Joan was again confused but Anna was on a high. ‘I am sort of following but-’
‘Joan, listen to me: even if Samuel thought it was a suicide, seeing Aisa leave was a powerful blackmail tool to use against Gloria. Finding the money in Josh’s already open safe was a bonus.’
Joan was still unsure, but Anna was adamant.
‘Within minutes of seeing Aisa then finding the dead Josh, Samuel was on the phone to Gloria. She couldn’t speak with Aisa at that time as she was on her way back to the Savoy. Gloria couldn’t really tell Samuel to piss off. But what she could do is offer him even more money to make sure it looked like a suicide, thus Samuel stupidly wrote the suicide note.’
‘And with Samuel out of the way and Josh’s death declared a suicide Gloria thought she was in the clear,’ Joan said, understanding.
‘Yes, yes, exactly. I suspect Gloria paid Samuel off the next day. She needed to get close to poison him, and she laced the rum that was already in Marisha’s flat.’
Anna put her hands behind her head, sat back in her chair, took a deep breath in and let it all out again. ‘Samuel started a catastrophic chain of events on the afternoon of the fifth of November by telling Josh that he was his real father and Gloria his mother. It led to Josh’s and eventually his own death.’
She took another deep breath, and skimmed through all Marisha’s mobile calls again. ‘My God, there are also text messages from Marisha’s mobile to Gloria’s. Can you-’
Joan interrupted: ‘Already on it and legally the provider is supposed to keep sent texts for two years.’
‘Joan, I wish I had a whole team made up of clones of you, we’d solve everything in no time.’
‘Even I wouldn’t wish that on me,’ Joan said, leaving the room.
Anna knew that the results of calls and texts made from Gloria’s phones would be crucial to her argument that the woman should be arrested and interviewed for the murder of Samuel Peters. Josh’s death was a different matter. Anna was certain Gloria had somehow poisoned him, probably hoping he would crash his car, but he had survived. It would seem the atropine, and Samuel’s revelations, had caused Josh’s delusional state of mind, which resulted in him taking his own life. Gloria had loaded the gun but never actually pulled the trigger. Attempted murder by poison wasn’t good enough for Anna – she wanted the arrogant socialite Lady Gloria Lynne hanged, drawn and quartered for the misery she had brought to so many people.
So, though elated, Anna still felt uneasy. Gloria held the keys that could unlock the answers to so many unexplained questions, but she would never give them up, not even if her own life depended on it. Gloria was manipulative, controlling and an expert liar who had always got her own way, sometimes through charm, but mostly by deceit. No matter which way Anna looked at the problem, it would always come back to how much Aisa knew and whether she would be willing to incriminate her mother. Anna decided that before she left the station to go home she would visit Aisa in her cell, not to interview her, but rather to impress on her exactly why she had been arrested and the seriousness of her situation.
Just at that moment her mobile rang and she could see from the caller identification that it was Mike Lewis. She’d totally forgotten to call him and could have kicked herself, she knew he’d be upset and quite rightly so.
‘Hi, Mike, I’m really sorry, I meant to phone you earlier-’ Anna started to explain but Mike was quick to interrupt her.
‘Langton called me so I know exactly why you came back, but that’s not the issue right now – your arresting Aisa is.’
Anna jumped in: ‘I’ve plenty of evidence to justify her arrest if that’s what you’re wondering.’
‘Would you just shut up and listen?’ Mike snapped. Anna realized something else must have upset him. She apologized and said she was listening.
‘Walters has just been screaming down the phone at me, wanting to know why the hell you arrested Aisa Lynne. I’m sorry, Anna, but you left me in the dark so I had to tell him I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.’
‘I’m sorry, Mike. I should have called you ages ago. Has Gloria been complaining again?’ she said, trying to make light of the situation, but Mike was not impressed.
‘Ten out of ten for fucking observation, Anna. Where are you right now?’ he asked in a raised voice.
‘In my office, are you on your way over?’ Anna asked.
‘No, but I think Walters may be. He’s in a foul mood and baying for blood. So I’d hide somewhere, if I were you.’
‘Thanks, Mike, I’ll get Joan to say I’m out and meet with you and Langton tomorrow to discuss everything,’ Anna said as she hurriedly hid her briefcase behind the sofa.
‘Look, I’m keeping well out of it and have agreed to hand the reins back to Langton to oversee the Reynolds case.’
‘If I were in your shoes, I’d be doing the same,’ Anna said, slinging her handbag over her shoulder.
‘Langton’s on your side and I understand why you suspect Lady Lynne, but for God’s sake make sure you have the evidence to back your actions up,’ Mike warned.
‘Believe me, I’m working on it as fast as I can, and it’s the last thing I need Walters to know about at the moment.’ But as Anna ended the call she heard a bellow from behind her.
‘I fear you’re a bit late, DCI Travis!’
Anna recognized the voice of Deputy Commissioner Walters and turned towards the door, to find she had not made her escape in time.
‘You’d better have some bloody good answers because right now your career is hanging by a thread!’ he said, standing in the doorway in full uniform, with a look of thunder and contempt on his face. Grimly, Anna reflected that she only had herself to blame for her current predicament, and now was the time to try and dig herself out of one of the biggest holes she had ever been in. As she put her handbag down on the desk she thought of Gloria Lynne and her unerring instinct for self-preservation. Unseen by Walters, she placed her hand inside her bag and removed her Dictaphone, surreptitiously turning it on and casually placing it in her inside jacket pocket.
‘Would you like a coffee or tea, sir, I’ll get Joan to-’
‘Shut up and sit down!’ Walters said, pointing to the armchair in the corner of the room. Anna knew he was in no mood for pleasantries and was so fidgety he was unlikely to sit down himself.
‘Would you not like an armchair too, sir, they’re more comfortable than the sofa,’ Anna said with a deliberately serene voice.
‘Right now I’d prefer to look down on you, Travis, as the insubordinate officer that you clearly are,’ Walters said scathingly.
‘I’m sorry, sir, but insubordinate, I don’t know what you’re referring to.’
‘Don’t play games with me, Travis. I’ve had the Commissioner breathing down my neck, YET AGAIN, because of your fucking gung ho attitude. I also had to call Lady Lynne and listen to her complain about your aggressive behaviour, for which I had to apologize on your behalf, YET AGAIN.’
Anna would have loved to rebuke Walters for apologizing to Gloria but knew she couldn’t. ‘I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean for that to happen.’
‘Sorry is not good enough. Who was that you were on the phone to a moment ago?’ Walters demanded to know.
‘My course instructor at the FBI Academy, sir. I was just telling him how disappointed you would be when you found out I’d come back to London,’ Anna said, knowing that it was a rather feeble answer.
‘Then tell me, Travis, why have you thrown the opportunity of a lifetime away? An opportunity, I might remind you, that but for me you would never have had,’ Walters said condescendingly.
‘I was made aware of information while I was in Quantico that Donna Reynolds was not responsible for the murder of her husband.’