‘She left no note,’ Diamond said.
‘I expect she was too distressed. People with suicide in mind aren’t always so organised.’
‘And we haven’t been able to prove a definite connection with the caustic soda incident. We’re still working on it. Denise Pearsall doesn’t seem to have had any grudge against Clarion.’
‘I’m not sure I’m following you,’ Georgina said. ‘Are you suggesting she died by accident?’
‘I’m wondering if she jumped at all.’
‘Now you’ve lost me altogether.’
‘She may have been pushed.’
Georgina blinked. ‘I can’t think how.’
‘Neither could I until this morning when I had another look backstage. Foolishly I’d assumed she climbed a ladder to get up to the loading bridge. Today I learned there’s a way onto it from the second floor.’
‘Is that significant?’
‘It is if someone wanted to murder her. Much simpler than climbing a vertical iron ladder.’
‘Murder? Peter, are you serious?’
‘There’s a dressing room up there, just the one, not in use in the present play. I found clear evidence somebody was in there recently. It would make a useful base for anyone intending to ambush her.’
Georgina let him know she would need a lot more convincing. ‘It’s far more likely she went in there herself prior to taking her own life.’
‘Even so, I’m having the room checked by a scene of crime team.’
‘You’re reading a lot into this.’
‘I want to know who was in there and why.’
‘What would be the point of killing Denise? She was a nice woman, from all I heard, respected by people in the theatre.’
‘I know.’
‘And she’d struggle with an attacker, surely. There would be marks on her body that would be obvious in the post-mortem. Was anything mentioned by the pathologist?’
‘No, but there was alcohol in her system.’
‘She may have taken a drink to get her courage up.’
‘Or someone gave her a cocktail of drink and drugs.’
‘Drugs were present as well?’
He cleared his throat. ‘That’s speculation on my part. We won’t know until the blood is tested.’
‘And if, as I suspect, the results are negative?’
‘I’ll look at the possibility of more than one killer being involved.’
Georgina clicked her tongue. ‘This is in danger of becoming an obsession, Peter.’
‘If you remember, ma’am, you got me started on this.’
‘Only because I could see the theatre being closed down. That seems less likely now, even if Clarion sues.’
‘Do I sense that you’d like to call off the hounds?’
She looked away, out of the window. ‘No, you can finish the job. I’m more confident than I was.’ She turned to face him, eyes shining more brightly than her silver buttons. ‘I was chosen last night for Sweeney Todd.’
‘Nice work, ma’am.’ He couldn’t resist asking, ‘What part are you playing?’
‘Not one of the principals. I have the voice, but as a newcomer to the BLOGs, I can’t expect a major role this year. I’ll be strengthening the company.’
In the chorus, in other words. ‘And it’s to run at the theatre?’
‘The third week in September. Rehearsals have been under way for some time. I’m joining late.’
‘Where do you rehearse? Not in the theatre?’
‘No, we don’t have the use of it yet. Our rehearsal room is a church hall.’ But she took his enquiry as a pledge of interest. ‘Do you sing, Peter?’
He laughed. ‘Like a corncrake.’
‘Well, if you wanted – if you were looking for a way to get involved – you could be an ancillary.’
‘What’s that?’
‘One of our back-up people, using whatever talents you possess, designing the programme, making props, painting scenery. There are jobs galore.’
‘Theatre isn’t my thing.’
‘Fair enough. I only mentioned it in passing. Living alone, as you do, you might want to join something outside the police.’
If I do, he thought, it won’t be anything you belong to.
‘Horatio doesn’t do any singing,’ Georgina added, ‘but we couldn’t stage a production like Sweeney without him.’
There was a pause for thought.
‘Dawkins?’ he said, feeling the blood flushing his face. ‘Sergeant Dawkins is in the BLOGs?’
‘Hasn’t he told you? He’s our movement director. All the action sequences are co-ordinated by him. Dances, fights, stunts, swordplay.’
‘Movement director?’ His head reeling, Diamond was reduced to echoing her words.
‘He’s a trained dancer, you know.’
‘He told me that much. How long has he been doing this?’
‘Before I joined.’
Now it was revealed why Fred Dawkins had been plucked from the uniformed ranks and foisted on CID. He’d got to know Georgina through the BLOGs and worked his ticket. What a shaft.
‘I know exactly what’s going through your head,’ Georgina said, ‘and I have to tell you I moved him into CID on merit. He impressed me long before I joined the BLOGs. In fact, I’m surprised you hadn’t spotted him.’
‘I knew him,’ Diamond said. ‘He stood out.’
‘He’s a rising star.’
‘Risen.’
‘Don’t mistake his slow speech for woolly thinking. He’s got a quick brain. You need to be sharp to choreograph an entire show like Sweeney.’
‘He’s sharp, all right.’
She was missing all the irony. ‘You can safely send him off the building on an operation. I gather he’s frustrated being confined to barracks.’
‘Has he been complaining to you, ma’am?’
She backtracked a little. ‘It may have been mentioned in passing. He’s too gifted to be on the end of a phone all day long. Let him off the leash and I predict he’ll not let you down.’
‘He’s off the leash right now, making another search of the theatre with Ingeborg Smith.’
‘Splendid. If anyone can get results for you, Horatio will.’
He’d heard as much of this as he could take. ‘Is there anything else?’
On his way downstairs he forced some perspective into his thinking. Nothing fundamental had changed. He was still stuck with Dawkins and he’d have to give the man a chance. Everyone works the system and there were infinite ways of doing it. Fred hadn’t joined the BLOGs to cosy up to Georgina. He was already installed there. He’d got lucky and cashed in. Who wouldn’t have?
14
Hedley Shearman was on duty again in the Theatre Royal, bruised, but no longer bleeding, demanding to know what the devil the police were up to, poking around in the wings.
‘Searching,’ Ingeborg told him. A short answer can be a good riposte to bluster.
‘That’s obvious.’
‘Yes.’
‘But what do you hope to find?’
‘Make-up.’
‘The stuff Denise was using Monday night? I don’t think you’ll find it here. She was very organised. She wouldn’t have left anything lying around.’
‘She may have been so organised that she kept some handy in the wings for use before the show. That’s why we’re checking.’
‘Well, it had better not take long. We have a performance tonight and I don’t want you getting in the way of the actors.’ He took a second look at Dawkins and frowned. ‘Aren’t you the man in uniform who was here Tuesday morning putting me through the third degree?’
Dawkins had been obeying orders, keeping that low profile Diamond had decreed. Faced with open hostility, he broke his vow of silence. ‘I wouldn’t characterise it as such.’
‘You look and sound awfully like him.’
‘It was not the third degree. It wasn’t even the second.’
‘Oh, you don’t like the term,’ Shearman said, getting some of his bounce back. ‘I was on the receiving end and I know what it felt like. Why aren’t you in uniform today?’