The Tooth Tattoo(124)

‘Well now. That is a point,’ Cat said. ‘Of course he wouldn’t take the Maggini with him. He had it on trust and he looked after it. We’re all using priceless pieces of wood and gut to make music, including Mel. My cello is a Strad. Are you thinking our instruments are behind these crimes?’

‘People are behind them,’ Ivan said.

‘Of course, O Wise One,’ she said, ‘but people can be motivated by greed.’

Ivan snorted in impatience.

Diamond turned to him. ‘Don’t you agree?’

‘The instruments have nothing to do with any of this,’ Ivan said emphatically.

‘You sound confident.’

‘Because I am.’

‘So was it you who removed the Maggini from Harry’s room?’

Ivan flushed scarlet as if the suggestion was monstrous. He took in a deep breath. Then he sighed, his shoulders sagged and he admitted, ‘I took it into safe-keeping as a precaution. It was eventually returned to the true owner.’

‘I wish you’d told me earlier.’

‘There was an issue of confidence. The same owner presented me with the Guarnerius I play. He pledges us to secrecy.’

‘Who is the owner?’

‘I’m not at liberty to say.’

‘You won’t be at liberty much longer if you don’t say.’

Another sigh. For all his tough talk, Ivan’s resistance was habitually paper-thin. ‘His name is Hamada and he is a Japanese collector of rare and beautiful instruments. He heard of Harry’s disappearance and asked me to make sure that the viola was safe. I gave a generous tip to one of the chambermaids and she let me into the room knowing I was a colleague of Harry’s.’

‘When you say “heard of Harry’s disappearance” it begs a question.’

‘Was Mr. Hamada a party to the kidnapping? Definitely not,’ Ivan said. ‘He’s a powerful man who guards his privacy, but his intentions towards us are wholly supportive.’

Diamond wasn’t convinced. ‘He knew about the kidnapping before the police were on the case. He must have links to the yakuza.’

‘That’s not impossible,’ Ivan admitted. ‘But yakuza isn’t a unified group. It’s a generic name given to more than twenty Japanese gangs who compete for the best pickings from organised crime. Their codes and traditions, including the amputation of fingers, may be similar, but they rival each other. Mr. Hamada’s interest in the quartet has been positive from the start. I’ve known him for years and he wants his instruments played by the best musicians and in the world’s top concert halls. Not long ago he came to Bath and presented our new member Mel with a priceless Amati viola. That isn’t a man who would be party to the kidnapping of one of us.’

This was a new insight for Diamond, and believable. A super-rich man might well keep tabs on the yakuza to know what crimes were committed by some of its many factions.

‘You say you’ve known him years.’

‘I’ve only met him a few times, but we keep in touch. I delivered the Maggini to him personally in London some months after recovering it. He entrusted me with it until I could place it into his hands.’

‘You didn’t tell the rest of us,’ Cat said.

Ivan shrugged. ‘You know what he’s like.’

Cat turned to Diamond. ‘If it’s any help, I can also vouch for Mr. Hamada. He’s on our side. I’m sure if he’d had the power to stop them kidnapping Harry, he would have done so.’

‘It was a disaster for us all,’ Ivan said. ‘Harry should never have got into so much financial trouble.’

‘If we’d known the full facts, we would have rallied round,’ Cat said. ‘We suspected he was into something flaky at the time, but none of us guessed it was so serious.’

Ivan said with a shake of the head, ‘The idiot.’

‘Too late in the day to chuck insults after him,’ Cat said. ‘The poor boy’s had a hellish time ever since and now he’s dead.’

‘We all had a huge stake in the quartet’s existence,’ Ivan said, addressing Diamond. ‘Our professional lives were bound up in it. We tried to look out for each other. I was usually the spokesman and leader. Cat was like a mother to us all and kept us in good spirits. Anthony with his focused brain is like a child in some ways and needs practical help. And Harry with his laid-back manner kept us from getting too intense about our music or anything else. It was a nice balance.’

This touching tribute to the Staccati came to an end just as Ingeborg emerged from the kitchen with Anthony.

‘All done?’ Diamond asked.