Lynda La Plante - Blood Line

‘Nice to see you again. Goodnight.’

Langton put his hand in the small of her back, guiding her towards the office section.

‘You want a coffee?’

‘No, this won’t take long.’

The office was sparse, but very modern. Langton sat behind the desk on a leather chair and Anna drew up another equally new chair in front of him. He opened a pack of nicotine gum and then gave a sheepish grin, saying, ‘I’ve given up, but I think I’m getting tooth decay from chewing so much of this stuff.’

‘You should get the patches,’ she said.

‘Got them all the way up my arm.’

Anna watched as he flicked through the pages so fast that she doubted he was really able to read them properly. It took him about ten minutes. He looked well, she thought. Also, he’d put on weight, perhaps thanks to giving up smoking.

‘How’s that knee of yours?’ she asked.

‘Fine – just the occasional twinge. How are you doing?’

She managed a smile. He stacked the pages and replaced them in the envelope.

‘What’s your gut feeling?’ he wanted to know.

‘I knew you’d ask me that.’

He leaned back in his posh leather chair. ‘So what’s your answer?’

‘I don’t have one.’

‘Mmm.’

‘Can I ask you something about my last case?’ Anna said abruptly. ‘Did you handpick it for me because it was a no-brainer?’

‘No such thing, Travis,’ he replied immediately, ‘but as a first-time DCI you had to be able to control it and not feel pressured; you needed to build up your confidence.’

‘Is this why you’ve got me virtually working a Missing Persons case?’

‘Is that what you think it is?’

She hated the way he turned a question around to another without giving her an answer.

‘Looks like you have a big investigation going,’ she said.

‘Yeah – a very sick one. Mother and son found slaughtered, but the husband is an ex-detective and now runs a private investigation company. He’s got a lot of enemies – unpleasant bloke, but nobody deserves to come back to his home to be confronted by such horror. He’s under sedation.’

‘You have suspects though?’

‘Yes. He’s been doing some work for a couple of nasty bastards, collecting their debts. Unbelievable! Works as a copper all his adult life then gets out and works for the other side.’

Langton patted Anna’s file with the flat of his hand. ‘You want to call it quits on this and hand it back to Mispers?’

‘Yes, I think so. It’s just been me and Paul Simms working it.’

‘Ah, the gay cavalero. Good detective though.’

‘Yes.’

‘You get along with him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Very monosyllabic tonight, aren’t you?’

She shrugged.

‘You want a bite to eat?’

‘No, thanks. I’m actually on my way home. Just dropped that in so you can see that I have been doing as requested.’

‘I talked to his father yesterday,’ Langton said quietly.

‘I’ve been to his home, met his wife, his son’s friends. He appears as you could see from the report, an all-out nice man.’

‘Any buts?’

‘Only that I have a bad reaction to his girlfriend, Tina Brooks, but I think that’s just personal.’

‘What about neighbours? You talk to any of them?’

‘No, but we talked to his place of work, his gym – it’s all in the report.’

Langton chewed hard on his nicotine gum, staring at her. ‘You want to start on another enquiry?’

‘Yes.’

He stood up and took the gum out of his mouth, tossing it into the rubbish bin.

‘Okay. Tell you what I want you to do. Tomorrow, go and visit the neighbours and see if they have anything to add to the mix. Something in me doesn’t quite accept your view that Alan Rawlins has just taken off.’

‘Like what?’

Langton opened another piece of gum, walking round the desk to sit on the edge close to her.

‘First his Merc. He spends months doing it up, ordering spare parts, bought it with his father to make money reselling it. Why not take the car if he was doing a runner. You now know his passport is missing; there’s no movement in any of his bank accounts or credit cards, and from your interviews he appears to be a nice upright guy, loving family, good mates, he’s not into drugs, he doesn’t drink bar the odd glass of wine and nobody has a hint of any extra lady friend on the side. Correct?’

Anna nodded. He never ceased to amaze her. Although he had appeared merely to skim her report, he had somehow acquired the gist of it, and this became even clearer when he picked up the file and passed it back to her.

‘The fiancée also asked how long you’d be digging around if there was no body – right?’

She nodded.

‘Does that sound like a distressed lady? Her fiancé disappears and all she seems interested in is how long it will be before she gets her hands on the savings.’

‘It’s a joint bank account and doesn’t need his signature.’

‘Oh.’

‘His life insurance is only fifty thousand so I don’t think that would be a motive.’

‘People have been killed for less.’

‘Listen, he was a nice man, one who hated any kind of confrontation. I think, judging from what everyone has said about him, he seems to fit the profile of someone who would just walk away rather than get into any kind of emotional row.’

‘Has he ever done anything like it before?’

‘Well, no, not that I’ve been told.’

Langton chewed hard on his gum. Then he got up from the desk and yawned.

‘Give it one more day then I’ll get onto allocating you the next murder enquiry.’

Anna stood up and stiffened as he reached for her hand and drew close.

‘You sleeping?’

‘Yes.’

‘I miss not having you around on a case.’

‘Well, you could have me if you wanted.’

He laughed. ‘In the literal term, I gather.’

She released her hand from his, saying, ‘I’ll be in touch. I’ll still use Paul.’

‘You make it very difficult, Anna.’

She looked up into his face.

‘I keep wanting to put my arms around you, comfort you; you think I can’t feel your troubled soul.’

‘It’s not troubled. I am just tired tonight. It’s been a long day.’

‘Have it your way, but like I keep on saying to you, if you need me I’m here for you.’

‘Thank you. Goodnight then.’

He gave her a smile, nodding his goodnight as she walked out. She held it together until she was sitting in her car and then she started to cry. It was like a fast release, and no sooner had she broken down than she was able to pull herself together and drive home.

Anna took a double dose of her sleeping tablets and slept until early morning. The alarm woke her and she again had that feeling of lethargy, not wanting to get out of bed, get dressed or do anything. She felt that this time her mood swing was down to the dead-end case she had been told to investigate by Langton, and remembered her conversation with him the evening before and how he had said to give it one more day. As she turned to look at the time on the alarm clock she saw the picture of her father on the bedside cabinet and her mind rushed back to her childhood. She could see him standing at the foot of her bed and jokingly threatening that she was running late for school and had better be out of bed by the count of three or it was cold bath time. One, she threw the duvet back, two, she jumped out of bed, and by three, she was in the bathroom turning on the shower. As Anna looked at her glass-enclosed power-jet shower she recalled the dreadful avocado green fibreglass bath and matching tiles in the family bathroom. She jumped into the shower and straight back out again. She laughed out loud realising that in her rush she had turned it onto cold and could hear her father’s voice saying, ‘Got you this time, Anna.’