‘People enjoy dressing up.’
‘Yes, but what for?’
‘Fancy-dress parties.’
A shake of the head. ‘This wasn’t fancy dress. Paloma is sure it was an authentic eighteenth-century outfit with some modern alterations. Pearl buttons, the breeches let out a bit. An antique costume is worth serious money. I can tell you I wouldn’t wear it to a party and run the risk of beer being spilled on it.’
‘Or the breeches splitting when you danced,’ Halliwell said.
There were times when Diamond thought his deputy would benefit from a course on respect in the workplace. ‘I might wear it for a more serious occasion, a ceremony, let’s say.’
‘A wedding? They do weddings in costume, don’t they?’
‘Something bigger, a national celebration like the millennium, or the golden jubilee when the city needs to put on a show.’
‘And did it?’
‘That’s what I’m asking. Do you remember?’
‘All I can recall about the millennium was the hoo-ha over the new spa bath not being finished on time. And even when it finally opened six years late I don’t think Beau Nash was part of it. Jumping in for the first swim? No, I don’t see it.’
‘What did we do for the Queen’s jubilee?’
‘I’m not the best person to ask, guv. I’m more interested in football.’
‘Think of another key year. When was Nash born?’
Halliwell shook his head.
‘Paul Gilbert wrote it on his noticeboard. Go and check?’
‘Right now?’
‘We need to know.’
With a shrug, Halliwell got up and headed for the meeting room. He was back in a short time to find Diamond had taken over his chair. ‘1674, in Glamorgan.’
‘Okay. Was anything special laid on three hundred years later in 1974 — a street procession, a commemoration ball, an exhibition? I can’t believe the year went by unnoticed.’
‘Are you thinking our skeleton was playing the Beau? They wouldn’t want an old man as the main character, would they? They’d want some young fellow.’
‘They might feature both. All the pictures you see are of him as an old guy. I’m simply trying to make sense of this person going to all the trouble of kitting himself out in a real frock coat and breeches from the eighteenth century. Where would he have got them? Can you buy them?’
‘You can buy anything on the internet.’
‘Come on. The bloody internet had barely started in 1974.’
Halliwell was unimpressed. ‘Antique clothes have been bought and sold for much longer than the internet. If you had a load of money and really wanted to impress your friends, you might decide to pick something up at auction.’
‘Money comes into it for sure. But then this rich old guy ends up dead in a small terraced house in Twerton.’
‘Lured there by his killer.’
‘In costume? I can’t begin to explain it, Keith. Maybe we’ll get some answers as the day goes on. Check the Chronicle archive for those key years we’re talking about. 1974, 2000 and 2002.’
He liked 1974 now he’d thought of it. The tricentenary of the Beau’s birth couldn’t have passed unnoticed by the city.
The first of the team to report back was Ingeborg. ‘I went to see the wardrobe mistress at the Theatre Royal, guv, and you were right about The Beaux’ Stratagem.’
‘Of course I was right. Did you doubt me?’
‘The National Theatre brought it here on tour in 1989, with Brenda Blethyn playing Mrs. Sullen.’
‘Never mind Mrs. Sullen. Is there a character called Beau Nash?’
She gave him a suspicious look. ‘I thought you’d seen it. There was another production in 2015.’
‘Did I say I’d seen it?’
‘You gave that impression. Obviously I got the wrong end of the stick. To answer your question, he’s not in it. The play was written in 1707, before he got famous.’
He’d already skated over any mild embarrassment. ‘Another production in 2015, you said?’
‘The National again. This is the problem. They provide their own costumes.’
‘They count them out and they count them in again?’
She nodded. ‘They would have noticed if one went missing.’
He wasn’t troubled. The ‘problem’ wasn’t a problem any longer. The case had moved on in the short time since he’d asked Ingeborg to contact the theatre. Now that Paloma had decided the clothes on the skeleton were eighteenth-century originals, the theatre wardrobe had ceased to be of interest. He didn’t like disappointing his most dedicated detective, but she had to be told.
She took it well.
After he’d explained, she said, ‘The wardrobe mistress was telling me there’s a big demand in Bath for historical costumes.’
‘When you say “historical,” you mean old-style, right?’
‘Of course.’
‘Not originals?’
‘They’d be too valuable to wear to Regency balls and things. Someone spills a glass of red wine and it’s goodbye to a piece of history.’
‘And several thousand quid.’
‘You might get away with it at some more serious function where food and drink don’t come into it. I expect it’s more sober at the Beau Nash Society.’
Alert to every possibility as always, Ingeborg spoke of the society as if they both knew all about it. In reality they hadn’t discussed it. The only information Diamond had got had come from Paloma’s friend Estella.
‘Funny you should mention this. Are you thinking of joining?’
Ingeborg laughed nervously. ‘No way. Not my scene at all.’
‘You’re well qualified with all your knowledge about Nash.’
‘You’re joking, I hope. If you’re talking about my potted biography the other day, that was a cyber rush, in my head and out of it.’
‘You don’t retain that stuff?’
‘No chance. I was summarising from various websites.’
‘I met one of the members. Her name is Estella and she’s writing a book about Nash. She’s your age or younger.’
After a moment’s thought her eyes widened in alarm. ‘I don’t know if I’m reading you right, guv, but they’d know I was a stoolie in the first two minutes.’
He smiled. Putting her forward as a member wasn’t part of his planning. ‘Pity. I’d like to see you in a wig and long frock.’
‘Can we be serious?’
‘Fair enough. What else do you know about this society?’
‘It’s for plugged-in people like your friend,’ Ingeborg said. ‘They have rules. Everyone dresses the part, even for regular meetings when they have speakers or listen to music. They’re mostly members of the glitterati, so they prefer to buy their outfits rather than hire and they don’t like to wear the same thing too often, which makes good business for anyone who deals in period costumes.’
‘The glitterati? Here in Bath?’
‘Fat cats. Call them what you like.’
He couldn’t see Estella as a fat cat, but the glitterati tag might apply.
‘How long has this society been in existence?’
‘Couldn’t tell you, guv.’
‘Worth finding out, isn’t it? Don’t panic, I’ll do it myself. However... someone must have made those alterations to the original costume and I expect they were local. They let the breeches out and sewed pearl buttons on the collar. It was done to a high standard, Paloma says.’
‘A long time ago.’
‘They could still be around. If we could trace them, they’d be a key witness.’
‘I’m with you. It’s worth a try.’
John Leaman was the next to enter the office, back from several hours of doorstepping in Twerton. One look told Diamond all he needed to know.