He found the page on Jeannie Bale. ‘She’s also got a message service, but I don’t know about these numbers. Sylvia, have a look, would you, darling?’
Sylvia put on a pair of glasses with bright green frames.
Anna was getting impatient. ‘We really need to talk to her, but she’s no longer living at her flat. I would also like any contact numbers for people that you think know her.’
She then plunged into suggesting her ploy to catch Jeannie’s attention.
The couple obviously loved the intrigue and started discussing what work they could say had been offered.
‘You know the fringe play she went up for, Kevin?’ Sylvia took off her glasses. ‘It was a very good part. What if we were to leave a message for her to say they wanted to see her again because the actress they had cast was no longer available?’
‘That’s a good idea. She was very disappointed when she lost out on that one.’
‘Kevin, you start calling, dear, and see what happens.’
‘You’ll also have to give her a time and location,’ Anna added.
Kevin started making the calls. The only number that connected was the landline at the Maida Vale flat and it went onto the the message service. Kevin covered the receiver with his hand and had a moment of panic; he couldn’t remember the theatre or the director’s name.
‘Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn and …’ On went the green-framed glasses as Sylvia ran her chipped nailvarnished finger down the pages. ‘Kim Mantley or Montgomery, I can’t read my own writing. Here, Kevin, you look and tell me what his name is.’
Anna wondered how the pair of them ever found their clients any work, they were so inept and their office was such a tip. Kevin eventually redialled and in a posh voice said that Jeannie should call in as soon as possible and explained the job situation.
‘Was that all right?’ he said to Anna when he finished.
It wasn’t, as he had forgotten to give the time and urgency of the proposed job, but rather than let him make yet another call, Anna nodded. Doubtful that it would work, she gave Kevin her direct line and said that he should contact her any time, day or night, if he did get a return call from Jeannie.
‘If she phones in, what do I say?’
Anna could see the pair of them thinking themselves into a Miss Marple story. She made it very simple: if they did get a response, they should give Jeannie a time to be at the theatre and make sure there was also enough time for the police to be waiting for the girl when she turned up.
Anna reported back to Barolli with a few names of people that Sylvia and Kevin thought Jeannie knew; they didn’t consider anyone they had on their books as a close friend of hers. She made him laugh as she described the pair of them cooking up the false job offer. She gave him the list of Jeannie’s old numbers, two mobiles, the flat landline and the message service.
‘They left a message on the landline as well, just in case she returns to the flat.’
‘She won’t have much luck getting in, if she goes back there.’ The landlord had changed the locks, but they nevertheless retained surveillance on the place in case she reappeared.
‘I’m just collecting my car from the garage, then I’m going off home. See you in the morning,’ Anna said.
‘Yeah, I’m taking off soon.’
Anna was paying off the taxi outside the garage when her phone rang. It was Barolli.
‘Fucking hell, he’s only bloody walked in – been in reception for ten minutes.’
‘Who – who?’
‘Lester James. They’re bringing him up now, so get your arse back here and fast!’
Chapter Twenty-One
‘What do you make of him?’ Anna asked Barolli whe n she got back to the station.
Barolli shrugged. Lester James had come in of his own free will, and was sitting in the interview room, talking to his solicitor.
‘He appears very calm and keen to be interviewed, to clear up any queries. He’s obviously spoken with both his brothers, which was why he felt that he should have representation. They must have told him why we’re looking for him.’
Anna sat with Barolli, going over the files and statements. Langton felt the interview should be relaxed. Rather than put too much pressure on him, they needed to find out just how much a suspect Lester James was, so it was imperative they get his movements on the night of the murder. They needed witnesses, corroborating evidence and details, and not until they had heard his side of events were they to infer he was in the frame for the murder.
‘But he is, isn’t he?’ Barolli said to Mike Lewis.
‘He’s all we’ve fucking got, but if his alibi works out we’re back to square one, unless we can trip him up.’
‘So who’s in with him?’ Anna asked.
‘You and Barolli. Langton wants you to lead it.’
‘Do we bring up Felicity Turner and Dan Hutchins in this first round?’
‘He says to hold off on them. Right now, both are down to “accidental deaths” and he wants to keep a softly, softly approach. If you get anything now, we hold him for further questioning.’
‘And if we don’t?’ Anna asked quietly.
‘He walks.’
Anna asked if Lester had turned up in his own car. Barolli said that a Mercedes was parked in the car park.
‘Can we open it up and search it?’
‘Not yet we can’t,’ said Barolli. ‘Unless it’s unlocked or hasn’t got permission to be parked in the station yard.’
‘Maybe just ask him if we can,’ Mike suggested.
Anna stood up. She doubted there would be any incriminating evidence at this stage as their suspect had had more than enough time to get it cleaned. She asked to have some strong coffee brought in and a sandwich.
‘We’re wasting time,’ Mike Lewis snapped.
‘Instructions are to keep it low profile, so let’s offer him something to eat and coffee. I need some too. Right, let’s get started.’
They headed towards the interview room.
