Even so, her inside knowledge prompted a few smiles.
‘Did they know you saw them at it, guv?’ Halliwell asked.
‘No.’
‘What did you do, shut the door?’
‘Not immediately. I had to make sure it was consensual, didn’t I? And it was. They’re still good friends. Kate patched him up this morning after he was hit. But I was speaking of motives. Shearman claims he was railroaded into having Clarion in the play. He was sure she’d flop and he’d take the blame.’
‘Who railroaded him?’
‘Francis Melmot, chairman of the board of trustees. Melmot is a Clarion fan. He came up with the idea of using her in a play and got the board on side. Met Clarion for lunch and invited her to stay at Melmot Hall.’
‘Get away,’ Halliwell said with relish. ‘Did she go?’
‘She did, for a couple of days, he said.’
‘Couple of nights.’ Halliwell got a laugh for that.
‘I wouldn’t count on that,’ Diamond said. ‘There’s a domineering mother living there.’
‘He’s a mummy’s boy at his age?’
‘Mummy is quite the duchess. I wouldn’t care to cross her.’
‘Then she wouldn’t be troubled by bourgeois values,’ Ingeborg said. ‘Upper-crust mothers positively encourage their sons to get laid.’
‘Is Melmot seriously in the frame?’ Halliwell asked.
‘He must be,’ Diamond said.
‘He’s a fan, you said. What’s his motive?’
‘It became obvious in rehearsal that Clarion was going to screw up. She was no Sally Bowles. His own reputation was on the line. He had to find a way of stopping her.’
‘By scarring her?’ Ingeborg said with disbelief. ‘What sort of fan is that?’
‘Might I venture an opinion?’ a voice said from close to Diamond, reminding him of things he’d been trying to forget. Sergeant Dawkins in his leather jacket and jeans had blended with the team.
‘Go ahead.’
‘Regarding the fun and games.’
‘I don’t think I mentioned fun or games.’
‘Rightly so,’ Dawkins said, and nodded as if that ended the exchange.
‘Fred, if there’s something you want to say, out with it.’
‘There are ladies present.’
There was a sharp intake of breath from Ingeborg.
‘“Fun and games”,’ Dawkins said, ‘is a euphemism.’
‘For fuck’s sake, Fred,’ Ingeborg said. All the good will he’d earned with her had just drained away. ‘Do you mean sex?’
‘In a word, yes.’
‘Say it, then.’
Dawkins tugged the leather jacket more tightly across his front. ‘What if those nights in Melmot Hall didn’t turn out as Mr Melmot hoped? If the’ – he paused – ‘sex was unsatisfactory, or a disaster, he may have panicked that Clarion would tell everyone and he’d be a laughing-stock.’
No question: this new man brought fresh thinking to the team.
‘Good point, Fred,’ Diamond said. ‘It’s true she didn’t stay long.’
‘Perhaps he didn’t.’
‘Didn’t what?’
‘Stay long.’
‘What?’
Halliwell said, ‘It’s a joke, guv.’
‘Is it? Oh, I get you.’ Not many in CID had caught on.
Leaman said, ‘Those are our suspects, then?’
‘For my money, yes,’ Diamond said.
‘What about the gay guy?’
‘Titus?’
‘He knows his way around the theatre.’
‘He would. He’s the dramaturge. Advises on the scripts, or something like that. Yes, he goes backstage. He’s toured me round a couple of times. What are you driving at, John? You think Titus had a motive?’
‘I don’t know about a motive. He had the opportunity for sure if he can come and go without anyone asking what he’s up to.’
‘Agreed, but I can’t see why he’d want to damage Clarion’s face.’
Leaman backed down. ‘Just me thinking aloud, guv.’
‘No harm in that. I doubt if Titus has it in him to do anything like this. He’s full of stories about spooks, but when he saw a dead butterfly he passed out.’
Now Ingeborg thought it was worth pursuing. ‘As someone who cares about the theatre, he could have decided to stop her.’
‘But not like that.’
‘You don’t think he’s capable of it?’
‘Don’t get me wrong, any of you,’ Diamond said, ‘but I have some respect for Titus.’
No one in the room had any doubts about the big man’s sexuality and no one sniggered. Yet there was a moment of awkwardness that lasted until Dawkins cleared his throat.
Diamond turned to him. ‘You want to say something else?’
‘It popped into my head… guv.’
‘What did?’
‘A thought.’
Everyone waited. They were getting used to the slower delivery of this new man. He sometimes made sense, given a hearing.
‘The box of talcum powder in Denise’s bag was harmless.’
Diamond nodded.
‘But the fact remains that Clarion’s face was damaged by caustic soda.’
‘Correct.’
Ingeborg drummed her fingers on the desk in impatience.
Dawkins was not to be put off. He was into his stride now.
‘What if there was a second box?’ Diamond frowned. ‘There wasn’t, not in her bag.’ ‘A box she used for last-minute powdering, when Clarion was waiting to go on, one she kept in the wings on some ledge where she could reach for it when needed? It could still be there.’
‘Possible, I suppose,’ Diamond said, weighing the suggestion. He and Ingeborg had watched the young girl Belinda brushing the actors’ faces and she’d said Denise had been there the first night. ‘Yes, definitely worth checking. Inge, you can take this on.’
‘Now?’ Ingeborg asked.
‘Sooner the better. And take Fred with you.’
Her eyes doubled in size. Insubordination threatened. She’d already done more than her share of mothering Dawkins.
But the man himself was ecstatic. ‘You’re sending me?’
‘Yes, but keep a low profile. Leave the talking to Ingeborg. Any problem with that, Inge?’
She said with an effort at control, ‘No, guv.’
Galvanized, Dawkins was already making for the door.
After they’d left, Halliwell said, ‘He’s keen.’
‘Keen to get out of here, anyway,’ Diamond said. ‘Well, people. How has it been? Busy this morning?’
One of the civilian staff spoke up. ‘A number of phone calls. Sergeant Dawkins handled them.’
‘In his inimitable style, no doubt.’
‘There was one message from the Assistant Chief Constable.’
‘Georgina? He didn’t say.’
‘It’s logged.’
‘What do you mean – logged?’ He had a mental picture of felled trees.
‘Stored in the system. I believe the ACC wants to speak to you.’
‘Why didn’t someone tell me before this?’
‘If you look at your in-box, sir, you’ll find Sergeant Dawkins marked it as priority.’
‘My in-box? He’s got a tongue in his head. He was here until a few minutes ago.’
‘I think he may be shy.’
‘Have you seen the suits he wears? Shy he is not.’
The blood pressure soared to a dangerous level. It was a good thing Dawkins had left the building.
In her eyrie on the top floor, Georgina was in a benign mood when Diamond entered and muttered an apology about not responding sooner.
‘It isn’t urgent, as I thought I made clear to Horatio.’
He was thrown by the name. He had to dig deep to recall who Horatio was and when it came back to him, he wasn’t thrilled. How was it that the so-called shy man, Dawkins, was on first-name terms with the Assistant Chief Constable?
Georgina was thinking of other things. ‘All the trouble at the theatre – did you get to the bottom of it?’
‘Not yet, ma’am,’ he said. ‘It’s more complex than I first thought.’
‘The suicide?’
‘I’m not a hundred per cent sure it was a suicide.’
Her eyebrows lifted like level-crossing gates.