The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey Read Free Book Online

things.'
    Outside, at a signal from Diamond, John Wigfull terminated the press interview and the two men took a walk along the edge of the lake, past fishermen spaced at intervals. Wigfull waited until Diamond had given him the gist of the news from Merlin, and then said with his habitual optimism,'That's a big step forward.'
    'It may be, when we eventually find out who she is,' Diamond said, and was moved to confide to his assistant, 'I can't even feel sorry for the woman without knowing anything about her - her name, her background. I need to care about what happened to the victim, but I don't. She's just a stiff. That isn't enough.'
    'We know a certain amount,' Wigfull pointed out. 'She was married. She cared about her appearance. She wasn't a down-and-out.'
    'I keep telling myself that. Someone ought to have noticed that this woman is missing by now. It's over two weeks. She must have had people she knew, friends, family or workmates. Where are they?'
    'I'm following up those missing women we talked about yesterday and I've got a long list of brunettes who could be worth checking on.'
    Diamond aimed a vicious kick at a fir cone.
    They retraced their steps. Before they reached the encampment of blue and black vehicles inside the taped cordon, a police motorcyclist rode along the track and stopped by the incident room. He went inside, was evidently told where to deliver his message, came out and walked across to Diamond and handed him a brown envelope, sent from police headquarters at Bristol.
    'My promotion, no doubt,' Diamond quipped as he opened it. Inside was a faxed diagram. 'No,' he said. 'It's from the Yard. Mrs Zoomer's dental record. I regret to inform you, Mr Wigfull, that by the look of this your eccentric author has two superfluous wisdom teeth. Two more than our lady of the lake.'
    Later that afternoon, the decision was taken to decamp. The house-to-house enquiries and the search of the lake perimeter had been completed. The scenes-of-crime officers had long since left. It made sense to transfer to Bristol.
    The midges in their millions were casting their evening haze over the water when the last police car left the site and headed through Bishop Sutton towards the A37. In the back seat, Diamond remarked, 'You know what depressed me most about that spot?'
    John Wigfull shook his head.
    'Those goddam fishermen. They were showing us up.'
    Just short of Whitchurch, a message came through on the car radio. It was the desk sergeant at Manvers Street Police Station in Bath.
    'Don't know if this is relevant to your inquiry, sir. A man has come in and reported that his wife is missing. Her name is Geraldine Snoo, sir.' name is Geraldine
    'Snoozer?'
    'Snoo. Geraldine Snoo.'
    Beside him, Wigfull opened his mouth to speak, but Diamond put up a restraining hand.
    The sergeant added, 'She's thirty-three and he describes her hair as auburn.'
    'When did he see her last?'
    'Almost three weeks ago.'
    Diamond cast his eyes upwards in an expression of gratitude that was almost worshipful. 'Is he still with you?'
    'Yes, sir.'
    'Keep him there. For God's sake don't let him leave. What's his name?'
    'Professor Jackman.'
    'Professor? Hold on. You say his name is Jackman, and he's the husband, but you just gave me the woman's name as Snoo.'
    'That's the name she's known by, sir. She's an actress. Well, that's an understatement. She's a star. Do you ever watch The Milners on TV? Geraldine Snoo played the part of Candice.'
    Diamond had taken too strong a grip on the window handle. It jerked out of its socket.

Chapter Six
    IF A SOAP-STAR HAD TO live anywhere, it might as well be Bath, that squeaky-clean city in the south-west. Ribbons of Georgian terraced houses undulate elegantly between seven green hills, diverting the eye from anything more unsightly. Stone-cleaning is second only to tourism as a local industry; the Yellow Pages list fifty-four firms. High-pressure water-jets have transformed old blackened buildings into gleaming