Stalemate.
Hen promised to follow up on West and Patel when she got back to Bognor. Either could turn out to be a car thief. People had murdered for less than a Lotus Esprit.
“We made some headway,” Diamond said as a conciliatory gesture after they’d parked behind the police station. “It’s not all disappointment.”
“Far from it,” she agreed.
There was a gap while each thought hard for some positive result from the morning. Displacement activity was easier. Hen lit up a cigar and Diamond checked the pressure of his car tyres by kicking them.
Inside the nick, a sergeant from uniform spotted Diamond and came over at once. “Everyone’s looking for you, sir. You’re wanted at the Bath Spa Hotel.”
“Who by?”
“An inspector from Special Branch and a lady by the name of Val something.”
“Walpurgis?”
“That’s it.”
“What the hell are they doing at the Bath Spa?” He turned to Hen.
She shook her head.
“Want to back me up?” he asked her.
“Why? Feeling nervous?”
They returned to the car.
The Bath Spa, on the east side of the city in Sydney Road, vies with the Royal Crescent for the title of Bath’s most exclusive hotel. It is a restored nineteenth-century mansion in its own grounds, with facilities that include a solarium, indoor swimming pool and sauna. Diamond and Hen announced themselves at Reception and a call was put through to one of the guest suites. They weren’t invited to go up.
“The gentleman said he’s coming down, sir.”
“Special Branch being careful,” Hen murmured to Diamond. “I’m going outside for a smoke.”
Diamond took a seat in the drawing room under an oil painting of one of the Stuart kings. He wasn’t sure which.
The ‘gentleman’, when he arrived soon after, was in jeans and a black leather jacket, worn, without a doubt, to conceal a gun. He was chewing compulsively. “Tony,” he said to Diamond. “Special Branch.” Pale and red-eyed, he looked as if life in the security service was taking a heavy toll.
“My colleague smokes,” Diamond said. “She’ll join us presently.”
“I gave up,” Tony said, adding unnecessarily, “I chew gum.”
“Whose decision was it to bring Walpurgis to this place?”
“Her own. She expects the best.”
“I’m against it,” Diamond said.
“So was I,” Tony said with a persecuted look. “You haven’t met her yet.”
“Isn’t she aware of the risk?”
“I’m not sure if she’s aware of anything except herself.”
Diamond said he would collect Hen. Tony decided he’d left Anna Walpurgis alone for long enough. He said he would see them upstairs on the top floor in the Beau Nash Suite.
Before going outside, Diamond phoned Manvers Street and spoke to Halliwell. It was agreed that Sergeant John Leaman should be assigned to guarding Walpurgis for the time being.
“Some buggers get all the luck,” Halliwell complained. “Stuck in a posh hotel with a gorgeous bird like that.”
“I’m told it may not be so easy,” Diamond said.
He went into the grounds to find Hen.
Tony from Special Branch admitted them to the sitting-room section of the suite. There was no sign of the main guest.
“Taking a shower,” he explained. “As soon as she’s out, I’m off.”
“Anything we should know about her?” Diamond enquired.
“She’ll tell you.”
“Does she have luggage?”
“Five cases and a garment bag.”
“Five?”
“Can’t be seen in the same thing more than once.”
“Are you confident nobody knows she’s here?”
“In a word, no. Fortunately that’s not my problem any more. I’m told you volunteered to take her on.”
“I didn’t have this place in mind.”
“She did, as soon as Bath was mentioned.”
“Wise woman,” Hen said, to take some heat out of the exchange.
A door opened and, almost on cue, the wise woman emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a white silk dressing gown and with nothing on her feet. She was stunningly pretty, with blue eyes and dead-straight blond hair. “Is it a party?” she asked. “Or maybe a wake, by the look of you.”
Before Diamond could introduce himself, Tony from Special Branch said, “I’m off, then.” He was through the door and gone.
Anna Walpurgis delivered her opinion. “Tosser. He shouldn’t be in the job. Are you the replacements?”
Diamond gave their names and ranks. “More of a welcoming committee,” he explained. “Someone else will be with you shortly.”
“Another kid, I suppose,” she said. “I so prefer mature men. You’re, like, over fifty, yah, approaching your prime? My husband-rest his soul-was well over sixty when I married him. And to save you asking, we were a perfect match and the sex was wicked. Do you like shopping?”
“Depends,” said Diamond.
“Don’t be coy, big man. I’m addicted. I want to hit those Bath shops before they close tonight. Milsom Street first, and no prisoners.”
“That may not be such a good idea,” Diamond started to say.
“Why? You know a better place for shops? I’m thinking clothes at this point.”
“I’m thinking safety, ma’am,” he said. “There’s a man who means to murder you.”
She flapped her hand. “Yeah, and like that’s the only threat I ever received in my life?”
“We take it seriously, and so should you.”
“The only thing I’m taking is a taxi to the town centre,” she said, refusing to be sidetracked. “After two weeks banged up, I’m suffering serious withdrawal from Harrods and Harvey Nicks. Don’t look so glum. It’s my AmEx Gold they’ll be swiping, not yours. What’s your first name anyway? Let me guess-something nice and codgery. Barnaby?”
“If we’re going to get on, Miss Walpurgis-”
“Anna.”
“If we’re going to get on, Anna, you’ve got to be serious about what’s happening. It’s not a good plan to go shopping. You’ll be recognised. It’ll get around that you’re in Bath. He’ll follow.”
She said as if she hadn’t heard, “Not Barnaby? How about Humphrey, then?”
“It may be necessary for you to stay here for the first night,” he explained. “After that, we move you to a private address.”
“A private address,” she repeated with mock excitement. “Would that be yours, by any chance? You’re pretty confident for an old guy, huh?”
“You’ll have the place to yourself.”
“There goes the last of my reputation, I guess.”
“With a guard outside.”
Blue eyes are not supposed to flash with such intensity. “So it’s another safe house? No way will I spend the rest of my life locked away with some gun-toting boy with a short haircut and no conversation. Pathetic is what it is.”
Hen said, “It’s not the rest of your life, Anna. It’s just until this killer is caught.”
“And how long exactly is that?”
“This won’t be anything like the regime in a safe house. If you’re willing to help us, it can be over in a short time.”
“They all said that.” She turned to Hen. “Is he married?”
Hen hesitated, then shook her head.
“Funny,” Anna said to Hen, “but I’m quite attracted by the stiff upper lip. Sort of brings up all those old British movies on cable, Kenneth More and Jack Hawkins.” She flashed a look at Diamond. “That you, is it? Cool in a crisis? The sort I could trust with my life?”
He said, “This isn’t about me. It’s about you.”
“Yeah, you know all about me. Everyone knows about me, the gold-digger who married an elderly millionaire when her singing career was on the slide. The tabloids have done it to death. Nobody ever asks me if I love Wally. That’s not in the script. I shut my eyes to the wrinkles and went for the wedge, wrote off two years of my life for the legacy. It’s in the papers, so it must be true.”
The bitterness was inescapable. Diamond had to respond in some way. “I never read that stuff. I’ve heard you sing. I respect you for that.”
“Per-lease,” she said. “You obviously know how to press all the right buttons. Why don’t we do a deal, you and me, Humph? If I keep my head down until tomorrow, stay away from the shops and take all the meals in my room, will you come shopping with me tomorrow?”
“All right,” he said at once. It was the best trade he would get. “And the name is Peter Diamond.”
“As in…?”
He sighed. “Yes-a girl’s best friend.”
She flapped her hand in front of her face. “Too much. Too, too, too, too much.”