Wrongful Death (12 page)

‘I’m sorry for your loss. It can’t have been easy raising two young girls on your own,’ Anna said quietly, keen for Gloria to continue, even though she seemed to love the sound of her own voice and didn’t need much encouragement.

‘It wasn’t easy at first, but seven years later I fell in love with my beloved Henry and we married. He treated the girls as if they were his own – truth be known he spoilt them terribly.’

‘How did he feel about Donna’s behaviour?’ Anna asked.

Gloria grimaced. ‘Had he been alive I’ve no doubt he would have been as upset as I was. He passed away some years ago now. Blessing in disguise really, he’d been seriously ill for a long time.’

‘I’m sorry, I noticed you were wearing . . .’

‘My engagement and wedding ring – I’ve stopped grieving but I’ve no intention of remarrying and they remind me of everything Henry meant to me.’ Gloria held up her left hand and gently placed a kiss on the rings before taking another sip from her gin and tonic.

‘You arranged for Marcus Williams to purchase Josh’s share of the club, at a very reasonable price—’ Anna began.

Gloria looked annoyed and cut in: ‘In my daughter’s best interests – the share in the club became Donna’s after Josh died, as did the flat they lived in. I felt Donna needed to move on so I had my solicitors deal with Josh’s will and the sale of his assets. It’s not as if Donna needed the money. Both my daughters have been well provided for and have substantial trust funds for when they reach thirty.’

‘Hello, Mummy, it’s me, where are you?’ a voice called from the hallway.

‘In the library, darling,’ Gloria replied.

‘Wait till you see my hair. Pierre’s done a fantastic job with new extensions and highlights, you’ll love it,’ Donna said as she entered the library with a flourish. ‘Ta-dah!’ she said, striking a pose and shaking her head in a circular motion so her long blonde hair tumbled around her shoulders.

‘Absolutely gorgeous, my darling, don’t you agree, ladies?’

‘Oh, I’m sorry, how embarrassing, I totally forgot you were having guests over, Mummy,’ Donna said, red-faced.

The young woman looked very much like her mother. She was perfectly made-up, her large blue eyes enhanced with deep brown eye shadow and false eyelashes, but not in any way overdone. She had glossy lipstick, was very tanned and at about five foot ten was much taller than Gloria, with long legs, a small waist and large breasts. She was wearing Armani jeans, a white T-shirt and a purple blazer with rolled-up sleeves. She walked very upright in her high wedge shoes and her hips swayed like a model’s.

‘Don’t go, darling, these ladies are here to see you,’ Gloria said as she patted the space on the sofa next to her.

‘See me? Why?’ Donna asked as she sat down next to her mother.

‘About Josh’s death, they’re detectives. It appears someone has been saying he was murdered.’

‘What? I don’t understand,’ Donna gasped, shocked.

‘It’s Delon Taylor, Donna. At the moment there is no evidence to support what he says but we just need to ask you some questions,’ Anna quickly explained.

‘He worked at the Trojan. Josh sacked him for stealing money.’ Donna had fake nails with white square tips and now waved her hands in a flurry of gestures.

‘Did Josh say anything about Delon Taylor telling him that Marcus Williams was using the club as a front for prostitution?’ Anna asked.

‘No. Delon’s lying, he’s a hideous man, and Marcus wouldn’t do something like that to Josh and risk the club being closed down. They were friends, they respected each other.’

‘I didn’t get the impression Taylor was lying,’ Dewar interrupted.

‘You’re American. Why are you here?’ Donna wafted her hands towards Dewar.

‘I’m with the FBI and—’

‘FBI? Josh murdered? This is really crazy. Detective Simms and the Coroner said it was a suicide. Mummy, what’s happening? I don’t understand why they’re here.’ Donna was growing visibly distressed.

Gloria edged closer to her daughter and put her arm round her. ‘Don’t worry yourself, my darling. The officers have a job to do and with your help they can show that this horrible little man Taylor is an inveterate liar.’

‘I made a statement to Detective Simms. I told him everything.’ Donna’s voice was becoming very high-pitched.

‘Did you tell him anything about Delon Taylor?’ Dewar asked.

‘No. He never asked me anything about him.’

‘He never asked you if Josh had any problems at work? Anyone he didn’t get on with? Stuff like that?’

‘I can’t remember now. Should he have done?’

