The Tooth Tattoo by Peter Lovesey

Author:Peter Lovesey [Lovesey, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9781616952310
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2013-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

16

‘Mine wasn’t much help.’

‘Mine was an obstacle race, and I don’t think I won.’

‘Mine was a waste of time.’

‘Snap out of it, guys,’ Diamond said. ‘You’re supposed to be professionals.’

Leaman shrugged. ‘He refused to talk about anything except the music they’re rehearsing.’

‘This was Anthony Metcalf, the second violin?’

‘I’d get more sense from a talking clock.’

The debrief was taking place in a quiet corner of the senior common room at the Michael Tippett Centre. The team had helped themselves to instant coffee from a jar marked staff only. In one of the practice rooms nearby, the quartet had begun their delayed rehearsal

‘Anthony thinks of little else except music,’ Diamond said. ‘I heard that from Cat Kinsella, who was good company once she got warmed up. Even told me a joke.’ He put up his hand. ‘Later. Did any of you get a reaction when you showed the picture of Mari?’

Leaman and Halliwell shook their heads.

Ingeborg said, ‘Mel Farran reacted. He actually calmed down quite a lot when he saw it. Before that he was a different bunny from the one I met here before.’

‘Different in what way?’

‘Tense. He sat clutching his instrument case across his knees like a barrier. I’ve seen women hold their handbags like that. It’s unusual in a man.’

‘Not many blokes have handbags,’ Leaman said.

She looked at him as if he was something she’d trodden in. ‘I don’t know what Mel thought I was going to ask, but I got the impression it wasn’t about Mari.’

‘Does he have form?’

‘No, I ran a check. He’s clean.’

‘So what did he say when you gave him a sight of the picture?’

Ingeborg’s eyes rolled upwards. ‘Said he never forgets a pretty face. Then he smirked a bit. He sees himself as God’s gift to women.’

‘You’ve changed your tune,’ Leaman said. ‘He was nice-looking and friendly when we last spoke.’

‘He’s still nice looking and friendly – and he still thinks he’s God’s gift.’

‘So not one of them appears to have met the victim,’ Diamond said.

‘Mel did admit Mari could easily have been in the audience at one of the concerts and he wouldn’t have known.’

Diamond aired the small piece of expertise he’d learned from Cat. ‘Because they have a light on the music stand and they can’t see anything over it?’

‘No. Because they concentrate on the music.’

He tore open three strips of sugar for his coffee. ‘Disappointing, then. No apparent link to our victim. It’s only our assumption that she came here to listen to her favourite string quartet.’

‘I can’t be entirely sure how much Anthony knows, or how little,’ Leaman said, and for once he wasn’t trying to score points. ‘I showed him the picture and he hardly gave it a glance. Wasn’t interested.’

‘Did you ask him the question?’

‘Had he met her? He said he was a musician – as if that said it all.’

‘In his case, it probably does,’ Diamond said. ‘He has some form of autism. People don’t interest him.’

Ingeborg took a sharp breath. ‘So it’s entirely possible Mari spoke to Anthony and he paid no attention.

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