The Tooth Tattoo(128)

‘The killer had a thing about Japanese women?’ Halliwell said.

Ingeborg rounded on him. ‘What do you mean – a “thing”?’

‘I don’t know what psychologists would call it. A love-hate complex? All his sexual fantasies revolve around Japanese women.’

‘Ivan,’ Ingeborg said at once.

‘I’ve been thinking hard about Ivan,’ Diamond said. ‘He’s a regular visitor to the geisha houses. He told me himself that he visits Kyoto and plays the three-stringed instrument with the geishas. These aren’t knocking-shops. They’re highly respectable places controlled with long-established rules. It’s genuinely about traditional culture. But with my suspicious mind I wondered what really motivates Ivan. Is he secretly wishing he could have sex with these unattainable women? And when a Japanese woman says she’s a fan and wants to hang out with the quartet, does it start an adrenaline rush in Ivan? Is he transferring all those pent-up desires to these hapless women? It’s not difficult to see how it could get nasty if, for example, they reject the advance.’

‘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.’