The Stone Wife Read Online Free

began in a lofty tone that irritated Diamond straight away. “I hope the police are competent to deal with this. John Gildersleeve was a leading authority on Chaucer.”
    “He’s a dead man.”
    “That doesn’t alter anything.”
    “It altered him. He’s not the leading authority on anything now.”
    Sturgess gritted his teeth, obviously more used to dealing with connoisseurs than smart-mouthed policemen. “I’m saying the reason for his death may have to do with his field of expertise.”
    “It was murder, whichever way you look at it. That’s my field of expertise.”
    “But one needs to know what the motive might have been.”
    “Which is why I’m interviewing you, Mr. Sturgess.”
    “I’m not a Chaucer expert.”
    “You’re not?”
    A shake of the head.
    “You knew enough to bid well above the valuation. Were you acting for someone else?”
    “Certainly. My firm wouldn’t bid at that level without instructions.”
    “Who from?”
    “No comment.”
    Diamond blinked in surprise.
    Sturgess raised his chin defiantly. “Wild horses wouldn’t drag the name from me. Client confidentiality.”
    “I don’t think I’m getting through to you,” Diamond said. “Do you see what’s going on across the room? That’s a forensic pathologist examining a murder victim. I’m the chief investigating officer and you’re a witness. Don’t talk to me about client confidentiality.”
    “The name isn’t relevant, anyway,” Sturgess said.
    “I’ll be the judge of that. I could do you for withholding information.”
    “I won’t be bullied.”
    Diamond took that as a challenge. “Were you hoping to return to London tonight?”
    Sturgess turned pale. “You wouldn’t detain me?”
    “Tonight, tomorrow and next week if necessary. Don’t look so alarmed. We allow you to contact your solicitor.” Threats have to carry conviction and Diamond issued this unlikely one as coolly as if he was stating the time of day.
    There was an immediate change of tone. “Officer, I’d better explain. I’ve no wish to put myself on the wrong side of the law. It’s just that our whole business is founded on good faith, respecting the confidence of clients. To reveal the name of a potential buyer would be ruinous to our reputation. It might mean losing not merely the account in question, but numbers of others when they learn that trust has been broken.”
    “So who is it?” Diamond said.
    “Weren’t you listening? I’m not at liberty to say.”
    “Carry on like this, my friend, and you won’t be at liberty, full stop.”
    The man was shaken, but he wasn’t about to cough. “I don’t see why you need to know it.”
    “That’s pretty obvious, I would have thought,” Diamond said, his patience exhausted. “There were two bidders left in this auction and one was murdered. The survivor has some explaining to do.”
    “But the people who killed him weren’t bidding.”
    “We don’t know who they were acting for.”
    “Can’t you take my word as a gentleman that it’s impossible for my client to have been involved?”
    Diamond shook his head.
    “This is beyond a joke,” Sturgess said. “May I make a phone call?”
    “To tip off your client?”
    This was received with an icy stare. “To my office, to explain the impossible position I find myself in.”
    “Go ahead. I’ll be listening.” He could see this nonsense going on indefinitely, and he reckoned Sturgess was a minor player.
    Whoever was on the other end of the call took some convincing, but Sturgess was a man in a fix, explaining that he was facing arrest, with all the damage that would do to the good name of the firm. Finally, he switched off, pulled at his tie as if it was strangling him, and said, “This must be in the strictest confidence.”
    Diamond waited.
    Sturgess glanced to right and left before saying in little more than a whisper, “I was bidding on behalf of …” He mouthed the words.
    “Come again.”
    As if he was in breach of