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.’