Tara gave the beginning of a smile, and no more. Like every good PA, she was discreet-which Diamond was not.
“After five hours in the car with that weirdo I deserve this drink,” he said, and told her his name. “Which one is Professor Chromik?”
“Over on the right, with his back to us.”
“Frizzy black hair and half-glasses?”
“That’s him. Did he invite you, then?”
“No, but I’m here to talk to him. You must have heard about Dr Emma Tysoe.”
Her features creased. “It wasn’t really Emma?”
“Seton identified her.”
She put her hand to her throat. “None of us thought it was possible. She went missing, but… this!”
He was silent, giving her time to take it in.
“And here we are, enjoying ourselves,” she said. “Did you come here specially to tell the professor?”
If the truth were told, he hadn’t. He’d come to ask questions, not pass on the bad news. It hadn’t occurred to him that someone had to tell them, and it was unlikely Seton would have got in touch already. However, it legitimised his presence here. “I intend to break the news to him,” he said as if it had always been his painful duty. “Have you any idea what she was doing down at Wightview Sands?”
She lifted her shoulders a fraction. “Maybe she likes the seaside.”
“Was she on holiday?”
“Not officially. She had this arrangement to take time off to help the police with difficult cases. I expect you know about it. She told us she was on a case. But she usually lets us know where she is. She phones almost every day to check in.”
“But not this time?”
“That was why we got worried in the end. No one had heard from her for something like three weeks. I kept phoning the flat in Great Pulteney Street, but got no reply. I went round there myself one lunchtime and saw a heap of mail waiting for her.”
“Didn’t anyone know what case she was on?”
“I assumed she’d told Professor Chromik, but it turned out she hadn’t. He asked me if I’d heard from her.”
“Hush-hush, was it?”
“I couldn’t say. I can’t think why anyone would want to murder her, whatever she was working on. She was only an adviser.”
“What about her personal life? Was there a boyfriend?”
“She never mentioned one. She wasn’t the chatty sort. A lovely person, but she didn’t say much about her life outside the department. Mind, I don’t blame her. They’re a nosy lot. It goes with the subject.”
“Who were her special friends at work, then?”
“Nobody I noticed. She seemed to stay friendly with everyone.”
“Even the ones who had to fill in when she was away?”
“People grumbled a bit. They do when there’s extra work being assigned. A few harsh words were spoken in the last few days.”
“About Emma skiving off, you mean?”
“Well, it could be taken that way, but they’ll be regretting it now. It’s not a reason for murdering anyone, is it?”
“Let’s hope not.”
He drifted away from Tara and stood for a while watching the Behavioural Psychology Department socially interacting. It was not so different from a CID party, the high flyers hovering around the boss while the subversives formed their own subgroups and the touchy-feely element played easy-to-get on the fringe.
In this heated atmosphere the tragic news circulated rapidly. You could see the stunned expressions as it passed around. The moment arrived when Professor Chromik was informed. Frowning and shaking his curly head, he disengaged himself from his colleagues and moved towards the door, perhaps to use a phone. Diamond stepped in fast.
“You’ve just heard about Dr Tysoe, I gather? I’m Peter Diamond, Bath CID.”
The professor’s brown eyes were huge through his glasses. “CID? It’s true, then? Appalling. Do you mind stepping outside where it’s more private?”
They found a quiet spot below a gilt-framed painting of a grey-bearded nineteenth century golfer in plus-fours and cap.
“The whole thing is a mystery, and I’m hoping you can help,” Diamond said. “We’ve no idea why she was at Wightview Sands, or who would have wished to murder her.”
“It’s a mystery to me, too,” Chromik said. “I’m devastated.”
“You must have known why she was away from your department.”
“She was a psychological offender profiler.”
“I know.”
“Well, this is your territory, not mine.”
Diamond recalled Halliwell’s comment about the professor not giving much away. “She’s employed in your department, isn’t she? She has to let you know if she takes time off.”
“She did. She came to see me and said she’d been asked to advise on a case.”
“When was this?”
“Mid June.”
“Can you be more precise?”
“The seventeenth.”
“… to advise on a case. Is that all she said?”
“It was confidential.”
“You mean she told you about the case and you’re refusing to tell me? Confidentiality goes out of the window when someone is murdered.”
Chromik caught his breath in annoyance. “That isn’t what I said. She was not at liberty to speak to me about the matter. I can tell you nothing about it. That’s why I said it’s your territory.”
“You don’t even know who contacted her?”
“No.”
“And you let her go off for God knows how long?”
“Emma was trustworthy. If she said it was necessary to take time off, I took her word for it. She promised to let me know as soon as she was able to return to her normal duties. That was the last I heard.”
He seemed to be speaking truthfully, but the story sounded wrong. Either Emma Tysoe had been tricked, or she’d put one across the professor. If some senior detective wanted the help of a profiler, surely he wouldn’t need to insist on secrecy?
“Are you certain she was honest?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Is it possible she wasn’t working on a case at all, and simply took time off for a few days by the sea?”
Chromik shook his head so forcefully that the black curls quivered. “Emma wouldn’t do that. She valued her profiling work too much to put it at risk with a stupid deception.”
It was said in a way that made Diamond sound stupid for asking. Well, he didn’t have a degree in psychology, but he wasn’t intimidated by this academic.
“I’m trying to throw you a lifeline, professor. Your handling of this tragic episode is going to be questioned, not just by me, but by your superiors, I wouldn’t wonder, and certainly by the press. It sounds as if you let this member of your staff run rings around you.”
“I resent that.”
“It’s not my own opinion,” Diamond said, dredging deep for a word that would make an impact on this egghead. “It’s the perception. Do you know anything about her life outside the university?”
“In what way?”
“Relationships?”
“No idea.”
“Did you appoint her to the job?”
“I was on the appointments committee, yes. We were fortunate to get her. A first class brain, without question one of the most brilliant psychologists of her generation.”
“So where did she come from?”
“She did her first degree in the north. Then she was at one of the London colleges for her Ph.D.”
“I meant her home town, not her college career.”
“I can’t recall.”
“Any family?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“You don’t even know where she was brought up?”
“I said I can’t remember. We’ll have details of her secondary education on file somewhere.”
“Is there anyone on the staff who knew her? Anyone she might have confided in?”
“You could speak to one of the women. Before you do I’d better break the news to them all.”
“I think they’ve heard by now.”
“That may be so, but something needs to be said. I’ll make a brief announcement in there.”