Free The Tooth Tattoo by Peter Lovesey

‘and he doesn’t know what we were playing.’
    ‘Schubert,’ Ivan said. ‘Quartet Number 14 in D minor, better known as “Death and the Maiden”.’

7
    I ngeborg Smith said, ‘Something is up with him.’
    The rest of the CID room must have heard, yet nobody else spoke. The central heating was set too high for a mild October afternoon. Lethargy was the prevailing mood.
    ‘He’s been out of sorts all week. Longer really.’ No one could be in any doubt who she meant. Ingeborg was the Diamond-watcher on the squad.
    And on a day like today no one except Ingeborg cared much.
    She tried a third time. ‘I don’t think he’s had a civil word for any of us.’
    DI John Leaman finally responded with, ‘Tell us something new.’ Which was rich coming from the misery-guts of CID.
    From across the room, Paul Gilbert, the youngest on the team, said, ‘It’s the trend, isn’t it? All those Scandinavian detectives, so depressed you wonder if they’ll hold out until the last chapter.’
    ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Leaman said.
    ‘Don’t you read?’
    ‘Read what?’
    ‘Some of them get on TV as well.’
    ‘I don’t have time for that stuff. I look at science-based series like
CSI
and
Bones.’
    ‘Be fair, you guys,’ Ingeborg said. ‘The boss treats us right and he can be amusing when he’s on form. You have to tune in to his sense of humour, that’s all.’
    ‘My tuning must have gone to pot, then.’
    ‘Bosses come a lot worse than him.’
    Gilbert was quick to take her up on this. ‘Why do you say that, Inge? Do you know something we don’t?’
    ‘I’m wondering if
he
knows something we don’t.’
    Leaman swung round in his chair. ‘Hang about – do you think Diamond’s on the way out?’
    This possibility galvanised everyone. Keith Halliwell, the most senior man present, said, ‘Get away. He’s said nothing to me.’
    ‘Whatever is bugging him, he’s internalising it,’ Ingeborg said. ‘With all the government cuts he could be looking at early retirement.’
    ‘Voluntary, you mean?’
    ‘He wouldn’t walk,’ Halliwell said. ‘Not the guv’nor.’
    ‘But he’d take it badly if they forced him out.’
    Mental pictures of Diamond being dragged from the building.
    ‘There is another possibility,’ Gilbert said.
    ‘Give it to us, then.’
    ‘It could be some of us for the chop. He’s been told and he doesn’t want to break the news to us.’
    Rumours of redundancies had been circulating for months and now something close to panic ensued.
    ‘They can’t do that,’ Leaman said. ‘We’re overstretched already.’
    ‘Overstretched when there’s a major enquiry,’ Halliwell said, ‘but that isn’t every week of the year. We could be vulnerable.’
    ‘All the public services are taking cuts,’ Gilbert said. ‘We can’t expect to escape.’
    Leaman said, ‘And it’s always last in, first out. So don’t look so pleased with yourself, young man.’
    By now every head was buzzing with thoughts of unemployment. Some twenty minutes later, Halliwell stood up. ‘I’m going to ask him.’
    Diamond was at his desk with his chin propped on both hands like a medieval gargoyle, but chunkier. He’d discarded his jacket and loosened his tie. ‘What is it now?’
    ‘Nothing special, guv. I was wondering … do you fancy a cuppa?’
    ‘A cold drink would suit me better. They never get the heating right in this place.’
    ‘Want to slip out for ten minutes?’
    ‘While you mind the shop?’
    ‘Actually I was thinking you might want company.’
    ‘Something on your mind, is there? All right. John can hold the fort. It’s not as if we’re snowed under. Be better if we were.’
    In the Royal Hotel just down the street, Halliwell brought the drinks to the table where Diamond had resumed his chin-in-hands posture.
    ‘Did you want crisps or anything?’
    ‘No. What’s your problem?’
    ‘Not mine specially, guv. There were some murmurings in the office about