Arriving at the car, Anna found Barolli sitting with Aisa, who was in floods of tears.
‘Right, let’s make our way to Lynne House. I want Aisa to be present while we search it.’
Barolli was confused; although this was fine legally, it was general practice for other officers to do the search while the prisoner was booked in at the station.
‘The game commences,’ Anna said quietly and once again winked at him.
He realized that it was also part of Anna’s ‘aggressive’ tactic, and he was able to witness even more of her full-throttle energy as she phoned Central Command at Scotland Yard.
‘DCI Travis, murder squad. I want two POLSA search units to meet me asap at Weybridge railway station car park.’
There was a brief pause before Anna gave a terse reply: ‘Don’t ask, just do as I say or you’ll have DCS Langton on your back!’
Anna then phoned the office and spoke to Joan, who was totally flummoxed when she heard the DCI was back in London. From the serious tone in Anna’s voice Joan didn’t dare ask why but was soon informed what was happening.
‘I’ve arrested Aisa Lynne. Muster together as many of the team as you can to meet me and Barolli at Weybridge railway station, and tell Barbara to get a warrant to search Lynne House on the way. Also I want SOCOs, a dog van and some locals to help us.’
‘Yes, ma’am. Are you sure about Barbara with the warrant – she did cock it up last time?’
‘That’s why I can count on her to get it right this time, Joan, and by the way you were spot-on about the body at Fulham. It’s Samuel Peters.’
‘I thought it might be. Does Mike Lewis know you’re back?’ Joan asked.
‘Not yet, everything is moving so quickly I haven’t had a chance to call him yet but I will do shortly,’ Anna said and hung up.
Barolli was aware that Anna had hardly had time to draw breath since her flight landed. ‘Jet lag not kicking in then?’ he asked, smiling, as he turned the steering wheel.
‘No way, you have no idea how much I have been waiting to do this, my adrenalin is pumping, it feels like all I have been doing since I left London for Quantico was work this damned case out.’
‘Well you have my admiration, though I’m still at a loss as to what exactly you’ve worked out,’ he admitted.
Anna and Barolli were the first to arrive at Weybridge railway station followed by two POLSA teams, two local uniform units, a dog support unit van and scene of crime vans, and ten detectives from the office in four cars. Anna noticed Barbara driving one of them and sitting in the front passenger seat was Jessie Dewar. When Anna approached, Barbara handed her the warrant with a big smile, saying it was nice to have her back. Dewar frowned and nodded a curt hello.
‘You sure it’s a good idea to take Aisa along?’ she asked. ‘You’re just encouraging her mother to start getting all protective and kicking off at us again. Why’s she been arrested anyway?’
‘How nice to see you too, Agent Dewar. As it happens I’m very interested in seeing exactly how Lady Lynne reacts when she sees her daughter. The reason for her arrest is because she has lied through her teeth and was screwing Josh Reynolds. I can also prove the missing charity money is down to her,’ Anna said curtly.
Dewar was embarrassed and, realizing how little she knew of what had been uncovered, decided it was best to just listen to what she had to say.
Anna asked everyone to gather round, apologizing for not having time to go into every detail as to why Lynne House was being searched again, but this time it would be the whole premises, inside, outside, top to bottom. As expected, people asked if there was anything they were specifically looking for. Anna showed them a picture of Aisa at the Charity Ball in the dress she was wearing in the early part of the evening.
‘If it has not been destroyed then it could be on the premises and possibly bloodstained. Also of importance are any birth or marriage certificates, documents linking Aisa Lynne and Josh Reynolds or referring to the purchase of a blue Ferrari. Look for letters or notes that appear threatening or coded in any way, and old invoices for the purchase of spiced rum. Myself, Barolli, Barbara and Dan Ross will search Aisa and Lady Lynne’s bedrooms and the greenhouse. Any questions?’ Anna asked, before instructing everyone to follow her in a convoy.
Dewar huffed and didn’t look at all happy. ‘What am I supposed to be doing during all this searching?’
