‘Are you thinking the Twining woman may have gone the same way?’ Halliwell said.
‘If she did, it’s less obvious.’ He picked up a file. ‘These are the autopsy reports on the Twinings. There’s no suggestion that Christine Twining was strangled first, no ligature mark other than the inverted ‘V’ pattern you get with a hanging.’
‘Who was the pathologist, guv?’
‘A Dr Shinwari. Anyone know him? I don’t.’
There was no response.
‘His report comes across as careful and thorough. I can’t believe he would have missed a double set of marks like those found on Delia Williamson.’
‘So we take it that Christine Twining died by hanging?’
‘That was Dr Shinwari’s conclusion.’
‘And the husband went the same way?’
‘Yes. And Dr Shinwari did both autopsies.’
Halliwell said in a mystified tone, ‘Where does this take us, guv? You’re leaving me behind.’
Diamond raised his palms, appealing for patience. He would explain if they would listen. ‘It’s easy to assume Christine Twining hanged herself. That’s what the coroner decided. But with hindsight — with the knowledge we have that Delia Williamson was murdered — we can make another hypothesis. We can ask ourselves the question you put a moment ago: was Christine Twining murdered, too?’
Now it was Leaman who was frowning. ‘The cases aren’t the same. You just said there weren’t any secondary marks.’
Diamond sighed. He was being sniped at from both sides.
‘Agreed. I’m not suggesting both women went the same way. We’ll come to that. I’m saying it’s worth investigating whether Christine’s wasn’t a voluntary hanging.’
Halliwell screwed up his face in distaste. ‘The husband strung her up? Nasty.’
It was as if Diamond himself had offended by imagining such a gruesome act. But he wasn’t going to retract. ‘We believe Danny Geaves killed Delia, so why shouldn’t John Twining have murdered Christine?’
‘There’s no evidence.’
‘Oh, come on. We’re working backwards here. I just listed all the circumstantial evidence linking the incidents.’
‘Yes, but…’ Leaman’s protest ended in a sigh. Diamond wasn’t doing enough to persuade his senior men.
‘Look at it this way. Twining did the thing as it was intended, hanged his wife and later hanged himself. Danny Geaves botched it. He planned to do the same, only Delia put up a fight. Instead of hanging her he was forced to strangle her. Then he faked the hanging.’
‘I’m not sure I follow you,’ Halliwell said. ‘You’re suggesting both women were murdered and the men committed suicide?’
‘That’s right. But John Twining was more efficient and the murder was passed off as suicide.’
‘It’s a whopping great assumption, guv. Is there anything in the autopsy report to back it up?’
‘There wouldn’t be.’
Halliwell shifted in his chair, unwilling to concede. ‘I was trained to understand murder in terms of motive, means and opportunity. What’s the motive here? You spoke to John Twining’s brother. Did he know of any problems between the couple?’
In his head Diamond played over the question and answer from that session in the George. He’d remarked that in the photo they’d seemed happy with one another. ‘I never saw a sign that they weren’t,’ was the reply.
‘Not really,’ he was forced to admit, ‘but he couldn’t understand why they were suicidal.’
‘They hadn’t separated, or anything?’
‘No. That’s a clear difference from Geaves and his partner. Delia had found a new man and it’s understandable if Danny harboured a grudge.’
‘I don’t want to be awkward,’ Halliwell said, ‘but I think you’ve got to find a motive before you cast John Twining as a wife-murderer.’
Diamond was silent, forced to recognise the truth of what Halliwell was saying. There was more work to be done.
Then Leaman said, ‘Even if your theory is right, why should Danny Geaves want to try the same thing two years later?’
‘That’s the next big question,’ Diamond said. ‘All right, fellows. You’ve given me plenty to think on.’
After they’d closed the door, he brooded on the matter. Halliwell and Leaman were good detectives and he hadn’t persuaded them. They were reluctant even to speculate.
He picked up the phone. ‘How do I get hold of a certain pathologist, Dr Manzoor Shinwari, who did the autopsies on a couple of suicides two years back?’
He was asked to wait. They would call him back.
When the call came, it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Dr Shinwari had returned to Pakistan eighteen months ago and there was no contact address.
20
O ne thing you could say for Peter Diamond: nothing would grind him down. Dr Shinwari might have left the country, but there was always Jim Middleton. Why hadn’t Jim been in touch? He’d had ample time to read those reports.
His mobile number was on the back of an envelope.
‘Damn you,’ Jim said. ‘I should have turned the bloody thing off. I’m in Starbucks, enjoying a quiet moment here.’
‘Well, I’m not. I’m working,’ Diamond said. ‘Are you alone?’
‘At this minute, yes, but one of my friends could arrive any time.’
‘So we can talk. What did you think of those autopsy reports?’
‘Look, this is hardly the place.’
‘Do you want speak from the toilet?’
‘I draw the line at that.’
‘I wouldn’t worry, anyway. I’ve overheard some amazing conversations in coffee shops. What have you got to tell me?’
Jim must have sensed that the man was unstoppable. He started to open up. ‘I have to say there isn’t much to quibble over. He seems to have done a workmanlike job in both cases. Not everyone provides the kind of detail Bertram Sealy gives you.’
This wasn’t what Diamond had hoped to hear. ‘You agree with his conclusions, then?’
‘Can’t fault him.’ Jim paused, probably to look round and see who might be listening, then lowered his voice. ‘There’s no question the woman was murdered, strangled first and strung up later. And the man was hanged from the railway bridge, just as Sealy suggests.’
‘You say there isn’t much to quibble over. Is there anything?’
There was another hesitation. ‘Almost every autopsy has its points of interest.’
‘And you found some?’
‘You gave me both reports to read, so I had the advantage of an overview. Sealy dealt with each case in isolation. Quite properly.’
This was all too cagey for Diamond. ‘I gave you both reports for a reason, Jim. I want that overview.’
‘I know. And what I say to you, Peter, is that any pathologist worthy of the name treats each autopsy as a separate event, and that’s what Sealy has done. It’s not a good principle to go into the dissection room with ideas of what you might expect to find.’
‘Point taken. What have you got for me?’
‘In no way is this a criticism of a colleague.’
‘You’ve made that very clear. You’re simply suggesting lines of inquiry.’
Jim sounded happier with that. ‘Right. You’re the SIO and your job is different from his. He presents you with his findings and you weigh them with all the other evidence you have. You’re dealing with both incidents, aren’t you?’
‘I was until I got told to wrap up the case.’
‘You saw both bodies in situ?’
Now Diamond hesitated, reminded of his own refusal to climb into the cherry picker at the viaduct. He could at least claim he’d been at the scene and viewed the suspended body from below. ‘I did.’
‘Did you get close up?’
‘Close enough. At the second incident they cut the man down and I saw him on a stretcher.’
‘The cord was still in place?’
‘Yes, they cut it and left it knotted round the neck, if that’s what you’re asking.’
‘Notice anything special about that second corpse?’
He tried picturing it in his mind, unzipping the body bag. His overriding concern at the time had been to identify the body as Danny Geaves. ‘I give up. What should I have spotted?’