President.”
“Okay.”
“Speaking of shots, does Sir Edward own a gun?”
Spearman looked startled by the question. “I’ve never seen him with one. There are no game birds here. The ground isn’t suitable for shooting. Most of the property is a sixty-degree slope and even more sheer in places, perfect for the pool, but useless for anything else. They let the lower part grow wild and nobody ever goes there.”
“Down in the valley—that’s all part of the estate?”
“If you can call it that. There’s a high wall to mark the limit of their land.”
Diamond was thinking hard, making connections, networking inside his own head. “Do you have any idea whether Sir Ed had an earlier marriage? Lady Sally is quite a bit younger than he is.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Spearman said, straightening up on the sofa. “I’m nearly fifteen years older than my wife.”
“It’s a question, that’s all.”
“No idea.”
“When they married, was he already the Beau?”
“Must have been. They hadn’t been married long when I started work with them. He was already a big name locally. I expect he ploughed some of his money into the society.” He looked at his watch. “I ought to be at the party handing out drinks. Can we draw a line under this?”
“Soon as possible,” Diamond said, and meant it. “There’s one more thing. Your boy Rufus was talking to us and if I understood him right you and he were at Twerton the morning the skeleton was discovered at the demolition site.”
He reddened again. “Kids.”
“It wasn’t imagination. He said you lifted him up to one of the observation windows to see the wrecking ball at work. Is that right?”
“We happened to be there, yes.”
“In Twerton?”
“I was having one of the cars serviced. There’s a very reliable motor mechanic there I’ve used for years. I took the boy with me to give Astra a break. We were killing time.”
“Killing time?”
“While the work was being done. He’s at the age of asking endless questions and he noticed people at the windows and wanted to know what was going on. I lifted him up for a look and it was bad timing because that was when the ball ripped open the roof and exposed the skeleton.”
“Was he frightened?”
“No, he took it in his stride. I got him away as soon as I saw the thing for myself.”
“And you were there before we were called?”
“Must have been.”
“But two days later you were back with Sir Edward when the skeleton was lifted out. You’d managed to get inside the secure area. I remember seeing you both. I sent DCI Halliwell to speak to you.”
Halliwell confirmed it with a murmur.
Diamond added, “You can’t have forgotten. Sir Edward spoke to us later in the Archway café. Why the special journey for another look?”
Spearman didn’t seem to think of their presence as guilty conduct. “The papers were full of the story, weren’t they? Sir Ed wanted to see for himself so he asked me to drive him out there.”
“Did he say anything to you about why he made the trip?”
“I just told you.”
“He didn’t make any link to the Beau Nash Society?”
“If he did, it was all in his head. Nothing was said to me.”
This time it was Diamond who checked his watch. “You’d better get back to your duties serving the drinks. I’ll follow shortly. Mine’s a beer.”
Spearman frowned and shook his head. “Sir Ed doesn’t want you there. He made that very clear. That’s why he sent me to see you.”
“Obstructing the police is an arrestable offence. Tell him that, if you want. I’ll have that beer in a tankard.”
28
All the principal officers in CID together with a back-up of ten uniformed constables had gathered at a passing point along the lane not more than fifty yards from the front gate. Diamond stood on the bank opposite to brief them. Their objective was to seal off the grounds with a car and two officers blocking the front entrance and the others out of sight and marshalling the wild area along the escarpment immediately below the infinity pool. This, he explained, was the most obvious escape route for anyone trying to evade arrest. To be in place and remain unseen, the team would need to footslog their way along the rear of the property, climb the steep valley side as rapidly they could and space themselves at intervals out of sight along the margin.
Easily said. Peter Diamond was getting a reputation for commando-course missions. Some of these same officers had endured the rain-soaked dig at Twerton. This afternoon they had sweltering heat and a stiff climb to contend with. Yet if there was muttering in the ranks he didn’t hear it.
He admitted he hadn’t scouted the grounds for himself, but this was normal in police operations. Using Ingeborg’s tablet he was able to show everyone a map and aerial photography of the terrain.
Halliwell, Leaman and Gilbert moved off with the constables towards a footpath descending to the valley floor. Ingeborg and one uniformed sergeant would set up the block at the main entrance. Diamond himself walked the short distance with them.
It was agreed that communication would be by phone. Nobody would contact Diamond, but he would alert the team to developments when an opportunity came. This could be the fatal flaw in the plan.
“Are you okay about making contact, guv?” Ingeborg asked as tactfully as she could.
Bloody technology. His nerves were at snapping point. “I’m not a total dumbo.”
“Never said you were.”
“It’s a simple matter of pressing the right keys.”
“Exactly.”
“You’d better go over it with me.”
The raised voices from the patio beside the infinity pool left Diamond in no doubt where
to find most of the guests. Going by the shrieks of jollity no one had been deprived of drinks while Spearman was away being interviewed. Some of the forty or more were standing, glasses in hand, but a few had looked for shade and a place to sit at the tables. Lady Sally in a white dress flitted like a butterfly from group to group with a tray of canapés. More food and drink was served from an open marquee.
Diamond was quick to spot Paloma in a blue summer dress he hadn’t seen before. Tie straps and billowy sleeves. She was looking relaxed in a group that included Estella, Sir Edward and several of the Beau Nash crowd including Crispin, the one who so enjoyed the sound of his own voice.
He decided not to go straight over. His plan was to merge inconspicuously, but this was already proving difficult. He was getting suspicious looks and he knew why. Leaving his suit jacket in the car and removing his tie hadn’t done the trick. He didn’t look the part of one of Bath’s glitterati. The tankard of beer hadn’t been such a good idea either. He’d been desperate for a long drink because he was thirsty. Most of them were holding flute glasses.
The stunning effect of the blue water with its limitless edge projected against the soft scenery of the Charlcombe valley was almost lost on him, thinking of his hapless officers toiling up the slope.
Someone gripped his sleeve and he turned to find himself face to face with an unlikely vision in a straw boater and green maxi dress.
Georgina.
“What on earth are you up to?” she asked through the side of her mouth as if she didn’t want to be seen talking to him.
“Going about my normal duties, ma’am.”
“Did you get an invitation?”
“No, I’m a gatecrasher.”
Beau Death Page 34
