Stagestruck (38 page)

‘Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like it, yes. What with this week’s show closing, today was my last in the Theatre Royal. I collected my few possessions and walked.’

‘Feeling depressed?’

‘Positively murderous. Is that what you want to hear?’

‘We want honest answers.’

‘Well, you’re getting them. There are sod-all wardrobe jobs in these parts.’

He took the chair Rogers had brought in and moved it so close he caught the brandy on her breath. ‘Why did you let it happen, Kate? You were inviting trouble. You can’t deny that the wardrobe room is in a mess. Even I can see it isn’t meant to be like that.’

‘It wasn’t until lately. I ran it like Buckingham Palace for two years. No complaints and oceans of praise and I dressed some spectacular productions in that time, I can tell you, gents. Imagine all the costume changes in a musical, not just a handful of actors, but twenty or more dancers with about nine changes. Wardrobe has to run like mission control to stay on top.’

‘What went wrong, then?’

‘Sabotage by a certain member of my team.’

‘Denise?’

She rolled her eyes upwards. ‘I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but I will. That bitch was out to get me. She’d worked in this theatre longer than anybody and wanted to queen it over us all backstage. She was only a dresser, bugger it, the senior dresser, I admit, but she was supposed to be under me. She saw I was running my wardrobe superbly and she hated it.’

‘Jealous?’

‘And some. Then things started going wrong. Clothes went missing mysteriously, the washing machine kept flooding, the irons overheated and scorched things. One morning I came in and found my button collection, thousands of them, all over the floor. You’re thinking these are silly little glitches, but they ruined my system. Actors would come complaining about their costumes and I’d find the labels had been switched or seams had been loosely tacked and wouldn’t stand any sort of use. I was forever trying to catch up. I stayed late, lost sleep, had to take tranquillisers. In the end, I thought what the hell and just did the minimum. I can’t tell you the snide remarks and the gripes I endured from that woman on a daily basis. She could have run wardrobe so much better, in her opinion.’

‘Had she put in for the job when you applied?’

‘No – or she would have been handed it on a plate, according to her. She was one of those people – I expect you have them in the police – who won’t take responsibility but are the first to slag off anyone who does.’

‘I thought she held down some high-powered jobs before coming to Bath. You were telling me about them when we first spoke.’

‘I wouldn’t call putting cosmetics on corpses high-powered. I’m talking about heading a key department in a major theatre.’

‘Didn’t you say she ran a drama group in Manchester?’

‘The prison. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she was an inmate.’

‘Manchester is men only.’

‘Anyway, it must have been voluntary work, not professional. And when you say ‘ran’ it, I’m sure the screws were there to make sure no one stepped out of line.’

Kate wasn’t giving an inch in her demolition of Denise’s CV.

‘She also toured Bosnia, you said, with some theatre group. Presumably they were professional?’

‘It was only a road show, darling. They all fitted into a minibus – cast, crew, costumes, scenery and all the props. That’s not theatre. That’s busking.’

‘Did you ever accuse her of undermining you?’

‘Frequently, and she laughed in my face and dared me to take it up with the management. She had a line into the board room, didn’t she?’

‘Francis Melmot?’

‘Yes. Every time I had a crisis in wardrobe, his lordship would hear about it and come gunning for me. Bloody Denise was running a campaign to get me fired and eventually she succeeded.’

‘Was she friendly with him?’

‘You mean sleeping with the shitbag? I doubt it. She may have dangled the bait, but he’s an odd fish, very odd. More like a jellyfish. And she was a stingray.’ She giggled again. ‘I shouldn’t be talking like this. You’ll be thinking I topped her. Actually I didn’t. I wouldn’t risk a life sentence for that creepy dame.’

‘Was she telling tales about anyone else?’

‘I couldn’t tell you.’ She smiled. ‘Well, I expect she told Melmot about Hedley and me, just more proof that wardrobe had gone to the dogs.’

‘How long have you and Hedley Shearman been…?’

‘Having it away? Not long. Hed’s a serial flirt, I know, but he’s sweet and does his best to fight my cause with Melmot.’ She sighed. ‘I don’t think he has much influence really. He was outgunned when they hired Clarion to play Sally Bowles. What a disaster that was. I could have told them.’

‘Did you?’

‘No, but Hedley did, and they ignored him, poor lamb. They regret it now. The chickens came home to roost with a vengeance.’

