‘How very informative, Lady Lynne, thank you. If you have an inventory of all the plants you grow, along with some photographs, that will be very helpful.’
Gloria dialled a number on her phone and from what she said Anna quickly realized the woman was once again ringing Holme. Gloria told him what was happening and that DCI Travis was being very unreasonable and overbearing and wouldn’t even let her speak to her daughter. Mr Holme apparently told Gloria that as Aisa was under arrest and the warrant was issued correctly, then Anna was perfectly entitled to carry out her search.
‘Ian, darling, I pay you huge sums of money to look after my interests and right now I feel like you don’t even care what DCI Travis is trying to do to me,’ Gloria said in a ‘poor little me’ voice. She listened briefly to the lawyer before again holding the phone towards Anna.
‘We will be making an official complaint to the Commissioner about your behaviour. You are attempting to tarnish my good family name and there will be severe repercussions.’
Anna took the phone from Gloria and held it down by her side so that Holme could not hear her reply.
‘Which family name would that be, Gloria… Rediker, Alleyne, Lynne or maybe even Peters?’ Anna said before lifting the phone to speak to Mr Holme. On hearing the name Peters, the look of anger on Gloria’s face intensified. Anna’s line of attack, by dropping subtle hints, was having the desired effect. She could see that Gloria wanted to scream at her and demand answers, but any reaction might backfire on her. Anna knew that she was holding the loaded dice, as Gloria didn’t have a clue how much she knew, or what she would reveal to Aisa and, more importantly, what Aisa might reveal to Anna.
Anna revelled in the moment, watching Gloria’s eyes blazing with anger as she pressed her manicured hands together with a slow wringing motion that appeared to calm her. Gradually she turned towards her daughter, who was still sitting in the car, and an utterly scornful expression drew her red lips down in a thin scowl. Aisa turned her head a fraction and shifted her eyes sideways, as if trying to look without being seen, but unable to avoid her mother’s contemptuous stare she quickly bowed her head again. It was more than obvious to Anna that Aisa was not just afraid of her mother, but terrified.
Gloria stormed off into the house, pushing her way past Barbara and Dan Ross. Noticing that Barbara was about to pass comment on Gloria’s behaviour, Anna held her finger up and touched her lips to indicate to her sergeant to say nothing. The more buttons Anna alone could press to up the ante on Gloria the better.
Ian Holme had been waiting on the line throughout this altercation and Anna now told him that Aisa was at Lynne House with them and she would be taken to Belgravia Police Station when the search of the premises had been completed. She decided to reveal to Mr Holme some snippets of information she suspected Aisa had already told Gloria, or Gloria already knew of long before Aisa’s arrest. Anna informed him that she had uncovered evidence that suggested Josh had had an affair with Aisa, who had left the Charity Ball to visit him at his flat the night he died, and had also stolen money from the Lynne Foundation.
Holme was surprisingly calm in his reply: ‘So you now think Aisa and Donna were both involved in Joshua’s death?’
‘For what it’s worth, Mr Holme, I have always been an advocate of Donna’s innocence, but as you know, I don’t make the decision as to whether or not someone should be charged.’
‘Agreed, but I hope you will speak up if you have evidence that suggests Donna is innocent.’
‘You have my word on that, Mr Holme,’ Anna said.
She was surprised he didn’t ask her more questions about the evidence against Aisa, and suspected that the lawyer was becoming slightly annoyed with Gloria’s attitude and derogatory remarks.
‘When do you anticipate being ready for interview, DCI Travis?’ Holme asked.
‘As I’m sure you appreciate, Mr Holme, it will take me some time to complete my search of Lynne House and no doubt you will want some disclosure of the evidence against Aisa.’
Mr Holme asked if she would be conducting an interview later that day but Anna was keen to hold Aisa overnight without interview, the main reason being she wanted her to realize the seriousness of her situation and to make Gloria sweat longer and push her even closer to boiling point. Anna told Mr Holme that, apart from the search and preparing disclosure, she also needed to take Aisa’s fingerprints and DNA for examination at the forensic lab.
‘Fine, DCI Travis, I will speak with Aisa on the phone and explain why she is being held overnight. Then if I attend Belgravia tomorrow at, say, ten a.m. for disclosure first, followed by a discussion with my client then interview…’
‘That will be fine, Mr Holme,’ Anna said, totally surprised by his compliant attitude and suddenly wondering if he was up to something and his calmness was a lull before the storm.
While the second POLSA team dealt with the search in the sweltering greenhouse Anna decided to check out Aisa’s bedroom. She went over to the unmarked car and from her laptop bag retrieved two printouts of Aisa at the ball, one taken early evening and one after midnight.
Anna opened the rear passenger door and told Dewar to stretch her legs whilst she took Aisa upstairs with Barolli, Barbara and Dan Ross to search her bedroom. Dewar’s nose was really out of joint; she was furious at the way Anna had dominated the investigation without having the manners to even brief her on her return to London.
As Anna got Aisa out of the car she could see that the young woman was in a very tense nervous state and physically shaking. In some ways, Anna felt bad about the way she was treating her, but it was a case of needs must if her plan was going to work.
Aisa led them upstairs, through the house to where large wooden double doors opened into a huge bedroom. Barbara stood wide-eyed and remarked that it was bigger than the whole of her upstairs. It was different from the period style of the rest of the house, where there were dark oak panelled walls, wooden floors and oriental rugs. This was a very modern room that had been specifically designed for Aisa, with a marble en-suite bathroom-come-wet room and walk-in wardrobes. The walls and ceilings were white, with fresh Egyptian bed linen on a king-size bed that was adorned with small pink cushions.
Anna showed Aisa the two pictures taken at the Charity Ball. ‘You wore two different dresses the night of the ball. This yellow one you were wearing earlier in the evening, I’ve just looked through your wardrobe and it does not appear to be there. Can you tell me where it is now?’
‘I got sick over it when I was feeling ill. I’d taken about three dresses with me to the hotel so I changed before going back downstairs,’ Aisa said.
‘You haven’t answered my question. Where is the dress now?’
‘I don’t know – I threw it away, I think.’
‘Did your mother know you were sick on the dress?’ Anna asked.
‘No, I never told her,’ Aisa said.
‘That’s strange, your mother checked on you a few times yet you didn’t you tell her about being sick on the dress?’
‘No, I don’t think I did. I mean, what is all this about a fucking evening dress? I put it in the bath to soak,’ Aisa said, becoming more and more distressed.
‘You never tried to have it dry-cleaned, you just threw it away?’ Anna persisted and Aisa nodded. ‘Tell me what it cost,’ Anna asked, interested to see Aisa’s reaction.
The young woman paused, swallowed and shrugged her shoulders.
‘We can easily check the cost, so why don’t you just tell me now?’
‘Nearly three thousand pounds, it was a-’
Anna interrupted, looking Aisa in the eye. ‘Three thousand and you just slung it out because of vomiting on it?’
Aisa pursed her lips, turning away, and said nothing but Anna continued. ‘So, you went back downstairs to the ball in a different gown. Correct?’