Chapter Thirty-Five
As Anna drove to work it struck her that Donna, and to a lesser extent Aisa, were both blind to how evil their mother really was. She controlled their behaviour by rewarding them, most frequently with money. Donna had briefly turned against Gloria and behaved in a manner that was clearly designed to annoy her, but there was little doubt that she had genuinely loved Josh Reynolds. Aisa on the other hand was totally spoilt and wanted for nothing, other than her sister’s husband, whose affection she gained by lavish gifts of cash and a Ferrari, a trait she had clearly inherited from her mother. Anna wondered if Josh had actually loved Aisa and really been about to leave Donna for her, or was it just the access to large sums money that he desired. Sadly he had taken the answers to that and so many other questions to his grave.
At the station, Anna arranged for a uniform constable to go to the hospital to have Marisha Peters moved to a single room, and to stand guard. Following that, she continued work on the disclosure she needed to serve on Ian Holme before the interview with Aisa. Holme was a formidable advocate, and having watched the video of Mike Lewis and Dewar’s interview with Donna she was aware of how astute and ruthless he could be. Her fear was that Holme would unwittingly pass on information to Gloria Lynne, which she could then use to twist or lie her way out of the evidence Anna had uncovered. She decided that it would be best to drip-feed the disclosure by interviewing Aisa, taking a break, serving further disclosure to Holme and then a further interview before repeating the process.
Anna had moved on to preparing a list of questions to ask Aisa when Jessie Dewar walked in and mumbled good morning in a disgruntled tone of voice.
‘Thanks for sitting with Aisa while we searched Lynne House and also for helping Barolli to book her in at the station,’ Anna said.
Dewar sighed. ‘Barolli and I have been to Josh’s old flat in Bayswater and two of the keys on the set recovered from Samuel Peters’ property at the mortuary did fit the locks.’
‘Good work. We now have evidence to prove that Samuel had access to both Josh and Esme’s flats.
‘Is it really all worth it?’ Dewar asked.
‘Worth what?’ Anna enquired, unsure what the woman meant.
Dewar looked at Anna and shook her head. ‘Turning your nose up at the FBI course and coming back here just to show me up?’
Anna could understand why Dewar was annoyed with her, but wanted her to know that she couldn’t be further from the truth. Don Blane was right. Anna needed Dewar on her side, especially when it came to having a better understanding of Gloria Lynne and her sociopathic behaviour. Anna asked Dewar to sit down, which she did.
‘Look, I know we’ve had one or two disagreements about the Reynolds investigation, but your input with the suicide note and Josh Reynolds’ death scene has been invaluable. Your knowledge of cars led directly to recovery of the Ferrari.’
‘Well it doesn’t feel that way,’ Dewar said with a sullen look on her face.
‘You have to believe me, Jessie, I’m not back here to belittle you in any way. I totally understand why you are annoyed with me, but right now I very much need your support, professional advice and assistance.’
Dewar leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, her expression unchanged. ‘Why now?’
‘While in the States, I became privy to information about Gloria Lynne that nobody here was aware of,’ Anna explained. ‘That information led to the discovery of Samuel Peters’ body and the arrest of Aisa Lynne. I will go into everything in detail in the office meeting, but what I uncovered at the time was not through the proper legal channels. It is highly sensitive and would have been impossible to convey in a phone call to you, Mike Lewis or anyone else on the team.’
‘Did you tell Jimmy Langton this sensitive information or is he in the dark as well?’ Dewar asked petulantly.
‘He knows everything and he approved my return to London. Because of the explosive nature of the evidence he is on his way back from Quantico to take command of the investigation,’ Anna said. To prove her point, she showed her the text Langton had sent the previous evening. Dewar unfolded her arms and sat upright and Anna knew that she had her attention.
‘If Jimmy’s back then it must be serious,’ Dewar said.
‘It’s all very complicated, but Gloria Lynne is more involved in the death of Josh Reynolds than any of us imagined. If it hadn’t been for the guidance and input of your colleague Don Blane then I would never have been able to put what is a very complex puzzle together. Blane himself said that your knowledge and skills would be invaluable in cracking the case against Gloria Lynne,’ Anna said, deliberately pandering to Dewar’s ego.
‘Can you at least give me a brief insight before the meeting?’ the agent asked inquisitively.
Anna told Dewar that she had uncovered marriage and birth certificates found hidden in Samuel Peters’ jacket that showed he and Gloria Lynne were married and Joshua Reynolds was their legally conceived son, but his birth name was Arum and Gloria gave him up to Esme when he was a baby.
Dewar’s eyes lit up. ‘Holy shit… INCEST. Josh was screwing his sister.’
‘Half-sisters, to be precise, but incest nevertheless, and they didn’t know.’
Dewar let out a loud whistle of surprise before she picked up on what Anna had said.
‘Wait a second, you just said sisters, plural, as in two?’
‘Yes. Aisa isn’t adopted, she’s Gloria’s real blood daughter and Donna’s blood sister.’
‘Jesus Christ, all we need now are Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince to make this a really complicated story!’ Dewar exclaimed, making Anna laugh.
‘I think Samuel was blackmailing Gloria,’ Anna said.
‘Was Marisha involved?’ Dewar asked.
‘Not directly, but I’m sure from the phone records she had knowledge of what was going on and benefited from the blackmail.’
‘I’ve been racking my brains about Marisha’s behaviour in the interview Barolli and I had with her. The “bitch” she was talking about was obviously Gloria Lynne, not Donna.’
‘Yes, and Marisha wasn’t drunk, she was suffering from atropine poisoning.’
Dewar raised her hands, needing Anna to slow down as she digested all the new information. ‘So let me try and work this out. Do you think Gloria poisoned Marisha?’
‘Yes, and forensics also found atropine in Samuel and Josh’s bodies as well. I know it was her, but the problem is, I don’t as yet have a shred of hard evidence to prove it.’
‘I always knew there was something not quite right about that woman,’ Dewar said, but Anna suspected she was just trying to jump on the bandwagon.
‘Will you help me try to break down Gloria Lynne?’
Dewar rubbed her hands in anticipation. ‘Of course I will, but I need to know everything you know about her.’
Anna looked at her watch. It was just after eight and she had further work to do before the interview with Aisa.
‘I’m pushed for time right now, so can I give you the full story along with the rest of the team at the nine a.m. office meeting?’