‘I’ve encouraged you to give your opinion and we’ve had some useful exchanges,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t call that “tagging along”. My impression of Dr Watson is that he spent much of his time being awestruck by his companion’s intellect. I haven’t noticed much of that going on.’
He stared ahead, not trusting himself to speak.
‘Have you had your say, because I’d like to raise a couple of matters myself?’
‘Go ahead.’ He was losing this battle of wills.
And now Georgina chose to play the card that always defeated him: the helpless woman. ‘It isn’t easy for me, dealing with someone of your force of personality. If I appear to pull rank sometimes, it’s for my own survival. You can be a tidal wave at times. I’ve seen it often and stood back. Fortunately you aren’t as destructive as a tidal wave, but you’re very alarming, more so than you realise. I’d like to reach an understanding in the days to come. I didn’t rise to assistant chief constable by sitting behind a desk fretting over the crime figures, as you mainly see me. I do have a human side. I want this investigation to be a partnership.’
‘So do I, ma’am.’
‘If you’re serious about that, you can stop calling me “ma’am” — at least while we’re alone. I won’t insist you use my Christian name, but you may if you wish. In my family, I’m known as Georgie.’
His stomach clenched.
‘I want to be comfortable with you, Peter.’
‘Suits me.’ He couldn’t yet bring himself to call her Georgina, let alone Georgie.
This had become a heart-to-heart now. ‘In the car yesterday, when I called you my secret weapon, I could tell it embarrassed you.’
‘Surprised me, anyway.’
‘I was more than a little on edge myself, trying to cut through the formality. The talk about sharing a room didn’t come out as I intended. I wouldn’t want you to think of me as a predatory female.’
‘I wouldn’t want it either.’
‘The fact that you spoke just now about our relationship isn’t going to throw me off kilter. We both know what you meant.’
‘Of course.’
‘We can work together without that kind of nonsense.’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Doesn’t mean we aren’t normal human beings, of course.’
‘Goes without saying.’ He walked a little faster. They were both walking noticeably faster. They’d reached the footbridge and were more than halfway across. They’d soon be back at the car with their driver, who Diamond was beginning to think of as his chaperon.
‘So let’s both make an effort, shall we?’
‘Right. Where do you suggest we go next?’ He was tempted to add, ‘Your place or mine?’ but he couldn’t risk the joke.
10
They returned to Chichester to read the file on the Joe Rigden murder. It couldn’t be shirked. Georgina’s knowledge was second-hand — from her college friend, Archie Hahn, in that moonlit stroll along West Wittering beach — and Diamond’s was third-hand. He hated being underinformed. The original witness statements would give them both a better grasp. Georgina saw the sense in it. And there was another factor neither of them mentioned: they were at screaming point from being together so long.
In the circumstances, they didn’t expect a warm welcome at the police station and it wasn’t given.
‘We were warned to expect you,’ the desk sergeant said as if they were the flu virus. ‘I’ll tell them in CID.’
They were kept waiting ten minutes. ‘This isn’t good enough,’ Georgina said loudly enough to be heard.
A young woman in plain clothes finally appeared and asked to see their IDs.
‘We already produced them,’ Georgina said. ‘Who are you?’
‘Pat Gomez.’
‘Pat Gomez, ma’am. And we don’t need to know your given name. Rank?’
‘I’m on the civilian staff, ma’am.’
Pat Gomez showed them upstairs into a CID office not unlike their own in Bath except that the faces looking up from computer screens might just have sucked lemons.
‘Who’s in charge here?’
Pat Gomez pointed to an open door.
They crossed the room and stepped inside. The bearded man on the phone behind the large desk continued talking into it and didn’t even make eye contact.
‘This is too much,’ Georgina told Diamond.
‘I wouldn’t make an issue of it, ma’am.’ Hearing a click from her tongue, he remembered too late that for him, at least, ‘ma’am’ was no longer protocol. Instead of calming her down, he’d added to her annoyance.
Georgina looked to be on the point of snatching that phone and jumping on it.
The call came to an end. ‘We’re short-staffed and busy,’ the bearded man said. ‘I take it you’re the Bath contingent.’
‘And what are you?’ Georgina asked as if he was the lowest level of pond life.
‘DI Montacute, currently running this department as a stopgap.’
‘Standing in for the DCI?’
‘Regrettably, yes.’
Georgina made a performance of introducing herself and Diamond. All it lacked was a twenty-one-gun salute. ‘So in future when you speak to me, I expect to be addressed as “ma’am”. We’ll begin by examining the file on the Rigden murder from 2007.’
‘I’ll see if it’s available... ma’am.’
‘Why wouldn’t it be?’
‘It’s been in Malling House for some weeks.’
‘Where on earth is that?’
‘Lewes. Sussex police headquarters. They took the decisions over this. Actually we must have made a photocopy before sending it off.’ He spoke into an intercom, then nodded. ‘No problem. The original is back.’
Georgina said they would need the spare copy as well. They were offered the use of a stationery store as their base. She was outraged.
‘Haven’t you got anything better than that?’
Montacute shook his head. ‘Like I said, ma’am, we’re fully stretched. The briefing room is doubling up as an incident room for a murder inquiry and the interview rooms are constantly in use. It’s been non-stop for weeks.’
They were shown the storeroom. Chairs could be brought in, they were told, and more space created by restacking boxes of envelopes. Georgina wasn’t having it. ‘There isn’t even a window,’ she said to Diamond. ‘It’s a glorified cupboard, that’s all it is. We’re being treated as pariahs because of what we’re here for. I don’t accept all this talk of being run off their feet. Have a look round and find us somewhere more suitable.’
He didn’t fancy touring the corridors opening doors, so he had a quiet word with a uniformed sergeant he saw coming up the stairs. There really was pressure on rooms, he learned. A spate of serious crimes in recent weeks meant that resources were stretched to the limit.
‘Leave it to me,’ Georgina said, when told. She was in no mood to cave in.
She marched into Montacute’s office. ‘Are you overseeing the murder investigation as well?’
‘I’m not the SIO, ma’am, but I see it as my responsibility to keep up with it, if that’s what you’re asking.’
‘As well as these other serious crimes I’m hearing about?’
‘Well, yes.’
‘Multitasking?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘In that case, you can’t be sitting behind a desk all day. That’s no way to keep up.’
‘Oh I’m on my feet a lot, ma’am. Anyone here will vouch for that.’
‘As I thought. You’re peripatetic. This office is under-used. We’ll move a couple of extra desks in and make this our base.’
‘You can’t do that.’