‘I lift it out.’
‘Exactly. What I want you to do is wait at the top of these stairs and don’t let anyone—anyone—get past you.’
‘What if the audience starts leaving? How can I stop them?’
‘They won’t be turning out for a while yet. I think you’d better have this, though.’ The sergeant handed her Bryant’s swordstick and showed her how to unscrew the pewter top.
‘I’ve never used a sword before,’ said Alma hopelessly. ‘I’m more at home with a mop.’
‘Hopefully you won’t have to run anyone through.’ Forthright struck a pose with the sword, then resheathed it. For a moment she looked like Douglas Fairbanks in drag. ‘If anyone comes this way, just sort of—spread out. And scream blue murder. Someone will come to assist you.’
‘This is beyond the call of my duties,’ sighed Alma, practising with the stick. ‘Wait a minute, how did you get this?’
‘Arthur.’ Forthright grinned. ‘He’s back.’
‘You mean he’s here?’
‘Right here in the theatre. He’s been staying up in North London with that mad girl from the Camden Town Coven, the one who came to dinner and got poltergeists everywhere. She insisted on saying grace, only she read from the wrong book and we had manifestations. She told him someone’s going to die tonight in a UXB explosion. Mr Bryant reckons that whatever happens, he’ll make an arrest before the end of the show.’
‘Nice of him to tell me where he’s been living. He didn’t even take a change of underpants.’
‘I’m sure Maggie Armitage has been taking good care of our boy.’
‘Well, I never did.’
Forthright gave her an old-fashioned look. ‘No, but you wish you had.’
‘I’ve got a soft spot for him, that’s all.’ She waved the stick. ‘OK, bring on this phantom of yours. I’m ready for anything.’
‘What do you mean, he’s here?’ whispered May. He was wedged in his usual position at the side of the stage, in a black-painted brick inlet provided for quick changes. ‘You’re telling me he’s back?’
‘He’s figured it all out and is going to make an arrest,’ said Biddle excitedly. ‘I can help. I was a boxing champion at school.’ He took an experimental swing with his left fist. ‘I put my geography teacher in the hospital. He shouted at me about alluvial deposits so I decked him.’
‘Really? I’m seeing another side to you,’ May replied, alarmed. ‘I hope violence won’t be necessary. We’re the police, we don’t thump people.’
‘It’s funny, isn’t it? I thought I was more interested in the paperwork side of the job, but it turns out I much prefer the chase.’
‘What does he want us to do?’ asked May.
‘Who?’ Biddle took another practice swing.
‘Mr Bryant, you idiot.’
‘Oh. He said to go to the foyer of the theatre at exactly half past the hour.’
‘What time do you make it?’
Biddle tilted his watch to the light. ‘Twenty-nine minutes past.’
May shoved at him. ‘Well, let’s go, then!’
They filed through to the end of the corridor and dropped down to the pass door, making their way along the dark tiled halls to the front-of-house area.
‘I don’t suppose Bryant told you who he was planning to arrest, did he?’
‘He didn’t want anyone to know in advance.’ Biddle hobbled on ahead. ‘He told me to tell you no mythology this time. He said he needed our help because it wasn’t one person.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked May.
Biddle shrugged. ‘He said there are two of them.’
Arthur Bryant checked the buttons on his smart scarlet waistcoat and straightened his scarf. Forthright was bound to have put some constables in the auditorium. If things turned nasty, he hoped they would get here in time.
He checked his watch again. There could be no more mistakes. His nervousness receded as he walked confidently forward to the box-office window. His knock on the glass echoed in the eerily empty foyer.
Elspeth Wynter suddenly appeared from behind the counter. She was holding Nijinsky, her tortoise. ‘Oh, it’s you, Arthur.’
‘I wonder if I could have a word with you, Elspeth.’
‘Of course.’ She smiled sadly, then set the tortoise back in its box. ‘Look, Arthur, I know what you’re going to say, and I’m flattered by the attention you’ve given me, but I don’t think it would work out between us.’
For a moment Bryant was flummoxed. This wasn’t what he had come to discuss.