Wrongful Death

by Lynda La Plante

  ‘His account was with a car park that’s a ten-minute walk from the Trojan. They don’t require details of vehicles but issue a swipe card to open and close the barrier. The last entries recorded against his card were the fifth of November, eleven thirty a.m. entry, and exit at three fifty-eight p.m.’

  ‘There was no NCP card in his wallet, but he must have owned or had access to a car the day he died. Sad part is we’ve no idea of its make, model or colour or where it is,’ Anna added as she handed Joan Esme Reynolds’ address, asking her to find out if the premises had been sold or were being leased. She also wanted Joan to ascertain Esme’s maiden name and then run a Brixton voters’ register search using the maiden name and the first name of Marisha, Esme’s sister.

  Joan, already working her socks off, glanced over at Barbara, who was ringing her hairdresser to book an appointment.

  As Anna went into her office, Barbara finished her call, picked up the boxes of the Trojan receipts and put them down on Joan’s desk.

  ‘What’s all this?’ Joan asked, annoyed. Barbara told her they were the receipts from the Trojan.

  ‘It’s obvious DCI Travis put them down on your desk for a reason,’ Joan said sharply.

  ‘Don’t get your knickers in a twist, I’ll help you go through them,’ Barbara huffed.

  ‘Fine, but please leave it there,’ Joan said as she pushed one of the boxes back over to Barbara’s desk. Barbara pushed it back, causing it to knock the pile of Reynolds’ bank statements to the floor. Suddenly the box itself toppled over and as it fell the contents poured out, mixing with the bank documents. Joan tried to grab the fluttering papers but only succeeded in making matters worse.

  ‘Oh, my God, were they in date order?’ she wailed, and her cheeks flushed red as she angrily crawled around the floor picking up the papers.

  ‘I don’t know, just stuff them back into the box,’ Barbara said apathetically as she knelt on the floor to help.

  ‘It wasn’t my fault, you know. If you hadn’t put them on my desk in the first place—’

  ‘All right, it was an accident,’ Barbara interrupted, then nudged Joan. ‘We can sort them out later so just shove them back for now. I’ll get some paper clips for all these loose receipts.’

  ‘I haven’t got time to do all these receipts as well as the phone and laptop stuff,’ Joan said, frustrated with her colleague’s nonchalant attitude.

  Anna was rigging her Dictaphone up to the computer speakers ready for the morning meeting when she heard the beep of her mobile. It was Pete Jenkins, letting her know he was running late. Langton, who had now been brought up to date with the latest developments, shook his head and insisted they make a start anyway, and so Anna played the tape of her interview with Williams. When it had finished, everyone acknowledged what a good job she had done and Langton praised the way that she had skilfully utilized, yet adhered to, the rules of evidence.

  Mike Lewis went over to the large low-tech whiteboard that he had asked Joan to get for the office. He picked up a black marker, then wrote down the salient points as he addressed the team.

  ‘Two days before his death, Josh Reynolds took home fifty grand to put in his safe, so where did it go?’

  Joan said that she had looked through Reynolds’ personal bank statements and there were no deposits or withdrawals that tallied with this amount. Mike was about to continue when DC Ross came into the room and apologized, claiming he had been so engrossed in viewing the CCTV footage he hadn’t realized the time. The team gave him a slow handclap, whereupon he held up a DVD and told them they would be really applauding him after they watched it. Mike said he’d have to wait his turn but the team knew that when Dan Ross was being serious it had to be something good. Mike gestured to the whiteboard.

  ‘This is a team effort and I’m not here to do it all for you, so come on, speak up,’ Mike encouraged them. Anna could see how much Mike had learned from Langton, yet his approach and style of delivery were completely different, unassuming yet a natural motivator and leader. Joan held up her hand.

  ‘Yes, Joan,’ Mike said.

  ‘Well, we now know his mother Esme’s home address. I’ve checked it out and it’s not been sold or leased so we might find something there,’ Joan suggested, and Mike gave her a nod of approval as he wrote down SEARCH ESME’S. ‘Next point.’ He turned back to face the room before continuing.

  ‘Unknown black male/decorator at Josh and Esme’s flats.’

