‘Mind you don’t slip,’ he said. ‘I came a cropper this morning.’
She didn’t answer. She had more on her mind than slippery mushrooms.
‘Ha!’ she said when they’d gone another two minutes. ‘We might have guessed.’ They had come to a wooden door set into the wall. ‘This has got to be the way our elusive friend went.’
‘Is it bolted?’
She tried the handle and the door opened.
They both went through and found themselves in an overgrown, neglected garden. Waist-high grass the colour of hay. Looping brambles. A roof in the distance covered in moss and with a number of tiles missing.
‘Familiar?’ Diamond said.
‘Not to me.’
‘You didn’t come this far in. It’s Mrs Shah’s garden.’ He was sure of it. He forced his way forward a few steps and spotted the top of the trellis and the garden shed.
‘Holly Blue Cottage?’ Georgina said, as if they’d landed on the moon.
‘How dumb is that?’ he said. ‘I knew both places were in this area, but I didn’t appreciate they were either side of the same wall.’
‘Didn’t you notice that door in the wall this morning?’
He shook his head. ‘There wasn’t much time and I was more interested in what was in the shed. Shows how easily you can miss things.’
Georgina looked right and left across the tall grass. ‘Where’s our fugitive, then? If he came in the way we did, he can’t have gone far. I’m no Indian scout, but hasn’t someone forced his way through this?’
She was right. Some of the long stalks were bent and broken — and it wasn’t the track Diamond himself had made earlier in the day.
He went ahead. Not that he was any more of a scout than Georgina, but it was pretty obvious where they were heading. The garden shed.
The lone walker could be inside.
They reached the mould-scarred building, stood for a second in front and exchanged glances, saying nothing. Then Diamond kicked the door. It swung inwards and revealed Hen Mallin, seated in the chair, holding a cigarillo to her lips.
‘Manners,’ she said. ‘Always knock before entering.’
For once even Diamond was lost for words. Not for one moment had he thought they’d been pursuing his old colleague.
Georgina was already in a foul mood. These two would never hit it off, but she couldn’t be blamed for the fury she put into the word, ‘You?’
Hen shrugged.
‘Just what are you doing here?’
‘What does it look like?’ Hen said. She reached down and picked up a transparent bag containing a few fresh mushrooms. ‘Resting my limbs after a forage around the lake... ma’am. It’s the mushroom season, in case you hadn’t noticed, but I’ll be checking my Observer book of fungi before I sample them. You can’t be too careful with these little varmints.’
‘You’re under suspension.’
‘Not under house arrest. No one said I can’t go out.’
‘This is private land. You’re trespassing.’
‘Aren’t we all?’
Georgina had all the fire power, but was coming off the worse. ‘Here — of all places — where there’s an investigation going on. You were instructed to stop doing police work of any description.’
‘I have,’ Hen said. ‘I’m collecting mushrooms. Haven’t interfered. Haven’t spoken to a soul. I’m not obstructing you in your duties.’
‘There’s a major alert, a child gone missing. We should be hunting for her, not you.’
Diamond agreed with that. Much as he admired Hen, this had been a fool’s errand. All their efforts should have been geared to finding Mel.
‘Your choice,’ Hen said. ‘There was no need.’
‘We know that now,’ Georgina said. ‘What possessed you to come here?’
‘Family loyalty,’ Hen said. ‘It’s no secret that the investigation has shifted here. All your interest has shifted to the missing schoolgirl, but I’m still worried sick about Joss. Are they diving for bodies in the lake?’
‘We’re not discussing the case with you.’
‘As you wish,’ Hen said. ‘I’ll shut up, then.’
Georgina may have taken this as a small victory, but Diamond didn’t. He’d noticed a gleam in Hen’s eyes suggesting she’d been on the point of sharing something. For the present, he didn’t take it up. Georgina was calling the shots.
‘You’d better leave,’ she told Hen. ‘Did you come by car?’
‘It’s in the lane in front of the cottage. I wasn’t going to park it in front of Fortiman House.’
‘So you knew about this place?’
‘Came here when I was on the Joe Rigden murder, didn’t I?’ She reached for a flower pot and flicked ash into it. ‘I’ll be on my way, then. Leave you serving officers to get on with your vital work.’
They had to step out of the shed to make room. Holding her mushrooms in front of her like a trophy, Hen stepped outside and waded through the long grass without looking back but with a definite swagger, a small, defiant figure in no way contrite.
‘I’ve lost all sympathy,’ Georgina said to Diamond.
He was under the impression she hadn’t any to lose, but didn’t say so. ‘We’ve solved the mystery of the solitary walker.’
‘But at what cost?’ she said. ‘You’re a physical wreck. I feel like a scarecrow. We’re senior officers. It’s degrading.’
‘We found the connecting door. That’s progress.’
Georgina wasn’t consoled. ‘I’ve had enough. I shall tell Commander Hahn we’ve gone beyond the call of duty to examine that loathsome woman’s misconduct and I’m recommending her immediate dismissal. I know you’re sympathetic, but in my book there’s nothing to be said for her.’
He didn’t take the bait. ‘Shall we return to the real action, then?’
‘Certainly.’
‘Want me to call our driver to pick us up?’
‘No. We walk.’
‘As you wish.’
They closed the shed and returned through the connecting door to the Fortiman estate. At once it became obvious that Georgina expected more from him on her hard-line decision. ‘I mean, isn’t it transparently clear, Peter, that she’s not fit to lead a criminal investigation department?’
‘The jury’s out on that one, ma’am.’ He was speaking to her back as he trailed after her along the path beside the lake.
‘You don’t have to “ma’am” me now we’re alone. It’s beginning to sound more like a term of derision — especially the way she uses it.’
‘I won’t, then. If we’re talking about Hen Mallin’s fitness to lead, I have to speak up for her. Having seen her at work, I have a lot of respect.’
‘More than she ever demonstrates.’
‘That’s her style. She’s not employed to show respect. She was upfront and honest about what she did wrong, failing to investigate her niece. The question we should be asking is whether that disbars her from ever working again. I don’t know of any other failings.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake! She’s insubordinate.’
‘Under strain — and she’s under plenty at the moment. She’s a good investigator, a whole lot more likely to succeed than Montacute, who is trying to do her job now.’
‘That’s beside the point. I don’t care for him either.’
‘As I said to you before, I believe Hen Mallin was suspended because she rocked the boat.’
She stopped and wheeled round. ‘Tell me, Peter. Is there something going on that you haven’t shared with me?’
It would have been so easy to tell her about Archie Hahn’s memo, but it would break her. Difficult as she was, he couldn’t do that to her.
They were standing toe to toe like boxers, so he sparred with her, just as he had the day before in the school dining room. ‘We’ve been over this, but I don’t think you believed me. Hen started getting interested in missing persons, contacting police stations all along the south coast to see if there was a trend — if someone was disposing of bodies on an industrial scale. The figures bore it out. She proposed coordinated action. This was the development that alarmed the high-ups. The murder rate in Sussex and Hampshire was about to rocket. By sacking Hen, they snuff out the problem.’