The Red Dahlia (13 page)

‘You mean that we now know he wore a ring on his pinky finger? That’s a very big lead, Travis!’

He was beginning to really annoy her. ‘Add it to the drawing, which got the result from the landlady. We have a tall dark-haired man; the ring might help us.’

‘To do what exactly? If we put it in print, it might also tip him off to remove it!’ Langton leaned back and lit a cigarette; he squinted at her as the smoke trailed from his lips. ‘If we are to go with the copycat theory, then the next person our killer will contact will be me! After sending the package to the LA journalist, he then wrote to what they called the Examiner. In our case it will be me as I am heading up the enquiry, and the letter should be here tomorrow.’

Langton always surprised her. She hadn’t realised that he was paying that much attention to the Black Dahlia copycat theory. There was a long pause as he inhaled deeply, and then wafted his hand to get rid of the cigarette smoke. She hesitated for a moment; he looked up and stared at her. ‘What?’

‘Do you think we should put out more press? Keeping silent has not really worked, has it? I mean, I know you are being guided by Professor Marshe, but this is not LA in 1947. We have far more chance of him entrapping himself if we give him enough rope. There’s been nothing in the papers for days.’

Langton stubbed out his cigarette. ‘You don’t rate her, is that it?’

‘I didn’t say that. I just mean that the risk we are taking is that he might be forced into proving himself by killing again, simply because he has not been able to read about how clever he is.’

Lewis tapped and poked his head round the door.

‘The address book; you want to come in and give us a rap on what you want us to do? We maybe need some more help if you want every address checked out.’

Lewis left the door open. As Langton left his desk and passed Anna, he swung it open wider. ‘After you.’

Anna collected her briefcase and notebook. ‘Thank you. Professor Marshe is obviously working on your social skills.’

‘What?’

Anna scooted out ahead of him, pretending that she hadn’t heard.

Pasted up along a board were the pages blown up from Louise Pennel’s address book. The first page had her name in looped writing, like a child’s. As they had been told at the lab, different pens had been used — sometimes a Biro, sometimes a felt-tip pen — other names and addresses were written in pencil and some even in a red crayon. They were not in alphabetical order, but jotted haphazardly. Some had been crossed out; others were scribbled over. They had also blown up the jagged edges where pages had been torn out from the back of the book; these would have been the most recent, and more than likely had the killer’s name and address.

Questioning all those people listed would mean hours of legwork, tracing them and taking statements. A number of names and addresses would turn out to be obsolete, people having moved on elsewhere. Everyone would have their work cut out; it would be tedious and painstaking. Anna moved along the board, doubtful they would gain anything: she was certain the most relevant pages were the ones missing. After they had discussed who was doing what, a tetchy Langton drew up further instructions on how they should go about tracing the advert they believed their killer had placed. They had asked Sharon what papers Louise had read, but she couldn’t recall ever having seen her with one. Langton suggested they check out the waiting room at the dental surgery where Louise had worked.

It felt like the killer was looking over their shoulders and laughing at their lack of results; however, by the end of the day they knew that Louise would often sit in the reception area of the dentist’s and read the newspapers. The surgery only had The Times delivered, as the dentist read it himself. They had tracked down twenty-five per cent of the people whose names and addresses were in Louise Pennel’s book, and the phones were hopping as the detectives prepared to meet every single one of them. Anna had also contacted Mrs Hughes, who agreed without hesitation that the clutch bag with the suede flower motif was the one she had given to Louise Pennel.

DAY FIFTEEN

Anna arrived at her desk the following morning to a flurry of excitement. It was obvious something was going down: the Commander was in with Langton.

He had received a postcard, sent care of the station. It was bagged immediately and sent over to the lab for them to check out. It was a mixture of handwriting and cut-out newspaper letters.

18 days. I Was haVinG My fuN witH the MeTroPoliTan Police, but noW GettinG very Bored. Signed, the Red DAhliA AvEnger.

Barolli copied it out on the board in thick red letters; everyone knew there was pressure coming down on Langton. After ten minutes, the ‘big noise’ departed and Langton came out of his office. His five-o’clock shadow looked as dark as a beard; his tie was hanging loose and he had a cigarette stuck in the side of his mouth.

He didn’t have to ask for quiet as he stood in front of the killer’s message. He took a deep drag of the cigarette and stubbed it out in an old ashtray on the side of Lewis’s desk.