‘If Clarion was such a risk, I’m surprised they gave her the part.’

‘It was the glamour thing, wasn’t it? She was a sleb and Melmot was acting like a teenybopper. She stayed at his house. Men are so transparent, but I bet nothing happened. You can be sure his old mum was stalking the corridors all night. Have you met her?’

Diamond let it pass. There were more critical matters to explore while Kate was being so expansive. ‘On the evening Clarion was killed, you and Hedley were together in the wardrobe department.’

‘Having a five-star shag. You don’t have to be coy. Hed was over the moon because the theatre was saved. I was in a great mood, too, thinking I might get a reprieve and get my job back.’

‘This was when he told you Clarion was actually in the theatre?’

‘Bless her little cotton socks, yes.’

‘Did anyone else backstage know that she was in the box?’

‘Melmot, of course. And the security man.’

‘Binns.’

‘Yes, he’s a waste of space, that one. I much prefer old Basil, our regular stage doorkeeper. I hope they don’t sack Baz.’

‘Binns has the freedom to move around the theatre, doesn’t he?’

‘Part of his job. He should be the last to leave. He checks round and makes sure it’s safe to close up at night.’

‘Can the staff get in after hours? Say you left your handbag in wardrobe and needed it, could you go back and collect it?’

‘No problem. I know the security codes. I could go back tonight if I want and burn the whole place down.’

‘But you won’t, because you’ll be here.’

Her mouth curved upwards. ‘Unless I discharge myself. I have a right, you know. I could bum a lift back to Bath with you.’

‘No chance,’ Diamond said at once. ‘You’ve got an interview coming up with the accident investigation team. They have a lot to ask you about.’

On the way back to the car, Rogers said, ‘You decided not to arrest her, then? Is she innocent?’

‘That isn’t the word I’d choose for Kate,’ Diamond said, ‘but I doubt if she killed anyone.’

‘She had motive, means
and
opportunity.’

‘In spades, Lew, in spades. But there’s a clear brain and cool planning behind these killings, someone confident enough to think ahead and pass off the murder as something it wasn’t. Attention to detail, timing, method. Kate is capable of managing a wardrobe department if everything goes well, but under pressure she lost it. She was outfoxed by Denise. Her system collapsed into chaos. These killings aren’t hotheaded crimes. They’re planned and followed through with precision. We’re not looking for someone who bonks the manager and runs her car into a tree and gets half-pissed in hospital.’

He grinned. ‘Now you put it like that, guv, I’ve got to agree.’

CID wasn’t exactly buzzing when he walked in about 9.30 p.m. Leaman had his feet up. Paul Gilbert had found a football match on the internet. Halliwell was eating a pasty. Ingeborg was texting.

‘Okay, people,’ Diamond said.

Order was restored. Paul Gilbert replaced the football with a screen saver. ‘Hi, guv.’

‘I thought you were out and about testing printers.’

‘I’ve checked more than twenty. The theatre, of course, Melmot Hall, Shearman’s flat, Binns’s security firm, Titus O’Driscoll’s house. I even went round all the city copying shops in case it was done there.’

‘No joy, then?’

‘None at all.’

‘What about the actors – Barnes and the rest of them?’

‘They’re in digs. They don’t have printers.’

‘Their landladies do.’

He blushed.

‘Tomorrow morning,’ Diamond said.

Ingeborg, keen to show she, too, had not been idle, said, ‘I checked with the lab and they’ve detected significant levels of Rohypnol in Denise’s blood.’

‘That ties in nicely. And are we any further on with our major suspects? Keith, you were marking Shearman’s card.’

‘He’s a bundle of nerves, as you saw,’ Halliwell said. ‘I got a CV out of him. Bath was his first big job as theatre director. He’s been through the hoops of assistant stage manager, front-of-house. Worked in any number of provincial theatres. Wants desperately to hang on to this job, so he kowtows to Melmot. If he planned these murders, I can’t work out why. His reputation is in shreds.’

‘And Melmot?’

‘Inge did the digging on him, with some help from me,’ Leaman said, feet now under the desk instead of on it. ‘He’s all front. Likes everyone to think he’s the money behind the theatre, but in reality his only asset seems to be the house, and that’s too expensive to keep up. I checked with the land registry and it’s owned by his mother.’