  ‘The decorator needs to be traced and interviewed. He could have known about the money in the safe and therefore had a motive,’ Mike pointed out.

  ‘I think your quite right, sir, and the decorator was Curtis Bowman, the Trojan’s handyman,’ Dewar said

  Mike was about to ask Dewar why but Anna interjected.

  ‘It wasn’t and I’d go as far as to say that Bowman is as clean as a whistle. The decorator was most likely Josh’s Uncle Samuel who came over from Jamaica for his sister Esme’s funeral and returned there.’

  ‘Do you know for certain he returned?’ Dewar asked

  ‘No, but he didn’t go to Josh’s funeral,’ Anna replied and Joan said she would make enquiries with the UK Border Agency.

  Mike Lewis said they couldn’t just assume it was Samuel who did the decorating, but he wanted it resolved quickly. Anna briefly added Samuel might have a sister Marisha who lived in Brixton, but enquiries were still ongoing.

  Dewar mentioned that there was a set of keys recovered from Josh’s body at the mortuary and maybe they were for Esme’s flat.

  ‘Anyone know where these keys are now?’ Mike asked.

  Anna said that they had been restored to Donna. There was an air of restlessness around the room as everyone recognized the significance of the information and Mike wrote down ESME’S KEYS + DONNA? on the board.

  Barolli speculated that if Josh was having an affair then he could have been using his mother’s flat as a love nest, which meant a jealous husband or boyfriend could be involved.

  No one spoke, as if mulling over this new possibility, and eventually Langton said that if that was the case, making the scene look like a suicide didn’t really fit with a crime of passion.

  Dewar looked over to him. ‘I disagree because it would fit with a jealous wife who wanted it to look like something other than a crime of passion.’

  Mike wrote quickly on the board, trying to keep up, and asked for just one point at a time before inviting Dewar to continue.

  ‘The surveillance unit lost Donna near Esme’s block of flats and she may well have Josh’s keys for the premises. Donna also suspected Josh of having an affair. These are all things that she never told DI Simms or us, for that matter.’

  Anna turned to Dewar.

  ‘Hang on a second. To be fair, Donna was never asked about Esme’s flat when we spoke to her, or if she thought Josh was having an affair.’

  Dewar, thinking Anna was challenging her opinion, folded her arms. ‘So you don’t think she was in any way suspicious or jealous of Josh?’

  Anna sighed and everyone could feel the undercurrent between the two women.

  ‘I’m not saying you are wrong, I’m simply suggesting that Donna could have a reasonable explanation for—’

  Dewar interrupted her. ‘It’s clear Josh was having an affair and Donna suspected that to be the case. Whatever way you look at it, jealousy is motive,’ Dewar said, plainly suggesting that Anna’s own comments stemmed from pure envy.

  ‘There is nothing on his mobile, laptop or e-mails to suggest he was having an affair,’ Anna said curtly, refusing to back down.

  Mike could see that Langton was annoyed at their squabbling. He was about to interject when the DCS spoke up.

  ‘Let’s move on, shall we. DC Ross, surprise us all with your CCTV revelations,’ Langton said gruffly, making it clear he was yet again unimpressed with Dewar and Travis’s behaviour.

  Ross walked over to the DVD player and put a disc into it, bringing up the CCTV footage on the large scre
en. He pressed Pause.

  ‘As you are all aware, I was given the enviable task of viewing a shedload of CCTV footage from the Savoy, where the Lynne Charity Ball was held. I have of course produced and edited this DVD on my own and I hope that you enjoy the—’

  ‘Get on with it, Ross!’ Langton barked.

  ‘This is the entry and exit barrier at the hotel’s underground car park and as you can see the time clock shows 10.05 p.m. on the fifth of November.’ Ross pressed play on the DVD.

  The guard in the security kiosk could be seen watching TV, then, without looking, he raised his hand and pressed a button. The barrier moved upwards and a brown Mini Cooper appeared in the CCTV as it left the car park.

  Ross paused the tape. ‘As you can see, the registration is DON4L and that plate is registered to Donna Lynne.’

  Ross then played a further section of CCTV footage that showed the Mini returning to the car park at 11.50 p.m.

