Lynda La Plante: Wrongful Death

Anna gritted her teeth as Gloria pinned the brooch to her jacket, patting it with her hand, inclining her head to one side.

‘So pretty yet so deadly, it suits you.’

Anna responded by saying that she also suspected Xavier and Lord Lynne might have been poisoned with atropine. Gloria, unconcerned, asked why she had not said so earlier.

Anna smiled and deliberately made light of their deaths. ‘Didn’t happen over here so not my problem.’

‘But it angers you to think I killed them,’ Gloria scoffed.

‘That depends on how close I was to the truth,’ Anna replied casually.

‘If it’s any consolation you didn’t miss anyone out and the ingredients were pretty much all there.’

Anna had deliberately said nothing about Marisha and suddenly realized that Gloria had never asked about her at the station. She thought it strange that Gloria had not taken the chance to gloat, and wondered why that might be, even as she allowed the woman to carry on with her melodramatic performance. Her raised voice took on an increasingly theatrical tone, her words enunciated carefully, as she enjoyed showing off to an imaginary audience.

‘If I were on a jury I’d believe you and want to convict the defendant for such heinous crimes. The only problem is, you’ve not one shred of evidence.’ She giggled.

‘You think not?’ Anna replied, stone-faced.

‘I don’t think, I know . You have failed in your efforts to implicate me or my beloved daughters in any wrongdoing and I will continue to be respected as a good mother and a pillar of society, whereas your superiors and colleagues will long remember you as a worthless failure,’ Gloria mocked, raising her glass in a victory salute before taking a long drink, then licking her lips.

‘Don’t flatter yourself, Lady Lynne, you’re not that special from where I’m standing. A good liar, yes, but as a mother, you’ve failed miserably,’ Anna said, emphasizing the last three words.

Gloria’s facial expression gave nothing away, but Anna knew she had touched a nerve. It was time to try and confuse her.

‘It’s true, isn’t it? Your girls let you down terribly and disgraced your good name. You’ve given them everything they ever wanted, but what happened?’ Anna paused. Gloria opened her mouth to speak but Anna held up her hand, indicating she hadn’t finished.

‘Aisa steals money from right under your nose, and you didn’t even know it was happening – how you could let her make such a fool of you is beyond belief!’ Anna noticed Gloria now seemed to need the drink whereas so far it had been a theatrical prop.

‘As for Donna, well she betrays you by cavorting naked in front of leering, salivating men with hard-ons. Then she marries Joshua, the very man who hired her and let her display her naked body for his own gain.’

Gloria gulped down her gin and tonic in one, stood up and marched over to the cabinet to pour a third. Her expression had changed, it was as if she was in another world, confused and angry, trying to make sense of it all. Picking up the ice with her hand she dropped it into her glass as she poured a substantial amount of gin, topping it up with just a fraction of tonic. This time she didn’t bother with a slice of lemon but took a long swig and then rattled the ice cubes round the glass.

‘How very intuitive of you, and, yes, that silly bitch Donna started all this, she’s to blame. If she hadn’t walked into that filthy, stinking club she’d never have met Joshua. Because of her Samuel came back into my life. If she’d gone to prison it would have been no more than she deserved for what she’s done to me.’

Anna was amazed at the sudden change in Gloria’s attitude; it was as if her need to blame revealed her true feelings. She also wondered how many gins Gloria had been through before her arrival as her speech was now beginning to slur.

‘How right you are, Lady Lynne – Donna meeting Joshua was a disaster, but at least when Samuel came back into your life it was amicable,’ Anna suggested.

A look of disgust appeared on Gloria’s face. ‘Amicable? He’s an absolute pig of man; you think I’d willingly let him anywhere near me?’

‘So I guess Samuel and Marisha’s, sorry I mean Samuel and Arum’s deaths are really a blessing in disguise?’ Anna asked, hoping a confused Gloria would react to the mention of Marisha’s name.

Gloria said nothing at first, but Anna could see she was questioning herself about what she thought she had just heard.

‘Why did you say Marisha?’

Anna deliberately looked nervous. ‘Just a slip of the tongue, that’s all.’

‘You’re lying, I can tell. What has Marisha got to do with any of this?’

It was now clear that Gloria had never suspected Marisha might be involved, let alone that she was dead. Gloria was evidently worried as Marisha had never been part of her script of lies and now posed a threat. She needed answers to be able to manipulate the information, but Anna was not going to provide them and decided to turn the heat up slowly.

‘Deputy Commissioner Walters told you Samuel Peters died of a heart attack, but you said that can’t be right because he’d gone back to Jamaica. So thinking about it…’

‘I demand to know where Marisha is, she’s my sister-in-law and I will offer to pay for Samuel’s funeral and look after her.’

Gloria was becoming noticeably more agitated, and still Anna avoided answering her.

‘Why didn’t you ask us at the station if it was true?’

‘Ask what, what should I have asked? Has Marisha said anything?’

Anna suspected Gloria wasn’t fully aware of what she was saying, or asking, as her brain was working at such a pace to process the new situation.

Anna remained calm, determined to confuse Gloria further. ‘I think I’ve made a terrible mistake. I just assumed…’

‘What, what mistake have you made, what did you assume?’ Gloria asked angrily.

‘That it was Samuel’s body in the mortuary, but it can’t be as he’s back in Jamaica, just like you told Walters and like Marisha said. I’m sorry that I wrongly accused you, Lady Lynne, and I realize now that you have just been playing silly games to teach me a lesson.’

Anna was enjoying watching her lies bewilder and anger Gloria, who then raised her voice.

‘I don’t play games! I controlled when, where and how Samuel would die. I alone determined his and everyone else’s fate.’

‘It’s okay, you don’t have to try and fool me any longer,’ Anna said, smiling, which infuriated Gloria even more.

‘I decided how and when Joshua would die…’

‘That is ridiculous, everyone knows Josh shot himself,’ Anna said, dismissing Gloria’s admission as a joke.

‘I poisoned him, just like Samuel, and there’s nothing you can do about it! Now where is Marisha!’ The pupils of her eyes dilated from her anger and increased blood pressure.

‘Well if you insist that you really are a murderer then I can’t possibly tell you where she is,’ Anna said and folded her arms.

‘She’ll lie like her brother, she doesn’t know anything and wasn’t even there when I went to see Samuel,’ Gloria said, inadvertently revealing Anna had been right about that as well.

‘She’s dead, Gloria, she never posed a threat to you, but I just made you believe she did. By your own admission, you’ve proved that I was right all along. I will leave now and you can fester in the knowledge that I beat you at your own game. You will spend the rest of your life thinking about me, constantly looking over your shoulder, scared that I will come for you,’ Anna said, coming closer, so close she could smell the gin mixed with the woman’s heavy perfume. ‘I will never let this go, you can count on that.’