‘I haven’t done them yet,’ Barbara said indignantly.
Anna was about to ask why not when Joan spoke up on her colleague’s behalf.
‘Dewar told her that she urgently wanted timelines for both Josh and Donna Reynolds’ movements covering a thirty-six-hour period before Josh’s body was discovered.’
‘With details of every phone call and text message Donna and Josh made and received,’ Barbara added.
‘Did you tell her I’d asked you to do the house-to-house?’ Anna asked Barbara.
‘I didn’t get a chance because she stormed off, saying she was going to the lab. It’s a lot of work for one bloody person to do. Who is in charge of this case anyway, you or Dewar?’ Barbara wanted to know.
‘I am, Barbara, and as it happens timelines will be very helpful. So if not for Dewar, then kindly do it for me.’
‘What about the house-to-house, who’s going to do that then?’ Barbara moaned.
‘If you could get it completed in the next couple of days that will be fine. Take Joan with you – be a nice change for you to get out from behind your desk, Joan.’
‘Thank you, ma’am, that’s really kind of you,’ Joan said with a beaming smile.
‘So what else has Dewar asked to be done?’ Anna enquired.
Joan told her that she had asked for a copy of Donna’s 999 call when she reported finding the body of her husband and Barolli was going to collect it after getting the banking warrants.
Barbara finished her pie and announced she fancied some sponge pudding and custard for dessert. She got up from the table and joined the short queue at the counter.
‘She’s obviously off her diet again! Oh, the yellow Lotus you asked for an owner’s check on. The keeper is Aisa Lynne, but the vehicle’s registered address is the Lynne Foundation, which is based in Mount Street in Mayfair. The Mini Cooper is Donna’s but still registered to the old flat in Bayswater,’ Joan whispered to Anna.
‘Why are you whispering?’ Anna asked.
‘Because you told me to make “discreet” enquiries and Barbara’s got big ears. She can hear a pin drop fifty feet away.’
Anna looked over at Barbara who, although standing with her back to them, was twisting her head to one side in an effort to listen in on their conversation.
‘So what have you got for me?’ Anna asked quietly.
‘I didn’t realize it was Lady Gloria Lynne you went to see yesterday.’
‘Lady Gloria Lynne? Lady! Are you sure?’ Anna asked, surprised by the revelation that Gloria was titled.
‘Yes. Her husband was Lord Henry Lynne, a multi-millionaire businessman, philanthropist and life peer. He died six or seven years ago while they were on holiday in Egypt. Lady Lynne helped him set up a foundation that supports charitable causes around the world.’
‘How did you find all this out so quickly?’
‘Recent magazine article, bit of Internet searching. My mum subscribes to Tatler and Country Life magazines and I usually read them too. I phoned her up and she’s checking through all the old copies, cutting out articles and pictures for you about Lady Lynne. I told her to be discreet as well.’
‘Good work, Joan. Don’t put your mum to too much trouble though, okay?’
‘It’s no trouble at all, we’ve only got about a hundred and twenty-odd copies and, like me, my mum’s a good speed reader,’ Joan assured Anna.
‘So Lady Lynne has friends in high places. That would explain how she knew I was murder and not vice squad.’
‘She organizes some of London’s biggest charity events. Attends the summer garden parties at Buckingham Palace and is very big in the horticultural world, with exhibitions at Chelsea and other major flower shows.’
‘You’re an asset to the team, Joan, and thorough in your research as well.’
‘Sorry I haven’t got more for you at the moment. Barbara’s coming back so I’ll tell you later,’ Joan whispered as Barbara sat down at the table with her sponge pudding and informed Anna that she had put the surveillance team’s report and overtime sheet on her desk.
‘What are you talking about, Barbara?’ Anna asked.
‘The undercover operation you requested on Donna from her mum’s house last night. They dropped the forms off just before lunch.’
‘I never requested a surveillance team, let alone authorized any overtime.’
‘Well, they said you had, so if you didn’t then that only leaves you-know-who.’
Dewar was reading the surveillance report when a very annoyed Anna walked into their office.
‘You know anything about a surveillance team being put on Donna Reynolds last night?’
‘I do apologize. I totally forgot to mention it this morning,’ Dewar said, holding up the report and handing it over to Anna before continuing: ‘You’ll never guess where Donna went within half an hour of us leaving her mother’s.’
‘I’m more interested in why you saw fit to ask for a surveillance unit without consulting me first. I have to pay for it out of my budget – they’re not a free commodity.’
‘I’ve apologized, what more can I say?’
Anna asked Dewar how she managed to get a surveillance unit out to Weybridge, implying that she had posed as her in some way. Dewar explained that she had used the unmarked car’s police radio and sought advice from the central control room. She had simply stated she was an FBI agent working with DCI Travis and needed assistance to urgently tail a suspect in a murder inquiry.
‘Langton will be bloody livid,’ Anna said, feeling stressed.
‘Jimmy rang a few minutes ago, said he was coming over later this afternoon. I told him everyone was at lunch and about the result of the tail on Donna.’
‘Well, I hope you told him it wasn’t me that requested it?’
‘Of course I said it was me. He seemed very happy, particularly when I told him that she went to the Trojan and was in there for nearly an hour.’
Anna was finding it hard to control her anger. ‘Did you tell him about the eight-hundred-pound overtime bill?’ she asked, looking at the surveillance file.
‘No. Is it an issue?’
‘Langton said there was no overtime budget on this inquiry!’
‘I can’t see it being a problem. Anyway, when Donna left the Trojan, a man matching Marcus Williams’ description walked her to her car. She kissed and hugged him before leaving on her own,’ Dewar remarked excitedly.
‘And that makes her a murder suspect?’
‘Don’t you find it rather strange?’
‘You accused her of being involved in her husband’s murder, which totally shocked her and resulted in floods of tears, so to be honest I don’t find it strange that in a state of distress she would want to talk to Williams.’
‘She knows I’m on to her, they were just crocodile tears for her mother’s benefit,’ Dewar asserted.
‘Well, I’m not so sure.’
‘She then went to Notting Hill, parked her car, and didn’t return for nearly half an hour?’ Dewar sat back smiling.
‘So who did she go to see?’
‘I don’t know – the surveillance team lost her when she walked off on foot. They waited for her to come back to the car and then followed her back to Weybridge.’
‘She could have been visiting a friend for all we know.’
‘Or realized she was being followed. If she was distressed like you suggest then why didn’t she just stay in with her precious mother?’
‘Her precious mother is in fact Lady Gloria Lynne, whose deceased husband Henry was a life peer and member of the House of Lords,’ Anna said grimly.
‘Well, well, I suppose that explains her airs and graces then.’