  There was complete silence in the room as everyone took in the importance of what they’d just seen. Anna looked over at Dewar, who, she thought from the smile on her face, was revelling in the moment.

  ‘Aisa said that Donna drove her in the Mini to the hotel,’ Dewar said, raising her eyebrows at Anna.

  Fearing the two of them were going to argue the point, Langton stood up. ‘Good work, Ross.’ He smiled and then nodded at Dewar. ‘It would seem that your suspicions about Donna Reynolds were right, Jessie.’

  ‘Thank you, sir, but I believe I was wrong about someone being hired to kill Josh. Donna’s clearly an accomplished liar who planned everything down to a tee and used the charity function as a cover to go and kill her husband.’

  Members of the team nodded or voiced their agreement, although Anna felt Dewar was being self-righteous and milking the moment and wanted to comment on the fact that due to the reflection of light on the vehicle’s windscreen it was not exactly clear who was driving. But she held back, fearing any remark would just be seen as sour grapes.

  Pete Jenkins came in and sat down, shifting uneasily as he noticed that everyone was looking at him.

  ‘Have I done something wrong?’ he asked.

  ‘Not at all,’ said Mike. ‘In fact, you are right on cue. We have evidence that Donna Reynolds lied. She left the hotel between ten and twelve the night of the fifth. So your crime scene report and blood distribution is now critical to the investigation. Do you want to share your findings with us?’

  Pete stepped forward and said that he believed there was evidence to support the theory that Josh Reynolds was murdered and the scene staged to look like a suicide. The room filled with an air of anticipation, everyone eager to hear what the forensic scientist had to say.

  Pete played a short animated video of what happens when someone is shot in the head, giving them all a running commentary.

  ‘Notice as the bullet enters the head we get the back spatter of blood towards the gun and as the bullet exits so we get a forward spatter of blood away from the head.’

  He brought up a picture of Reynolds’ body and, using a laser pointer, drew everyone’s attention to the bloodstained carpet by Josh’s right knee.

  ‘This blood is back spatter and I believe that someone was standing by Reynolds’ right side as the bullet entered his head.’ Pete superimposed an ‘A’ shape onto the carpet. ‘The area below the cross line of the A is a void, meaning that the back spatter blood landed on someone or something at the time the bullet entered Reynolds’ head.’

  Pete next brought up a close-up picture of Reynolds’ right hand holding the gun. The room was silent as everyone absorbed the importance of what he was telling them.

  ‘As Agent Dewar correctly observed, there is no blood on the back of his trigger hand. This could however be due to the recoil from firing the gun, which can cause the hand to move upwards and away from the head.’ Pete demonstrated what he meant whilst holding his thumb and forefinger like a gun.

  ‘Wouldn’t that leave back spatter on the underside of his right palm and little finger?’ Langton asked, demonstrating his knowledge and experience of investigating gunshot cases.

  ‘It could well have done, but as there were no individual photographs taken of this area we will never know,’ Pete said, and Langton shook his head in disbelief at how poor the scene examination had been.

  ‘Reynolds’ right arm must have been moved so the gun could be placed in his hand by the killer,’ Langton remarked.

  ‘It’s possible, but having his hands up in the air at the time he was shot would also account for an outstretched right arm,’ Pete said.

  ‘So he was in effect executed?’ Langton asked and Pete nodded.

  ‘What about fingerprints and DNA on the gun?’ Langton asked.

  ‘Only found Josh Reynolds’,’ Pete informed him, and added that there was something else that was strongly indicative of the scene having being disturbed after death. He brought up an enlarged picture of the sofa showing the blood and brain debris that had spurted from Reynolds’ head as the bullet passed through.

  ‘The blood and tissue matter here is forward spatter from the exit wound. If you look at the upright of the settee there is blood on it and some across the front edge of the seat area. There is no staining between these two areas of blood, yet they physically align with each other,’ Pete said, leaving the team wondering how they could align when there was nothing there. It became clear what he was talking about as he slowly superimposed a moving image of blood spatter, which followed a linear path from the blood on the edge of the sofa to the staining on the upright.