‘I’d like you to sit with Aisa,’ Anna said, loving it, but at the same time appearing very controlled and diplomatic.
‘Why can’t I take part in the search?’ Dewar demanded.
‘If you find anything that could be used as evidence it may be ruled inadmissible seizure,’ Anna said, pointing to the warrant where it specified the Magistrate was giving an officer from the Metropolitan Police power to enter and search the premises.
Dewar, far from pleased, knew she had no choice but to do as she was asked, but was determined to get the last word in.
‘Bit overkill, isn’t it, just over forty people and two police dogs for one middle-aged woman and her daughter?’ Dewar said, not realizing that it was an intentional move to push Gloria further towards boiling point.
Anna smiled. ‘Yes, it is, but look on the bright side – we’ll get the job done in no time and the police dogs will keep Gloria’s Doberman bitch away from you. Oh, and another thing, I don’t want Aisa interviewed or spoken to in the car.’
Dewar stomped off towards Barolli’s vehicle with a face like thunder.
When Katrina, the Polish housekeeper, answered the intercom, Anna told her to open the gates as she was here on official police business, having arrested Aisa Lynne. Anna could hear Katrina frantically shouting for Lady Lynne to come quickly.
Anna and Barolli led the convoy up the long driveway to the front of Lynne House where, as expected, Lady Lynne was standing waiting. She was speaking on a mobile phone, teeth gritted and face contorted with anger, yet she was still able to maintain a calm composure. Anna got out of the car, waited for Barbara and together they approached Gloria.
‘Just one second, Ian, I think DCI Travis has something to tell me,’ Gloria said.
Anna let the sergeant step forward and hand Gloria her copy of the search warrant. ‘I think you’ll find this one crosses the Ts and dots the Is for the whole house and outbuildings,’ Barbara said confidently, knowing that this time she had got it right.
‘Ian, darling, they have a warrant for the whole house and grounds. This is just scandalous. You need to come over here and sort it out right away.’
Anna thought it interesting that Gloria didn’t firstly ask about Aisa.
‘My barrister, Mr Holme, would like to speak to you, DCI Travis,’ Gloria said haughtily.
‘Tell him I’m busy at the moment and I will see him at the Belgravia station when I interview Aisa,’ Anna said, realizing that Gloria had not even noticed her daughter sitting in the car sobbing her eyes out.
‘I insist you speak to him now,’ Gloria said, raising her voice slightly and holding the phone out to Anna, who took it from her and pressed the stop button ending the call.
‘As I just told you, I’m busy at the moment,’ Anna said with a disparaging smile.
‘Where is my daughter?’ Gloria asked sharply.
Anna said nothing but merely pointed to the car where Aisa was sitting in the back seat with Dewar. Anna watched Gloria’s reaction carefully: the woman said nothing but the look of anger directed at her daughter said it all. Aisa could only glance at her mother briefly before turning away and lowering her head.
‘How dare you arrest my daughter? This is nothing more than harassment and victimization of my family.’
Anna moved closer to her. ‘I do not have to justify my actions to you, Lady Lynne, but let me assure you I would not have arrested Aisa if I didn’t have reason to suspect that she was involved in the death of Arum Joshua Reynolds,’ she said deliberately but quietly, staring Gloria straight in the eye.
Again
the woman said nothing, but from the expression on her face, Anna knew she had touched a nerve by mentioning the name Arum.
‘I want to talk to my daughter in private,’ Gloria said as she gently pushed Anna to one side and started to walk towards the car.
Anna raised her voice: ‘And should anyone other than a legal representative advise Aisa Lynne on what she should or should not say to police I will treat that as an attempt to pervert the course of justice.’
Gloria stopped in her tracks, turned abruptly, and walked back to stand with her face inches from Anna’s.
‘You do not want to play games with me, DCI Travis. I can assure you that you will not win,’ Gloria whispered so that only Anna heard.
‘We’ll see about that,’ Anna whispered back, then lightly brushed Gloria aside before instructing one of the POLSA units to search the outside grounds around the house. She then asked Barolli, Barbara and a Scene of Crime Officer to assist her in the greenhouse, where she wanted to photograph every plant and take a cutting from each one.
