The Tooth Tattoo (42 page)

‘How would it have happened?’ Ingeborg said.

‘He’d see Emi going up to the hotel room with Harry and he’d wait for her to come out. Something similar with Mari. He thinks because the geishas dance attendance he’s got a
special way with all Japanese women. With these two it doesn’t work out and he turns violent.’

‘Is that it?’ Ingeborg said. ‘Ivan is the killer?’

Behind the glass they could see Ivan’s piston movement with the bow, ferociously rising to the demands of the score while the fingers of his left hand kept a continuous vibrato in play.

‘He seemed more shaken than anyone else when Harry reappeared this week,’ Diamond went on. ‘He recognized him in the car and kept the knowledge to himself. When I called on him at his lodgings he was fearful that I was Harry. I had to threaten to knock the door down.’

‘Did Harry know Ivan was the killer?’ Halliwell asked.

‘Harry knew nothing. Ivan was in a state of near-panic because he thought Harry wanted reinstating as the Staccati violist. He didn’t know about the missing finger. Ivan can’t take disruption. He wants the quartet to stay as it is. After four years in the wilderness they had only just got back to peak performance again. He had no strategy for dealing with Harry. As a chess player that alarmed him.’

‘So the panic wasn’t because Harry could turn him in?’

In the studio, the ferocious drive of the violins reached a pitch of intensity that caused Diamond to break off.

There was a difference of tone when he resumed. ‘When all is said and done, these crimes aren’t down to Ivan,’ he said with certainty. ‘Remember he’s the controlling one, the chess expert. There was too much left to chance, too many mistakes, too many unknowns. Do I have to go over them again? He wouldn’t dream of attempting a murder without a master plan. Ivan would make sure he committed the perfect crime.’

‘I can agree with that,’ Douglas said. ‘He covers every angle.’

‘Is it Anthony, then?’ Ingeborg said.

‘What’s the case for Anthony?’ Diamond said. ‘The ball’s in your court.’

‘Pretty straightforward,’ she said. ‘He’s obsessive, autistic, liable to tantrums. Yet he’s no child. He has a sex drive and
visits prostitutes. He’s been around when each of the killings took place. Harry was murdered right outside the house where he lives.’

‘Why would he have killed these women?’

‘Because he has no ability to relate to us,’ she said, as if speaking for all women. ‘He can’t form relationships. We’re sex objects, and that’s it. The tragic irony is that he’s a young, attractive-looking guy who is going to appeal to women. But when they show interest he assumes it’s sex they want and if they don’t immediately respond he kills them.’

‘Simple as that?’ Diamond said.

‘Issues are simple for Anthony.’

‘So you’re saying he murdered Harry as well?’

‘Harry made the mistake of parking outside Anthony’s lodging and sitting there. Anthony went out to him and asked what he wanted. Harry started asking awkward questions about what happened in Vienna and Anthony grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger.’

‘Do you know this for sure? You interviewed him.’

Assertive as Ingeborg liked to appear, she was sometimes betrayed by a blush and it happened now, spreading with the speed of a flash fire. ‘I didn’t in fact get much from him. I’ve told you my theory.’

‘You think he shot Harry because questions were asked about the killing of Emi?’

‘Awkward questions.’

Diamond was shaking his head. ‘Awkward questions aren’t awkward for Anthony. What’s done is done. He gives it to you straight. He told us what happened this morning, how he went out and saw the bullet-hole in Harry’s head and how he told his landlady and she phoned Cat.’

‘Yes,’ she said, still pressing her theory, ‘but what he didn’t say is what matters. He didn’t say he’d gone out to the car and shot Harry last night, which I believe is what happened. You didn’t ask him, so he didn’t tell you.’

‘In fact I put the question to him when I first got to the scene before you came,’ Diamond said. ‘These were my actual
words to Anthony: “Do you know how Harry was shot?” He shook his head and I insisted on a verbal answer and got one. He gave me a clear “No”. Are we all agreed that he speaks the truth?’

Douglas said, ‘Every time. Even when it’s uncomfortable for other people.’

Halliwell said to Ingeborg, ‘You took his statement. Did he say anything about speaking to Harry last night?’

Her gaze slipped away to the musicians pounding out a fortissimo passage in great sobs of sound, and then came back to Diamond. ‘All right, guv. I agree with you. Anthony is in the clear.’

