Lynda La Plante - Wrongful Death

‘Was there a problem?’

‘Well, yes and no: I didn’t realize her mother Gloria had answered the phone. She said Donna was having a swim in the pool, so I arranged through her for you to meet with Donna at four p.m. She started asking questions and I just said I didn’t know, but I think she knew I was lying.’ The constable clearly wasn’t happy.

‘Don’t look so worried, you salvaged a tricky situation.’

‘But she kept pressing me and I said she’d have to speak with you so I had to give her your mobile number.’

‘Well, she hasn’t called me yet.’

‘Donna’s living with her mum in Weybridge, Surrey,’ Joan said, handing Anna the address on a piece of paper. ‘Langton’s in your office with Agent Dewar, I had to tell her about the meeting with Donna.’

‘Why?’

‘I had no choice – she asked me for Donna’s mobile number as she wanted to arrange a meeting with her. I said you had already done so.’

‘How did she take that?’ Anna grinned.

‘Mumbled something about being left in the dark again and stormed off.’

‘After her performance with Taylor, DI Barolli and I will be speaking with Donna,’ Anna assured her, heading towards the DI’s door.

She popped her head around it and told him to be free for a four-p.m. meeting with Donna Reynolds in Weybridge.

Entering her office, the first thing she noticed was that her desk was yet again littered with Dewar’s papers, and enlarged photographs of the Reynolds crime scene were laid out on the sofa and floor.

‘Good morning, Travis,’ said Langton. ‘Jessie here was in at half seven drawing up further lines of enquiry for your investigation.’

‘Well I’ve been busy completing my notes on the interview with Taylor.’

‘Interesting interview. Jessie was just telling me about it and her observations concerning the suicide note being fake. Opens up a can of worms, doesn’t it?’

‘Depends how you look at it,’ Anna said.

‘How do you mean?’ Langton asked.

‘Taylor could be telling a pack of lies and the suicide note could be genuine. As you’ve often said yourself, there can be many sides to a story.’

‘True. But I have to say Jessie has raised issues that DI Simms should clearly have considered at the time. If he made the wrong call at the scene then everything that followed is a total fuck-up. We could have a murderer out there who thinks they’ve got away with it.’

‘Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Paul Simms never knew about Delon Taylor back then,’ Anna replied.

‘He might have done if he’d dug a bit deeper and made some in-depth enquiries at the Trojan,’ Dewar remarked.

‘Why do you think Taylor’s lying?’ Langton asked Anna.

‘There may be elements of truth in what he said but that doesn’t mean Reynolds was murdered. He could be trying to use circumstances for his own benefit. He never came forward until he ended up on remand for robbery and assault.’

‘If I may interject, Jimmy,’ Dewar said.

Every time she called him ‘Jimmy’ it grated on Anna’s nerves, but she knew it was perfectly possible that Dewar could have read the list of issues about her attitude to discuss, and was now attempting to turn things to her advantage. Anna was sorely tempted to give Dewar a piece of her mind, but with Langton on the FBI agent’s side she decided it was better to keep quiet and just let her drone on.

‘In my experience the behavioural actions of the person being interviewed can help to detect whether or not they are lying.’

‘Are you referring to Taylor?’ Langton asked.

‘Yes. I focused on his micro-expressions. I wrote a chapter about it in my published paper, “The Language of Lies”.’

‘So what exactly are micro-expressions?’ Langton asked, intrigued, and Dewar clearly knew it.

‘Movements that flash up on a person’s face for a fraction of a second. When someone is lying their eyes will move to the left or they may blink more rapidly.’

‘How interesting,’ Langton remarked.

‘We still don’t know what Taylor was actually thinking,’ Anna said, annoyed that Langton of all people was fooled by Dewar’s drivel.

‘It takes experience and understanding to spot the signs, Anna. Emotions that betray a liar are fear, guilt about lying. Taylor showed none of those signs and that is why I believe he was telling the truth.’

‘What about his emotional outburst and banging the table when you accused him of being Donna’s lover and doing her dirty work?’

‘I already told you I wanted to draw him out and see how he reacted to a statement that I had no evidence to support.’

‘I was going to update the team about our interview with Taylor but I wondered if you would like to do it. I’m sure they would be interested to hear about your micro-expression observations,’ Anna said, trying to force Dewar into an awkward situation.

‘As much as I’d love to I really don’t have the time at the moment. They can read the report I prepared.’

‘I think your next step should be an interview with Donna Reynolds,’ Langton said.

‘I agree, Jimmy. I found out this morning that Donna Reynolds is now living with her mother. Anna and I have an appointment to see her this afternoon. I also think we first need to revisit the flat where Reynolds died. Get a better feel for the scene before we interview his widow.’

Frustrated that Dewar had just assumed she would be interviewing Donna and keen not to let Barolli down again, Anna decided to speak up. ‘I’ve told Paul Barolli that he can do the Donna Reynolds interview with me, so I think he should also come on the scene visit.’

Dewar ignored the comment. ‘I had all the scene photographs blown up to assist us. As I said earlier, Jimmy, there are some things that don’t quite add up regarding the position of the gun and the blood distribution.’

‘Barolli’s got plenty to do here, so you two visit the scene then interview Donna,’ Langton ruled. ‘It seems more sensible as you both did the Taylor interview. Travis can ask her the questions while you observe her micro-expressions. See if there’s anything that indicates she’s lying.’

Anna was unsure if Langton was having a joke, but felt she had been forced into a corner by Dewar and now had no choice but to agree, offering to ask Joan to get details of the new occupant of Reynolds’ old flat. Dewar said that she had already made some enquiries, and that the new owner was leasing the property. A Mr Dobbs from the letting agents would meet them there at midday.

Desperate to get away from Dewar, Anna went to break the revised plan to Barolli. He was not pleased at yet again being left out of an important witness interview because of Dewar.

‘You have every right to be upset, Paul, and I should have been more forceful with Langton and Dewar.’

‘Don’t worry about it – while you and Langton are gone and I’m SIO, she’ll have to do as she’s told,’ Barolli, resilient as ever, remarked with a smile.

Still keen to avoid Dewar, Anna then went to the ladies’ room. Having washed her hands and brushed her hair she was just opening the door to go back into the corridor when she caught sight of Langton and Dewar, with their backs to her, standing by the lift talking. Anna stepped back and held the door slightly open so she could eavesdrop on their conversation.

‘I’d like to speak with the forensic scientist who attended the scene and the pathologist,’ Dewar was saying.

‘That’s fine by me but let DCI Travis know as well,’ Langton instructed her.

‘Also, I’d like to sit down with DI Simms and go over everything in his report or more importantly, what he’s failed to put in it.’

‘I agree it wasn’t an in-depth investigation.’