‘What on earth have the plants in my greenhouse got to do with this invasion of my property?’ Gloria snapped angrily.
‘I have reason to believe that Mr Reynolds may have been poisoned by a substance that was extracted from a plant, specifically deadly nightshade.’
‘From my greenhouse? That’s ridiculous, poisonous plants like nightshade grow in the wild as well,’ Gloria said and gave a mocking laugh.
‘Is it?’ Anna remarked, knowing that the fact Gloria grew poisonous plants was not in itself conclusive evidence that she was in any way guilty of murder. ‘You learned from your father, so who’s to say Aisa didn’t in turn learn from you?’
It was fascinating to watch the masks flit across Gloria’s face, as instantly she was able to swing from outrage to courteous icy coldness.
‘There is no need to damage them by taking cuttings. Every plant has a name and species card next to it, and I keep an inventory. Although poisonous to the unknowing, they are all used for medicinal purposes . . . TO SAVE LIFE,’ Gloria said, looking around her as if hoping for audience approval. Anna smiled, virtually copying the same tone of voice.
‘How very informative, Lady Lynne, thank you. If you have an inventory of all the plants you grow, along with some photographs, that will be very helpful.’
Gloria dialled a number on her phone and from what she said Anna quickly realized the woman was once again ringing Holme. Gloria told him what was happening and that DCI Travis was being very unreasonable and overbearing and wouldn’t even let her speak to her daughter. Mr Holme apparently told Gloria that as Aisa was under arrest and the warrant was issued correctly, then Anna was perfectly entitled to carry out her search.
‘Ian, darling, I pay you huge sums of money to look after my interests and right now I feel like you don’t even care what DCI Travis is trying to do to me,’ Gloria said in a ‘poor little me’ voice. She listened briefly to the lawyer before again holding the phone towards Anna.
‘We will be making an official complaint to the Commissioner about your behaviour. You are attempting to tarnish my good family name and there will be severe repercussions.’
Anna took the phone from Gloria and held it down by her side so that Holme could not hear her reply.
‘Which family name would that be, Gloria . . . Rediker, Alleyne, Lynne or maybe even Peters?’ Anna said before lifting the phone to speak to Mr Holme. On hearing the name Peters, the look of anger on Gloria’s face intensified. Anna’s line of attack, by dropping subtle hints, was having the desired effect. She could see that Gloria wanted to scream at her and demand answers, but any reaction might backfire on her. Anna knew that she was holding the loaded dice, as Gloria didn’t have a clue how much she knew, or what she would reveal to Aisa and, more importantly, what Aisa might reveal to Anna.
Anna revelled in the moment, watching Gloria’s eyes blazing with anger as she pressed her manicured hands together with a slow wringing motion that appeared to calm her. Gradually she turned towards her daughter, who was still sitting in the car, and an utterly scornful expression drew her red lips down in a thin scowl. Aisa turned her head a fraction and shifted her eyes sideways, as if trying to look without being seen, but unable to avoid her mother’s contemptuous stare she quickly bowed her head again. It was more than obvious to Anna that Aisa was not just afraid of her mother, but terrified.
Gloria stormed off into the house, pushing her way past Barbara and Dan Ross. Noticing that Barbara was about to pass comment on Gloria’s behaviour, Anna held her finger up and touched her lips to indicate to her sergeant to say nothing. The more buttons Anna alone could press to up the ante on Gloria the better.
Ian Holme had been waiting on the line throughout this altercation and Anna now told him that Aisa was at Lynne House with them and she would be taken to Belgravia Police Station when the search of the premises had been completed. She decided to reveal to Mr Holme some snippets of information she suspected Aisa had already told Gloria, or Gloria already knew of long before Aisa’s arrest. Anna informed him that she had uncovered evidence that suggested Josh had had an affair with Aisa, who had left the Charity Ball to visit him at his flat the night he died, and had also stolen money from the Lynne Foundation.