‘If he’d treated the death as suspicious at the outset, we wouldn’t be sitting here now,’ Dewar said frankly as she leaned slightly forward and looked directly at Donna.

Gloria wagged her finger at the agent. ‘My daughter is hardly responsible for how Detective Simms should have conducted his investigations. She spent a considerable amount of time making her statement under a great deal of stress. You seem to forget that she had just found her husband dead with a gun in his hand.’

Anna could see that Gloria was becoming annoyed and wondered if she should interject, but Dewar continued.

‘Yes, I read your statement, Mrs Reynolds, and it must have been awful for you. You’d just returned from a charity ball in the Savoy Hotel where you’d also stayed the night.’

‘Yes, I’d been with my mother and Aisa. We organized it.’

‘So you were in each other’s company all night?’

‘Yes, I shared a room with my sister Aisa. I told Detective Simms all this at the time,’ Donna replied and looked at her mother.

Gloria patted her daughter’s hand and her bracelets jangled. ‘I also told Detective Simms my daughters shared a room and Aisa was unwell during the evening. Poor thing looked terrible when I went to check on her, she’d been sick a number of times,’ Gloria added.

‘Can you remember when you got home if the Chubb lock on the door to your flat was open or locked?’ Dewar asked.

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake!’ Gloria exclaimed.

Donna paused and closed her eyes, trying to recall her exact movements when she opened the door that morning. ‘I don’t know.’

‘If Josh was in would it have been open and just the Yale lock on?’ Dewar persisted.

‘Yes . . . Probably, I think.’

‘Were there any spare sets of keys that you gave out?’

‘No.’

‘Did you ever lend your keys to anyone?’

‘No.’

‘You said in your statement that you then went to the bedroom. Sorted out the washing and took it through to the kitchen.’

‘Yes.’

‘Are you a neat and tidy person?’

‘What do you mean?’

Dewar kept on firing her questions at Donna, trying to unsettle her. ‘House-proud, neat and tidy.’

‘Yes.’

‘But you didn’t notice the wardrobe door and safe were open?’

Donna paused again to think.

‘Why on earth are you asking my daughter these questions?’ Gloria interjected.

‘I’m considering the possibility that Josh may have let in someone he knew and that that person then shot him and set it up to look like he had committed suicide,’ Dewar said.

Gloria jumped to her feet. ‘Are you insinuating that that someone was my daughter?’

‘Not at all, you already confirmed that your daughter was with you at the Savoy all night.’

A flustered Gloria pursed her lips and smoothed her tight pencil skirt. Anna thought Dewar was treading a fine line but was impressed with both her tact and direction.

‘Try and think, darling, answer the question,’ Gloria said. ‘The sooner this is all over with the better.’

Donna nodded and then hesitantly answered. ‘If the wardrobe was open I never noticed. I did have a bad hangover that morning.’

‘Did you know what Josh kept in the safe?’

‘No. He never told me so I assumed it was personal stuff. Obviously, I now know it was the gun.’

‘So we don’t know if anything else was missing from it or if the gun was actually his for that matter,’ Dewar said quickly.

‘I never used the safe. I didn’t even know the code.’ Donna looked pleadingly towards Gloria.

Dewar changed her tack to one of concern, ‘Was your husband upset at the recent loss of his mother?’

‘Yes. Yes, he was.’

‘Anything else that troubled him?’

Donna hesitated. ‘He always worried about the club being a success and repaying the cost of doing it up.’

‘Clearly though, he must have been severely depressed if we are to believe he took his own life.’

‘Yes, I think so, yes.’

‘But he never discussed his depression with you? There were no signs, nothing untoward?’

‘Well, he’d been quieter than usual.’

‘What is your point, Officer Dewar?’ Gloria barked as she opened a cigarette box and lit one.

‘Please, Mummy, don’t smoke,’ Donna said.

‘You know it relaxes me, darling,’ Gloria said as she sucked in a lungful of smoke and then exhaled, shaking her head.

‘It’s Special Agent Dewar and I was just wondering if there were any problems between Donna and her husband. Any reason he shouldn’t confide in her if he was feeling depressed.’

Again Donna looked to her mother. ‘We had been going through a bit of rough patch and—’

Gloria stamped her foot. ‘I’ve had enough of this. I find your questioning and treatment of my daughter intolerable. How dare you lie your way into my house and make such outlandish accusations? So they were a young couple and things weren’t always perfect, but they could not be described as having problems.’

