Barolli said that it was the police and they needed to speak with Marisha Peters about her nephew Joshua Reynolds.
‘You is talkin’ to her but I don’t seen Joshua in years, so I can’t help yer.’
Anna looked at Barolli, whispering to him that she obviously doesn’t know that Josh was dead, then called out that she was DCI Travis and it was important that they spoke with her privately.
The flat door slowly opened to reveal a very overweight black woman who looked to be in her late fifties. She was wearing a red calico skirt, light top, blue cardigan and Ugg boots. A tight red cotton headscarf covered her hair and the front of her forehead. Anna and Barolli showed Marisha their warrant cards and she invited them into the flat.
‘Go on in dere, I won’t be a minute, got a stew fish on for me tea,’ Marisha said as she pointed to the small living room.
The smell of fish was overpowering, but the flat was reasonably clean and the living room with its worn carpet and furniture was tidy. There was thick-flocked wallpaper, and the curtains were tied back with stockings. In front of the electric three-bar fire stood a clothes airer on which there were wet, dripping underclothes drying. An oversized LCD 3D TV dominated the room and on the stand below it there was a Bose surround sound system, Blu-ray DVD player and Sky+HD box. On top of an old wooden dresser there was an iPad and docking system with a set of tabletop speakers.
‘Likes the mod cons, doesn’t she?’ Anna remarked.
‘Knowing this estate, it’s probably all nicked gear bought from the local fence,’ Barolli said with a sly smile.
Marisha came into the living room carrying a tray with three coffees, milk and sugar. She put the tray down on the small table by the sofa and briefly went out again, returning with a half-full bottle of spiced rum in her hand. She held the bottle up, inviting Barolli and Anna to have a drop with their coffee.
‘Just a tiny one,’ said Barolli, not wanting to appear rude. Marisha was about to pour some into his coffee cup, but Anna was not happy about it.
‘Thank you for the offer, Marisha, but we are both still on duty,’ she said politely.
As Marisha lifted the bottle away, Anna noticed a splash of rum fall into Barolli’s cup. Anna frowned at him and he shrugged his shoulders. Not wishing to appear offensive, she told Marisha she was welcome to have some with her own coffee if she wanted, but the woman shook her head, explaining she was teetotal. ‘It’s me brother’s rum anyways, he’s been drinking it since he was a baby, and I’se thought youse may like a tipple with de coffee.’
Marisha left briefly to put the bottle back in the kitchen and Anna looked at Barolli as he sipped his drink.
‘It was only a tiny drop by accident,’ he said, pleading innocence. Anna chuckled and said she’d forgive him this time.
Marisha shuffled back into the room. ‘So what trouble is me nephew Joshua in?’ she asked casually as she eased herself down into an old wingback chair.
‘I’m sorry to have to tell you that he’s dead,’ Anna said.
There was a look of shock on Marisha’s face as she held her hand to her mouth in disbelief at the news.
‘When, what happened to him?’ she asked in a trembling voice and began to cry. Her whole body was shaking so Anna consolingly placed her hand on Marisha’s.
‘He passed away last November,’ Anna told her.
Marisha squeezed Anna’s hand tightly and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her cardigan. ‘November! Oh, my, so soon after Esme. He was such a lovely boy.’ Marisha again wiped her nose on her sleeve.
Anna looked in her jacket pocket and handbag for a handkerchief but didn’t have one. Barolli asked Marisha if she had any tissues and she said that there was a box in the kitchen. Barolli got up to find it.
Anna continued, ‘It was believed that Josh was suffering from depression and committed suicide.’
‘Suicide, oh, my, he done it hisself, how terrible.’ Marisha burst into more tears.
Barolli returned with the box of tissues and a glass of water and gave them to Marisha, who wiped the tears from her eyes, blew her nose loudly and gulped down the water.
As she hadn’t asked how Josh died Anna didn’t go into details but explained that as a result of some new information Josh’s death was being reinvestigated as a murder. This caused Marisha to cry and shake uncontrollably. Anna had to wait for several moments before she could continue, saying that they had come to see her as they wanted to know more about Josh’s family background.
Marisha, sniffing and blowing her nose, said that she had not seen Josh since she fell out with her sister Esme over fifteen years ago.
Anna glanced at Barolli, waiting for the tears to stop, before telling Marisha that she didn’t want to pry but wanted to know why she and Esme had fallen out. It transpired that Esme had caught her husband John and Marisha kissing each other and was convinced they were having an affair. Marisha said it was just a drunken one-off incident at a party but Esme banned her from coming anywhere near her family again and poisoned Josh against her.
‘It were just a friendly kiss, John was a good faithful husband. It was all in Esme’s mind, but she was so worked up she go and tell my boyfriend Dexter and he left me.’
She starting sobbing once more and asked for another glass of water, and so Barolli duly went off to the kitchen for a refill.
‘Josh didn’t invite me to the funeral and I didn’t dare go for fear he’d turn me away. Now I’ve not paid my respects to him either. I feel so bad, so bad,’ Marisha said, shaking her head and blowing her nose.
‘How did you know about Esme’s death?’ Anna asked.
Marisha hesitated and Anna assumed she was composing herself before answering.
‘From ma brother Samuel, he call me after Josh had rung him to say Esme had died.’ Marisha explained that Samuel had always lived in Jamaica, but kept in touch with her and Esme, calling them three or four times a year.
‘Did Samuel come over for the funeral?’ Anna asked.
‘Yes, he couldn’t afford de flight so Josh paid for his ticket and he stayed with me. It was good to see him after thirty years but so sad it was because of Esme’s passing.’
Anna was about to ask Marisha more when the woman became very agitated.
‘Samuel, oh, my, he don’t know about Josh’s death!’ she exclaimed, visibly distressed.
Anna said she would be happy to make a call to him on Marisha’s behalf if it would help. Marisha refused as if insulted. She pursed her lips, thanking Anna for her kind offer, but said that it was something she must do herself, as Samuel would take the news badly.
Anna wondered what Barolli was up to as he was taking so long. When he eventually returned from the kitchen, he claimed that he had let the tap run so the glass of water was a bit cooler this time, but Anna suspected he’d been having a quick snoop around.
She wanted to ask more about Samuel’s visit, but due to Marisha’s state of shock, knew she’d have to proceed delicately.
‘Did Samuel say how Josh was when he met him?’
‘He said he was a handsome young man, very successful and owed a big nightclub in da West End. Do ya know where he’s buried as I’d like to visit his grave and lay some flowers?’ Marisha asked, becoming emotional again.
Anna told her that his body had been cremated but she would try to find out where his ashes were. She pressed on and asked Marisha how long Samuel had stayed with her.
‘Only for about four weeks, then he had to go back home to look after his fishing business.’
Anna calculated that Samuel must have returned to Jamaica in mid-September.
‘Do you know if he did any decorating work for Josh?’
‘Yes, Samuel say he done some work on Esme’s place for him as Josh was going to sell it. I tink he also done some work at Josh’s flat, you knows – to earn a few pennies as he don’t have much money.’