‘What time did it finish?’
‘Not all that late. It wasn’t an all-night rave. Most of these people are middle-aged. We packed up by midnight.’
‘Another question: back in 2007, a man from Slindon, a gardener by the name of Joe Rigden, was murdered. He worked on a garden not far from here, a place called Holly Blue Cottage. I’m wondering if he did any work for your father. You were living here then, weren’t you?’
‘I was born here. But you’ll have to ask my dad about Rigden. If he ever he came here, I didn’t meet him.’
‘Where can I find your dad?’
‘Right now? Over at the house. He’ll be clearing up the kitchen.’
Diamond was halfway across the yard when his phone went. He tugged it out and put it to his ear.
‘Peter?’ The voice was Georgina’s.
‘Speaking.’
‘I need you here at the lake — fast.’
‘Have they found something?’
‘Get here as soon as you can.’
26
His legs were starting to feel as if they didn’t belong to him, but the steep descent helped him run the final stretch to the wooded area where the van was parked.
Already the dive team had a small inflatable on the lake. The sergeant driver he’d spoken to earlier was alone on the bank, smoking. Georgina wasn’t in view.
Strong as he told himself he was from his rugby-playing days, he had to take several gulps of air before saying, ‘Seen my boss?’
The cigarette was taken from between the lips and put to use as a pointer. ‘She spotted someone and went after them.’
Georgina in pursuit?
‘Did you get a sight?’
A shake of the head.
‘Could it be one of your people?’
‘They’re all here. I was told to give you a message.’ The driver took another long drag.
‘Tell me, for Christ’s sake.’
‘She said go the other way round and head them off.’
Suddenly the lake looked ten times as large it had before. And the superfit legs were stiffening up. There wasn’t much more running in them. ‘I’ve got a better idea. You go instead.’
A slow shake of the head. ‘It may not look like it, but I’m on duty here.’
‘No problem.’ Diamond pulled rank. The man was only a sergeant. ‘I’ll take over.’
‘With respect, sir, it has to be someone who’s done the course. Dive team protocol.’
Strongly tempted to tell the sergeant what to do with his dive team protocol, he took out his phone.
At first he thought Georgina wasn’t going to take the call.
‘You took your time.’ There was a pause for breath. She was obviously jogging or at least striding out as she spoke. ‘Did you get my instruction?’ Pause. ‘I’m almost at the opposite side now.’ Pause. ‘Can you see me?’
He shielded his eyes and stared across the water. ‘From where I am, no, ma’am.’
‘You can’t be looking in the right direction.’
‘I think I see you now.’ There was a speck of blue moving steadily in a clockwise direction along the path on the far side. The colour showed up well against the red bricks of the boundary wall. He assumed it was Georgina. Deplorably for a detective, he couldn’t recall the clothes she was wearing.
‘Don’t hang about, then. Go to your right, round the other side,’ she told him in short bursts of words. ‘We’ll catch them in a pincer movement. But hurry.’
Them? ‘More than one?’
‘Just the one. I don’t know if they’re male or female. I’m not even certain what colour they’re wearing.’
You and me both, Georgie, he thought, as he forced his aching legs into action again. The boss was right. This had to be done. This person needed to be identified. Presumably it was the same individual he’d spotted before lunch going in the other direction.
The path was an obstacle course. There was a choice between thick mud at the water’s edge and exposed roots on the more solid ground. He was in danger of tripping every yard of the way. With eyes down for safety’s sake, he noticed the occasional footprint, but didn’t celebrate it as a Man Friday discovery. The owner and his guests no doubt took an occasional walk here.
Cursing every few seconds, Diamond picked his way through the mud at the best speed he could. His head ached and his throat was dry.
So who could the lone walker be? All the artists were at work in the studio and Ferdie was in the house clearing up after the meal. There shouldn’t have been anyone at large on the estate.
He forced himself forward, wishing he were fitter. If Georgina could keep going, so would he. But it was damned hard work.
Ten minutes in, he was startled by the shriek of a moorhen and saw it take flight from the reeds beside the bank and skim across the water. Something must have disturbed it.
He froze.
Then a twig snapped.
Someone was definitely coming towards him.
He stepped behind a tree.
Now he could hear dog-like panting and it wasn’t his own. This person wasn’t in condition.
No need to tackle them physically, he decided. It was reasonable to have a few civilised words with someone you met out walking in the country. He waited for them to draw level.
As they did, he had a sense of solid physique, shorter than himself. But a woman. Definitely a woman. At the moment he stepped into view, she made a sound like a train going through a station.
His ‘Good afternoon’ — completely inaudible — came out feebly in the instant he realised who she was.
Georgina.
‘You?’ she said with disgust.
‘I thought you were—’
‘You could have given me a heart attack, leaping out like that.’
He hadn’t leapt. He’d appeared unexpectedly, that was all, but there was nothing to be gained by pointing it out. All he could do was wait for Georgina to stop hyperventilating. She reached for the trunk of the tree and grasped it.
After some time she said, ‘Where the devil did he go? I was in pursuit. Has he passed you?’
‘No chance. Was it definitely a man, then?’
‘Definitely? Can’t say, but that’s the impression I got. I assure you I wasn’t chasing a shadow.’ She stepped away from the tree, closer to the water, and looked along the bank in both directions. ‘I can’t understand it.’
‘Did he know you were following?’
‘Unlikely. I was never that close. Are you certain he didn’t get past without you noticing?’
‘Not if he kept to the path.’
‘There’s no rule that says he should,’ Georgina said. ‘He must have gone off at a tangent, turned away from the lake and made a getaway through the wood.’
‘Seems so,’ he said, ready to admit defeat.
But Georgina wasn’t. She had that implacable look he knew from Bath Central whenever she demanded to see his budget report. ‘He wouldn’t get far on this side. There’s a nine-foot wall. He’s in the area still. He must be.’ She turned away from the lake and started striding through the wood, with Diamond following. ‘I’ve ruined a good pair of shoes. I’ll be damned if it’s all for nothing.’
They hadn’t gone more than a few steps before a patch of red brick showed ahead in the autumn sunshine. ‘You see?’ Georgina said. ‘There’s a wall. There’s no escape. He’s got to be here somewhere.’
It was the boundary wall marking the limit of the estate.
‘Shall we split up again?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘We stay together now.’ Already she was marching off to the left, following the course of the wall. The ground here was soft and moist, but the grass wasn’t so thick. Brown-capped fungi sprouted in profusion.