‘And what information was that, Travis?’ Walters asked with a cynical smile.
‘That her sister Aisa Lynne was involved, sir,’ Anna said, trying to avoid a lengthy answer.
He stamped his foot on the floor. ‘You really are trying my patience, and believe me I can have you directing traffic in the blink of an eye. Now answer my bloody question!’ he bellowed.
Anna paused while she thought about how much she should give away in an attempt to appease him, but at the same time she also wanted him to keep losing his composure.
Joan, who had been listening outside, had just received an e-mail from Tech Support that they had found the Cate app on Josh’s phone and had attached the list of dates, times and contents of all texts he sent and received. Realizing Anna needed something to keep Walters at bay, she knocked on the office door.
‘I’m busy with DCI Travis so get out now!’ Walters barked at Joan, who nevertheless handed Anna the documents.
‘Sorry, sir, urgent documents DCI Travis ordered proving Aisa Lynne’s affair,’ Joan said and mouthed the word ‘Cate’ to Anna.
Anna could have hugged her. ‘I have uncovered irrefutable evidence, in the way of text messages from Josh Reynolds’ mobile, that he was having an affair with Aisa Lynne. On the night of his death, she went to his flat to see him, possibly because he had ended their affair by phone earlier in the evening.’ Anna handed the Cate texts to Walters to read. He grabbed them out of her hand and flicked through the pages, skim-reading them, as Anna continued, ‘I also have evidence that proves Aisa Lynne stole money from the Lynne Foundation for Josh Reynolds’ benefit.’ She handed him the documents that Aisa’s secretary had given her and for the first time Walters sat down as he read through them.
Anna decided to keep going, waffling on about Aisa making the fraudulent transfers of monies from the CCS Medical Trust to Josh Reynolds and the purchase of a Ferrari.
‘You’d better not be bullshitting me, Travis!’
‘As you can see, it’s all there in the documents, sir.’
Walters paused as he looked at the papers again. ‘I suppose this does merit the arrest and questioning of Aisa Lynne.’
‘Thank you, sir. I fear Lady Lynne got a little excited and somewhat exaggerated the circumstances of Aisa’s arrest.’
‘You need to learn, Travis, that when the likes of Lady Lynne start to warble, cages get rattled, in the highest of places. There was no need for you to take her daughter back to Lynne House to search the premises, you-’
‘Yes, sir, I accept that now but-’
Walters pointed his finger at her. ‘Shut up, Travis. You wanted to get her back for last time and wind her up, didn’t you? Admit it.’
Anna knew she couldn’t reveal there was method in her madness for fear of Walters wanting chapter and verse on why she suspected Gloria Lynne of murder. ‘Sir, Aisa Lynne had lied to my officers, she made herself a suspect in a murder inquiry.’
‘Tell me, do you think Joshua Reynolds was murdered by Aisa Lynne?’
Anna sighed as she decided to give Walters a reasonably honest answer. ‘On the balance of probabilities, I’d say that Josh Reynolds was depressed, under the influence of drink and drugs, and shot himself with his own gun. I think Aisa Lynne was in the room at the time and lied so the charity fraud and her affair with Josh would not be discovered.’ She was reluctant to say the drug was a poison called atropine as she still awaited Pete Jenkins’ full results. She was however caught out by Walters’ next question.
‘Why have you been interested in an unidentified body at Fulham mortuary?’ Walters asked.
Anna wondered how he knew about that visit.
‘Sorry, sir, what mortuary was that…?’
Walters continued in a sarcastic vein: ‘Within hours of returning to London, not only did you piss off Lady Lynne, the Commissioner and ME, but also Dr Harrow, who complained to the Coroner, who… guess what?’
‘Phoned you, sir?’
‘At last you got something right, Travis,’ Walters said with a mocking smile. ‘The Coroner also mentioned that you were spouting off and accusing Harrow of missing some poison called atropen.’
‘Atropine, sir. The unidentified body is that of Samuel Peters, he was related to Josh Reynolds and died of a heart attack. I was winding Dr Harrow up about the atropine. I also believe Samuel Peters stole large sums of money from Josh,’ Anna said.
‘You’re a laugh a minute, aren’t you, Travis? My days would be so boring without you having your bit of fun and upsetting everyone along the way. Let me get this right: you started with a suicide, which became a murder, and now you think it’s a suicide again.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Anna replied.
Walters shook his head in bewilderment and glared at her. ‘There’s something you aren’t telling me, Travis. This doesn’t all add up and by God you’d better not be fucking with me!’
Anna said nothing at first, fully aware that by lying to Walters she would be digging herself into a bigger hole and possibly ruining her career. She could argue that she had been economical with the truth, but in reality she knew that she had gone beyond the point of no return. She could not at present reveal everything she suspected about Samuel and Gloria to Walters as she still lacked any substantial evidence and feared that he would terminate her involvement in the case for being underhand. More than anything, she knew she needed Langton’s help if she wanted to arrest Gloria Lynne and have someone to defend her actions to Walters.
‘I don’t know what more to say than I’m sorry, sir, and assure you it won’t happen again,’ Anna said sheepishly, deliberately eating humble pie.
Walters came closer and closer to Anna, until their noses were almost touching. ‘It better not, Travis, or let me assure you, I will destroy your bloody career. You have become too much like Langton – disrespectful and belligerent – and that is something I will not tolerate.’
Anna knew he was being deadly serious as he headed towards the door. How she hated this man for duping her and destroying Langton’s prospects of promotion. In one impulsive moment she decided to chance her luck.
‘Have you heard from DCS Langton, sir? I deliberately avoided him before I left for Quantico – he was being very offhand with me.’
Walters stopped, turned and looked at Anna. ‘Personally, I don’t care if I never see or hear of Langton again, Travis, and neither should you if you know what’s good for you.’
Anna nodded her head as if in agreement with Walters, knowing she had touched a nerve. ‘I think he may have found out that I spoke with you about his part in the Fitzpatrick case and because of me he didn’t make Commander.’ Walters laughed with an air of scorn.
‘Well, if it’s any consolation, Travis, you didn’t exactly grass him up, as they say. I was a tad duplicitous in getting out of you what I already suspected, but let me assure you his destiny was in my hands, not yours, so don’t lose any sleep over it.’
‘Thank you, sir, I won’t, and I shall avoid Langton when he comes back to London,’ Anna lied and Walters smirked.
‘The Met’s having to implement five hundred million pounds of budget cuts as part of the Coalition’s austerity measures. One chief superintendent costs the equivalent of three constables, so you do the maths, Travis, and tell me who’s going to be culled first,’ Walters said as he opened the door.
‘A chief superintendent,’ Anna said, feigning pleasure in her answer.
‘Called Langton,’ Walters said and walked off with a strutting conceit.
‘Arrogant prick,’ Anna muttered to herself as she put her hand in her pocket and switched off her Dictaphone.
Anna took the Gardeners’ World magazine with her when she went down to the cells to see Aisa, where she impressed upon the custody officer that due to the sensitive nature of the case Aisa was not to be allowed any visitors. Anna quietly pulled back the sliding viewing hatch to look at the suspect, who was sitting on the plastic mattress of a hardwood bench. She had wrapped the blue cell blanket round her, but was shivering. The custody officer opened the door for Anna, who said she would only be a few minutes. Anna could see that Aisa’s new environment was having the desired effect and decided it was time to take a softer approach. She went to sit down beside Aisa, who moved a few inches away as if intimidated by Anna’s presence.