Lynda La Plante - Wrongful Death

Anna had a quick look at the custody record and saw that Ian Holme had been served disclosure and then had a twenty-minute consultation with Aisa. Gloria had been with Aisa for nearly an hour. Anna stormed off to the interview room and on opening the door she found Gloria standing next to Aisa, who was looking in an even worse state than before. On seeing Anna, Gloria leaned forward, put her arm round her daughter and started her act. ‘Don’t worry, my darling, Mummy is always here for you, but you must tell DCI Travis the truth about you and Josh.’

Anna felt sick to the stomach knowing that Gloria had what she craved for, total domination and control over her daughter. She had an overwhelming urge to put Gloria up against the wall and tell her exactly what she thought of her sick, warped existence, but she knew that would be futile and playing into Gloria’s hands. So Anna fought back her anger, told herself to remain calm and forced a smile.

‘Sorry, I thought Mr Holme was with Aisa having a consultation. I was wondering if she was ready to be interviewed,’ she said as if nothing was wrong.

‘She will be shortly, won’t you, darling? I just need to speak with Ian to assure him that there will be no more lies from her, and then she’s all yours,’ Gloria said, as if Aisa were some form of commodity to be handed around. Anna held the door open as Gloria walked out of the room and followed her up the corridor.

‘May I ask what you said to your daughter, Lady Lynne, as she seems really upset?’ Anna forced herself to ask politely.

Gloria stopped and deliberately kept her back to Anna for a few seconds before turning to face her. ‘You should be thanking me, Detective Travis. The great Ian Holme could not get my daughter to tell him anything – but for me, you’d get nothing out of her. I have done what any caring mother would do, persuaded her to tell you the truth.’

‘And that would be in whose best interest?’ Anna asked.

But Gloria’s only response was to sneer and look her up and down as if she were a piece of dirt before walking away.

Anna stormed back into her office to tell Langton what had happened, to find Jessie Dewar was already there and had informed Langton that something had gone terribly wrong.

‘Bloody Walters, she’s using him; if he walked in here now, I’d kill him!’ Anna said, gritting her teeth in anger.

Langton told her to take a deep breath, calm down and explain what had happened. Anna told them about Walters’ call to the custody sergeant, her brief chat with Gloria Lynne, the state of hopelessness that Aisa was in, and how Gloria was revelling in it all.

‘God knows what Walters told her, and if Ian Holme revealed the disclosure Gloria had everything she needed to prime Aisa,’ Anna said despairingly and banged her hand on the desk.

‘Why would Walters tell Gloria anything?’ Langton asked.

Anna remembered that she had not as yet told Langton anything about her confrontational meeting with the Deputy Commissioner, and now explained how he flew off the handle after Gloria Lynne complained about Aisa’s arrest. Walters had demanded to know why she was back in London and she had, at first, only told him about evidence that implicated Aisa. Langton pressed Anna as to what she meant by ‘at first’, so she told him that the Coroner had spoken with Walters as Dr Harrow had made a complaint. She had to tell Walters that Samuel Peters was related to Josh and stole money from him, and as far as Walters was concerned Samuel died of a heart attack.

‘Anything else?’ Langton glanced towards Dewar.

‘No,’ Anna said. She knew it was not a good time to mention everything else that had been said in that extraordinary meeting.

‘Basically, you lied to him,’ Langton told her.

‘I was economical with the truth,’ she said, trying to justify her position.

‘This case goes from bad to worse.’ Langton sighed.

‘If I were in Anna’s shoes I’d have done the same,’ Dewar said, coming to her defence.

‘Well, I’m no angel when it comes to feeding Walters with a load of crap. We have to assume that Gloria sweet-talked Walters into telling her everything he knew. The agenda now is damage limitation,’ Langton said, looking at Dewar again.

Dewar realized that he wanted her input about what Gloria might have said to Aisa, and how best to deal with the situation, and so she commented that it was interesting that the woman had never come to the station to play the loving and caring mother when Donna was arrested. Dewar believed the reason for this was that Gloria had nothing to fear simply because Donna had nothing to tell as she was the only innocent party in the whole sordid affair.

‘That poor girl has been put through hell,’ Anna said.

Langton found it hard to comprehend that Gloria Lynne was prepared to let Donna take the fall.

‘A sociopath like Gloria Lynne has no feelings of love for either of her daughters in the way that a mother should,’ Dewar informed them. ‘Donna and Aisa are her pawns, little trophies that she likes to pander to so she appears to be the perfect, caring mother.’

‘The woman’s something else. How has she deceived everyone for so long?’ Langton asked.

Dewar explained that Lady Lynne had spent her life impressing people of high standing and integrity through lies and deceit. ‘The reality is, Gloria doesn’t want friends, she craves loyal followers, people who believe in her and thereby unwittingly do everything they can to help her achieve her own conceited goals.’

‘She’s more dangerous than I realized,’ Langton said.

‘Well I think we know it now, but Gloria Lynne is dangerous because of ignorance… not her own, but everyone else’s understanding of who or what she really is. It’s rare that anyone is able to see through the mask of a cold-hearted sociopath,’ Dewar said calmly, adding that Aisa and Donna’s reputations didn’t matter a jot to Gloria, as ultimately she had to be the one in total control.

Langton remained silent for a moment but then said that Donna seemed to be different as she had, prior to meeting Josh Reynolds, rebelled against her mother by leaving the family home to become a stripper.

Dewar smiled. ‘Ah, yes, but the grief of others is sheer pleasure to a sociopath – any weakness, especially in a time of sorrow, and they’ll move in and take control. No sooner was Josh Reynolds dead than Gloria used the situation to once again take over Donna’s life by playing on her grief, organizing Josh’s funeral, the sale of the Bayswater flat and the Trojan.’ Dewar looked to Anna.

Anna hesitated and then said quietly, ‘I think Gloria saw Aisa in her bloodstained dress when she got back to the Savoy from Josh’s. Then under immense pressure Aisa confessed to her mother about the affair and being present when Josh shot himself.’

‘Yet again that is just bloody supposition – you don’t know what happened,’ Langton said, unable to contain his frustration.

Dewar again sided with Anna. ‘What we do know about for certain is Aisa’s fear of her mother’s wrath. She clearly didn’t tell her about the theft of the money from CCS Medical, or the love nest at Esme’s, as that would have led to the discovery of her buying Josh the Ferrari.’

Langton looked slightly perplexed. ‘Okay, I understand Aisa being terrified of Gloria and thus the partial confession, but why didn’t she just up and leave like Donna did?’

It was Anna’s turn to look to Dewar for an explanation.

‘You have to understand that deep down both girls may know Gloria doesn’t love them, but that won’t necessarily stop them loving her. The difference with Aisa is she’s spoilt, likes life in the fast lane, the swanky parties, mixing with celebs, but most of all she likes the money.’