Silent Scream (43 page)

‘It was hideous. I felt as if she was laughing at me. I asked if she would help me, woman to woman. I told her I was undergoing fertility treatment and wanted to save my marriage.’

Helen frowned as if trying to remember something. Anna remained silent.

‘I’m just trying to recall exactly what she said, something like, “It would be to his benefit”. What she meant by that, I don’t know. She also asked if it was true that my father was a multi-millionaire.’

Amanda had walked her to the front door and then, as Helen left, she had made a strange, doll-like, side-to-side swing of her head, ‘Tell him it’s in the diary,’ she had said.

Helen had no idea what Amanda meant by that, and she never discussed the meeting with her husband. The next thing she knew, Amanda had been murdered.

‘So you don’t know if Rupert kept the date?’ Anna had underlined the word
diary
in her notebook.

‘He couldn’t have, because they were night filming and I have his schedule.’

Anna stood up.

‘Does he need to know about this?’ Helen asked nervously.

Anna assured her that she had no reason to repeat their conversation. At the front door she paused.

‘This man, the one you saw at Amanda’s – is there anything else you can think of that you remember about him?’

‘I doubt it. I think he might have been giving her drugs, you know, in the tinfoil wrapper that I saw, and Rupert said Amanda was often very stoned. What is it about men?’ Helen frowned. ‘What makes them want to be with someone like that scrawny, drugged-up creature, her lips with that awful cold sore? I don’t understand it.’

Anna looked at the glossy, elegant, beautiful woman.

‘I think it’s something to do with being needy. I don’t know.’

Helen watched Anna walk down the path and get into the patrol car before she closed the front door.

At the station Mike Lewis headed up the briefing. They were now able to eliminate the Rolls from the investigation. Anna reported the possible meeting between the three actors, O’Dell, Myers and Mitchell, and their victim shortly before her murder. Barolli was next up, stressing his concern for Jeannie Bale and Felicity Turner’s whereabouts. They had decided to wait before going public about the girls’ disappearance until they had contacted their next-of-kin. Felicity Turner’s parents in South Wales said they had not seen their daughter for years; Jeannie Bale’s mother was still being traced. Jeannie’s agent had not spoken to her client for a few days but promised to contact the station if she was to call in, which she usually did on a regular basis. Next, Barolli gestured to the board and the listed landline phone numbers they had been checking.

‘One phone number is of particular interest – the number for the London hotel where Mr and Mrs Delany were staying. We have contacted the hotel and they confirmed that the Delanys were still in residence when two calls were made from there. They supplied the number: it was for Jeannie and Felicity’s flat in Maida Vale. Mr Delany had also asked reception to cash a cheque for him, for five thousand pounds, on the same morning that the calls were made.’

Anna gave a soft whistle. Could the girls have gone to the South of France with the Delanys? She doubted it, but the calls between the girls and Mr Delany were highly suspicious. Mike Lewis was ahead of her.

‘This diary, because it continues to be a missing item and one worth a lot of money to our victim, if she was going to use it as material for her memoir – and we have the guy from Golden Arrow verifying that he had seen it – it might be that she left it in the flat and our two girls found it. These two calls the Delanys made to the flat may be connected to the whereabouts of the diary.’

‘If Delany was paying the girls the five grand,’ Barolli interjected, ‘that’s a pittance compared to what it could be worth. So I’m not sure I go along with the five grand pay-off’

When Mike asked Anna if she knew whether the girls were aware of the publisher, she admitted that they might be, as she had mentioned him when she was asking them if they had found the diary.

‘Well, bloody get onto him and see if those little cows have contacted him.’

‘Gordon, Anna Travis called to say she’ll be working late this evening so can’t make dinner, and not to bother returning her call as she’ll speak to you in the morning.’

Gordon Berry had just finished his treatment with Langton and was walking out from his surgery with him.

Langton glanced at Gordon. ‘Bit unethical, isn’t it, Gordon? Or do you need to make sure she’s wearing her neck brace?’ He smiled.

Gordon slammed the door of his surgery as soon as Langton had gone and rang Anna on her mobile, but it went straight to voicemail. He called her flat and left a message asking her to get in touch.

When his receptionist tapped on his door to say his next patient was waiting, he grunted. Surprised, she asked if everything was all right. He glared at her.

‘No, it isn’t. You just landed me right in it!’

She looked confused. He waved her away as his mobile rang.

‘It’s Anna,’ he heard. ‘You called me. I can’t really talk as I’m about to start an interview briefing.’

‘OK. Look, I’m sorry. One, not to be seeing you this evening, but two, more important, Langton knows about us.’

‘How? Did you tell him?’

‘No, and I don’t want to get into it, but just so as you know.’

‘Shit. Well, so what. I’ll try and call you later, OK?’

Anna turned off her phone and closed her eyes. Barolli passed her window and rapped on it; she was wanted. She could see, through the blinds, Langton looking over the incident board.

A
nna was one of the last to join everyone in the incident room and she sat right at the back. While he was impressed that there had been some developments, Langton said, it was nowhere near what he had hoped they would accomplish. The murder of Amanda Delany might no longer be front-page news, but the press could easily get wind of the fact that two movie actors were being questioned that evening.

‘You never know, the press-hungry stars could even tip off the paparazzi themselves. We want this evening to be above board and get them in and out as soon as possible, so be prepared. They are just helping enquiries, there are no charges against them. We’ll use the time now to discuss any queries you want ironed out.’

Anna was grateful that Langton was ignoring her; she hadn’t yet decided how she would deal with him knowing about her and Gordon. Not that it was any of his business, but she wanted to be prepared for how he might react. It was impossible to predict.

