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woman," insisted Wigfull.
    Tom Ray said, "Tell us something new."
    Wigfull gave him a fish-eyed stare and said, "She'll be just right for this. She can sit behind the desk and sell postcards."
    "Terrific," said Diamond. "Would you like her to dust the picture frames as well?"

Chapter Six
    On Friday, the paper had a News in Brief item at the foot of page two about the murder of the Saltford bank manager and the magistrates' court appearance of the chief clerk. Stephanie Diamond spotted it by chance when she was looking for the weather forecast. The Guardian's layout always defeated her. Peter wasn't mentioned by name, but now she understood why he was working so late these evenings. He'd muttered something about a meeting as he'd climbed in beside her the wrong side of midnight. Most of his time at work seemed to be spent in meetings or filling in forms.
    She timed his breakfast to perfection, lifting the two lightly coated eggs from the pan and placing them on the slice of fried bread beside the bacon and tomatoes just as he came downstairs. The pampering he got at breakfast helped him through the day. She reckoned it was a fair trade for the cup of tea he brought her in bed these chilly October mornings. She couldn't move a muscle without her fix of tea. And he often cooked dinner when he was home.
    He reached for the paper and glanced at the football results. Missed the item on page two. Then he yawned.
    "Any chance of an easier day today?" she asked him.
    "Every chance," he said bleakly.
    She felt a stirring of concern. "You haven't done anything rash?"
    "Like what?"
    "Like resigning again?"
    He smiled faintly. "No. It's just gone flat."
    "What do you expect in Avon and Somerset? The Himalayas?"
    He cut into a fried egg. "I'm not ambitious. I'd settle for the Mendips, but all I see is the Somerset Levels. Take that murder that happened on Monday. The genius who did it walked up to me, shook my hand and confessed."
    "That must have helped your clear-up rate."
    He didn't answer. Statistics had never appealed to him.
    "You can't have it all ways," Stephanie remarked. "We live in a gorgeous old city. It's going to be quiet. If you want serious action, you'd better start applying for jobs in Glasgow or Manchester, but don't ask me to come."
    "Thanks." He put some more food in his mouth. "But you're wrong, Steph. Avon and Somerset isn't short of villains."
    "You mean they're all in the police."
    He grinned.
    Stephanie said, "Which villains, then? Local farmers protesting about the bypass?"
    "Professionals, I'm talking about. The smartest piece of shoplifting I ever heard of happened in my patch."
    "In Bath?"
    "Bristol. Didn't I ever tell you? They did one of those ultraexpensive dress shops."
    "A boutique?"
    "Yes, in Southmead. It was a night job. I don't know how many thousand quids' worth of designer gowns. They didn't break in, didn't smash anything, didn't leave any prints, didn't even set foot on the premises. We never caught them. Took us a long time to work out how it was done."
    "If they didn't break in, they must have had a key," Stephanie guessed.
    "No."
    "Then it was some kind of inside job."
    "It wasn't."
    "Didn't set foot in the shop, you said?"
    "Didn't need to."
    "I give up. How was it done?"
    "They worked through the letterbox with a twelve-foot boat hook. Dragged the display racks across the floor and tugged out the dresses one by one. Even the owner said she had to admire their cheek."
    The kettle boiled, and he made instant coffee for them both, his thoughts on the day ahead. There were still three or four hours of form-filling for the Crown Prosecution Service. The chore couldn't be delegated. All his best people were on Operation Bumblebee now.
    Stephanie turned up the volume on the radio. Diamond finished his breakfast in silence.
    On BBC Radio Bristol some harbinger of gloom was wittering on about the traffic. If Steph was first downstairs she generally switched on the local station. When Diamond was