Mike Lewis met Langton in the incident room and together they went into the viewing room to watch the interview on the monitor screen. Langton was uneasy about questioning their prime suspect without sufficient evidence to make any charges stick, but at the same time it was a major step forward. If Lester James was, as the team believed, their killer, Langton was certain both his brothers would have primed him and even concocted an alibi for the night of the murder. He had been far from satisfied with the Accidental Death verdicts on the two flatmates. If, however, Lester could prove that he had been in Amsterdam, he could not have been involved in the death of Felicity Turner and they had no evidence that he could be implicated in Dan Hutchins’s overdose. Now Langton would be able to watch him being interviewed and come to his own conclusion. Lester had already given his permission for his interrogation to be on video.
Langton sat forward as Anna and Barolli entered the incident room and he saw their suspect for the first time. Lester James sat well back in his chair, his broad shoulders almost touching the Legal Aid duty solicitor, who was a small dapper man. Beside him, Lester James looked as if he was twice his size. He wore a light grey suit with a black polo-neck sweater, and his big square hands were folded over each other, resting on the Formica tabletop. He was much better-looking than his brothers, with blond hair cut short in a crew cut, and wide-set bright blue eyes. There was a freshness to him. Like an athlete, he exuded fitness and, to Langton’s mind, a calmness that surprised him.
Lester also surprised Anna. He smiled as she sat down, and seemed totally at ease.
She kicked off with a soft encouraging tone in her voice.
‘You sometimes drove Miss Delany on a private basis, is that correct, Mr James?’
‘Yes.’
‘Could you just elaborate on that for us?’
Lester nodded and recounted numerous occasions when he had driven Amanda to premières and nightclubs. He gave a fond laugh, saying that she was never ready, he always
had to wait; she was a very bad timekeeper.
‘So you would collect her from her flat in Maida Vale?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you meet any of the other occupants?’
He said that he had met them and had once driven them with Amanda to a venue.
‘They would be Felicity Turner, Dan Hutchins and Jeannie Bale?’
‘That’s right.’
Anna eased into asking if he also collected Amanda from her new house.
‘Yes, after she moved in.’
‘On one of these occasions when you drove Miss Delany, did you take her to the restaurant called Le Caprice for lunch?’
‘Yeah, I believe I did. It’s that place behind the Ritz, isn’t it?’
Anna nodded. ‘On this occasion, did she mention who she was dining with?’
He shrugged. ‘No. I just waited outside until she came out.’
‘When Miss Delany returned to your car, how did she appear to you?’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Was she in a good mood or a bad one?’
‘Oh, I see. Well, she was very hyper, sort of excited, and she’d obviously had a few glasses of champagne.’
‘So, being in such a good mood, did she tell you what the meeting had been about?’
‘Not really.’
‘Think about it, Mr James. She was, as you have said, very excited. Surely she must have told you the reason?’
‘Er… she might have said something about a deal. I don’t remember what it was exactly, it was some time ago.’
‘Was it something to do with a publishing offer?’
He looked down at his big hands. ‘It might have been.’
‘So you were aware that Miss Delany was going to write a book? Her autobiography?’
Lester leaned towards his solicitor and they had a whispered conversation. After a moment he looked at Anna.
‘She said something about it but, like I already said, she had been drinking so she sort of rambled on a bit.’
‘Did she mention a diary to you?’
Lester shook his head. Anna had had enough. By his reaction, she knew that Lester had been told by Amanda at least about the publishing deal if not her diary and, not wanting to unnerve him, she switched the subject, asking how long he had known Amanda.
Lester said that he had met the young actress when she had starred in her first film and continued to see her on various other productions. He was not often part of the main team of unit drivers, but someone they brought in as an extra and, because his brothers were well-known, they often got the work. He wasn’t one of the official drivers on Gaslight, however, as there were only a few stars and a small cast.
‘Did you like Miss Delany?’
His face took on an odd expression. ‘Yes, she was a really nice person, very kind.’
‘Did she ever come onto you?’
His blue eyes met Anna’s and held them.
‘No,’ he said neutrally. ‘I was just her driver.’
‘But she was very promiscuous, wasn’t she?’
‘She was her own person and she could do what she liked.’
Barolli took over. ‘You want to tell us about the night just before she was killed? You were hired to drive Colin O’Dell and Scott Myers, right?’
Lester nodded and whispered to his solicitor again. The latter established that his client did drive the two people mentioned, but for their sake, under client privilege, he did not wish to discuss it.
Barolli went in more strongly. As they had already interviewed both men, all they wanted was confirmation from Mr James that he did collect them from the mews house.
‘Yes, I picked them up. I dropped one at a taxi rank and the other at Heathrow.’
‘Clients’ so-called privilege doesn’t mean squat, does it, so please tell us about that evening.’
Lester straightened his massive shoulders.
‘They were both out of it, drugged up or drunk. I was worried they’d throw up in the back seat.’
It must have pissed him off, Barolli observed, having to listen to the two of them talk about their sexual antics with Amanda Delany.