Anna decided to try to calm the situation.

‘We are not accusing your daughter of anything. Agent Dewar is merely trying to ascertain Josh’s state of mind at the time.’

‘What do you mean by a rough patch, Donna?’ Dewar asked, determined to put pressure on the young woman.

‘It was due to work and—’

‘Enough, Donna! She thinks Josh was murdered and is trying to make you look complicit in his death. I want you both out of my house now. I have never witnessed such underhand behaviour by a police officer.’ Gloria aggressively stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray.

Dewar would not let go. ‘Did you return home already knowing your husband was dead?’

‘Why are you saying these horrible things?’ Donna burst into tears and reached out to her mother for comfort.

‘GET OUT! Get out of my house now before I call the Chief Constable!’

Dewar was about to ask another question but Anna grabbed her arm and whispered to her to shut up and that it was time for them to leave.

‘We’ll need to speak to you again, Donna, but it may be at the police station next time!’ Dewar snapped.

‘You will be hearing from my solicitor!’ Gloria shouted as she ushered them to the door and slammed it shut behind them.

As Anna removed her Dictaphone from her jacket pocket and switched it off, she caught sight of Katrina talking to her husband, who was washing a Mini Cooper Convertible with the registration DON4L. Anna assumed it was Donna’s car, but could barely think straight as she was absolutely livid with Dewar. The interview had been going well until the agent had attacked Donna so unnecessarily.

They drove out of Lynne House and Dewar pulled up by Anna’s car. Anna got out and leaned in the passenger window to let Dewar know she had an appointment in the morning and would be in the office a little later than usual.

‘Mother’s a bit up her own backside, isn’t she? I know she’s only trying to protect her daughter but it’s unbelievable she can’t see the spoilt little brat is lying. Hate those fake square-cut nails, wafting them around as she told lie after lie.’

‘How do you know she’s lying? Micro-expressions all over the place, were they?’

‘You noticed them as well then?’

Anna shook her head. She couldn’t believe how thick-skinned the woman was.

‘LOOK OUT!’ Dewar suddenly screamed. Anna stood bolt upright as Dewar reached across and grabbed the waistband of Anna’s skirt, pulling her tight up against the car.

Anna looked over her shoulder to see a bright yellow Lotus sports car hurtle past, the wing mirror narrowly missing her. She focused on the number plate and started to repeat it over in her mind as the car’s back wheels screeched and skidded through the gates to Lynne House and up the driveway at speed. Anna grabbed her pen from her jacket pocket and wrote the number on the back of her hand: A1SAL.

‘Could you see who was driving?’ Anna asked.

‘No, you were in the way,’ Dewar said, making light of the near-serious incident.

Anna thought about the number plate for a second and then the penny dropped. Almost in unison she and Dewar said, ‘Aisa Lynne!’

‘Should we go in and have a word with her?’ Dewar asked.

‘No. We can find out where she works.’

‘Why not pursue it now?’

‘Because—’ Anna began, clearly exasperated.

‘I’m just kidding. I’m not that tactless,’ Dewar said with a laugh and drove off, leaving Anna to get into her car, thinking that tactless just about said it all.

Chapter Ten

Anna got home just after eight-thirty, feeling physically and mentally exhausted after such a long working day. Too tired to even cook herself something to eat she ordered a Chinese home-delivery of Peking duck, Kung Pao beef and special fried rice. She had just stretched out on the sofa in front of the television when the doorbell rang. Anna went to her handbag and got some cash then opened the door, only to find Langton standing there with her Chinese takeaway in his hand, paying the delivery man.

‘You owe me fifteen quid,’ he said, handing her the food, and stomped past her into the living room. She had a feeling that his unannounced visit was to do with the fractious events at Gloria Lynne’s house.

‘It didn’t take you long to start pissing the public off, did it?’ he said, removing his jacket and throwing it down on the sofa.

‘Sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Don’t bullshit me! You know it’s Gloria fucking Lynne I’m talking about.’

Anna was far too tired for a stand-up argument.

‘What about her?’ she asked as she took the bag of food into the kitchen and Langton followed her.

‘She’s got friends in high places. No sooner had you left her place than she was on the phone to the local Chief Constable. And, guess what? He’s ex-Met and the Commissioner’s bloody golf partner.’