Wrongful Death (58 page)

‘Yes, I have seen him before,’ Aisa said softly and there was an immediate silence in the room. Holme was about to say something but Anna jumped in and asked Aisa where she had seen him. She looked up at Anna, and whispered, ‘When I was at Josh’s flat, I saw that man there.’

Holme told Aisa that she was not obliged to answer DCI Travis’s questions, but Anna could see that she wanted to say more and she gave Aisa a comforting nod to continue.

‘He was the man who came out when I was pressing the buzzer. He opened the door and I slipped in past him. I’d never seen him before or since, but I remember him because of the dreadlocks and his age.’

Feeling like the ground was about to open up and swallow her, Anna realized that she had just fallen into a trap. She had shot herself in the foot. She urgently looked at Langton to take over the interview so she had time to think about what to do next, but he shook his head in disbelief as he realized that Gloria had won. Aisa’s primed, yet seemingly innocuous reply, had just shifted the whole balance of suspicion onto Samuel Peters as being with Josh Reynolds at the time of his death.

Aisa’s statement had clearly described how she had been unable to get a reply from Josh at the flat by phone or knocking. Anna knew that Samuel had keys in his possession for both Josh and Esme’s flat. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

Langton knew the case against Aisa being present at Josh’s death had just been dealt a knockout blow.

‘Thank you for your cooperation and prepared statement, Miss Lynne. This interview is terminated,’ he said as he switched off the recording equipment. Holme sat back in his chair with a smug look on his face and asked about Aisa’s release. Langton told him that they would like to hear what Lady Lynne had to say first. Holme raised the fact that Donna Lynne was in prison for offences she clearly didn’t commit and he wanted her released forthwith. Langton agreed with him and said that he would arrange her immediate release with the CPS and for transport to take her home to Lynne House.

A demoralized Langton, Anna and Dewar regrouped upstairs, gathering once more in Anna’s office. Anna apologized to both of them, adding that for Aisa to say what she did about Samuel Peters, Gloria must have anticipated that Anna knew about him and would show Aisa a picture.

‘No shit, Sherlock!’ Langton snapped back at her.

‘In fairness, Jimmy, none of us could have anticipated that happening, and it shows how intelligent and cunning Gloria is,’ Dewar said.

‘Travis should have known it was coming,’ Langton said angrily.

‘How could I have?’ Anna said, horribly aware that her game of words with Gloria when searching Lynne House had backfired.

‘Because you told that prick Walters that Samuel Peters was related to Josh, and had stolen money from him. You knew he had spoken with Gloria before the interview.’

‘Yes, but I didn’t know exactly what he’d told her. Aisa is totally under Gloria’s spell so I took a gamble but it didn’t pay off. We can always do another interview with Aisa after we have spoken with Gloria.’

‘What about? The time of bloody day? You have nothing against her and Ian Holme knows that; even perverting the course of justice is on a fine thread,’ Langton said. He leaned back in his chair, trying to control his temper.

It suddenly crossed Anna’s mind that Aisa’s identification of Samuel Peters could be turned to their advantage. ‘Ian Holme will tell Gloria about the identification Aisa made from the CCTV picture.’

‘Of course he bloody will! Did you not see the smug look on his face? Dead men can’t talk, so the blame for everything will be shifted onto Samuel Peters,’ Langton replied in anger.

‘Samuel Peters can’t drive so timing-wise, he couldn’t have got to Bayswater before Aisa,’ Dewar remarked.

‘Don’t talk shite! Holme will simply argue he could have got a taxi and been there five or ten minutes before her.’

Anna was determined to make her point. ‘That picture was taken at the Savoy. Aisa said she didn’t know the man’s name and had only ever seen him at Josh’s flat. We know that Samuel is Gloria’s first husband so I’d like to hear her explanation as to why he was at the Charity Ball,’ she said, relieved that she might yet be able to salvage something from her faux pas in the interview.

Langton paused as he thought about this and then told her that she had made a valid suggestion.

‘Don’t be surprised if Gloria has a convincing explanation,’ Dewar said.

‘Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jessie,’ Anna said, even though she knew Dewar was right.

