‘I think we should just concentrate on Josh, Samuel and Gloria for now,’ Blane advised.
Anna sighed. She knew he was right but she was becoming more convinced that all the deaths that surrounded Gloria were not just mere coincidence.
She sat down in front of her laptop. As she pressed the keys, Blane leaned back out of her field of vision and stretched his arms, cocking his head to one side to watch her as she concentrated on the screen, the tip of her tongue poked out between her lips. After a couple of minutes she raised her hand and wafted it towards him, to draw his attention.
‘Here, look at this article Joan uncovered where Gloria talks about her past and all the hardships she endured. She never mentions a marriage to Samuel, a son called Arum Joshua, or that Xavier’s money funded the florist’s shop. She clearly lies to protect herself and her image!’ Anna said as she pulled the Gardeners’ World magazine out of her laptop bag.
‘I’m not doubting your thoughts, Anna, but we’ve been sorting through this for a long time, a short break might do us good,’ Blane hinted heavily. ‘It always helps me to think more clearly when I come back with fresh eyes.’
She ignored him as she thumbed through the Gardeners’ World magazine and put it down on the table. There was a full-page colour spread of Gloria, including a picture of her standing by a gated garden. Hanging on the gate was a triangle with a yellow background and black skull and crossbones: the standard hazard symbol for poison. ‘Danger, Do Not Touch The Plants’ was written in large letters below the warning sign and the article was entitled ‘These Plants May Kill’.
‘Look at this, it’s a very recent article. Joan kept encouraging me to read it but stupidly I put it off, too distracted until now. It’s Gloria Lynne at a recent flower show – the poison garden was her exhibit and won a gold ribbon, the title speaks for itself. She also runs a research charity for medicines that can be obtained from poisonous and other plants,’ Anna said.
‘Holy shit!’ he exclaimed and scanned through the article, which had pictures and names of the plants in English and Latin. deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), ragwort (senecio jacobaea), wolfsbane (Aconitum) and henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) were just a few amongst a long list.
Anna was impatient for him to finish reading, pacing up and down, completely unable to keep still. He turned over a page to reveal a picture of Gloria standing next to a plant that was the shape of an upturned bell and at least three meters high. Its colours were resplendent, the stalk green speckled with cream on the outside, supporting a single bell-shaped leaf with ribbed sides and a frilled edge, which was a rich crimson.
‘Look at the size of that,’ he breathed, as Anna looked over his shoulder, eager to see what he was talking about.
‘Are you referring to the plant or Gloria?’ she asked acerbically and they both laughed. She was aware of how tense she had become and how much of their time had been dominated by the discussion of her case.
Blane closed the magazine and was about to place it back on the table when he suddenly flicked it open again. ‘Eh! Eh! I should have spotted the connection right away: deadly nightshade, known as Atropa BellaDONNA.’ He emphasized the final two syllables of its Latin name.
Anna got his gist and put her hands on his shoulders, squeezing them in excitement as she remembered her visit to Lynne House.
‘Gloria has a big Doberman. Vicious thing, nearly went for Dewar and me. I distinctly remember Gloria shouted, “Atropa, heel!”’
‘It gets better,’ Blane said and flicked over the page. Anna sat down beside him and gripped his arm, listening intently as he continued. ‘This huge plant Gloria’s standing next to is Amorphophallus titanum. It says here that it’s an endangered species that’s very complex to grow.’
‘Gloria has a massive greenhouse – well, more like a botanical garden really – seems she likes to grow plants that can kill. Is the Amorpho-thingy poisonous?’
‘No, but its nickname, because it has a putrid smell, is the corpse tree, and the translation of its name from Latin is “Titan” and, you won’t believe, “ARUM”.’
‘Bloody hell, the first name of her and Samuel’s son!’
‘I would say that Gloria knows exactly how to use atropine for medicinal purposes and as a poison,’ Blane said and deliberately paused for Anna to make the connection.
Anna’s cheeks were red as she gripped her fists. ‘Poison. Gloria Lynne knows exactly what can cure and what can kill!’
‘Hang on, sweetheart, because we need to be able to prove that,’ Blane said quietly, trying to calm her down.
‘We can,’ Anna replied, and then held her hands up in a submissive gesture as if to apologize for becoming so loud. She wasn’t arguing with him, she just needed his support and wanted him to see that there was more deceit and lies behind Gloria Lynne than anyone had realized.
Blane no longer felt tired and stood up, this new information making him feel almost as excited as Anna.
‘Tell me everything you can about Gloria,’ he demanded, pacing the room.
Anna sat with her legs curled up beneath her.
‘Well, I only met her once so I don’t know much beyond what I’ve already told you, and of course what Bill Roberts sent us.’
He gestured in a circle with his hand. ‘Tell me about the day you and Dewar went to her house, what she was like, what she did and said.’
‘She’s got a really overbearing presence about her, as if she looks down her nose at anyone she perceives to be below her status. She said she’s strict with her daughters, but personally I ’d say overprotective and she spoils them to get her own way. Oh, and vain – by the look of her she’s had some nip and tuck along the way,’ Anna added.
‘Everything you’ve mentioned so far is not unusual with many of the rich and powerful,’ Blane remarked, eager for more details. ‘What did she have to say about Josh?’
‘Not much really, said she only met him once and wished she’d had the opportunity to get to know him better.’
‘Okay, take this on board. What if she didn’t know Josh was her long-lost son Arum? What do you think? Did she know?’ Blane asked.
Anna racked her brain, weighing up if it could be true, but shrugged her shoulders. ‘All right, let me think it through. Let’s say that Samuel had never made contact with Gloria for something like thirty years, but the fact is he must have always known that Josh Reynolds was his son Arum, as would his sisters Esme and Marisha.’
‘Would Esme and Marisha have known about Gloria’s new life in the UK with Lord Lynne?’ Blane asked.
‘Gloria is so often in the papers, on TV and in glossy magazines that I’d say that they must have, but I don’t think Esme would ever have told Josh the truth about his real parents, or her illegal adoption of him. I think she went to her grave never knowing who Donna really was or she’d have done something to try and part them,’ Anna said.
‘What about the other sister, Marisha – could she have said something?’ Blane asked.
Anna told him that Marisha didn’t even know Josh was dead until she and Barolli broke it to her. He gave her a puzzled look, and Anna explained that Marisha had confessed she had not had contact with Esme or Josh for years, after a family disagreement.
‘Then it’s also possible that even now Gloria doesn’t know that Josh was really Arum,’ Blane pointed out.
‘She knows. I’m certain of that,’ Anna said with conviction as she got to her feet.
Blane began flicking through his notes. ‘The money from the safe, you said it was found hidden at Esme’s and forty thousand was found in Marisha’s freezer?’
‘That’s right,’ Anna said, pacing round the room.
‘And you believe that only Samuel did the decorating at both Josh and Esme’s?’