Stagestruck

by Peter Lovesey

  ‘Will we wrap this up tonight?’ Rogers asked.

  ‘I hope so. Why – do you have plans for the weekend?’

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘Married, are you?’

  ‘Second time around.’

  ‘She’ll have plans, then.’

  ‘No doubt.’

  Diamond took another look at the house. ‘Was that ground-floor window open when you went to the door?’

  ‘I’m sure it was.’

  ‘Careless of her. Anyone could get in.’

  ‘True.’

  After a pause, Diamond said, ‘We shouldn’t leave it unsecured. In fact, we have a civic duty to investigate.’

  Rogers clearly understood what the head of CID intended. He may have been shocked, but he had the good sense not to mention it. The two of them approached the house. The security risk in question was a small top window opened for ventilation.

  ‘Your arm is longer than mine,’ Diamond said. ‘If I give you a hand-up, see if you can reach in and unfasten the catch on the window below.’

  The footballers came closer while Diamond was helping Rogers get a foot on the outer ledge. The smallest of them, prompted by the others, said, ‘What are you doing, mister? Are you breaking in?’

  ‘It’s all right,’ Diamond called back. ‘We’re the police, making sure it’s safe.’

  ‘How do we know you’re the police?’

  ‘A burglar wouldn’t do this in broad daylight with you lot watching, that’s why.’

  Rogers lifted the catch on the lower window and they both climbed in. The place was appreciably tidier than Kate’s workplace. A black sofa covered with a purple throw. Afghan rug. Flat-screen TV.

  ‘Can you work a computer?’ Diamond asked.

  ‘Depends what sort.’

  ‘See if you can find hers and run a sheet of blank paper through the printer.’

  ‘It’s right here against the wall.’ Rogers checked that the paper in the feed was clean and then passed a couple of sheets through and handed them to Diamond. ‘I don’t know what you’re expecting to find, guv.’

  ‘It isn’t this,’ Diamond said. The sheets were still pristine. ‘Mind, she could have used another machine. I’ll have a look round.’

  A swift tour of the small house revealed no second printer and nothing else in the way of evidence. Up in the bedroom he started in surprise when his own phone emitted its archaic ring-tone. He’d left it switched on after speaking to Ingeborg. The voice was hers again.

  ‘Where are you now, guv – still in Warminster?’

  He avoided a specific answer. ‘Should I be somewhere else?’

  ‘You don’t need to wait there, anyway. Kate was in a car accident on her way home. She turned it right over, only a short way from the town.’

  That disquieting thought resurfaced and chided him, gloating: I told you so.

  ‘Is she alive?’

  ‘So they’re saying. She was taken to A & E at Salisbury Hospital. I don’t know what condition she’s in.’

  ‘We’re halfway there. We’ll find out.’

  Like all main hospitals, Salisbury has insufficient parking. Even detectives on police business have to search for a space. By the time Diamond found one, it was a fair walk to Accident & Emergency. They did, at least, get some priority at the enquiry desk and learned that Kate was not critically injured. She had some minor abrasions and was being assessed for concussion. They were told the way to the out-patients’ canteen.

  ‘You know what that means,’ Diamond said to Rogers. ‘This could take a long time.’

  ‘Shall I fetch some coffee?’

  ‘Good thinking. And a beef sandwich would go down well.’

  He called Ingeborg again to update her. The mobile was getting more use in one day than it had in months. ‘Will you stay at the hospital?’ she asked.

  ‘One of us will, for sure.’

  ‘How did the accident happen?’

  ‘We don’t know yet.’

  ‘Is it possible more than one vehicle was involved?’

  He sensed at once what she was thinking, that Kate may have been forced off the road in a cynical attempt to kill her. Kate as victim would mean a reversal of the way he was thinking. ‘Hard to tell until we get a chance to speak to her. We saw her car being lifted from the scene and there wasn’t another at that stage.’

  ‘They’d have driven on.’

  ‘I know what you’re getting at. She’s being assessed for concussion, so she may have no memory. It’ll be up to the accident investigation team to tell us, and they won’t be quick. What’s going on at your end?’