‘So he’s not all he seems, but does that make him a murderer? What would he have gained from killing Denise and Clarion?’

‘He’d be better off killing his mother,’ Ingeborg said.

There were some smiles. Not from Diamond. ‘Is that it? Is that where we are at the end of the week, reduced to making tasteless jokes about old ladies?’

Ingeborg turned scarlet.

‘How about Binns?’ Halliwell said, always the man to steer everyone into calmer waters. ‘Fred Dawkins made some notes before he left for the
Sweeney Todd
walk-through.’

‘Decent of him. Fancy going to all that trouble,’ Diamond said with sarcasm even he regretted after speaking it. His mood was bleak. ‘I was told his findings didn’t amount to the proverbial hill of beans.’

‘Those weren’t my words,’ Ingeborg said, still smarting from the putdown. She got up and handed him Dawkins’ notes. ‘Fred worked hard on this before he had to leave.’

He put up a hand in conciliation. ‘I’m sorry, team. It’s been a bloody long day. Let’s draw a line under it. See you in the morning.’

They didn’t need any persuading. Desks were cleared, computers put on standby. In two minutes only Ingeborg and Diamond remained.

‘About Melmot’s mother,’ she said. ‘I wish I hadn’t said that. It was a cheap remark.’

‘Forget it, Inge,’ he told her. ‘I’ve said plenty cheaper than that, as you well know. You caught me at a bad time.’

‘This case must be the toughest ever,’ she said.

‘Yes, and I’m trying to deal with a personal issue as well. I thought I could settle it today and I didn’t.’

‘Anything I can help with?’

He shook his head. ‘Like I said, it’s personal. You get home. I’ll read these notes Fred made.’

After she’d left, he took the notes into his office, but he didn’t read them. He closed the door and called Paloma.

‘Are you still there at this hour?’ she said.

‘Winding down. It wasn’t one of my better days.’ He told her about his visit to Flakey White. ‘I came away feeling a bully and an idiot. He appears to have led a blameless life since he got caught.’

‘I wouldn’t waste sympathy on him,’ she said. ‘Those underage girls he had sex with won’t have forgotten or forgiven.’

‘I know, but it’s different from abusing small boys. He never touched me.’

‘Are you certain? Do you know about paedophiles? Do they make a distinction or do they just prey on children because they’re vulnerable?’

‘In this case I am certain. I saw the surprise in his eyes when he realised what I was on about. That was genuine.’

‘So you’re left in uncertainty again?’

‘I asked him if any of the others might have touched me and he pretty well convinced me it didn’t happen.’

‘Something happened to you. Something deeply upsetting,’ Paloma said. ‘Let’s get this clear. After the play finished you went directly on holiday at the farm in North Wales.’

Her desire to help was well meant. He suppressed the sigh that was coming and repeated the salient facts. ‘Where my sister had her eleventh birthday and for a treat we were taken to the Arcadia Theatre at Llandudno and I refused to stay in there. I kicked up a fuss even before the show started.’

‘You were in your seat?’

‘Yes.’

‘So you hadn’t objected to going into the theatre? Whatever this upset was, it happened when you were in there. Do you see what I’m saying, Peter? It wasn’t the idea of going inside.’

‘It is now. I damn near throw up when I approach the entrance.’

‘But the first time it happened, you didn’t. I was thinking this over last night. You told me your theatre phobia – you don’t call it that, I know, but let’s give it a name for clarity’s sake – you said it didn’t affect you some time later when you were taken to the Mermaid Theatre.’

‘For
Treasure Island
. I was fine. Loved it. Can’t tell you why.’

‘Yet
Julius Caesar
at the Old Vic made you ill.’

‘I walked out before it started. My teacher only found out later. Are you going to tell me the choice of play makes all the difference?’

‘No, I’m not. It’s obvious that the theatre does.’

He stared unseeing across the empty CID room. ‘But why?’ Paloma’s reasoning seemed to be circular. He had no expectation of a breakthrough.

‘Can you remember any other theatre where you weren’t aware of the phobia and just enjoyed the show?’

He didn’t have to dig deeply in his memory. His theatre-going didn’t amount to much. ‘Once when I was in Chichester with Steph we saw a comedy by some guy from somewhere up north, Scarborough, I think.’

‘Ayckbourn.’

‘Was it? You know better than me. Anyway, there were no alarms for me. It was very funny.’