There would have been a pause for thought if thought was possible in a maelstrom.

When the volume decreased a little, Halliwell said, ‘That leaves the least likely.’

‘Mel?’ Ingeborg said, mystified. ‘He’s only just joined them. Anyway, he’s not violent. He’s a normal, well-adjusted guy.’

‘We all know how you feel about Mel,’ Halliwell said.

‘That’s below the belt. If you remember, I commented after first meeting him that he thinks he’s God’s gift to women.’

‘So we’ve got that clear,’ Diamond said to get some order in the ranks. ‘Shall we examine the case for Mel being the killer? You say he only just joined them, Inge, and that’s true. However, we discovered he was in Vienna performing with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2008, in the month Emi was killed. Coincidence, or evidence of guilt?’

‘Pure chance. There’s nothing to connect him with Emi or the Staccati at that time,’ Ingeborg said.

‘But he does act like God’s gift,’ Halliwell couldn’t resist quoting her. ‘From all we hear, he shags anything that moves – his landlady’s daughter and probably his landlady as well. We know what Emi’s profession was and we know she was a musician herself. He could have coupled with her. We can’t rule it out.’

‘What – strangled her and dumped her in the canal? Mel?’ Ingeborg said with scorn.

Diamond said, ‘There’s a story about Mel that may have
some bearing on this.’ He turned to Ingeborg. ‘About his viola being stolen outside the Festival Hall. You were there with me. You heard him tell it.’

‘I know. A really mean trick on somebody’s part,’ she said, ‘but I don’t see the relevance, guv.’

‘Can you recall the details? You and I heard it, but Keith hasn’t and it may be new to Douglas.’

In a slightly mystified voice Ingeborg started repeating the tale. ‘He was on his way home from a concert at the Festival Hall one night and this student stopped him and asked for his autograph.’

‘Stop there,’ Diamond said. ‘You’ve missed the point. She was from the Far East.’

‘Why does that matter?’ She put her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh. He’s got a thing about Asian women. He was tricked by this one and never forgot it.’

‘Finish the story.’

For the benefit of the others, she told it to the end. ‘It didn’t strike me as important at the time,’ she added. ‘I suppose it could have turned his mind.’

‘Let’s move on,’ Diamond said. ‘Mel joins the quartet. They recruit him. He doesn’t go looking for the job. But here in Bath he’s as likely as anyone else to have met Mari at the concert she attended.’

‘He claimed to have no memory of her,’ Halliwell said.

‘He would, wouldn’t he?’ Diamond said. ‘I don’t see that as significant. He could have fixed to meet her later, on some pretext like a walk along the towpath.’

‘And strangled her because she reminded him of the girl who set him up for the mugging?’ Ingeborg said. ‘It still seems far-fetched.’

‘Unless you can think of a better motive.’

Halliwell returned to the point he’d made already. ‘He’s a letch. These women came onto him and he responded.’

‘You mean a murdering letch,’ Diamond said. ‘In other words, a psychopath.’

‘We don’t know if either victim was killed as part of a sex
act, but they could have been. The bodies were too far gone to show any signs.’

‘They were dressed,’ Ingeborg said, contemptuous of Halliwell’s theory.

‘Doesn’t mean nothing happened,’ Halliwell said.

Diamond wanted to move on. The sixteen-minute fugue was at least two-thirds through. ‘I’m willing to look at that. But what would have caused Mel to shoot Harry, a totally different kind of killing?’

‘We agree Harry knew too much for the murderer to allow him to live,’ Halliwell said.

‘Or was too curious and likely to find out the truth,’ Ingeborg chimed in. ‘Harry had visited Mel earlier the same night. Something he said caused Mel to panic. He knew where to find him. It was obvious Harry would try and see Anthony next.’

‘What’s all this? Are you warming up to the idea of Mel as the killer?’ Diamond said to her, faintly amused at the U-turn.

‘He knew Harry was carrying the gun. He may have thought he could fake a suicide.’

‘Hang on a minute,’ Diamond said. ‘Let’s inject some reality into this. The reason Harry called on Mel last night is that he felt safe with him. He’d get the updated story from him. If he’d thought for a moment that Mel was the killer he wouldn’t have gone near him. They had their conversation and he left in peace. And even supposing Mel
is
the murderer, how would Harry know? At the time Emi was murdered, Harry wasn’t around. He was in bed in his hotel room. We all agree Emi had sex with him and left the hotel alone after midnight. And as for Mari, if Mel had some kind of date with her in Green Park, we don’t even know if Harry was in the country by then. The first time he was spotted was less than a week ago. Mel had no reason to kill Harry. Mel is innocent.’