Holme was surprisingly calm in his reply: ‘So you now think Aisa and Donna were both involved in Joshua’s death?’
‘For what it’s worth, Mr Holme, I have always been an advocate of Donna’s innocence, but as you know, I don’t make the decision as to whether or not someone should be charged.’
‘Agreed, but I hope you will speak up if you have evidence that suggests Donna is innocent.’
‘You have my word on that, Mr Holme,’ Anna said.
She was surprised he didn’t ask her more questions about the evidence against Aisa, and suspected that the lawyer was becoming slightly annoyed with Gloria’s attitude and derogatory remarks.
‘When do you anticipate being ready for interview, DCI Travis?’ Holme asked.
‘As I’m sure you appreciate, Mr Holme, it will take me some time to complete my search of Lynne House and no doubt you will want some disclosure of the evidence against Aisa.’
Mr Holme asked if she would be conducting an interview later that day but Anna was keen to hold Aisa overnight without interview, the main reason being she wanted her to realize the seriousness of her situation and to make Gloria sweat longer and push her even closer to boiling point. Anna told Mr Holme that, apart from the search and preparing disclosure, she also needed to take Aisa’s fingerprints and DNA for examination at the forensic lab.
‘Fine, DCI Travis, I will speak with Aisa on the phone and explain why she is being held overnight. Then if I attend Belgravia tomorrow at, say, ten a.m. for disclosure first, followed by a discussion with my client then interview . . .’
‘That will be fine, Mr Holme,’ Anna said, totally surprised by his compliant attitude and suddenly wondering if he was up to something and his calmness was a lull before the storm.
While the second POLSA team dealt with the search in the sweltering greenhouse Anna decided to check out Aisa’s bedroom. She went over to the unmarked car and from her laptop bag retrieved two printouts of Aisa at the ball, one taken early evening and one after midnight.
Anna opened the rear passenger door and told Dewar to stretch her legs whilst she took Aisa upstairs with Barolli, Barbara and Dan Ross to search her bedroom. Dewar’s nose was really out of joint; she was furious at the way Anna had dominated the investigation without having the manners to even brief her on her return to London.
As Anna got Aisa out of the car she could see that the young woman was in a very tense nervous state and physically shaking. In some ways, Anna felt bad about the way she was treating her, but it was a case of needs must if her plan was going to work.
Aisa led them upstairs, through the house to where large wooden double doors opened into a huge bedroom. Barbara stood wide-eyed and remarked that it was bigge
r than the whole of her upstairs. It was different from the period style of the rest of the house, where there were dark oak panelled walls, wooden floors and oriental rugs. This was a very modern room that had been specifically designed for Aisa, with a marble en-suite bathroom-come-wet room and walk-in wardrobes. The walls and ceilings were white, with fresh Egyptian bed linen on a king-size bed that was adorned with small pink cushions.
Anna showed Aisa the two pictures taken at the Charity Ball. ‘You wore two different dresses the night of the ball. This yellow one you were wearing earlier in the evening, I’ve just looked through your wardrobe and it does not appear to be there. Can you tell me where it is now?’
‘I got sick over it when I was feeling ill. I’d taken about three dresses with me to the hotel so I changed before going back downstairs,’ Aisa said.
‘You haven’t answered my question. Where is the dress now?’
‘I don’t know – I threw it away, I think.’
‘Did your mother know you were sick on the dress?’ Anna asked.
‘No, I never told her,’ Aisa said.
‘That’s strange, your mother checked on you a few times yet you didn’t you tell her about being sick on the dress?’
‘No, I don’t think I did. I mean, what is all this about a fucking evening dress? I put it in the bath to soak,’ Aisa said, becoming more and more distressed.
‘You never tried to have it dry-cleaned, you just threw it away?’ Anna persisted and Aisa nodded. ‘Tell me what it cost,’ Anna asked, interested to see Aisa’s reaction.
The young woman paused, swallowed and shrugged her shoulders.
‘We can easily check the cost, so why don’t you just tell me now?’
‘Nearly three thousand pounds, it was a—’
Wrongful Death Page 39