‘Why not? It’s relevant.’
‘You said he’s with the Standforths. They’re starting to look like suspects. You don’t reveal all you know in the presence of people who may be involved. I can fill him in later, when he’s alone.’
She saw the sense in what he said. ‘Fair point. Better not barge in there.’ Her thinking was still transparent. ‘Everyone who was at that party is a suspect if harm came to the girl that night.’
‘True.’
‘And there are some very odd people among them.’
He didn’t wait for her to list them. ‘Have you spoken to the search team?’
‘Not yet. They’re standing by, awaiting instructions.’
‘I’ll have a word.’ He marched over to the van and introduced himself to the senior officer, with a sergeant’s stripes, seated in the cab. ‘You got a shout, then?’
‘It’s the missing schoolgirl, sir. DI Montacute says she could have been coming here.’
‘So what’s the game plan?’
‘The map shows a stretch of water at the edge of the property.’
‘I’ve seen it. Quite large. Muddy water, too.’
‘We’re used to that. Britain ain’t the Caribbean, more’s the pity.’
Diamond pointed down the slope to where he’d visited the lake. ‘I’ve been there. There’s a gravel path you can drive down.’
Montacute emerged from the house and came over. ‘You got here fast,’ he said to Diamond in a brusque aside, before briefing the dive team. ‘We’re in business, gentlemen. The owners have no knowledge of the girl coming here the other night, but she’s been here previously as part of an art class and will know the place. She’s familiar with the grounds. The lake is in the northwest corner, wherever that is.’
The sergeant pointed. ‘Down the slope behind the trees. Superintendent Diamond has seen it.’
With all the gratitude of a dog whose bone is snatched away, Montacute swung back to Diamond. ‘You’ve been there already?’
‘Took a stroll earlier this morning.’
‘Someone tip you off, then?’
‘I was taking a break between art sessions.’
There was a pause for thought. Unable to decide whether he was having his leg pulled, Montacute vented his annoyance on the sergeant. ‘What are you waiting for? Get to it.’
While the van disappeared down the slope, Diamond did the decent thing and updated Montacute on the text messages Mel had received. The DI didn’t need reminding Mel was the schoolgirl who had come to the police station.
‘At the time, I didn’t give this lass high priority.’
‘Nor me,’ Diamond admitted. ‘Gets more personal, doesn’t it, when you’ve met her?’
‘Believe me, we’re pulling out all the stops. Headquarters will go berserk about all the overtime, but I intend to find her. And so does Tom Standforth. He’s her art teacher and he’s bloody upset.’
‘What’s your next move?’
‘We timed this well. Most of the people who were at the party happen to be here today. I’ll take statements from them all. They can carry on with their drawing and I’ll pull them out one by one.’
‘Hoping there was a sighting of Mel?’
‘If they were in any state to notice. What about you? What are you planning to do?’ Montacute asked and added with a leer, ‘Finish off your masterpiece?’
‘Got a few questions for Tom Standforth. Have you finished with him?’
‘He’s in the clear.’
‘You think so?’
‘You don’t piss on your own doorstep.’
With that sage dictum to reflect on, Diamond returned to Georgina. ‘The art is about to get under way again,’ he told her.
‘You’re not going back in?’
‘It’s a chance to speak to Tom.’
‘In that case, I’ll find out how the divers are getting on,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen more of that model than I ever wished to see.’
Jim Bentley called his fishing friend Norman while Sheila was watching one of her daytime soaps.
‘Is this a good moment?’
‘If you really want to know, it isn’t,’ Norman said. ‘I was having my afternoon nap. Sometimes I think I’ll take a hammer to that phone.’
‘You could try turning it off.’
‘Now I’m awake, what do you want?’
‘Don’t know if you saw the news item about the missing schoolgirl.’
‘May have done. Can’t remember.’
‘Melanie, from Priory Park School.’
‘What’s she got to do with me?’
‘Nothing at all,’ Jim said. ‘Keep your hair on. She’s been gone several days now and they had the parents on, making an appeal for information.’
‘I still don’t see—’
‘Listen, Norman. The police guy clearly thinks she’s dead. They’re hoping someone can give them a clue about what happened to her. I’ve been thinking back to our last trip. Remember the inflatable we found that you said was like the Mary Celeste?’
‘Except it wasn’t,’ Norman said. ‘It belonged to that dick-head diver.’
‘But what was he up to? He didn’t say when you asked. He told us to bugger off.’
‘We caught him out, that’s why. Treasure-hunter, if you ask me. Found some wreck in the middle of nowhere and hopes it’s stacked with gold. If they make a find, they never tell anyone. They bring it up secretly, piece by piece.’
‘There wasn’t anything like that in the inflatable and he didn’t come up with any. I was thinking something else. Instead of bringing stuff up he was taking it down.’
‘What — hiding it? The schoolgirl?’
‘Her body.’
‘That’s far-fetched, isn’t it? If he wants to dump a body at sea he can heave it overboard. End of.’
‘But he chose that particular spot. He was anchored there. You thought there could be a wreck down there, right?’
‘I still do.’
‘What’s the depth out there? Not all that great.’
‘Forty metres probably. Enough water to cover a pretty big ship.’
‘OK, there are hundreds of wrecks along the south coast and divers like exploring them, but they don’t go alone. They dive in groups, for safety. This guy was alone and he was bloody annoyed when we found him. He was up to no good, Norm. We agree on that.’
‘Sure.’
‘Getting back to my theory, if you dump a body in the sea, it gets washed up eventually — unless it’s trapped. If there’s an unmarked wreck down there, it’s not a bad place to hide a body, tuck it into a hold where it can’t get loose and rise to the surface.’
‘I’m not convinced,’ Norman said.
‘Tell me what he was up to, then.’
‘I haven’t the foggiest.’
‘Well, I take it seriously enough to report it, just in case. Then it’s up to the police and it won’t be on my conscience.’
‘Is this what you woke me up to tell me?’
‘No, I woke you up to get the GPS reading. I asked you for it at the time, remember? You made a note of it.’
‘On the back of my hand,’ Norman said.
‘Bloody hell. What use was that?’
‘There was a pen, but no paper.’
‘It’s gone, then?’
‘Believe it or not, I wash my hands several times a day,’ Norman said.
‘And I don’t suppose you memorised the numbers?’
‘Come on, Jim, get real. Do you know how many digits there are in a GPS reading? Nine for latitude and nine for longitude. These days, I can barely remember my phone number.’
‘Thanks a bunch. I thought I could rely on you.’
‘You’re serious about this, aren’t you?’
‘I can’t ignore it.’
‘I took a picture with my iPhone.’
‘Of the guy sitting in his inflatable. I remember. But it’s not much use when we can’t say where it was.’