  ‘At the time the bullet exited Reynolds’ head there was something on the settee that his blood spattered onto. I cannot say what it was but there was nothing submitted from the scene that would account for the void on the settee.’

  ‘Could it have been a money bag or something similar?’ Dewar asked.

  ‘It’s possible.’ Pete paused. ‘But my concluding observation is that, interestingly, the width of the void is the same as a piece of A4 paper.’

  Everyone in the room applauded him loudly but Pete pointed out that if it weren’t for Dewar the questions about the crime scene and Josh’s death would never have been raised. The team all congratulated the agent who, as far as Anna was concerned, was revelling in the attention and looking at her rival as if to say, ‘I told you I was right.’

  Barolli was next up to address the team and opened by saying that he and Dewar had spoken with Aisa Lynne, who was mixed race and had been adopted by Gloria, and seemed rather prickly about it. He reported how she was insistent that her sister had nothing to do with Josh’s death and had said Donna was at the hotel all night.

  Mike Lewis asked if they thought Aisa was deliberately lying to protect Donna. Before Barolli could reply, Dewar said that although Aisa was rude and a spoilt brat, she didn’t think so as the younger sister, feeling ill, had left the ball after dinner and returned just before the firework display. Taking that into consideration, she would have been unaware that Donna had even left the hotel.

  Dewar then related what had happened during the visit to the F1 Services garage, when they’d learned that Josh Reynolds had a tyre re-fit for a Maserati Quattroporte or Ferrari F430 registered between 2004 and 2009.

  Langton asked Dewar how on earth she could narrow down the car from a tyre? Barolli, leaping to her defence, told them all that she had rebuilt a 67 Ford Mustang and was very knowledgeable about sports and classic cars, so much so she even left the garage owner speechless. Dewar blushed, smiled at Barolli and then emphasized that nevertheless it was just an educated guess that could help to narrow down the search until more reliable information was made available to them. She also added it would take in the region of £130 to fill either car with petrol.

  Mike was starting to wind up the meeting, telling them that the new evidence that had come to light was down to everyone’s hard work and diligence and had cast strong doubt on the Coroner’s verdict of suicide. DC Ross’s discovery
of Donna leaving the hotel in her car showed that she was lying and her alibi was a lie. Mike promised that she would be arrested but not until the following day as there were a couple of loose ends that he wanted tidied up that evening.

  DC Ross asked if that meant there would be some overtime for working late.

  ‘Against my better will and judgement, but because the investigation requires it, overtime authorized,’ Langton said with a smile, causing a cheer round the room.

  ‘Okay, everybody let’s keep up the good work,’ Mike said enthusiastically. ‘DC Ross, I need you to continue viewing the CCTV footage and find out what time Donna left the hotel in the morning. Me, Barbara and Agent Dewar will execute a search warrant at Esme Reynolds’ flat,’ he continued. ‘Pete, would you mind coming along, in case we need your expert advice?’

  Mike wanted a quick team meeting at six a.m. the following morning, but before that they were to sort themselves into two surveillance groups, one to watch Lynne House and the other the Foundation offices. Mike then made it clear that if possible he wanted Donna arrested in the street, well away from Gloria the volatile mother hen. Langton said he would inform Deputy Commissioner Walters of the evidence against Donna and the necessity of arresting her and searching Lynne House.

  Mike glanced over at Barbara, who was checking the time as she was going to miss her hair appointment.

  ‘Barbara!’ he shouted, making her jump.

  ‘Go to the magistrates’ court and get search warrants for Esme Reynolds’ flat and Lynne House.’

  Langton suggested that Agent Dewar go with her and get an insight into the process used to obtain the warrant and then asked to speak with Mike Lewis and Anna in Anna’s office.

  Langton reminded Mike that Travis’s last full working day would be tomorrow as they were flying out to Washington on Thursday morning. Anna assured him that she and Barolli could deal with Williams tonight and then she would be free for the arrest and interview of Donna Reynolds tomorrow morning.

  ‘I’m sorry, Anna, but I want Barolli and Dewar to interview Donna,’ Mike said.

  ‘I really think you’re making a mistake, Mike,’ Anna protested, clearly upset. ‘Dewar is already convinced Donna is guilty and will approach the interview from the wrong angle.’