Read Peter Diamond - 09 - The Secret Hangman for Free Online Page A

The knife was razor-sharp. Carlo had a mild, disarming manner. Short and bald, with a black moustache, he gave his answers in a subdued voice. No, he hadn’t emerged from the kitchen at all on Tuesday evening, so he couldn’t speak about the diners. Delia had seemed the same as usual. He liked her. She never hustled him when he was trying to get the orders out.
    ‘Did she talk to you about her life?’
    ‘That night?’
    ‘Any night.’
    ‘She liked Bath, she say. Plenty good ladies’ shops. Azzuro, Annabel Harrison, Kimberly. All her money go on nice Italian clothes. I have a joke with her that she serve Italian so she can buy Italian.’
    ‘Did she mention her two daughters?’
    ‘To me? No. Luigi tell me she have daughters.’
    ‘How about you, Carlo? Are you married?’
    ‘Am I married?’ He stopped chopping and drew the knife across the front of his throat, rolling his eyes. ‘Three times. Five kids. Four back in Napoli with wives one and two, must have cash every month. One baby son here. And wife number three.’
    ‘Here in the city?’
    ‘No chance. I keep her away from those dress shops. Combe Down.’
    ‘Do you drive?’
    ‘Can’t afford. I take the bus.’
    Diamond asked to see the locker room. It was through the kitchen and Tosi the owner took this as his chance to grab the limelight again. He wanted it known that his facilities met the hygiene regulations and insisted on showing the staff toilet and washroom as well. Luigi’s description of the locker room was right. It was little more than a cupboard with three metal lockers and barely space to change your clothes. When Diamond had established which locker was Delia’s, he asked Halliwell to go in and force the lock.
    ‘No, no,’ Tosi said in alarm. ‘No damage please. I have extra key.’
    He went away to fetch it.
    Halliwell leaned against the locker door and it opened. ‘Not much of a lock,’ he said.
    The faint smell of scent carried to them, as if Delia herself was protesting that her privacy was being invaded again. Diamond took Halliwell’s place in the small space. He found a hanger with two white blouses and a black skirt. On the shelf above were two bars of KitKat, a box of tissues, a mirror, a lipstick and a comb.
    Tosi returned with the key. ‘So I waste my time, eh? Open after all?’
    Ignoring him, Diamond stooped to pick up a pair of low-heeled black shoes. Under them was a book of matches. ‘Was she a smoker?’
    ‘No smoking, no.’
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Nobody here smokes,’ Luigi said.
    So why did she want matches? Diamond returned the shoes to the locker, picked up the matches and folded back the flap. None had been used. They were black, with white tips, from the Hilton Hotel, Bath. Someone had written the number 317 under the flap. He slipped them into his pocket.
    On the way out, he stopped to look at Luigi’s bike, chained to a post in the space under the stairs. ‘I should get one of these,’ he said to Halliwell without meaning it. ‘Give me six months and I’d be as slim as that waiter.’
    ‘It’s the job that keeps him in shape,’ Halliwell said.
    ‘What are you saying – that I should get off my butt more often?’
    ‘I was talking about the waiter, guv.’
    Towards the bottom of Milsom Street, outside Waterstone’s bookshop, Diamond stopped walking again, causing Halliwell real concern about his health. The short distance they’d covered had been all downhill. ‘We’ll go in here,’ the big man said.
    ‘Are you after a book, guv?’ Halliwell said, playing along with him.
    ‘They have a coffee shop up here,’ he said, surprising Halliwell by climbing the stairs two at a time. At the top he was still breathing normally. ‘I was counting on Tosi offering us one. He missed an opportunity of cosying up to us there. Not so much as a complimentary peppermint on the way out.’ He looked over the display of pastries. ‘We’ll go halves on one of those almond croissants,