‘I suggest you keep your insinuations to yourself, Miss Lynne, or you may find yourself being arrested as well,’ Dewar said coldly.
‘Fuck you!’ Aisa pushed Dewar out of the way and stormed out of the room.
Dewar smiled. ‘Told you she was a bit rough round the edges.’
Mike radioed Barbara and told her to execute the search warrant at Lynne House and to make sure they looked in Donna’s car for any keys that might fit Esme’s flat. Meanwhile, he and Dewar would take Donna to the station while the other officers searched her office and seized her desktop computer.
Pleased that events were moving, at least, Barbara spoke on the intercom with the housekeeper, who opened the gates. Pulling up at the front of Lynne House, the DS caught sight of a woman in green gardening overalls standing by the front door. She had never met Lady Gloria Lynne but recognized her from a picture Joan had shown her from a magazine cutting. As Barbara stepped out of the car she could see that Gloria was on the phone and had a face like thunder. Approaching Gloria, the search warrant in one hand and her warrant card in the other, Barbara said who she was and why her team were at the house. As she handed Gloria a copy of the warrant she told her team to start on the house while she searched Donna’s Mini, which was parked by the garages.
‘Just one minute!’ Gloria said sternly as she examined the warrant. Barbara stopped and the rest of her team followed suit. Gloria proceeded to read out the details of the warrant over the phone.
‘My solicitor would like a word with you,’ Gloria said as she handed Barbara the phone.
The solicitor suavely informed her he was Mr Charles Leicester and he represented the Lynne family. Barbara recognized his name and was aware that he was a top London solicitor ‘I’m sure your search of Donna’s bedroom and car shouldn’t take you too long.’ He laughed. Barbara was puzzled by his remark, as Lynne House was enormous.
‘We will be here for some time, sir, so I need to get on.’
‘From what Lady Lynne said was on your warrant, I suggest you look at it again, officer,’ Leicester said in a condescending tone.
Barbara reread the search warrant and it hit her like a ton of bricks. In her rush to get it authorized, she had inadvertently typed LYNNE HOUSE, WEYBRIDGE, PROPERTY OF MRS DONNA REYNOLDS, making it invalid, as Gloria owned the property. Gloria had a smug smile on her face as Barbara handed back the phone.
‘On my solicitor’s advice, and not wishing to be obstructive, I am willing to allow you to search Donna’s bedroom and her car,’ Gloria said, as she screwed up the warrant and tossed it to one side.
Barbara knew that she should call Mike Lewis there and then but she wanted to search the car first. On looking in the Mini’s glovebox, she was highly relieved to find a set of three keys, which when compared to a close-up photograph of those recovered from Josh’s pocket at the mortuary appeared to match. She was certain they were the important set and that the smallest key was for a garage. Taking a deep breath, Barbara phoned Mike, who was understandably very annoyed, brusquely informing her that he would book Donna into custody and she was to meet him with the recovered keys at Esme’s flat.
A short while later, DC Ross came down from Donna’s bedroom to report that apart from seizing a laptop and iPad they had found nothing of any interest. Gloria had shown them the evening dress that Donna was wearing on the night of the charity ball and they had packed it in an evidence bag.
Lady Lynne came back out to the front of the house and approached the two officers.
‘You are here as a minion, carrying out the orders of DCI Travis and that objectionable FBI woman. You can tell them that I will not allow my daughter Donna to be their scapegoat and will do everything in my power to make sure their careers are over.’
‘I will let her know that your solicitor Mr Leicester will be attending the station to represent Donna,’ Barbara replied.
‘He is arranging for Ian Holme QC to attend. No doubt you’ve heard of him, officer,’ Gloria said with a smirk as she turned and walked into the house.
Barbara knew the name Ian Holme very well. He was one of the most feared defence barristers around and nicknamed Andrex by police officers. Not because he was soft, but because by the time he’d finished with you in the evidence box, you felt like you’d been torn up and used as toilet paper.
Just over an hour later, Mike Lewis and Dewar met up with a somewhat deflated Barbara and DC Ross in the garage area at the rear of Esme’s flat. Dewar had the set of locks taken from the flat. There was an anxious look of anticipation on all their faces as Barbara removed the recovered keys from the plastic property bag, took the Yale lock from Dewar and held the most likely key against it.
‘Bit like the Prince testing the shoe on Cinderella,’ DC Ross remarked.
‘Well, if it fits, I’m not marrying you, Ross,’ Barbara replied as she eased the key forward and slid it gently into the cylinder. Everyone was leaning over her as she turned the key and the lock moved to and fro.
‘Bingo,’ Barbara said with a sigh of relief, and everyone smiled. She then tried the other key in the Chubb lock with the same success.
‘Two down, one to go,’ DC Ross said and pointed to the third key on the set in her hand.
Dewar bent down and examined the T-lock handle on one of the garages. ‘All these doors have the same type of lock and that third key looks the right shape and size.’
‘Shall I pick first?’ DC Ross said, gazing down the row of twenty garages.
Mike told Ross to shut up and for them to start at one end. Barbara got to the eighth one along when finally the key slid into the lock and opened it.
‘Here goes,’ Mike said as everyone stepped back so he could lift the heavy metal door open. As he did so the others in unison impulsively crouched down to try and get a better look as the lower rear of a car was exposed.
‘Low suspension, rear diffuser and two sets of dual exhausts. It’s a Ferrari 430 Spider,’ Dewar predicted, even before any identification badges or registration plate came into view. Mike lifted the door fully open to reveal the car, which was a 2009 Ferrari Convertible with its roof up. The length of the vehicle only just fitted into the small interior of the seemingly bare garage. Mike flicked the light switch on the wall and nothing happened, but with the door open the daylight filled the space and they could see a bike mounted on a wall bracket.
‘You were right,’ Barbara said, impressed with Dewar’s knowledge.
‘Unusual to see a blue one – that shade is known as Azzurro California,’ Dewar said in admiration.
‘How much is it worth?’ Mike asked
‘In English pounds, in the region of ninety-five to one hundred grand,’ Dewar told him.
DC Ross whistled as he looked at the dusty car.
‘Ninety-five fuckin’ thousand, bloody hell, I’d be scared shitless to drive it out of here, never mind around the West End.’
Dewar wafted her hand towards him to shut him up.
‘If Josh Reynolds’ business was in difficulty where on earth did he get the money to buy a Ferrari?’ Mike demanded.
DC Ross, eager to make an impression as usual, suggested that maybe Josh had got into debt with loan sharks and that was why he was murdered. Mike doubted that would be the case as they usually paid a visit first and beat the crap out of you or at the least would have taken the car off him.
Barbara pointed out that there was nothing in Josh’s, Donna’s or the Trojan’s bank statements that indicated a purchase or loan for such a vast sum of money.
‘Now we’ve got the car registration, we can interview the previous owner and see how they were paid for the sale,’ Mike said.
‘Donna Reynolds had easy access to large sums of money,’ Dewar remarked and the others looked at her, eager to hear her thoughts. ‘The Lynne Foundation charities – Donna looks after some of the accounts which have millions of pounds in them. A missing hundred grand here and there probably wouldn’t even be noticed.’