The Orbit turned out to be part lounge and part café, with the cooking done in the middle area, which would be the spine of the clover. The views were just as Phinney had described them: spectacular. Lynley felt as if he could see straight into to the Home Counties in every direction.
He accepted Phinney’s offer of coffee, and he found a vacant seating area close to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. These encircled the entire Orbit and it wasn’t long before he realised that the lounge itself rotated slowly. Sit long enough and one would see the entirety of Greater London as one inched by it.
Phinney returned with two cups and two croissants. He placed these on a coffee table and sat opposite Lynley, saying, “What can I do for you, Thomas?”
“You can tell me about Detective Sergeant Bontempi.”
“Teo?” he said. “She’s on the upswing, isn’t she? I’ve not heard.”
An odd response, Lynley thought. He said, “When did you last see her?”
“I saw her in hospital. Three nights ago.”
“Had the hospital rung you?”
“No. Where is this heading, Thomas?”
“I’m afraid she’s dead.”
Phinney stared at him, as if an attempt he’d made to read Lynley’s lips had come to nothing. “How can that be?” He could easily have been speaking to himself. Before Lynley responded, he said, “I saw her. She was very much alive. I found her.”
“Where?” Lynley asked.
“At her flat. I went inside and found her in bed. I couldn’t rouse her, but . . . Christ, she was absolutely breathing. I rang 999. When they finally showed up—”
“Finally?”
“It was at least thirty minutes. They took her vitals, got her on a drip, put her on a stretcher, and took her to hospital. I followed in my car.”
“Were you able to speak with her at all?”
He shook his head. “The last time I saw her, they were taking her into A and E. I waited for word but there was none. After two hours, all I was able to learn was that they’d moved her from A and E into Critical Care and they’d contacted her next of kin. I don’t know whether that was her husband, her parents, or her sister, although I reckon it was her husband. I left before any of them arrived.” He got to his feet. He walked to the window and placed his hand on it, his palm flat against the glass. He said to his dim reflection, “She was in bed when I found her. She was in her nightclothes. How could she have died?”
“How did you manage to get into her flat?” Lynley asked.
Phinney turned from the window. Lynley noted that his ruddy face had become quite pale. He said, “I showed the concierge my warrant card and explained the situation.”
“Which was . . . ?”
“What?”
“The situation. What took you to her flat in the first place?”
One of Phinney’s hands made a fist and gently hit his other palm as he spoke. “She’d recently transferred to one of the MITs in south London, but she’d requested some days off before starting there. When she was due to begin, she failed to turn up. I was called for confirmation that the date of transfer was correct. It was and as Teo—DS Bontempi—was nothing if not dedicated to her job, it made no sense that she’d failed to turn up. I thought at first something had happened to her father. He had a stroke earlier in the year. But when I rang her parents, all was well. So I began to ring her mobile at intervals. There was no reply. After a few hours, I went to her flat.”
“There was no one more local that you could have rung?”
“Probably. Of course. But I didn’t think to search anyone out. I just made my way there and got the concierge to let me inside the place.”
“You knew where she lived? Had you been there before?”
“I drove her home one night after something of a booze-up that the team had at our local. A morale-boosting thing. She had no car, and, as I’d had only a glass of wine, and as it was late, I thought public transport might not be the best idea.”
“She was drunk?”
“Tipsy, but not drunk. Look, what’s actually going on? Why’s the Met become involved in this?”
Lynley saw no point in obfuscation. “She was murdered, I’m afraid.”
“Murdered.” Phinney said the word in a manner that managed to be both numb and disbelieving simultaneously. Then, “Murdered? In hospital?”
“She died in hospital, but the cause of her death seems to have occurred in her flat.”