Significantly, Anna also noticed that there were calls to Josh from Aisa on the days of the illegal transfers of money from the CCS Medical account, and on the same day as the payment for the blue Ferrari was sent. Anna cross-checked Donna’s appointment records, and confirmed Donna was out of the office when the online transactions were made. The evidence was accumulating against Aisa in a most satisfying way; Anna could see that if the young woman did choose to lie there was plenty of hard evidence to hit her with and hopefully convince her that she was only digging a deeper hole for herself.
Anna’s reflections were interrupted by a text from Barolli who told her that he had tested Esme’s Chubb and Yale locks against the keys from Samuel’s property and they fitted perfectly, and he was now on his way with Dewar to Bayswater and Reynolds’ flat.
Opening her office door, Anna called out to Joan to ask if she had a copy of the text messages recovered from Josh’s mobile. Joan brought over a folder.
‘I’ve also got details of all the calls made from Marisha Peters’ landline and mobile, including cell site analysis, going back to July last year. I don’t know how you do it, but yet again, your hunch was right,’ Joan said. ‘Calls were made to Gloria Lynne’s house and mobile from Marisha’s landline and mobile on more than one occasion.’
‘How did you get Gloria Lynne’s mobile number?’ Anna asked, worried that Joan had obtained it by improper means.
‘Off Aisa’s phone, which you gave me earlier – just looked in contacts and found one for Mum and then checked it off against Marisha’s calls.’
‘Brilliant, Joan. At last we have a tangible connection between Samuel Peters and Gloria Lynne. Can you get me details of all the calls from both Gloria’s house and mobile phone for the same period and do a cross-comparison?’ Anna asked.
‘As you have arrested Aisa, the authority to check outgoing landline calls from Lynne House goes without saying as she lives there. But Gloria’s mobile will need at least a DCS’s authority,’ Joan reminded her.
Anna never ceased to be amazed by Joan’s desire to please and help and decided that she’d recommend her for promotion when the case was over.
‘Put Langton’s name on the request.’
Joan looked surprised. ‘Are you sure? He’s not even in the country!’
‘He will be by tomorrow morning and he’s already sanctioned my actions, but please don’t tell anyone, it’s strictly between us.’
Joan nodded and Anna continued, ‘Now tell me more about your good work with the phone calls.’
‘Obviously, there were also calls from Marisha’s phones to Josh’s landline and mobile so I’ve highlighted those in red and any calls to Gloria in blue,’ Joan informed her.
‘Well they had to be from Samuel because according to Marisha she and Josh hadn’t spoken for fifteen years.’
Anna looked closely at the Marisha Peters’ landline list, noticing that the first call made to Gloria’s house phone was one week after all the online requests for certified copies of marriage and birth certificates were made to the Jamaican Registrar General’s office.
‘Once Samuel got the certificates he could, as I am damned sure he did, start to blackmail Gloria,’ Anna observed.
‘That bit makes sense, but why does Gloria kill Marisha months after Samuel? Why not silence them at the same time if she was involved?’ Joan asked.
Anna explained to Joan that she suspected there were different strands of events, the first being the initial blackmail, which Marisha might or might not have been party to, but even if she had been, Gloria could well have had no knowledge of her involvement as Samuel would have done all the talking. Anna had also considered the possibility that Gloria thought Samuel and Marisha would drink the rum together and, having heard nothing from either of them since, thought her evil deed was done. Joan wondered why Marisha had not contacted Gloria since Samuel disappeared. Anna told her she thought it was probably a mixture of things, but predominantly fear that whatever had happened to Samuel might happen to her, and no doubt Marisha didn’t want to lose the forty thousand in the freezer.
Anna studied the numbers dialled from Marisha’s mobile phone and pointed out that the next call recorded to Gloria’s mobile phone was at 10 a.m. on 5 November 2012.
‘A month passes with no calls to Gloria, then out of the blue there’s one the day Josh dies and the cell site is by Marisha’s flat. I believe this was a further blackmail attempt on Gloria by Samuel, but this time she chose to ignore it.’
‘Why do you think she ignored it?’ Joan asked.
‘Because Samuel went to the Trojan and Josh was very upset after speaking to him. He told Marcus Williams he had business to attend to, and I think he went to see Gloria as he then knew she was his real mother. Samuel told Josh the truth to spite Gloria.’
‘So Samuel got paid off first time round in October, but got greedy and wanted more?’ Joan asked, to make sure she understood Anna’s logic.
‘Yes. He pushed his luck and Gloria killed him, made sure he’d never come back,’ Anna added.
Joan nodded and pointed to the list of Marisha’s mobile calls. ‘Calls were made to Josh’s mobile at midday, four fifteen p.m., then also between seven p.m., and nine p.m., but all very brief.’
‘It has to be Samuel making the calls and not Marisha,’ Anna said. ‘Here’s one to Gloria at eleven forty p.m. for two minutes. We know Josh was probably dead by then…’
She hurriedly flicked through the pages to look at the cell site location for the call.
‘The mobile phone mast is right next to Josh’s flat in Bayswater – this can’t be pure coincidence! Samuel must have seen Aisa leave Josh’s flat, went in using the keys Josh gave him and found his body, so he’s straight on the phone to Gloria and making further blackmail demands,’ Anna deduced.
‘But why did Gloria answer her mobile if it was Samuel?’ Joan asked, putting a slight dampener on Anna’s excitement.
Anna thought about Joan’s question. ‘Because she did go upstairs to check on Aisa, who she thought was ill, but as Aisa was not there. Gloria must have wondered where on earth she’d gone.’
Joan, puzzled, told Anna that she didn’t follow her reasoning. Anna reminded her that CCTV clearly showed Samuel turning up at the Savoy just before ten p.m. and then the Mini leaving just after.
‘We suspect Aisa was in the Mini. Samuel doesn’t drive so Aisa would have got to Josh’s long before Samuel did.’
‘Right, I get you, so you are saying that he arrived at Josh’s as Aisa was leaving. But why did Samuel go back to the Savoy?’ Joan asked.
It was irritating that Joan couldn’t grasp what to Anna was the obvious, but then she had to acknowledge that Joan didn’t have the same detailed knowledge of the case as her. Anna also realized how much of what Don Blane had deduced looked to be spot-on.
‘Samuel went to see Gloria, probably desperate to get more money out of her,’ Anna said.
‘Gloria must have been terrified of a confrontation in front of hundreds of her high society friends,’ Joan remarked.
‘Exactly, so if he demanded more money she’d probably offer him some outrageous amount just to get rid of him. Samuel leaves and goes to Josh’s. Gloria had to have been really flustered, she goes upstairs to calm herself and checks on Aisa who, surprise, surprise, is not there.’
Joan clapped her hands together, impressed with Anna’s logic.
Anna banged her hand on the desk in realization that more pieces of the puzzle were fitting into place about what actually happened on the night of Josh’s death.
‘That’s it! That explains the stupid suicide note; Gloria’s control over Samuel is his greed. God, she’s a quick thinker, she must have known instantly how to use him to her advantage even under immeasurable pressure. She is the archetypal Ice Queen.