  ‘Not much, I’m afraid,’ Ingeborg said. ‘Paul is back from the theatre. He was checking all the printers there. He says he did a printout on every one, but there wasn’t a single match with the suicide note. That line of enquiry doesn’t look promising.’

  ‘He’d better not give up on it. I expect it was printed at home on a personal computer. He’ll just have to visit each of the suspects.’

  ‘He knows, guv. He’ll see the job through.’

  ‘Tell him he needn’t go out to Warminster for Kate’s machine.’

  ‘Why is that?’

  ‘It’s been cleared. No specks at all.’ He moved swiftly on. ‘Who else is around?’

  ‘John Leaman. He finished that search of the theatre and found I don’t know how many carrier bags. And Fred Dawkins has just left for that Sweeney Todd rehearsal. He’s done a solid job on Binns, checking with previous employers. We now have a complete career record. A few blemishes, but nothing of obvious interest. Binns doesn’t seem to have had any previous connection with Clarion or Denise or the Theatre Royal.’

  ‘Is Keith still with Shearman?’

  ‘No, he came back an hour ago, wanting to give the little fink enough rope to hang himself, he says.’

  ‘Not literally, I hope. And what’s your take on Francis Melmot?’

  Her sigh could be heard down the phone. ‘I’m in two minds, guv. He’s far from silent, but he gives nothing away. I’m sure he’s an excellent chairman of the trustees because he’s so discreet. Personally I find him charming and affable and I think he truly cares about the theatre. But his decision to employ Clarion was a disaster. All of this mayhem was triggered by him and I suspect there’s more he hasn’t told us.’

  ‘Like sacking Kate? ’

  ‘Well, yes.’

  ‘How did you wheedle that out of him?’

  ‘I traded.’

  ‘Traded what?’

  ‘I made some suggestive remark about Shearman and Kate and he obviously didn’t know what they get up to in wardrobe. He was shocked into telling me she’d already been dismissed.’

  ‘Why hadn’t he told us before now?’

  ‘He didn’t want the theatre’s reputation damaged any more than it has been already.’

  ‘Shearman didn’t tell us anything about the sacking either.’

  ‘Well, he’s been exploiting it, hasn’t he?’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Encouraging Kate to think that by cosying up to him she’ll get a reprieve. Small chance. Melmot runs the show and Shearman has hardly any influence with him at all.’

  For Diamond, this was a new angle on the goings-on in wardrobe. ‘So you think Kate is pulling him to save her job?’

  ‘I’d put it another way. Shearman is cynically taking advantage.’

  ‘I thought it was straightforward sex.’

  ‘A typically male assumption, if I may say so.’

  Sharp, he thought. He wouldn’t get into a debate with Ingeborg about that. ‘Nice work with Melmot, anyway. Things are making more sense. Are you working late?’

  ‘That’s what you asked us to do.’ There was a definite note of dissent, unusual for Ingeborg. He expected it from the likes of Leaman and even Halliwell on occasions, but not Inge.

  ‘I’ll get back as soon as I can.’ If Inge was unhappy, he could imagine there was serious murmuring
in the ranks. He understood why. Most of the interviews had been got through and put on file by now. The team was marking time, waiting for fresh orders but knowing he was an hour’s drive away. No doubt they were thinking of what they were missing on a Friday evening. He needed to convey his own belief that this was the calm before the storm.

  Difficult, down the phone from Salisbury. When he’d started on this trip he’d expected to question Kate in Warminster and be back in Bath by early evening.

  He pocketed the mobile and stepped up to the desk again and reminded them who he was and asked if he could see Kate now. He was told firmly to wait with everyone else. He asked how long that was likely to be and they said they weren’t in a position to say.

  More marking time. He wasn’t good at it. Not that Friday night clubbing held any appeal for a man his age; he just wanted to make better use of the time.

  But an idea was coming to him. It wouldn’t be the ideal solution. Better than sitting around here for a couple of hours.