Lester leaned forward and said clearly, ‘I’m just a driver, pal. What they talked about was no business of mine. See, hear, speak no evil – that’s the code.’
‘But for you, hearing about it must have really upset you.’
Lester sat back in his chair, the picture of self-control.
‘Like I just said, it was no business of mine what they got up to.’
Anna now went for it.
‘Come on, Lester, it must have really got to you because I think you felt a lot more for Amanda than just being her driver. I think, in fact, that you were obsessed by her. I also think that hearing them talking about her that way must have made you pig-sick.’
‘No. What you’re trying to infer is bullshit.’
Barolli brought out the photographs of the karate weapons they had found in his flat and laid them out in front of Lester.
‘We found these weapons in your flat, Mr James. What have you got to say about them?’
‘You had no right to take them,’ Lester said steadily. ‘They’re for exhibitions, and I’m not going to be victimised because I own them. I use them in karate shows and you can’t make out anything against me for having them. I’ve even got videos of me using them at Crystal Palace.’
Anna moved the pictures around the table.
‘Amanda Delany was murdered by a weapon that was very possibly one of these types. She was stabbed repeatedly.’
She produced a photograph of Amanda taken at the mortuary, showing the stab wounds slashed across her naked body.
‘Somebody did this to her, Lester. Look at her. Whoever did this didn’t want to hurt her face. Look at the photographs, Mr James …’
Lester turned away as his solicitor drew the photograph towards him and glanced at it. He tapped Lester’s arm and yet again they had a whispered conversation.
‘My client denies that he had anything to do with this tragic event. I suggest that if you have any evidence that implicates Mr James, you make it a priority right now or I am advising my client to leave. You should have allowed me to view any photographs in my pre-interview disclosure. If my client is not under arrest, I will as from now warn him not to answer any further questions.’
Anna said quietly that they were not yet ready to end the interview and she asked Mr James to continue answering their questions.
‘I reckon I’ve answered all I need to. I’m not stupid and I know what you are trying to make me out to be, but you have got it wrong.’
‘We may have, so if you could just clear up a few more loose ends…’
Lester having admitted meeting Amanda’s flatmates, Anna asked again if he had known all three at some time or other. Lester became less anxious and agreed that he had met them several times, and had also been in their flat. Anna turned the pages in her file.
‘So you were aware that Dan Hutchins was a heroin addict?’
Lester nodded.
‘You were also, I suspect, aware that Amanda used cocaine and crack cocaine and speed, and often took amphetamines and Ecstasy.’
‘I knew. So what?’
‘As her driver, you must be able to give us the name of her supplier?’
‘No.’
‘Come on, we know you were scoring the drugs for her, Lester.’
His solicitor jumped up and again angrily accused them of not submitting disclosure of these allegations. Lester turned and gestured for him to sit down.
‘It’s all right. I never supplied nothing. It’s a lie.’
‘Is it?’ Anna persisted. ‘You supplemented your earnings by supplying drugs. You would do anything she wanted, wouldn’t you?’
‘No.’
‘How many times did you go into her mews house?’
‘I never went in, I was just her driver.’
‘We have your fingerprints, Lester; we kn
ow you were inside her mews. Why are you lying?’
‘Jesus Christ, I am being set up here because I never done the drugs for her and … maybe I went into the house once, like when she first moved in, but I was always just her driver.’
‘Did you have a key?’
‘What?’
‘To her house. Did you have a key, Mr James?’
‘No, like I keep on saying to you, I was just her driver. I picked her up and I dropped her back at her place. That was my job.’
Barolli glanced at Anna and she gave a small nod as he began picking up the photographs and replacing them into the file.
‘Can I go home now?’
‘Just a few more things, Mr James,’ Anna said softly.
Lester hung his head down as if he was tired.
‘Do you recall seeing a fluffy toy rabbit? It was Miss Delany’s favourite thing and she always went to sleep with it.’
Lester sighed. He wouldn’t have known what she slept with, he said, as he was just her driver.
‘Didn’t she take it with her at all? Are you saying you never saw this rabbit?’
‘No, I never saw nothing that she went to bed with. All I know is, she was an insomniac and would do anything to stave off going to sleep.’
‘So she talked about that, did she?’
‘Yeah. She also said she was scared of the dark. What people don’t know is that she was really very vulnerable and had a lot of pent-up anger, especially towards her parents.’
‘Did she ever tell you why she was angry with them?’
‘No.’
‘But she told you she was scared of the dark?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Did you ever sleep with her?’
Again, Lester stared at Anna with an unflinching, cold look.
‘I was her driver, nothing more.’
‘Did you want more?’
‘She paid me for driving her.’
In the viewing room, Langton drummed his fingers on the table with impatience. They were getting nowhere. He turned to Mike.
‘He said he did competition displays for karate, the knife collection – mentioned a video. Did anyone bring it in?’
Mike shook his head.
‘I want to see it, and I want access to his bank accounts,’ Langton said.
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