Colin O’Dell looked as if he had slept in his clothes; his jeans and jacket were crumpled and his T-shirt stained. Even his boots looked scuffed and worn. Despite his appearance he was very self-assured, smiling at Anna and Barolli who were to conduct the interview. When he introduced his solicitor, he joked that he was there just for support and to make sure he didn’t make a complete ass of himself.

In total contrast, Scott Myers was wearing a smart collarless suit with a silk scarf wrapped around his neck. He was quiet and rather nervous as he was led down the corridor to the interview room where Langton and Mike Lewis were waiting. They made it clear to him that he was not under arrest but there of his own free will, and they expressed their thanks for his cooperation. He accepted a bottle of water, snaking his scarf free, and sat down opposite Langton. He agreed to answer any questions put to him, but was wondering if he should have brought a solicitor.

‘We can provide you with one, but we are just hoping that you may be able to help us with a few enquiries.’ Langton gave a smile. ‘On the other hand, if you are concerned or if you lied when previously questioned and held back information that could have repercussions…’

‘No, I haven’t lied about anything.’

‘Then there shouldn’t be any problems. We just want to iron out the details regarding your relationship with Amanda Delany.’

‘I explained it all to the detective who interviewed me. We were no longer seeing each other, I wasn’t involved with her in any way.’

‘Yes, we know all that, Mr Myers, but we wondered if there was anything you might have forgotten to tell DI Travis.’

‘Believe you me, nothing about my relationship with Amanda escapes my memory – it was a nightmare,’ Scott said. ‘I left my wife and my children. I must have been out of my mind.’

‘I’m sure your marital situation at the time was very distressing.’

‘That’s putting it mildly. Right now we’re having a battle over money, and Fiona won’t let me see the kids. I have visitation rights, but when I get to the house, she’s taken them out!’

Langton commiserated, letting Myers wind himself up. Mike joined in, saying he had young kids. He could only imagine what it must be like, not to be allowed to see them.

‘It’s the money too, but I really only want the best for us all. I’m not working right now, a movie I was scheduled to start has folded due to lack of finances and so I’m in a legal wrangle with those guys too.’ He gave a charming smile. ‘I’m sorry. You probably don’t want to hear all this.’

‘It’s really a question of clearing up some dates,’ Langton said, and looked at Mike as if to give him a cue to open the file.

‘OK, let’s have a look at this. You stated that you had not been to Miss Delany’s mews house. Is that correct?’

‘I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I was asked about a specific time, the night of Amanda’s death, and I was not there then.’

‘We have a match on your fingerprints, Mr Myers, so you may not have been there on that specific night, but you were at some time inside the house.’

Myers nodded. Then he sighed and twisted the silk scarf around his hands.

‘All right. I said what I said because I didn’t want to get involved. The truth of it is, I was there but only once. When I was told she had been murdered, it made me even more wary of admitting that I’d been there.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, I’ve had a bad deal from the press about my relationship with Amanda and the break-up of my marriage, and I just didn’t want it all to start up again. If it got out that I’d been with her…’

‘What do you mean by being with her?’

‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? Yes, we’d broken up, yes, I wasn’t seeing her and didn’t
want
to see her, but she asked me to meet with her, she said it was important. When I told her I wasn’t interested, she said it was nothing to do with us getting back together.’

‘When exactly was this?’

‘A couple of nights before she was murdered. I’m not sure of the date.’

‘So you went to the house?’

‘Yeah, she was filming, said it was a night shoot and she’d see me there as she wasn’t sure what time she’d be finished.’

Langton left a lengthy pause before asking how Scott would have entered the house if Amanda wasn’t there. Drawing the scarf more tightly round his hands, the actor looked away and swore under his breath before answering.

‘She gave me a key.’

Langton showed no reaction, playing the waiting game again, and Myers continued.

‘Look, I’m sorry. I lied, all right, but I don’t want you getting any ideas that I had anything to do with her murder. It’s freaking me out. She gave me her key when I met her.’

‘So she didn’t just call you for this one meeting?’

‘No, I met her in a café, the reason being I didn’t want to see her again, I didn’t want anything more to do with her, but she insisted. She said that if I didn’t meet her, she’d start calling Fiona and I didn’t want that either, so we met up.’

‘Why didn’t she tell you at this café why she wanted the other meeting?’

‘She wouldn’t tell me what it was all about, just that she needed to talk to me and that it would be . . .’ This time he gave it up. ‘She had cocaine, or said she was scoring some, and that’s why I agreed to go.’

Scott Myers was sweating and fidgeting restlessly as he swore blind that he was now in a programme and wasn’t doing drugs any more. Since that night, he had not scored again as he was trying to get his life back on track.

‘Did you usually score for yourself?’

‘No, I got the gear through Amanda. It’s the truth – I mean, I couldn’t risk it.’

‘How come she was able to get it?’

‘She had a good source; she was always able to get whatever she wanted.’ He suddenly straightened out and folded the scarf on the table. ‘I wasn’t going to get him in on this, but now I think I need to, because whatever I’m telling you is putting me in deeper shit.’

‘Do you want a solicitor present?’

‘No, I don’t need one because, one, I can prove that when she was murdered I have witnesses and an alibi and, two, I admit I went to her mews house and I admit that I’ve lied about that.’

‘Do you still have her front-door key?’

‘No, I tossed it. This makes me sound like a right asshole. I know I should have come clean about it before, but I wasn’t there alone.’

‘At the mews?’

‘Yeah. I wasn’t alone with her, there was someone else there as well. I just haven’t told you because I didn’t want to get him involved.’