‘I may need to speak with Samuel about Josh so could I have his phone number please?’
‘He don’t have a phone, he go to one of them phone cafés to call me.’
Anna handed Marisha Barolli’s details and asked her to tell Samuel to ring the DI next time he called, before thanking her for her time and wishing her well.
‘Are the 3D TVs any good?’ Barolli asked Marisha as he got up to leave.
‘They is okay but de glasses give me a bit of a headache.’
‘I was thinking of getting one but they’re quite expensive, aren’t they?’
She proudly folded her arms, standing in front of the huge screen. ‘Samuel bought me it as a present when he was stayin’ as my old TV went on de blink. He had a big win on a horse race, came in at fifty to one.’ Marisha paused and gave Barolli a sly smile, wagging her finger. ‘I know why you’re askin’.’ She went over to the dresser and opened the top drawer.
‘This was a legitimate purchase, sir, I’ve got the receipt here somewhere with the price on…’
‘It’s okay, I can have a look at the price online,’ Barolli said, somewhat embarrassed that Marisha had seen right through his ploy.
As they made their way back to the station, Anna wondered aloud why on earth he had asked Marisha about the TV.
‘I thought it might be nicked,’ Barolli explained.
‘Well considering the state of shock Marisha was in over Josh’s death, I thought it was inappropriate.’
‘The kitchen was like something out of a cookery programme – new cooker, fridge and a host of other modern appliances. I took down the serial numbers,’ he said, holding up his notebook.
Anna frowned. ‘She said Samuel had a big win on the horses so she probably had receipts for the lot.’
Barolli shrugged his shoulders. ‘Well at least we got to the bottom of the decorator problem.’
‘That’s if Samuel finished the work himself,’ Anna observed.
‘Maybe Dewar’s right about Curtis Bowman – Josh could have got him to finish it.’
‘Dewar’s wrong. Bowman is telling the truth,’ Anna said firmly.
Barolli, realizing he had upset her, changed the subject.
‘Fancy stopping off for something to eat?’
‘I’m not that hungry and to be honest I just want to get home.’
‘Do you mind stopping so I can get a takeaway?’ he asked.
‘No,’ Anna said, rather begrudgingly.
She pulled up outside a shabby-looking chicken joint that Barolli liked the look of and waited for him while he got some fried chicken and chips. The smell stank the car out and made Anna feel queasy for the remainder of the journey to the station. She was heartily glad that they were not in her own car.
Chapter Twenty
The next morning, Barolli rang in to say he was running late as he’d been sick in the night.
‘Serves him right for eating that disgusting takeaway,’ Anna said, and winced, recalling the horrible smell in the car.
‘That’s exactly what he said,’ Joan giggled.
‘How did the search of Esme’s flat go?’ Anna asked.
‘You didn’t hear?’ Joan said with surprise. ‘Agent Dewar spotted a loose floorboard and they found nearly a hundred and sixty thousand pounds hidden under it! And they’ve got a witness who saw Donna there the night the surveillance team lost her.’
‘Good,’ Anna said apathetically, realizing her thoughts about Donna being innocent had just taken a big nosedive. She’d already been informed that officers were preparing to arrest the young woman that morning.
‘Oh, I nearly forgot, my mum said that her current issue of Gardeners’ World says that the next one, which is out tomorrow, has an interview with Gloria about her latest flower-show display.’
‘Your mother and you don’t have a garden,’ Anna said, bemused.
‘No, but we have a lovely collection of pot plants on the balcony of the flat.’
Shaking her head, Anna went to ring the vice squad, who agreed to come to the station to deal with Marcus Williams.
Some time later, a subdued Barolli walked into her office and apologized in a croaky voice for being late.
‘You look like death warmed up,’ Anna observed, surprised at his dreadful appearance.
‘I feel like it. I think it was the fried chicken.’
‘You’re lucky it wasn’t full-blown salmonella poisoning.’
‘Make me feel better, why don’t you?’ he groaned.
‘You’ve only yourself to blame.’
‘I’ve had food poisoning before but this was so much worse. Had a rash all over me last night, my heart was palpitating ten to the dozen, temperature hit the roof then the room was spinning round and round in a psychedelic blur. I was hot but not sweating and to top it all I couldn’t pee or sh-’
‘Enough! Too much information!’ Anna cut him off.
‘I hope I don’t fall asleep when we interview Williams.’
‘I’ve rung the vice squad and they’re coming over to deal with him so you can have a lie-down on the sofa there while I go for some breakfast.’
‘Oh, thank God.’ He was lying on his back with a cushion over his face within seconds.
‘Gold to silver, any eyeball on red yet?’ Mike Lewis asked over the surveillance van radio.
‘Negative, negative,’ came the reply from Barbara, who was maintaining observation at Lynne House while Mike Lewis was near the Foundation offices with Dewar.
‘We’ll just have to arrest Donna in the house if she doesn’t come out soon,’ Dewar said, folding her arms in a cantankerous manner.
‘Be patient,’ Mike said calmly.
‘Patient! We’ve been here for two hours.’ Dewar sighed.
‘Eyeball on white leaving premises in yellow Mike Victor,’ Barbara said.
‘Is that Gloria, is she going out?’ Dewar asked, leaning over Mike to check the coloured code sign names.
‘No, white is Aisa. Mike Victor means motor vehicle and yellow is the car colour. Gloria is blue and Donna is red.’
‘This colour stuff is driving me nuts,’ Dewar grumbled.
‘Correction on last transmission: red is with white and units on tail,’ Barbara said and Dewar came to life.
‘Received. They can keep tail and you stay at current location and await instructions to search premises,’ Mike told Barbara, who acknowledged him.
Dewar asked what he was going to do now and Mike said he’d decided to arrest Donna in her office and search it at the same time.
Dewar looked surprised. ‘Without a search warrant?’
‘Don’t need one. We have a legal power to search after arrest for serious offences like murder.’
‘That’s good to know,’ Dewar said, yet again confused by the different laws in the UK.
As the surveillance team followed Aisa’s car, they kept in continuous radio contact but it was nearly an hour before Mike and Dewar saw the vehicle go into the underground car park at the Foundation offices.
Five minutes later, Mike Lewis, Dewar, three other members of the team and a uniform officer burst into Donna’s office to find her sitting at her desk. Mike produced his warrant card, introduced himself then told Donna that he was arresting her on suspicion of the murder of Joshua Reynolds, cautioned her and asked if she understood.
A startled Donna started to cry, saying she didn’t understand as she had done nothing wrong. She repeatedly proclaimed her innocence and childishly begged to speak with her mother.
Dewar crossed over to Donna’s handbag and went through it for a set of keys to match those in the mortuary photograph, which they suspected to be for Esme’s flat.
‘What are you looking for?’ Donna asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Dewar looked up at Mike and shook her head, just as Aisa barged into the room and demanded to know what was happening. On recognizing Dewar, she realized what was going on.
‘Don’t worry, Donna, I will call Mummy, she’ll sort this out.’ Aisa then turned to Dewar. ‘People like you just like to humiliate us because we’re wealthy and better off than you are.’