Diamond and the Eye by Peter Lovesey

Author:Peter Lovesey [Lovesey, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2021-08-29T15:50:25+00:00

The One Stop Shop opposite the former police station was the go-to place for a range of council-run services like housing, citizens’ advice and Shopmobility. The police counter was manned by a white-shirted woman officer who pointed to the tables opposite where a large black man was holding a bottle of water with both hands and jigging his legs to whatever was playing in his earbuds. His legs were so long that the table was rising and falling with the beat.

Diamond went over, trying to think of a greeting that wasn’t cheesy. “Are you Lucky?” “You must be Lucky.” Or just, “Lucky?” It didn’t matter because the drumming would have drowned the words. He stood opposite and brandished his ID.

The man switched off, removed the buds and held out a large hand. “Lucky Andrews.”

“You came in to report a shooting, Mr. Andrews? We appreciate that.”

“Doin’ my civic duty. And I go by Lucky.”

“What happened, Lucky?”

He sat back, remembering. “Concerns Olympia.”

“Miss Olympia Ward? Charming young lady.”

“My houseguest.”

“You’re Lucky in more than one sense,” Diamond said and immediately wished he hadn’t.

Lucky was performing a windscreen-wiper motion with his forefinger. “Don’t be making any ’sumptions with me, inspector. Houseguest I say and houseguest she is, houseguest and no more. She have the bed, I have the sofa. Separate arrangement, understan’?”

“Got you.”

“So here’s what went down. The lady leave my place early today for London. Business meeting, she say. High-powered woman is Miss Olympia. Next thing, she call me from the train.” His voice rose an octave or two. “‘Lucky, darling, will you do me a favour and go to the cottage and feed the fish?’”

“She has a fish?”

Lucky found that amusing. “Two hundred tropicals, man. And seein’ as no one has fed them for a couple of days she figures they must be eatin’ each other.”

“Can we backtrack a minute? Olympia is your houseguest, but she has a cottage of her own?”

“Petunia Cottage, Limpley Stoke, but here’s the thing. The lady is scared to be there after some lowlife take a shot at her the other day. True. So she move to my place and want to bring the fish. But it’s a five-gallon tank, man. No way. With all the clothes she bring, my van is fuller than a stuffed chicken.”

“I’m with you now,” Diamond said. “I can picture this. What happened this morning?”

“Okay. So I drive to the cottage and see a moped outside the front door. Visitor, I’m thinkin’, but why stop by when Olympia isn’t here? I step round to the back and find this sawn-off guy in a black balaclava standin’ on a stack of logs tryin’ to see in the window.”

“‘Sawn-off”?”

“Low rise, man. Knee-high to a gnat.”

“Got it. Go on.”

“What’s your business, junior, I think, and that’s exactly what I say. No answer. Jumps down and is off round the side. Too damn quick for me.”

“Why is that? You look like a good mover.”

The big man laughed. “Hey, man, I ain’t no Usain Bolt.” He leaned over the side of the chair, lifted his trouser leg and displayed six inches of metal.

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