She closed the door and said, “Look at this.”
“I can see straight away, ma’am.”
But this wasn’t the full frontal attack he’d expected.
That day’s Bristol Post had been pushed in front of him, with the headline shouting the story:
The jinx that is said to have plagued the TV series Swift — revealed exclusively last week by the Bristol Post — is now the subject of a police enquiry headed by Supt. Peter Diamond, Bath’s top detective. As recently as June this year, veteran actress Daisy Summerfield, who played Viv Swift, Caitlin’s gangster mother, suffered a fatal heart attack when she discovered a burglar in her bedroom. And now yet another setback has happened: Jacob Nicol, one of the rigging crew, has gone missing. These are the latest in a series of misfortunes going back to 2013, when Swift first came to our screens. They include the sudden death of Mary Wroxeter, who devised and produced the award-winning show; a climbing accident in Snowdonia that caused permanent brain damage to Dan Burbage, known to viewers as Sergeant Monaghan; a fire in a sound engineers’ van; stunts that went badly wrong and crew members disappearing. We understand that Supt. Diamond and his team take the jinx seriously enough to have interviewed key people in the show, including Sabine San Sebastian, who plays Caitlin Swift, and Greg Deans, the producer.
The disappearance of crew member Jake Nicol happened while he was on location at Charmy Down, the Second World War airfield, where a scene was being filmed earlier this week. He didn’t return to his lodging and there is concern for his well-being. Scene-of-crime investigators have been examining the site and the ruined RAF buildings have been searched. “We’re worried that something terrible has happened to Jake,” a source told the Post. “All these incidents can’t be dismissed as bad luck. The police seem to think the jinx may turn out to be some malicious person with a grudge against the show.”
While reading, his mind was in overdrive. He’d fully expected Georgina to hit him with the measures he’d taken in open defiance of her instruction. Somehow, all that was dwarfed by this newspaper story. She was so wound up that she hadn’t even noticed his fashion statement.
“So the horse has bolted,” he said. There was an opportunity here.
Georgina frowned. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning we can’t deny we took an interest in the jinx. The truth is out. Our reputation is on a knife edge.” Ingeborg would have shouted, “Clichés!” by now, but each one was making an impact on Georgina.
“I don’t know how you have the nerve to talk to me about our reputation. You’ve put a stain on it forever, getting us caught up in this nonsense in the first place. I ordered you in no uncertain terms to have no more to do with it.”
“And how right you were, ma’am.”
For this, he got a sharp, suspicious look. Georgina was too wily to ask what he meant, so he pressed on. “I called a team meeting and told them to book themselves on refresher courses, just as you said. We agreed to turn our backs on Swift and its problems.”
“It says here that you’re heading a police enquiry.”
“Fake news, ma’am. There was only ever a detective constable keeping tabs on it. I’ll call the editor directly and tell him his story is untrue. We’re not interested in the wretched jinx.”
She shook her head with such force that her cheeks carried on quivering after she stopped. “You can’t say that. They’ll accuse us of failing in our duties. They’ll use it to attack us. This is a public relations disaster.”
“In that case, I won’t call the editor.”
Georgina was in two minds. “People reading the paper will expect us to investigate now.”
He nodded. “Got to agree. And it’s all over social media,” he said as if he constantly checked his phone.
“What do you suggest, then?”
“You’ll find a way through, ma’am. You always do.”
This rare declaration of confidence caught Georgina off guard. It was double-edged, a challenge as well as a compliment.
She blinked several times and reddened. A strained silence followed while she faced this mountainous dilemma. Finally she sighed and spread her hands, forced to put survival first. “The only way out is to do what I least wanted, make a U-turn and put all our efforts into finding what’s behind this so-called jinx.”
“Clever,” Diamond said as if the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. “So clever. A full-on investigation?”
“Regrettably.”
“No expense spared?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But I will need a budget for this.”
She snatched up the newspaper and tossed it at him. “Get on with it, damn you.”
The team was jubilant, so full of it that they made Diamond nervous.
“Where shall we have the major incident room?” Leaman asked.
“Er — here will do.”
“Shall we give it a name?” Halliwell asked.
“Give what?”
“The operation, now it’s out in the open. Operation Jinx?”
“The jinx is non-existent.”
Gilbert joined in. “Showstopper?”
“I don’t care for labels.”
Halliwell wouldn’t let it rest. “But you said Georgina wants the public to know we’re doing something. Shouldn’t we be setting the agenda, generating our own publicity?”
Ingeborg raised her hand and waved. “I’m happy to be press officer, if that’s what we want. Personally, I think ‘Showstopper’ is great.”
By common consent, Operation Showstopper was launched.
With Ingeborg preparing a press release and Leaman shifting furniture in the room across the corridor, Diamond was freed to do what he thought of as mending fences. He could see tell-tale lines of concern on Paul Gilbert’s face. The young man was going to need reassurance that he still had a role to play. He took him to one side. “You’re firmly in charge of the Jake Nicol end of the inquiry. Have you notified the UK missing persons unit?”
“I saw to that, guv, and stressed there was real concern about his well-being.”
“That’s for sure. Do you actually believe he’s alive?”
Gilbert shook his head. “You and I think the same way on this. But I haven’t the first idea where the body is.”
“Did you complete your search of the airfield buildings?”
Gilbert nodded. “It’s a big area, but I’m satisfied I didn’t miss anything.”
“Let’s go over what we know. Nicol was last seen at the airfield when they packed up, right? Being a rigger, he was one of the last to leave.”
“And all the trucks were returned to Gripmasters at the end of the day, so it looks as if he was still alive at that stage — but the bloodstained belt was found in the mud where the trucks were parked.”
“What if he was killed there and the killer drove his truck to the depot?”
Gilbert gave a low whistle. “That’s smart, guv. He could carry the body in the back. Then, when he gets to Cold Ashton it’s already dark and he’s the only one in the car park so he transfers it to his own vehicle and drives off. He could dispose of it anywhere he wants.”
This scenario was already in Diamond’s mind and had been for days. “It’s a possibility.”
“And if that’s what happened,” Gilbert said in some excitement, “the tramp isn’t the killer. He can’t be, because he doesn’t have wheels — except the wheels of the pram, and he wouldn’t get far with that.” His mind galloped on. “It also eliminates Sabine. She doesn’t drive.
“Mind you,” he went on — he was on a roll now, “there’s another possibility. She’s a strong, fit woman. Has to be, to play the part. If she was the killer, she could have hoisted the body into the motorhome. Have you thought of that?”