The Tooth Tattoo(129)

‘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.’