‘Gloria’s highly intelligent and will have planned and rehearsed her story over and over again in her mind, right down to the finest details. She will have memorized an answer for every possible twist and turn,’ Dewar informed them.

‘What about her bloody micro-expressions?’ Langton asked.

‘Almost impossible to detect,’ Dewar said in a matter-of-fact way.

‘I thought it was one of your specialities!’

‘Yes, but Gloria’s had years of practice at refining her body language and facial expressions. She’s a master of deceit,’ Dewar replied.

Langton felt they were just going over the same old ground. ‘You’re supposed to be the psychological expert, Jessie, so please tell me something we don’t know or haven’t already considered about Gloria bloody Lynne.’

‘A play has a start, middle and end . . .’

Langton was losing his patience. ‘For God’s sake get to the point, Dewar.’

‘Gloria will have had to memorize the script thoroughly before she can perform it, and her emotions need to match the moment. The story needs to unfold in the order she memorized it – you change the order and she may just fluff or forget her lines and when that happens it can have a knock-on effect,’ Dewar said with a wry smile.

Langton took on board what Dewar was saying and conceded it was worth a try, but he knew that Gloria was not just an ordinary actor.

‘Psychologically, I can understand Aisa lying because she’s terrified of her mother, but even so a second interview with her could be worthwhile,’ Dewar added.

‘We will listen to what Gloria has to tell us first and I will take the lead in any questions that need to be asked. You do not interrupt and you will not arrest her. Do I make myself clear, Anna?’

‘Not really because I—’

‘She’s expecting you to take her on and I don’t want to play into her hands again,’ Langton emphasized.

‘I’m perfectly capable of handling Gloria Lynne,’ Anna told him.

‘Don’t flatter yourself. The way I see it so far, none of us are. She is winning hands down. If she was able to prime her daughter, Christ only knows what other cards she’s ready to play.’

Langton stood up, almost pushing his chair over, and then gave a cool nod and pointed at her. ‘Behave yourself. Right?’ he warned.

Anna nodded.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Taking up her position in the darkened viewing room, Dewar found herself looking forward to the psychological assessment of Gloria Lynne. Here was her chance at once to prove herself and to reveal the cunning sociopath as a pathological liar.

Meanwhile, Langton and Anna made for the witness interview room where Lady Lynne and Ian Holme were waiting. Langton introduced himself to Lady Lynne, who proffered her hand like royalty for him to shake.

‘A detective chief superintendent, that’s a much higher rank than chief inspector, isn’t it?’ Gloria asked nonchalantly as she smiled and looked at Anna.

‘Tell me, Chief Superintendent, do you know the Chief Constable of Surrey, Mr O’Dwyer? He’s a very good friend of mine.’

Langton said that he didn’t know him personally but they had met at a couple of police seminars. Playing Gloria at her own game, he added that Deputy Commissioner Walters was more acquainted with the Chief Constable than he was. Gloria replied that Mr Walters had been very considerate in allowing her to speak with Aisa and he would no doubt be pleased that she had managed to get her to tell the truth.

Anna asked Lady Lynne and Mr Holme to accompany her and Langton to the custody suite interview room so that they could record the conversation.

‘Is Lady Lynne under arrest?’ Holme asked, to which Langton assured him she was not.

‘Lady Lynne is not happy to talk to you on tape,’ Holme informed them.

This was something that had not been anticipated, and Anna knew that for Dewar’s skills to be of any use they needed her to be able to see and hear everything that took place.

She explained that as Lady Lynne was a technical witness to her daughter’s confession they would need to get a witness statement from her, and the easiest and quickest way was to record it and then write it up in statement form for her to sign later.

‘I’m very sorry, Detective Travis, but for personal reasons, and in my daughter’s best interest, I simply cannot do that. This room seems perfectly adequate and Mr Holme has already switched off the power to the camera,’ Gloria said, as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

Anna was about to try again when Langton spoke: ‘Certainly, Lady Lynne, as you suggest, this room will be fine.’

‘Thank you. I wonder, would you mind fetching me some water, Detective Travis?’ Gloria asked with a smile.