A crescendo from the Staccati appeared to salute this conclusion.

There was another short period when nothing was spoken and the control room was filled only with the dissonant wail of the strings.

‘We’ve eliminated them all,’ Ingeborg said.

‘Except one.’

The fifth and final part of the
Grosse Fuge
restores sanity. It picks up and develops the transparent, tuneful theme that was briefly employed in the second part. It is recognizable Beethoven, a coda in pianissimo that pacifies and pleases.

‘To quote a smarter sleuth than any of us,’ Diamond said, ‘ “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” ’

‘I
f you mean who I think you do,’ Ingeborg said in a voice that was calm, but challenging, ‘women are not stranglers. It’s not a woman’s crime.’

‘Have you seen her hands?’ Diamond said.

Everyone looked to where Cat was still pressing the strings with strength and mobility, extracting trills from the cello that matched anything the three men were producing. Fleshy they may have been, but they were long-fingered, workmanlike hands. Given a slender neck to grip, they could have ended a life, no question.

‘Both female victims were petite,’ Diamond reminded them.

Ingeborg tried reasoning with him. ‘You don’t want to go down this route, guv. She’s a caring person. She keeps the men from getting quarrelsome. She’s quick, witty, takes the heat out of any argument.’

‘Why on earth would she want to kill anyone?’ Halliwell said, finally finding a common cause with Ingeborg.

‘All will be revealed,’ Diamond said. ‘I’m pulling her in for questioning.’

The
Grosse Fuge
came to its serene conclusion, a sense that a mountainous journey had been completed and the travellers were safe. The quartet lifted their bows and lowered them. Relieved smiles all round.

‘Terrific,’ the voice of the producer penetrated the studio. ‘I don’t think you’ll better that.’

Ivan gave a nod. ‘Shall we settle for it?’ he asked the others.

‘Even Anthony is satisfied,’ Cat said. ‘Somebody please collect me from cloud nine.’

In the control room, Diamond said, ‘We’ll give them ten minutes.’

It was fully two hours later when a solicitor had been found and Cat was seated beside her in Interview Room One at Manvers Street.

‘What’s all this about, then?’ she said, arms folded defiantly, after the formalities had been gone through and the tape was running. This wasn’t going to be one of those ‘no comment’ sessions.

Diamond had asked Halliwell to sit in with him. Most of the others would be on the other side of the one-way observation window. ‘It’s about what you’ve been up to, and why,’ Diamond said.

‘Recording the
Grosse Fuge
,’ she said with gusto, ‘and you were there to be blown away by it, lucky man.’

‘It would have blown anyone away. But I want to ask you about Vienna in 2008. Your quartet was equally brilliant then, but with a slightly different combination.’

‘Harry on viola.’

‘Before he went missing.’

‘Before he was kidnapped, poor lamb.’

‘You know about the kidnapping, then? That’s a good start.’

‘Mel filled us in this morning. Harry called at his house yesterday evening. What a horror story it was, too.’

‘You were the originals, you, Harry and Ivan.’

Cat remarked to her solicitor, ‘He wants us to know he’s done his homework.’

‘You’ve always been the mainstay of the Staccati,’ Diamond said. ‘Be they alcoholic, autistic or exiles, you mother them all.’

‘Is that what they told you?’

‘It’s what you repeatedly tell everyone. The first time we spoke at any length, you told me you keep your boys in order.’

She said to the solicitor, ‘He doesn’t miss a trick.’

‘I’m sure they appreciate it,’ Diamond said. ‘In their different ways, they all need mothering, don’t they? They’re
your family. You told me how, after Harry went missing, you wandered the streets of Budapest searching for him.’

‘Where are you going with this?’ Cat’s long fingers beat an impatient rhythm on the table.

‘I’m thinking a single woman like yourself found an ideal outlet for her strong maternal instincts.’

‘I thought you were a policeman, not a shrink.’ Her tone was less playful now.

‘We have to understand people’s motives,’ he said. ‘Let’s talk about the music, then. You’re one of the best cellists in the world, I’m told. You could have a solo career, but you prefer playing in the quartet.’