Lynda La Plante: Wrongful Death

‘Good evening, Detective Travis, I was expecting you,’ she said with a tight unfriendly smile. Security lights came on, and from the direction of the greenhouse came the frantic sound of Atropa, the Doberman guard dog, barking and pulling at her chain attached to the kennel.

Anna, thankful that Gloria wasn’t allowing the dog to roam the grounds freely, gathered the box of property from the passenger seat and followed the woman into the house, closing the door behind her. Gloria said nothing as Anna followed her across the large hallway. Gloria suddenly stopped.

‘Get to your rooms now!’ she shouted.

Anna looked up and had a brief glimpse of Donna and Aisa standing at the top of the stairs. As they hurriedly moved out of sight, like two frightened children, Anna noticed they were both wearing the same white togas and gold sandals as their mother. She wondered if they might be about to go to a fancy dress party.

Entering the library, Gloria closed the door. Anna immediately caught sight of the paintings of the ‘Three Fates’ and recalled Gloria saying she preferred the angelic Mazzoni depiction as it was ‘appealing to the eye and their soft white robes are exquisite’. Numbly, she realized that Gloria and her daughters were dressed exactly like the Fates in the painting. She noticed a small pair of flower shears on the coffee table and remembered Don Blane telling her about shears being used to cut the thread of life. Anna was beginning to think that Gloria’s mental state might finally have spiralled out of control, and wondered if she had made a terrible mistake coming to Lynne House. Gloria went over to the coffee table and picked up the shears, which made Anna’s heart pound with fear as she frantically looked round the room for something to protect herself with.

Gloria turned, holding the shears towards Anna. ‘I told Katrina to put these back in the greenhouse before she went out for the evening. Are you all right, Detective Travis, you seem nervous?’

Anna realized Gloria was playing games with her, but now she was angry and there was no way she would be scared off.

‘No, not at all, Lady Lynne.’ Anna pointed to the Mazzoni. ‘For a moment there, you reminded me of Atropa, or was it Clotho or Lachesis who cut the thread?’

Gloria smiled as she complimented Anna on doing her homework and told her that it was indeed Atropa, or Aisa as she liked to call her, who determined when a person’s life ended.

‘Tell me, detective, do you believe in fate?’

‘We all have a destiny, Lady Lynne, and to an extent we can control what happens to us along the way, but no one has the God-given right to determine when and how we die… Not even you.’

‘You think so?’ Gloria smirked, then walked over to the drinks cabinet.

‘Would you care to join me in a gin and tonic, detective?’

‘No, thank you, I’m driving and wouldn’t want to have an accident,’ Anna remarked, knowing it was obvious to Gloria why she had declined the offer.

‘Did you know that tonic water contains quinine, which comes from the bark of the cinchona tree and is used to treat malaria?’

‘Is it similar to atropine?’ Anna asked, determined to stand her ground against Gloria’s mind games.

Gloria wagged her finger at Anna. ‘Too much of either will bring on heart failure and kill you.’ Having poured herself a drink Gloria came across to Anna and started to pat-down her jacket pockets and shirt. Anna obligingly raised her arms and told Gloria that she was not wearing a wire and her phone was in the car. Gloria leaned forward and ran her hands up and down the outside of Anna’s skirt, then moved her hand underneath, and slowly ran it up and down the inside of her thighs in a suggestive manner.

Although it disgusted Anna she knew that Gloria was trying to intimidate her. ‘Satisfied?’ she asked, allowing the double meaning to hang in the air.

Gloria sat down in an armchair, casually crossed her legs, and took a sip of her drink.

‘Let’s not beat about the bush,’ she began. ‘You despise me because you lost and I won, but what really eats away at your pitiful existence is a desire to know whether you were right or wrong about me.’

Gloria was partially right, but Anna was not going to satisfy her gloating. ‘You may believe your lies, Lady Lynne, but what angers you is that I don’t, and never will. I seek the truth as evidence. You seek it so that you can manipulate it for your own gain.’

‘Then in some ways we are similar, Detective Travis.’

‘No, we are not. Unlike you, I don’t have a heart that is incapable of feeling the pain of others. I will be given another case, you will be forgotten and I will move on,’ Anna said firmly.

Gloria gave a condescending laugh and said it was a valiant but pointless effort to try and defend her own shattered dignity. She paused, sipped her drink again and stared Anna menacingly in the eye.

‘Only I can tell you if you were right, Travis, but for that to happen I would need to know exactly what you think I did.’

Anna knew Gloria was playing with her and there was always the risk that the woman might admit to nothing if she revealed what she suspected was the truth behind a catalogue of murders. Still, it was now or never, so Anna decided to give Gloria a synopsis of what she believed happened, but not the evidence that had led to her conclusions.

‘Samuel Peters discovered that Donna was your daughter. He ordered copies of the birth and marriage certificates to blackmail you about your bigamous past, and your daughter Donna’s incestuous relationship with Arum. You paid him fifty thousand, thinking that would be the end of it, but Samuel wanted more and you refused, probably because you had already decided to kill him.’ Anna paused to see if Gloria had anything to say but she just waved her hand for Anna to continue.

‘To spite you, Samuel told Josh, who now knowing you were his real mother drove out here and confronted you. You wanted your past buried, but Josh, like his father Samuel, was now a threat. You gave him a drink laced with atropine, hoping he would have a fatal car crash on his way home, a method you had used previously to ensure Lord Henry’s son and wife died in a helicopter crash.’ Anna again paused to watch Gloria’s reaction to what she had said so far.

‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like a gin and tonic?’ Gloria scoffed, as she finished hers and poured another. ‘Please do continue, I am so enjoying this, it’s like listening to a detective story on the radio.’ She settled herself back down in the armchair.

‘You messed up, the dosage was wrong and Josh made it home, but the atropine meant his brain was not functioning properly and he became suicidal. Josh called Aisa and she went to the flat, tried to stop Josh shooting himself but failed. Wearing a bloodstained dress she ran from the flat and was seen by Samuel-’

Gloria interrupted, standing up and giving a slow handclap. Anna insisted she hadn’t finished.

‘You don’t need to, Travis. I think I know the rest of the story,’ Gloria said arrogantly.

‘Then I must assume I was right,’ Anna said.

Gloria shook her head and sighed. ‘Very well, if you really feel the need to unburden yourself.’ She wafted her hand dismissively.

‘Samuel discovered Josh’s body and tried to blackmail you again, this time about Aisa being there. You told Aisa to say nothing; you met with Samuel to pay him off but poisoned him with atropine.’

‘And the rest, as they say, is history,’ Gloria said patronizingly. She then came closer to Anna, smiling all while as she unpinned a piece of jewellery from her white gown.

‘This is a very special brooch, very old, very precious and it’s gold and pale blue enamel.’ She looked directly into Anna’s eyes. ‘It’s the deadly nightshade flower, and it’s a gift from me to you.’