Lynda La Plante - Wrongful Death

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Heres the latest novel from this bestseeling author who in 2009 wwas inducted into the Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame. Her novels have all been international bestsellers.

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Yet again, Gloria had an answer that depicted her as the aggrieved party: ‘When I met Lord Henry, he assumed, because of the colour of Aisa’s skin, that I had adopted her.’

‘Did you not tell him the truth?’ Langton asked.

‘He never asked me, as I said he assumed as much, and when Aisa was naughty one day he told her how lucky she was to find someone as kind as me to adopt her. Before I knew it he was telling everyone, even Donna, that Aisa was adopted, so what could I do? She was just a small child, and would have been so confused if I’d said anything different.’

‘What a terrible predicament to find yourself in, Lady Lynne,’ Langton said, looking concerned. Thinking of Dewar’s advice he decided to try and throw her off track and without pausing changed direction.

‘May I ask why you wanted Esme and not Marisha to care for Arum?’

‘I don’t mean this in a nasty way,’ Gloria confided, ‘but Marisha was very similar to her brother Samuel – she liked to put her own needs before others’.’

‘What happened between you and Samuel after you gave Arum to Esme?’ Langton asked.

‘I left him, or should I say I ran away when his drinking and violence became worse. I couldn’t get off the island as I had no money, so I went to Montego Bay, where I met and married Xavier.’ Gloria paused to blow her nose, and this time Anna tapped Langton’s knee beneath the table, wanting him to hold back on the subject of the bigamous marriage. How ever, Gloria, sharp as ever, went on to say that what she was about to tell them next was shameful but it was the truth. When Xavier proposed to her, she told him about her marriage to Samuel, but not about their son Arum as she had made a promise to Esme. She and Xavier returned to the fishing village where Samuel lived and Gloria asked him for a divorce but he refused. Xavier had said that he loved her and the marriage to Samuel didn’t matter, so he arranged for a private ceremony at the plantation and her wedding certificate recorded that she was a widow.

‘So you’re marriage to Xavier was bigamous,’ Langton said with mock surprise, noticing that Gloria shied away from using the word.

‘Yes, but we loved each other deeply and saw no wrong in what we had done. When he died it was tragic, a terrible wretched time for me,’ Gloria replied, turning up the crocodile tears.

‘Well it was many years ago now, but of course you then married Lord Henry…’

The expression on Gloria’s face changed to one of insult but her voice remained calm. ‘I filed for divorce from Samuel in Jamaica and it was granted, so my marriage to Henry was lawful, as is my title of Lady Lynne.’

Anna had wrongly assumed that Gloria had never divorced Samuel, but it didn’t change her view about him blackmailing her. She knew that in this instance Gloria was telling the truth as her divorce could be easily checked and a lie would not serve her purpose. She had noticed that so far Gloria had not given her the slightest attention, not even a casual glance. Anna would have liked to think that it was because she unnerved her, but she recognized that Gloria was merely trying to belittle her, by treating her as insignificant. Gloria’s sob story just got better and better as it went along and Anna wondered, but for her knowledge that the woman was a sociopath, would she also have been taken in by her deceit and lies? The answer, she thought, was probably ‘yes’.

Langton spread his hands flat on the table between them.

‘Well I don’t know what to say, Lady Lynne. I really feel for you – it must have been like a bolt out of the blue discovering that Josh Reynolds was actually Arum, the son that you had no choice but to give up thirty years ago.’

‘Thank you, Mr Langton, for being so kind. You cannot believe the pain it caused me when Arum took his own life,’ Gloria said and blew her nose. ‘I couldn’t grieve the way a mother should for fear that Donna would find out who he really was.’ She reached into her handbag to get some more tissues but had run out. Langton produced a clean folded handkerchief from his pocket, flicked it open like a waiter with a napkin and handed it to her.

‘I’ve been so moved by your strength and character in times of great hardship that I feel I’ve missed something,’ he said, hoping that Gloria would invite his next question, but she just gave him a doe-eyed look.

‘I was wondering when and how you came to know that Joshua Reynolds was your son Arum.’

Anna, thinking that Langton had articulated and timed his question perfectly, fully expected a change in facial expression and a defensive reaction from Gloria, but none came.

‘From Samuel, of course – I would have thought that was rather obvious to a man of your intellect, Chief Superintendent,’ Gloria said, and deliberately paused, but just as Langton was about to continue, she cut back in.

‘I did tell Deputy Commissioner Walters about Samuel when I spoke with him on the phone.’

Langton and Anna were taken aback by this and again Langton was about to speak but Gloria continued: ‘Not in as fine detail as I have just divulged to you.’

Langton asked Gloria when Walters had phoned her and she told him it was the previous evening.

‘What did he tell you?’

Gloria explained that Walters had informed her why Aisa had been arrested, at which moment many things about her erratic behaviour when Josh died suddenly fitted into place. Walters had said that although DCI Travis suspected Josh had committed suicide it was believed Aisa was present at the time and this shocked her.

Gloria couldn’t remember Walters’ exact words but he asked if she knew a Samuel Peters who was related to Joshua. She told him that Samuel was her former husband, and he had been in contact with her since coming to London for his sister Esme’s funeral. Gloria went on to say that she was stunned when Walters informed her that Detective Travis had told him Samuel had died of a heart attack. She had asked him when but he didn’t know and she felt Travis was mistaken as Samuel had told her he was going back to Jamaica.

‘When did Samuel tell you he was going back to Jamaica?’ Langton asked.

‘Well, it was a little embarrassing really, he turned up at the Charity Ball drunk and looking like a tramp, he’d obviously been hitting the rum again.’

‘I’m more interested in what he spoke to you about, Lady Lynne,’ Langton said, becoming irritated.

Gloria explained that Samuel asked her if he she had managed to end Josh and Donna’s relationship and she told him she was still working on it. He was annoyed and said that he knew he should have told Josh himself, but it was too late as he was returning to Jamaica in the morning.

Langton, aware he was being taken for a fool, was tiring of Gloria’s lies and theatrics. Although a dangerous move, which could play to Gloria’s advantage, he decided to challenge her story.

‘Just like that, unannounced he turns up out of the blue after thirty years?’ Langton asked, raising his voice.

‘There’s no need to be aggressive, Mr Langton, Lady Lynne is trying to be helpful,’ Ian Holme said and Langton glared at him.

‘It’s fine, Ian, I can understand Mr Langton being annoyed that Mr Walters failed to pass on our conversation. Sorry, what was your question again?’ Gloria asked, and as Langton was about to repeat it, she continued: ‘Oh, yes, about Samuel. Well he actually phoned me a few times, he was doing some decorating at Donna and Josh’s flat and he saw a photograph of me with the girls. He recognized me even after all these years. I didn’t know at the time, but found out later that he got my number by taking a quick peek in Donna’s address book.’

Langton felt himself becoming more and more annoyed as each lie rolled so comfortably off Gloria’s lips, and it angered him that someone of Ian Holme’s intellect couldn’t see her for what she really was. Langton had no hard evidence with which to challenge Gloria, no witnesses, no nothing, and it was clear to him she knew it. She was no longer just the actor in a play; she was now directing the bloody show!

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