Anna was left with little choice but to comply, aware that under the circumstances she just had to grin and bear Gloria’s objectionable behaviour, but took the opportunity to go and tell Dewar that Lady Lynne had refused to be interviewed on tape. Dewar was extremely annoyed but also realized there was nothing that could be done about it and suggested to Anna that she take her Dictaphone in with her. Anna considered it briefly, sorely tempted, but finally deemed it too risky.

She returned to the interview room with four bottles of water and put them down on the table.

As she had expected, Ian Holme asked for confirmation that what was about to be said was not being recorded and remained within the room between the persons present. Langton pointed out that he could not refuse to ignore or act on anything that related to criminal offences being committed. Ian Holme assured him that what he was about to be told were personal matters, and the only criminal offences that had been committed by the Lynne family were without intent and in ignorance of the truth. Anna and Langton both suspected that Gloria Lynne was about to portray herself as the real victim of everything that occurred, but what they were not prepared for was how well she had prepared her lies.

Settling herself in the upright chair, Gloria took a deep breath and took a tissue from her pocket. ‘What I am about to tell you is very painful for me and brings back some of my darkest memories that have haunted me all my life.’ Her voice and hands trembled slightly as she wiped a tear from her eye.

Anna looked at Langton and raised her eyebrows as if to say, ‘Here we go, she can shed tears at will.’ Langton just sat and stared at Gloria, as he wanted to listen carefully to everything she had to say.

‘When I was seventeen I conceived a child with a man called Samuel Peters. We named our son Arum Joshua Peters. At the time, my mother was dying of cancer and I was her sole carer after my father’s death from drug abuse—’

‘Sorry to interrupt you, Lady Lynne, but I read a magazine article in which you said your father died of cancer,’ Anna said.

Gloria didn’t bat an eyelid. ‘Really? Well I don’t ever discuss how my poor father died, I simply say he passed away, Detective Travis. The writer must have put words in my mouth. Now do you mind if I continue or are you more interested in misleading press articles?’ Gloria said and gave a contemptuous smile.

Langton frowned at Anna, apologized and invited Gloria to continue.

‘Samuel was a heavy drinker, and I’m sad to say, quick to use his fists when he didn’t get his way. I feared for Arum’s safety and Samuel constantly pressured me to give him up for adoption. I refused and was beaten by Samuel for what he called my pig-headedness. Under increasing pressure I found it almost impossible to care for Arum properly and I was afraid that Samuel would hurt him. I knew that my sister-in-law Esme was a good woman and she was emigrating to England with Marisha, her sister, so I asked Esme to take Arum with her for what would undoubtedly be a better life.’ Gloria now turned on the waterworks for sympathy. Ian Holme fell for it, resting his hand on top of Gloria’s briefly and telling her that as much as it hurt her she had to be strong.

Anna was chomping at the bit to say something and couldn’t understand why Langton was allowing Gloria to run the show, as control was what she revelled in. But Langton opened a bottle of water and handed it to Gloria to take some, which she did before continuing.

‘Esme and I had false documents made up and Arum became Joshua Peters. For the sake of my own sanity, and Arum’s future wellbeing, it was agreed that I would have no further contact with him and I have always honoured that commitment I made to Esme and my son.’

Now the crocodile tears really began to flow, which Anna thought was an act worthy of an Oscar. At last, Langton spoke: ‘I realize this must be very distressing for you, Lady Lynne, but if it helps, would I be right in saying that when Esme married John Reynolds, Arum now became Joshua Reynolds?’

Gloria blew her nose politely and nodded her head. ‘I had no idea that he was my son when Donna met him – you see, I never had any contact with Esme or Arum after she left Jamaica. Had I known at the time they met then I would have said something, done what I could to stop the relationship, and as for Aisa’s affair with him, well I never knew about that until today, so that was a fait accompli,’ Gloria said, looking very subdued.

Langton cleared his throat. ‘You sound overly concerned about Aisa’s affair with Josh, Lady Lynne. As you said yourself, you knew nothing about it and anyway these things happen. Thankfully, it wasn’t incestuous like Donna’s relationship with Josh,’ he said very quietly.

Gloria promptly had a minor meltdown, crying, swaying as if she was about to faint and grabbing Ian Holme’s arm to steady herself. It was obvious she was about to reveal Aisa’s parentage and Anna was worried that Langton was starting to believe her, but before she could say anything he played Gloria at her own game.