  When Rogers returned with the coffee and sandwiches, Diamond said, ‘They’re busy here. I’ve seen a couple of serious cases brought in while you were getting these.’

  ‘It’s Friday evening, guv. It’s expected in casualty.’

  ‘Could be a long one, I’m thinking.’

  ‘Me, too.’

  He took a sip of the coffee. ‘This is welcome.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘There’s someone I wouldn’t mind seeing while I’m over here. Lives at Wilton. That isn’t far from Salisbury, is it?’

  ‘Not far at all.’ A twitch of Rogers’ lips showed his immediate assumption: that Diamond had a woman friend.

  ‘It’s not police business,’ Diamond said. ‘I’d be leaving you in charge for an hour or so. Would you mind? You could phone me if there’s a problem.’

  ‘I’ll still be here. I don’t have my bike with me.’

  21

  ‘No violence,’ Diamond kept repeating aloud while skirting Salisbury on the road to Wilton. The next hour would test him. The anger simmering for days was already threatening to boil over. He’d last felt pressure like this after Steph wasmurdered. Brute force had always lurked within him and he knew the signs, shallow breathing, gritted teeth, flexed muscles. Then the red mist came down and he was danger ous. No, he must keep reminding himself of the purpose of meeting Flakey White: to find out for certain what had hap pened when he was a child. Only by getting to the truth of it could he hope to remove the block his brain had put up and give himself the possibility of closure.

  This was it: truth time.

  He’d thought about phoning White to let him know he was coming. In most situations it was the civilised way to behave.

  Turning up unannounced after dark wasn’t a good start. But in this case, surprise was essential. If White were tipped off that someone he’d once abused was coming, he’d quit the house, or refuse to come to the door.

  As it was, there was no guarantee he’d be at home and no certainty he’d be willing to say anything. He could clam up or deny all knowledge of the abuse. The meeting was one extremely demanding obstacle course.

  But it had to be attempted.

  Without Sergeant Rogers in the passenger seat, Diamond navigated for himself. Part of his brain, at least, was com pelled to function normally. The map showed he didn’t need to drive into the city centre and he was helped by Wilton appearing regularly on the signboards. At a roundabout he swung left and past the huge arched entrance gate to Wilton House, ancestral home of the Earls of Pembroke, not a bad neighbourhood for a jailbird to end up in.

  Obliged to stop at some traffic lights where the road narrowed for the village, he studied the map again and worked out where White lived. A right turn brought him into North Street. Forest Close was off to the left.

  The house was a squat, stone structure with the look of a converted farm building, single storied with a tiled roof much covered in moss. Crucially, the lights were on inside, behind Venetian blinds.

  Determined to stay calm, he took a deep breath, rang the bell and waited. He was relieved to hear movements inside.

  The door opened a short way, on a chain. He couldn’t see much of the person inside.

  ‘Mr White?’

  ‘Yes.’ The voice was tentative, unwelcoming.

  ‘My name is Peter Diamond and you were once my art teacher.’ He’d been debating with himself how to begin. This wasn’t the moment to reveal he was a senior policeman.

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘It’s late to be calling, I know.’

  It must have taken several seconds for Diamond’s first words to register. Without any more being said, White released the door chain and opened it fully. He was wearing a peaked eye shade. White haired and thin-faced, he had worry lines etched deeply. He was shorter than Diamond remembered, dressed in a thin cardigan, corduroys and carpet slippers. His shoulders sagged. ‘Do come in,’ he said.

  Then he held out his hand.

  There is only so much you can anticipate. The handshake was a pitfall Diamond hadn’t foreseen. Visiting the old paedophile was one thing. Touching his flesh was another. To refuse would expose the disgust Diamond was trying to conceal. He told himself it was only a formality, quickly over. How many hands have I shaken in my lifetime? How many of them were hands that had thieved, assaulted or even committed murder? A fair number.

  He reached out and felt White’s palm against his own, limp, bony, lukewarm. After drawing away he couldn’t stop himself rubbing his hand against his hip to cleanse it of the contact.

  White didn’t appear to notice. ‘I’ll make some tea.’

