‘Shit, I don’t believe it. The doctor can confirm Marisha knew what I was asking and was able to answer both positively and negatively,’ Anna said, trying to be reassuring.
Langton had so far remained calm but he was clearly not impressed by the video.
‘This is worthless. You’re clutching at straws, Anna.’
‘Marisha said – sorry, I mean indicated – that Samuel was blackmailing Gloria and the money in the freezer was the proceeds,’ Anna said.
‘Okay, so let’s say Marisha was being truthful, technically she’s just confessed to being involved in blackmail and clearly spent the proceeds on electrical goods. No judge in the world will allow this as evidence because Marisha just confessed to being untrustworthy.’
‘But we know that Samuel was blackmailing Gloria so therefore we can argue she was telling the truth even though she was dishonest.’
Langton, becoming impatient, gave a loud sigh and stood up to stretch his legs.
‘Take Marisha out of the equation and tell me how you know that Samuel was blackmailing Gloria,’ he said sharply.
Anna scrambled around the papers on the coffee table and floor, finally finding what she was looking for. She held it up. ‘These marriage and birth certificates, why else would Samuel order them online, pay with Marisha’s credit card and have them delivered to her flat?’
‘Maybe he was doing some genealogy, tracing his and Gloria’s family history,’ Langton snapped.
‘You’re just being totally negative now.’ Anna was annoyed with what she saw as an unnecessary and flippant remark.
‘Am I? You did the CID course to become a detective, didn’t you?’ Langton asked.
‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ Anna demanded, angry at being belittled.
‘So you were taught, just like everyone else, that blackmail is an unjustified threat to make a gain or cause loss to another unless a particular demand is met.’
‘Samuel told Gloria that he would expose the fact Josh was their son and in an incestuous marriage with Donna – oh, and I nearly forgot about her bigamous marriage to Xavier. It’s all here in the bloody certificates,’ Anna said and threw the papers down on the coffee table.
Langton was now livid and Dewar, desperately not wanting to be stuck in the middle, stood up and said she just needed to run to the bathroom. But neither Langton nor Anna heard a word she said or even noticed her leave the room.
‘You need a bloody victim to report blackmail for a crime to have been committed and you don’t fucking have either. As for the bigamy, I don’t give a toss about that as it was over thirty years ago in Jamaica!’ Langton shouted as he paced around the room.
Anna stood up to confront him further. ‘Neither do I, but what I’m saying is that Samuel used the bigamy and incest to blackmail Gloria. He knew she could never report it for fear of losing kudos in her high society world.’
Langton took a deep breath and sat down again. In his heart he knew that Anna was probably right in everything she was saying, but he feared for her career and future if she arrested someone as powerful as Gloria with nothing more than what seemed to be circumstantial evidence.
‘There’s the phone calls to Gloria from Marisha’s landline and mobile, Josh Reynolds driving out to Weybridge and-’ Anna insisted, but he jumped in.
‘You can’t tell who made the calls or what was said, and you’ve jack shit to show he actually went to Gloria’s house, let alone Weybridge.’
‘If Gloria’s house or mobile phones show calls to Marisha’s phones, that makes the connection even stronger – how can Gloria explain that away?’
‘She doesn’t have to!’ he barked.
Anna shook her head in fury. ‘What? So you think Gloria just decided to have a cosy little catch-up chat or two with Samuel the lowly fisherman after thirty years. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why he turned up at the Charity Ball… she bloody well invited him!’
Langton sucked in his breath, determined to remain calm.
‘Joan got the results on Gloria’s phones and it was a big zilch, not one single call to either of Marisha’s phones. Yet again, where you thought there’d be evidence there is none!’
‘Because Gloria’s not that stupid, she will have used an untraceable pay-as-you-go phone to contact them.’
‘Jesus Christ, you have a bloody answer for everything, Anna. Your problem is you just can’t admit when you’re beaten.’
‘BEATEN, I am not beaten and you’ve lost your ability to see sense. Samuel, Marisha and Josh all had atropine in their bodies and one common denominator – Gloria Lynne!’
Langton was at boiling point. ‘Your effing report says you think Josh Reynolds committed suicide!’
‘Because he was under the influence of the atropine that Gloria gave him, he didn’t know what he was doing.’
‘How many times do I have to say it: you’ve no evidence to prove Gloria Lynne did anything!’ Langton said, determined to convince her.
‘That’s why she needs to be arrested and interviewed!’
Langton folded his arms. ‘Let’s stop shouting at each other, it’s pointless and getting us nowhere.’
‘You said you’d back me all the way,’ Anna pleaded.
‘I am, Anna, I am, but I can’t see you put your head on the chopping block like this. I’ve looked through all the paperwork and the evidence just isn’t there. I respect your gut feeling and normally I’d agree with you a hundred per cent, but this time you just have to let it go and move on.’
She was close to tears. ‘I can’t believe you are prepared to give in so easily.’
‘It’s not just the lack of evidence, Anna, you’re talking about taking on one of the richest and most powerful women in the country. She mixes with prime ministers and royalty, so ask yourself, whose side will the top brass and courts be on?’
Mimicking him, she folded her arms. ‘What about you? Fitzpatrick was rich and powerful, but that didn’t stop you hunting him down.’
‘That’s totally different and you know it.’
‘Is it? I always thought you believed that anyone who committed a serious crime deserved to be punished, no matter who they are.’
‘Sweetheart, you are in a no-win situation that isn’t worth risking your career for.’
Anna didn’t know what to say. She simply couldn’t believe she had come this far to be knocked back by Langton, and realized there and then that he had lost the will to do what he did best, to fight to the end for what he believed in, even when others doubted him.
She began to pick up the documents, unable to look at him.
‘Well then, walk away now and leave me to get on with my job. I’ll deal with Gloria Lynne with or without your help.’
Langton sighed with frustration. She could make him so mad one moment yet so full of passion the next. He knew he was wrong and was letting her down badly when she needed him most. He was more than certain his career was at an end, and this would undoubtedly be his last case. Suddenly it dawned on him he had nothing to lose. He’d promised to help Anna and he knew that to break that promise would destroy everything they ever had together. She was angrily stacking the files, still avoiding looking at him, and he gave a soft laugh. She turned towards him, and he smiled.
‘Okay, okay, you win, and you’ll have my help, but first we interview Aisa and see if she’s willing to play ball. If not, we break her down until she does and then we screw Lady Gloria Lynne.’
Anna instinctively grabbed him, squeezed him tightly then kissed him hard on the cheek before thanking him. Langton told her that Ian Holme had arrived nearly an hour ago and Joan had served him the disclosure papers. Anna offered to go and get Dewar, take her to the viewing room and see if Mr Holme was ready for Aisa to be interviewed.
‘Thank you,’ she said gratefully.
‘Yeah yeah, go on, let’s get this show on the road.’
As the door closed behind her, he sat down heavily on the sofa, rubbing at his head. ‘That’s me fucked,’ he said to himself.