At visiting hour the next day Diana forced a smile when Trevor described Elizabeth Taylor offering to get a testimonial from Audrey Hepburn.
‘Maybe she could get John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe?’ he suggested. ‘She made it sound as though the famous belong to some exclusive club in which they can ask each other for favours, even if they’ve never met.’ He’d planned this speech on the way there, hoping to cheer Diana up.
‘Something like the Masons, you mean?’ She cocked her head on one side. ‘Perhaps it’s true.’
‘Hilary sends her love,’ Trevor told her. ‘And the letters of support will soon start pouring in. I wrote to everyone I could think of.’
‘I’m sure that will make a huge difference,’ Diana said. ‘Thank you.’ But in her heart of hearts she didn’t believe it would influence the prosecuting authorities, who were convinced she was a murderer. Why would they release her just because her friends said she was a decent person? Most murderers probably have friends who believe they are innocent.
‘I rang that journalist, Scott Morgan, this morning and he is asking around town, trying to find Mr Balboni’s home address. He thinks he’ll get hold of it soon.’
Diana looked down at her hands. She felt awful every time Trevor was forced to mention his name. Ernesto was such a proficient liar she couldn’t imagine the journalist would be able to winkle much information from him, but she supposed he might as well try.
Trevor carried on: ‘I went to Termini station on my way here to try and work out whether Helen might have taken the train to Torre Astura. She was seen leaving Cinecittà at around four in the afternoon, so the earliest she could have caught a train would be four-thirty or five. According to the timetable, there are trains from Rome to Anzio on weekdays at five-fifteen p.m., then another at seven-fifteen, and the last one is at nine-fifteen. The journey takes an hour and a half, with several stops along the way.’
‘She never had any money,’ Diana told him. ‘She would probably have bought the cheapest possible ticket, in a third-class carriage.’
‘I watched an Anzio train leaving this morning and the cheaper carriages were packed full of farm workers with bicycles, crates of chickens and boxes of fruit. It occurred to me Helen must have stood out if she was wearing that red dress you described. It was an evening dress, wasn’t it?’ Diana nodded. ‘She must have gone home and changed after work. Maybe she caught the nine-fifteen, which got in at ten-forty-five. I wonder if the police are trying to find witnesses who saw her on the journey?’
‘It doesn’t seem to me as if the police are doing anything at all. They’ve got their culprit and a couple of so-called witnesses and are simply waiting for the trial.’
‘I hope that’s not the case,’ Trevor frowned. ‘But that’s why I thought you and I should try and piece together Helen’s final journey to see if we can come up with anything ourselves.’
Suddenly Diana had a flash of inspiration. ‘Hang on a minute. Where is her handbag? She would never have gone anywhere without her bag. It was white patent with a gold chain-link shoulder strap. I wonder what happened to it?’
They looked at each other, filled with hope for a second. ‘Perhaps Luigi stole it. If only they could find it at his apartment … But he’s not that stupid.’
‘Either that or it was thrown into the water with her and has drifted off somewhere on the current. Which doesn’t help us much.’
They sat in silence for a few minutes, mulling this over, then both started to speak at once. ‘You first,’ Trevor said.
‘I was going to say that there might be something inside that would give us a clue about her state of mind. Did she buy a return train ticket? Did she have things for an overnight stay? … What were you going to say?’
‘I’m not sure she caught the train. I think Luigi might have driven her down. Maybe she owed him money and he was bringing her to you so you could lend her some. You were her last hope.’
‘Of course I’d have given her money!’
‘But something went wrong when they arrived. Perhaps Helen threatened to expose him and he killed her before they reached you.’
‘I’m afraid that’s what must have happened. But how can we ever prove it?’
Trevor sighed. ‘It worries me that the police aren’t even looking for evidence of a third person. Maybe it’s there, staring them in the face.’ At that moment, he made up his mind. ‘I think I’ll go to Torre Astura myself and have a look around.’
‘Are you sure, Trevor? It might be dangerous. I don’t want you getting in any trouble.’
He carried on as if she hadn’t spoken, thinking out loud. ‘I’ll ask Hilary to arrange permission for me to look around the set and talk to the workers. Someone must have seen something. I’ll go tomorrow.’
Diana closed her eyes. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. At least something was happening.
‘It means I won’t be able to visit you tomorrow,’ he explained, ‘but with any luck I’ll be back the following day with good news.’
‘Thank you for doing this.’ She forced another smile. ‘I knew I could count on you.’
Her words were slow and her expression weary. Trevor couldn’t bear to leave her looking so miserable but the guards were calling time.
‘We should have a holiday when you get out,’ he suggested. ‘Where would you like to go? How about Athens?’
‘Maybe,’ Diana hedged. ‘Athens would be nice.’ But he noticed that she couldn’t meet his eyes.