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.
Langton slapped his hand to his forehead.
‘No, oh, my God, please don’t tell me Aisa and Josh were related as well!’ he exclaimed as, unseen by Gloria and Holme, he tapped Anna’s knee beneath the table.
Gloria played her part to the hilt, sighing and shaking her head, as she explained that Aisa was in fact her and Xavier Alleyne’s daughter. Langton raised both arms up and in a very wretched voice remarked how tragic to discover that not one but two daughters were sleeping with her son.
Gloria for a second flicked a glance towards Langton, unsure if he was being sarcastic or genuine.
‘I’m slightly confused, Lady Lynne, as Aisa told DI Barolli and Agent Dewar she was adopted,’ he said.
Yet again, Gloria had an answer that depicted her as the aggrieved party: ‘When I met Lord Henry, he assumed, because of the colour of Aisa’s skin, that I had adopted her.’
‘Did you not tell him the truth?’ Langton asked.
‘He never asked me, as I said he assumed as much, and when Aisa was naughty one day he told her how lucky she was to find someone as kind as me to adopt her. Before I knew it he was telling everyone, even Donna, that Aisa was adopted, so what could I do? She was just a small child, and would have been so confused if I’d said anything different.’
‘What a terrible predicament to find yourself in, Lady Lynne,’ Langton said, looking concerned. Thinking of Dewar’s advice he decided to try and throw her off track and without pausing changed direction.
‘May I ask why you wanted Esme and not Marisha to care for Arum?’
‘I don’t mean this in a nasty way,’ Gloria confided, ‘but Marisha was very similar to her brother Samuel – she liked to put her own needs before others’.’
‘What happened between you and Samuel after you gave Arum to Esme?’ Langton asked.
‘I left him, or should I say I ran away when his drinking and violence became worse. I couldn’t get off the island as I had no money, so I went to Montego Bay, where I met and married Xavier.’ Gloria paused to blow her nose, and this time Anna tapped Langton’s knee beneath the table, wanting him to hold back on the subject of the bigamous marriage. How ever, Gloria, sharp as ever, went on to say that what she was about to tell them next was shameful but it was the truth. When Xavier proposed to her, she told him about her marriage to Samuel, but not about their son Arum as she had made a promise to Esme. She and Xavier returned to the fishing village where Samuel lived and Gloria asked him for a divorce but he refused. Xavier had said that he loved her and the marriage to Samuel didn’t matter, so he arranged for a private ceremony at the plantation and her wedding certificate recorded that she was a widow.
‘So you’re marriage to Xavier was bigamous,’ Langton said with mock surprise, noticing that Gloria shied away from using the word.
‘Yes, but we loved each other deeply and saw no wrong in what we had done. When he died it was tragic, a terrible wretched time for me,’ Gloria replied, turning up the crocodile tears.
‘Well it was many years ago now, but of course you then married Lord Henry…’
The expression on Gloria’s face changed to one of insult but her voice remained calm. ‘I filed for divorce from Samuel in Jamaica and it was granted, so my marriage to Henry was lawful, as is my title of Lady Lynne.’
Anna had wrongly assumed that Gloria had never divorced Samuel, but it didn’t change her view about him blackmailing her. She knew that in this instance Gloria was telling the truth as her divorce could be easily checked and a lie would not serve her purpose. She had noticed that so far Gloria had not given her the slightest attention, not even a casual glance. Anna would have liked to think that it was because she unnerved her, but she recognized that Gloria was merely trying to belittle her, by treating her as insignificant. Gloria’s sob story just got better and better as it went along and Anna wondered, but for her knowledge that the woman was a sociopath, would she also have been taken in by her deceit and lies? The answer, she thought, was probably ‘yes’.
Langton spread his hands flat on the table between them.
‘Well I don’t know what to say, Lady Lynne. I really feel for you – it must have been like a bolt out of the blue discovering that Josh Reynolds was actually Arum, the son that you had no choice but to give up thirty years ago.’
‘Thank you, Mr Langton, for being so kind. You cannot believe the pain it caused me when Arum took his own life,’ Gloria said and blew her nose. ‘I couldn’t grieve the way a mother should for fear that Donna would find out who he really was.’ She reached into her handbag to get some more tissues but had run out. Langton produced a clean folded handkerchief from his pocket, flicked it open like a waiter with a napkin and handed it to her.
‘I’ve been so moved by your strength and character in times of great hardship that I feel I’ve missed something,’ he said, hoping that Gloria would invite his next question, but she just gave him a doe-eyed look.
‘I was wondering when and how you came to know that Joshua Reynolds was your son Arum.’
Anna, thinking that Langton had articulated and timed his question perfectly, fully expected a change in facial expression and a defensive reaction from Gloria, but none came.
‘From Samuel, of course – I would have thought that was rather obvious to a man of your intellect, Chief Superintendent,’ Gloria said, and deliberately paused, but just as Langton was about to continue, she cut back in.
‘I did tell Deputy Commissioner Walters about Samuel when I spoke with him on the phone.’
Langton and Anna were taken aback by this and again Langton was about to speak but Gloria continued: ‘Not in as fine detail as I have just divulged to you.’
Langton asked Gloria when Walters had phoned her and she told him it was the previous evening.
‘What did he tell you?’
Gloria explained that Walters had informed her why Aisa had been arrested, at which moment many things about her erratic behaviour when Josh died suddenly fitted into place. Walters had said that although DCI Travis suspected Josh had committed suicide it was believed Aisa was present at the time and this shocked her.
Gloria couldn’t remember Walters’ exact words but he asked if she knew a Samuel Peters who was related to Joshua. She told him that Samuel was her former husband, and he had been in contact with her since coming to London for his sister Esme’s funeral. Gloria went on to say that she was stunned when Walters informed her that Detective Travis had told him Samuel had died of a heart attack. She had asked him when but he didn’t know and she felt Travis was mistaken as Samuel had told her he was going back to Jamaica.