‘I swear on my mum’s life that I’m not lying.’
‘Not convincing, seeing she’s the one who shopped you to the police.’
Taylor sat back, unable to meet Anna’s eye after she had questioned him about the truth behind his information.
She looked at Dewar, who had been writing notes furiously throughout the interview.
‘I wonder if I could ask you a couple of questions as part of my work experience?’ Dewar asked, glancing pointedly at Anna.
‘May as well, ’cause she ain’t listening to me no more,’ Taylor said, clearly angry with Anna.
‘Donna Reynolds, Josh’s wife, did you know her?’
‘Yeah, nice girl.’
‘So why did she leave the club?’
‘I think she got tired of dirty old geezers squeezing her arse and tits. They treated her like she was still dancing.’
‘Dancing?’
‘Yeah, she was a lap dancer at the Trojan – that’s how her and Josh met. She wasn’t very good and Josh didn’t like her dancing so he made her the head hostess. Better with her lips than her hips,’ Taylor said with a loud guffaw.
‘Was she overfamiliar with the customers?’
‘If it meant a bit of flirting to get a punter’s money out of his pockets then yeah. She knew how to play the game.’
‘So their relationship was strained. They argued a lot?’
Anna knew exactly where Dewar was going with what was clearly a leading question.
‘I heard them argue sometimes but all couples-’
‘What about? Was it her flirting?’
‘He didn’t like it but he put up with it.’
‘Did they argue about money?’
‘I know they didn’t have much in their pockets. Everything was invested in the club and their flat. Donna was the one who watched the pennies, checked all the cash tills against the receipts every night.’
‘What about Donna and Marcus Williams?’
‘What about them?’
‘Was there anything going on between them?’
‘You havin’ a laugh? She was too good for that bastard. Donna wasn’t that kind of girl.’
‘Did Josh think she was having an affair with any of the VIPs?’
‘He never asked me if she was.’
‘Did he slap her around?’
‘I never saw her with a black eye if that’s what you mean.’
‘Were you and Donna lovers? Did she need you to do her dirty work?’
‘What the fuck are you on!’ Taylor screamed at Dewar and stood up.
‘Delon, please calm down. You misunderstood Agent Dewar,’ Anna said, trying desperately to calm the situation.
‘No, he didn’t. His reaction made that quite clear,’ Dewar said confidently.
Taylor banged his hands down on the table.
‘Fuck you, you bitch. Josh and Donna Reynolds are good people. I told Josh about Williams and now he’s dead. It ain’t rocket science, not even for the fucking FBI.’
‘Sit down and don’t speak to me like that,’ Dewar said firmly.
‘I ain’t no murderer and I’ll speak to you how I fucking like.’
Taylor began to shout for the prison officer, who rushed into the room. Taylor claimed that Dewar was ‘doing his head in’ and asked to be taken back to his cell, at which point Travis held her hand up, indicating to the prison officer that the interview was over.
‘Well, that’s the end of that then. All in all, I thought it went pretty well,’ Dewar said, then flipped the cover of her notebook closed and jumped to her feet, smiling at Anna.
Anna was completely taken aback by Dewar’s remark and her method of questioning a witness. Not only was it, in her opinion, a poor technique, but the agent was also trying to put words into Taylor’s mouth to reinforce her own suspicions. It seemed that Dewar was convinced Donna Reynolds was involved in her husband’s murder even though Taylor was insinuating Marcus Williams was responsible. Anna suspected Taylor was lying, but the reality was that the interview with Taylor, like the suicide note, had raised further unanswered questions.
They walked back to the car in silence. Anna, out of Dewar’s hearing, rang the office and asked Joan Falkland to make an appointment for her to meet with Donna Reynolds and not to mention the murder squad, but just say it was to do with the current owner of the Trojan. She also left a text message on Paul Simms’ mobile asking him to contact her regarding Joshua Reynolds’ suicide.
As they pulled out of the prison car park, Anna asked Dewar what she made of the interview with Taylor.
‘I thought you handled it reasonably well, but if you’d drawn him out more you’d have got the intended reaction I did.’
‘You wanted him to let rip at you?’ Anna asked in disbelief.
‘Yes, it’s about reaction and gauging the truth. I made a false accusation, he reacted with anger, thus from his tone, demeanour and other facial expressions he is telling the truth.’
‘If Donna wanted to kill Reynolds then making it look like a robbery gone wrong at the flat or Trojan would have been a better option. Plus, there’s no insurance pay-out on a suicide.’
‘She’d still get the apartment and his share of the Trojan.’
‘So what’s Williams’ part in this great conspiracy then?’
‘Hard to say until I’ve spoken with him. I doubt he and Donna were lovers but they both had reason to want Josh dead,’ Dewar said with great assurance.
‘So now you think it was either Donna or Williams that killed Josh.’
‘No. I think Donna wanted him dead and maybe she got Williams to do it or arrange it.’
Anna felt it would be a waste of time to contradict any of Dewar’s varying and conflicting opinions, as once again, she seemed to have an answer for everything. One thing she knew for certain was that Dewar would inform Langton of the day’s developments and her skewed beliefs as soon as she had a chance to contact him.
Chapter Six
Anna completed her report at home and handed it to Joan the next morning to upload onto the Reynolds computer file. ‘Any luck with Donna Reynolds, Joan?’
Joan replied that she had rung Donna Reynolds’ mobile yesterday evening, claiming to be from the vice squad, and that a DCI Travis wanted to come and see her regarding the Trojan club. Anna sensed that Joan was rather anxious.
‘Was there a problem?’
‘Well, yes and no: I didn’t realize her mother Gloria had answered the phone. She said Donna was having a swim in the pool, so I arranged through her for you to meet with Donna at four p.m. She started asking questions and I just said I didn’t know, but I think she knew I was lying.’ The constable clearly wasn’t happy.
‘Don’t look so worried, you salvaged a tricky situation.’
‘But she kept pressing me and I said she’d have to speak with you so I had to give her your mobile number.’
‘Well, she hasn’t called me yet.’
‘Donna’s living with her mum in Weybridge, Surrey,’ Joan said, handing Anna the address on a piece of paper. ‘Langton’s in your office with Agent Dewar, I had to tell her about the meeting with Donna.’
‘Why?’
‘I had no choice – she asked me for Donna’s mobile number as she wanted to arrange a meeting with her. I said you had already done so.’
‘How did she take that?’ Anna grinned.
‘Mumbled something about being left in the dark again and stormed off.’
‘After her performance with Taylor, DI Barolli and I will be speaking with Donna,’ Anna assured her, heading towards the DI’s door.
She popped her head around it and told him to be free for a four-p.m. meeting with Donna Reynolds in Weybridge.
Entering her office, the first thing she noticed was that her desk was yet again littered with Dewar’s papers, and enlarged photographs of the Reynolds crime scene were laid out on the sofa and floor.
‘Good morning, Travis,’ said Langton. ‘Jessie here was in at half seven drawing up further lines of enquiry for your investigation.’