After going through security to the departure lounge, Langton asked Anna if she fancied a bit of breakfast as they still had over an hour before the flight. Anna said she did and pointed to a nice-looking restaurant.
‘Too stuffy and I fancy a pint of Guinness with a full English, so we’ll go to the Wetherspoon pub over there,’ Langton announced.
Anna was in two minds whether to tell him he could go to the pub on his own but before she could say anything he was off again.
Anna was slowly eating her bacon sandwich and Langton was at the bar getting his second pint of Guinness when a text message came up on her phone. It was Joan telling her that she had uploaded the first Donna Reynolds interview onto her Dropbox account and that Mike Lewis had thrown Dewar out of the interview. She’d added a ‘PS’ not to forget the latest issue of Gardeners’ World.
‘Who’s that from?’ Langton asked, peering over her shoulder and taking a sip of his Guinness. Anna laughed as the brown froth left a moustache above his upper lip. Realizing what she was laughing at, he went to wipe his mouth on his sleeve. Anna tutted at him and pushed his hand out of the way, then used her napkin to get rid of the froth.
‘It was Joan wishing me bon voyage. She texted that Mike Lewis threw Dewar out of the Donna Reynolds interview,’ Anna said as she started to download the DVD file of Donna’s interview to her phone.
‘I know, he phoned me last night. He didn’t literally throw her out but he refused to let her sit in on any further interviews,’ Langton informed her.
‘She overstep the mark again?’ Anna asked, keen to hear more.
He leaned across the table and spoke softly: ‘Let her cock-ups be a lesson for when you work in her world at Quantico. Don’t jump in feet first. Listen and take advice. Dewar’s overeager to prove herself, but you’ve always got to choose the moment you step forward – you make mistakes with overconfidence and you pay for it.’
‘I’ll remember that,’ she said quietly.
‘So, are you looking forward to the FBI course?’ he asked.
‘I am, but to be truthful I would have liked to see closure on the Reynolds case before I left.’
Langton looked at his watch. ‘In essence, you have. Mike spoke with the CPS last night and they approved him charging Donna this morning.’
‘A lot of the evidence is just circumstantial; she may not have done it.’ Anna was taken aback by Langton’s information.
‘For Christ’s sake, let it rest! Donna’s been caught out by her lies and by forensics. The jury will decide whether or not she murdered her husband, not you,’ Langton said, picking up his backpack and pointing to the departure screen. ‘Our flight’s boarding, I need to go to duty free, so I’ll meet you at the gate.’
Before she could follow him her phone beeped and there was another text message from Joan saying she had uploaded Donna’s second interview and that the Gardeners’ World article about Gloria Lynne was very interesting. Anna reflected she was glad that she wouldn’t be sitting beside Langton after all, as it would give her the opportunity to watch the Donna interview during the flight. On her way to the boarding gate she popped into the newsagent’s, bought the magazine and tucked it away in the side pocket of her laptop bag.
Once in the air, Anna got out her headphones and then transferred the two files of Donna’s interviews from her phone to her laptop. She pressed the Media Play button and reclined her window seat back a little so that she felt more comfortable, just as the flight attendant approached her and asked if she would like a drink. Why not, she thought, and asked her for a gin and tonic with ice and lemon. It felt strange, but extremely pleasant, viewing the interview with a plastic glass in her hand thousands of feet above land.
As she watched, the dominating presence and intellect of Ian Holme QC was obvious; he was a master of his trade. She knew that Gloria would be paying for his time and expertise out of her own pocket, and estimated that his services for representing Donna at trial would be in the region of at least a million pounds. As she came to the section where Holme questioned Dewar’s experience she felt some sympathy for the agent. She had not been rude or aggressive towards Donna, or Mr Holme, but in implying she was a linguistics expert, she had stepped outside of her field of expertise and been made to look a fool.
Anna was about to watch the second interview when she looked up and saw Langton walking down the aisle towards her carrying a large glass of whisky. On seeing him she quickly shut the top of her laptop.
‘Do you mind if I join you?’ he asked, and Anna patted the empty seat beside her.
‘Sorry about snapping at you earlier, I’ve a lot on my mind,’ he said as he sat down.
From his slightly slurred speech, Anna knew that he had been enjoying more than one glass of whisky. It made her smile, as she knew that he was never aggressive in drink but liked to natter and put the world to rights.
‘Want to share your thoughts?’ Anna asked.
He took a sip of his whisky, leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. ‘I don’t know, I’m feeling tired.’ He opened his eyes and looked at her. ‘Before I knew I was going to Quantico, I began losing interest, started taking a back seat in the investigations I was overseeing. Strange really, win or lose I used to love the thrill of the chase.’
‘Do you think that is what our work is about, winning and losing?’
‘Course it is – we win if we find the evidence and get a conviction and if a jury say not guilty we’ve still done our job in getting them to trial. When you can’t find the evidence and a case runs out of steam, then it’s depressing, but you have to let go and move on,’ he said.
She said nothing but took a moment to look at him. He seemed to have aged and looked tired. Anna was surprised when he took hold of her hand.
‘What are you thinking?’ he asked.
‘Oh, just how complicated a detective’s life can be, one step forward, one step back, sleepless nights, those sorts of things.’
‘Tell me, now you’re a DCI, how do you like to relax and forget about work?’
She released her hand, unsure exactly why he was asking her that. He turned to face her, and again held her hand.
‘You still wear your old engagement ring.’
‘Yes. Is there a problem with that?’ she asked somewhat curtly.
‘Have you been able to move on from losing, um…’
‘Ken,’ she said, annoyed that Langton had forgotten his name.
‘Right, Ken… it must be two or more years since it all happened.’
‘Yes.’
‘So have you moved on?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, exactly what I said – have you formed any new relationships?’
‘I don’t think it’s any of your business.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ Langton insisted, ‘but I care about you and one of the reasons I put you forward for the FBI course was because I felt that you were stagnating – maybe not the right word – but I’ve been very aware of you becoming a bit solitary.’
‘Stagnating and solitary, don’t be ridiculous,’ Anna said, offended.
‘No need to sound so uppity.’
The slur in his speech was becoming more noticeable.
‘I’m not uppity, for heaven’s sake. I also really love my work and-’
He jumped in. ‘What do you love about it?’
She sighed with impatience. ‘Fitting the pieces of the puzzle together, finding the evidence, tracking the criminal-’
Anna was interrupted by a long sigh from Langton as he stared ahead, his dark eyes brooding and shadowed with pain. ‘The energy’s going, Anna, I’m not getting any younger and I’ve had enough of dealing with the dregs of society. But this trip, if it pays off, will put the life back in me. If it doesn’t happen then I’ve lost and he’s won, so I’ll quit, retire.’
Anna looked at him, surprised by what he had just said, assuming he was referring to Deputy Commissioner Walters preventing his promotion.