“I believe you, Mrs. Hector,” he said, understanding her behaviour better. There was an issue over subletting that he didn’t want to go into. “My only concern is Belinda and what happened on Sunday. Did you know she was in the half marathon?”
“Of course I did. I went to watch her. They came down Pulteney Road.”
“You saw her run past?”
“I clapped and gave her a cheer when she came by. I don’t know if she heard me. Someone was talking to her.”
“A man? Blue headband, yellow shirt and blue shorts?”
“That was him.”
“And did you notice whether she was talking back to him?”
“Belinda?” Mrs. Hector said with disbelief. “She’s shyer than a limpet. She wouldn’t talk to a strange man if her life depended on it.”
“I’m glad to hear it. This man isn’t nice.”
“He looked all right to me. A bit of a lad, is he?”
“He’s more than that. And did you see the finish as well?”
“No. I went shopping. It was going to be a long race. She could have been hours. I’m not all that interested in sport.”
“Did she come back here after it was over?”
“I’ve no idea. She can come and go. She has her own keys.”
“Did she sleep here last night? Surely you’d know?”
“I don’t spy on my tenants.”
“Do you have more than one, then?” Maybe that was what was making her so jumpy. He couldn’t believe this small house had more than two bedrooms.
“Of course not. I was speaking generally.”
“She’s the sole occupier of the room?”
“Didn’t I just say?”
“Have you seen her at all since the race?”
“No. Why are you asking me these questions?”
“I told you. The man she was with is known to us. We’re concerned about Belinda’s safety. It’s important to know whether she came back here. Is it possible she returned and got changed and went out again?”
“She could have. I wasn’t here all afternoon.”
“Would she tell you if she was going to be out all night?”
“I expect so. I don’t think it’s ever happened.”
“May I see inside her room?”
“Certainly not.”
Faced with a denial like that, Diamond needed a Plan B. “I don’t want to alarm you, Mrs. Hector, but it’s not impossible that what’s behind that door is a situation you might find distressing. Wouldn’t you rather I took a look inside than you?”
She turned ashen. “What are you saying? Is she dead?”
“I don’t know, ma’am. I honestly don’t know, but it’s my job to find out.”
“You’ve frightened me now.”
“I didn’t mean to,” he lied.
“I won’t want to be alone with a dead body in my own house.”
“Which is why I must go up and check.”
“You’d better.” She stepped back and made way, adding, “You can see for yourself, only one lodger lives here.”
Mrs. Hector handed Diamond a key and remained in the hallway with the hem of her apron tugged up and gripped between her teeth.
Belinda’s was the first door at the top of the stairs. He unlocked it and let the door swing open. In truth, he wasn’t expecting to find a corpse. If Belinda was dead, she was likely to be miles away, lying unseen in scrubland along the Other Half course.
What he found was a neat, uncluttered bedsitting room that looked as if it hadn’t been used for days. Quilt four-square on the bed. Pillow plumped. Desktop empty except for a small row of books and a closed laptop. TV, armchair and upright chair. Small fridge and microwave with a few food items on the top. He opened the fitted wardrobe and found a line of clothes on hangers and some pairs of boots, shoes and trainers.
So tidy it was soulless.
The lack of any personal touches was more sinister than if the place had been strewn with signs of habitation. Belinda Pye wasn’t here. She hadn’t been here for some time. Whether she would ever come back was an open question.
“Is she in there?” Mrs. Hector’s anxious voice from downstairs.
“No, ma’am, I’m happy to tell you she isn’t.”
Happy? How can I be happy? he thought. Belinda was last seen running with Pinto beside her. She’d failed to finish the race and she hadn’t come home.
Normally when searching, he would have opened drawers and examined the laptop for clues about the young woman’s lifestyle and contacts, but in this case it would be an invasion of privacy that wasn’t justified or necessary. The situation was clear. If she was anything, she was a victim, almost a random victim. Pinto was the aggressor.
He closed the door and returned downstairs.
“Is she going to be all right, then?” Mrs. Hector asked.
“I can’t say until we find her. She may be okay, but we don’t know why no one has seen her. Did she have any callers, friends or family?”
Mrs. Hector shook her head. “She liked to be independent.”
“If she comes back—” he started to say.
“I hope not,” she cut him short. “I’ll have a heart attack.”
“Don’t be like that. Let’s be positive. When she appears, ask her to call Bath Police right away. She had to give the race organisers the name of someone to contact in an emergency and she named a friend called Bella Kilbury, who lives in Twerton. Ring any bells?”
“Means nothing to me. What shall I do about the room?”
“Do nothing until you hear from us.”
He left that house more uneasy than when he’d arrived.
15
Diamond’s fears for Belinda were built on the flimsiest of foundations — a single sighting in the park — but they were as strong as the building he worked in. That inner voice of his was insisting he must see this through, or he’d have regrets for the rest of his life. The next obvious move was to visit Tony Pinto, only there were sound reasons not to. The creep would be sure to complain to his probation officer that he was being victimised. Without real evidence, the whole thing could backfire.
Before driving off from Spring Gardens Road, he looked at his phone. Ingeborg had texted to say that the check of runners’ unclaimed bags had proved negative. No surprise, that. More concerning, she was not responding to emails or answering her phone.
A voice message asked him to contact DCI Halliwell.
“Keith, you wanted me.”
“Guv. It’s just to tell you I followed up on the drones and we’re in luck.”
“Are we?” He couldn’t raise any enthusiasm. He’d forgotten about the pesky drones.
“Ever heard of The Sky’s No Limit? It’s a family firm based here in Bath. Brother and sister with degrees in engineering build and fly the drones and their father manages the business side. They’re at Claverton, near the university.”
“Handy.”
“They’re good. They’ve won loads of international awards with their UAVs.”
“You’ve lost me already, Keith.”
“Unmanned aerial vehicles. I spoke to the father and they don’t mind helping the police as long as it’s ethical.”
“What does he mean by that?”
“They’re Quakers. They live by certain principles.”
“How did you answer that?”
“I said it was about making searches, like for a lost child.”
“Sounds ethical to me.”
“Yes, he’d heard about them being used to spy on people in protest marches and he doesn’t care for that. I told him we’d draw up some guidelines.”
“Smart thinking. Will he be tricky to deal with?”
“I don’t think so. Once we’d got that settled, he was fine.”
“Did you offer to appoint them as special constables?”
“I wasn’t sure how he’d take it, so I didn’t. He might not want to be identified with our lot.”