“That’s guesswork.”
“Isn’t that how you arrive at the truth, by juggling the facts until you get something that makes sense?”
He grinned. “Not a method I admit to.”
“Let’s settle for this, then: something provoked Mary into speaking out.”
“And that’s why Mary had to die? What about Jake? Was his mistake the same as Dave’s, being fancied and trying to walk away?”
“Did you speak to Sabine about Jake?”
“I did, and she said she didn’t know him from Adam.”
“She would, wouldn’t she?”
“I don’t know about that. When she told me this, it confirmed what others have told me, that from her lofty height people like riggers are only there on sufferance.”
“That wouldn’t stop her from giving him the eye if she fancied him. Was he attractive?”
He took the phone from his pocket and showed her Jake’s picture.
“Oooh,” she said, laying it on to tease him. “Neat moustache.”
“I didn’t know you liked them.”
“Douglas Fairbanks Junior.”
“Way before my time.”
“Beast. But you see what I’m driving at? He fails to respond to Sabine’s charm and she’s humiliated. A common rigger turns her down. She can’t bear to have him on set as a reminder. She’d already killed Tudor and made him disappear. She repeated the trick.”
It was a persuasive theory, providing Sabine with a motive, the opportunity and a means of removing the body from the scene, but while listening, Diamond had become increasingly uneasy about Chen’s involvement. The minder had to be Sabine’s accomplice. Is loyalty so blind that it gets led into conspiracy to murder?
He’d been willing to accept the idea until they analysed what Sabine was supposed to have demanded of Chen. Now he was rapidly going cool on it. The short time he’d spent with Chen had shown him she knew exactly where she stood and what her duties were. Anything extra would need to be negotiated. Subordinates don’t make good partners in crime.
“After that I need another beer.” He signalled to the waiter.
“Is that a way of telling me to zip up?” Paloma said.
“No, I’m fascinated.”
“Well, there’s one more suspect you told me about — the gentleman of the road.”
“Will Legat.”
“Do you want my thoughts on him?”
“I’m on tenterhooks.”
“You said he’s been visiting Bath for years at the height of the tourist season.”
“Right. He only has to sit on the street with his enormous dog and people give them money.”
“I’ve seen them outside the Roman Baths. Have you checked how many of the incidents and accidents over the years happened at times when Will was visiting Bath?”
“Paul Gilbert may have looked at the timing. He’s handling the Nicol inquiry for me.”
“It’s the first thing I would want to know. Will isn’t your average down-and-out, from what you told me. He’s eloquent, for one thing.”
“Difficult to stop.”
“And no fool. He had a business of his own in London that was brought down by the global financial crisis, as many others were, right?”
“True.”
“Isn’t there some connection with Jake Nicol?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it that. Nicol also worked in London before joining the show, but as Will pointed out to me, London has a population of nine million.”
“That isn’t what I meant. You found Nicol’s blood on the belt Will was wearing.”
“Right, I get you now. On the belt and on his clothes. It’s the only evidential link we have between any of the suspects and the victims. Normally I’d find blood evidence decisive.”
“But you don’t?”
“He had a pretty convincing explanation. He stumbled over the belt when he was crossing the airfield in the dark on his way to doss down in the old control tower. Being a scavenger, he picked it up.”
“And got blood on his clothes, Jake Nicol’s blood?”
“That’s the worrying bit. If the blood was still moist, the attack must have happened a short time earlier.”
“Does he have an explanation?”
“He claims to have watched the riggers clearing up after the shoot. They’re always the last to leave. If he’s telling the truth, he may well have witnessed Nicol being attacked. But when I started questioning him about it, he went into ‘No comment’ mode.”
“Why? Is he scared of naming someone?”
“He isn’t scared of anything. He could tell how eager I was to find out what he may have witnessed and he saw this as a way of working his ticket. Free overnight accommodation in the cells.”
“Is that worth having?” Paloma asked with surprise.
“It is to Will. His preferred choice would be Julian House, but they can’t take Caesar, so he has to look elsewhere. There are usually a couple of empty cells at Keynsham and I had a word with the custody sergeant. It’s bed, blankets, breakfast and a shower if he wants. He was there two nights, until I called time.”
“You amaze me. Is this the norm?”
“It’s common practice — has been for years — for homeless people to commit minor offences like anti-social behaviour to get a night in the cells. Quite often we don’t bother to charge them. Saves us the paperwork. And sometimes they don’t bother to commit the offence. They simply turn up and ask if we have a spare cell.”
“And you hoped Will Legat would become cooperative and tell you what he saw?”
“It was worth the try. If I go on hammering away at him in an interview room, he’ll put the shutters up forever, stubborn cuss. He’s quite prepared to have ‘no comment’ on his gravestone.”
Paloma’s eyes sparkled. “I like it.”
“We also keep tabs on him this way.”
“Did he walk all the way from Keynsham into Bath each morning to do his begging?”
“No chance. He and Caesar got a lift in a police van. He left the pram behind.”
“Giving him a reason to return. This guy has got it made. What I’d like to know is whether he’s a key witness or a suspect.”
“Tell me if you find out,” Diamond said. “On what we know so far, he has to be the prime suspect for Jake Nicol’s murder unless his story about finding the belt can be believed. Tying him into the other crimes is more problematic.”
“When Tudor disappeared in 2015, it was late July, the height of the tourist season, when you’d expect Legat to have been here.”
“And Mary’s death?”
“August, 2017.”
“So it’s likely he was here for all three of these suspicious deaths.”
“That’s one thing. Finding a reason why he should want to murder any of them is the challenge.”
“Way beyond me, I’m afraid,” Paloma said. “He doesn’t sound like a violent man, but you can never be sure.”
They decided to order coffees rather than a dessert. Even Diamond had his limits after a twelve-ounce steak.
“So you really do have a classic whodunit to solve,” Paloma said after their plates were taken away. “Three men and three women. And three bodies, if you’re right about Mary Wroxeter.”
“But it’s not impossible one of them is still alive and will come back and make a horse’s arse of me.”
“Mary won’t. You know she’s dead.”
“The other two are still missing officially. I’ve staked a lot on them being dead.”
“You need bodies to back up your theory.”
“That’s my biggest headache. How do I find them? My best chance is Nicol, the latest one. All the evidence suggests he was killed on Charmy Down when they finished filming there. The only thing we found was his rigger’s belt. We searched all the derelict buildings.”