  ‘Please don’t,’ Diamond told him, civil to a fault. ‘I had some not long ago. I was visiting the hospital. That’s how I was in the area.’

  The old man matched him for courtesy. ‘Whatever the reason, it’s an unexpected pleasure to meet a former pupil. Come through to the kitchen. I don’t have a living room as such. I use that as my studio. Still doing art, you see.’

  To reach the kitchen they took a few steps through the studio. A high stool was in front of a desk on which a drawing board rested, lit by a powerful anglepoise lamp. An ink drawing of a city street was in progress, drawn in the exaggerated perspective of the modern graphic style. Beyond question, it was the work of a skilful artist.

  ‘I must have interrupted you.’

  ‘No, no.’ White pulled off the eyeshade. ‘Don’t be concerned about that. A visitor is a rare treat for me. I lead a hermit’s life these days. I’m going to insist that you have a drink.’

  ‘I’m driving. I won’t.’ The warmth of this welcome was disconcerting, the reverse of what he had expected.

  In the small kitchen area, White fumbled between the fridge and the wall for a folding chair and tried to draw it open. He was not moving easily.

  ‘May I?’ Diamond offered.

  ‘Please do, and then use it.’

  ‘Where will you sit?’

  He flapped his hand to dismiss the possibility. ‘I could use my stool if I wanted, but I won’t because it does me good to stand up. My back isn’t the best these days. Occupational hazard, bending over one’s work for many years. Draughtsman’s back, I call it. What did you say your name is?’

  Diamond repeated it. ‘I was at Long Lane primary school.’

  ‘I remember. The school, that is, not you. I only ever taught in two schools and that was the first. I don’t remember the names of any of the scholars, I’m sorry to admit, and you’ll have changed beyond recognition since your primary school days. Were you any good at art?’

  ‘Useless.’

  ‘More of a scientist, were you?’

  ‘I wouldn’t say that.’

  ‘So what did you become eventually?’

  He didn’t want to say, and he didn’t want White setting the agenda. ‘Sport was my main interest. I played a lot of rugby.’

  ‘As a professional?’

  ‘No, no. Just amateur club stuff. I wonder if y
ou can recall a school friend of mine called Michael Glazebrook.’

  A shake of the head. ‘I’m afraid I can’t.’

  ‘I saw him only the other day. He remembers you. In fact, it was through Mike that I managed to trace you.’

  White blinked. The glaze over his pale blue eyes was probably cataract. ‘How was that?’

  ‘He saw your picture in a magazine.’

  Some hesitation followed. He pulled the cardigan close across his chest and frowned a little. ‘Recently?’

  ‘Some while back, he told me.’

  White began fastening the cardigan buttons. He was very uneasy.

  Diamond said, ‘It was a piece about book illustrators.’

  The frown gave way to a look of relief, even mild amusement. ‘Oh, yes. I can recall being photographed for that. Such a performance it was, setting up an arc lamp and a camera on a tripod in my little studio. I have a copy somewhere. We artists don’t often get that sort of attention, even if our work gets seen more widely.’

  All this small talk had to end now, Diamond decided. ‘Let me take you further back, a lot further. When you taught at my school you had some connection with a local drama group.’

  ‘I did some scene-painting, yes, and I designed the tickets and programmes.’ The enquiry hadn’t fazed him. He smiled. ‘Fancy you remembering that.’

  ‘Mike Glazebrook and I took part in one of the shows, about Richard III.’

  White raised both hands. ‘Ah, you were the princes in the tower.’ This was said with the pleasure of recognition, unqualified delight, it seemed. ‘I recruited you, and very good you were, both of you. That’s forty years ago, if not more. I’m so pleased you mentioned it, because I can place you now, both of you.’

  I bet you can, you pervert, Diamond thought. ‘It isn’t a pleasing memory for me. I was put off theatres for ever.’

  ‘Oh dear. That is a shame,’ White said with what sounded genuine concern. ‘On reflection it was a gruesome story to be in, the murder of the young princes. At the time I expect we assumed you’d take it in your stride, two tough little suburban schoolboys.’