‘I have been instructed by the big shots to respond to this message. Professor Marshe also agrees that, as this maniac is attempting to copycat the killer of Elizabeth Short, we should now feed his ego and play his game. The killer of the Black Dahlia sent a virtually identical message to the LA Examiner. Against my own gut feeling, I am to give the following message in a press release.’ Langton dug his hands deep into his pockets and recited without emotion, ‘If you want to surrender, as indicated by your postcard, I will meet you at any public location at any time; please give details to the Incident Room at Richmond police station.’

Langton nodded to indicate the briefing was over and headed back into his office. He passed Anna and gave her a cold, dismissive look. She stood up.

‘What are you looking at me like that for?’

‘Talk to your fucking boyfriend.’

Langton slammed into his office. Anna had no idea what he was talking about. She hurried over to DI Lewis. ‘What’s going on?’

Lewis shrugged. ‘All I know is, the editor of your pal’s newspaper has some very heavy-duty friends. The Gov gets the Commander on his back, and even with Professor Marshe batting for him, they’ve given him the order to go public and he doesn’t like it.’

‘It’s nothing to do with me!’

Lewis turned away. ‘Your boyfriend is going to break the story; be headlined this weekend.’

Anna returned to her desk. She sat for a moment and then packed her briefcase. She called Dick Reynolds and asked if she could cook dinner for him that evening. He said he would be there by eight. Neither of them mentioned anything about the Dahlia story. Anna went up to the duty sergeant and asked if it was okay for her to leave as she had a migraine. He looked at her and grinned.

‘If you haven’t got one, you will have. Is it true your boyfriend’s the journalist Dick Reynolds?’

‘He is not my boyfriend!’

Anna banged out of the Incident Room and sat in her car to cool down, then drove home, stopping on the way to buy some groceries. She had decided to make spaghetti bolognaise, nothing special; well, she had decided Mr Reynolds didn’t warrant her best culinary offering. She would really like to wring his neck; he had now placed her in a very difficult situation, but it was one she was determined she would rectify, otherwise working alongside Langton would be impossible. Truth was, she had hardly ever thought of Langton over the past eighteen months, but when he had walked into the Incident Room to take over the case, it was as if it was hours ago, not that he had ever acknowledged their history. Anna Travis was not the usual type that DCI James Langton was known to fall for. They were more like the long-legged Professor Marshe. He had a terrible reputation and she had not been prepared to be another notch on his belt, but that didn’t mean she didn’t still have feelings for him; she did, very strong ones, and it annoyed the hell out of her that she should be thinking of them.

‘Christ,’ she muttered to herself, as she dumped her shopping down on the draining board. ‘I fucking hate him!’

As she chopped up the onions and began to make the spaghetti sauce, she calmed down. If Reynolds had used her to get more details of the case, this could prove embarrassing. She prepared the dinner, and then took a shower. She got into an old sweater and jeans and didn’t even bother re-doing her make-up; she was getting ready to tear a strip off Reynolds.

‘Thank Christ I didn’t sleep with him,’ she muttered, as she opened a cheap bottle of plonk. She filled her glass and sat watching the TV.

‘Bastard,’ she muttered. Then she checked her watch: he was due any minute, so she returned to the kitchen. The sauce was bubbling away. She was ready for Mr Reynolds.

Chapter Seven

The table in the lounge was laid for dinner; she didn’t have a dining room. It was no candlelit romantic setting; though she did have candles, she had no intention of making this evening pleasant. She had the TV still on, the plates warming and everything ready to serve at eight-fifteen. At nine-fifteen Reynolds still had not shown. She was about to eat by herself when the intercom went.

He came charging up the stairs with a large bouquet of cheapo supermarket roses and a bottle of red wine.

‘Sorry I’m late, but something cropped up. I was going to call but thought you might have blown me out.’ He grinned and handed over his gifts.

‘I might well have done,’ she said, moving away from him as he went to kiss her cheek. ‘Go on through into the lounge. I’ll dish up straight away. I am starving.’

‘Me too,’ he said, shrugging out of his suede coat and tossing it onto the floor by the front door. ‘Do you want me to open the wine?’

‘Bottle open on the table,’ she said, banging around the kitchen as she put the garlic bread into the oven.

He did at least wait to start eating before she sat down, though he had consumed a glass of wine and was already pouring another. ‘Cheers, and I’m sorry to be so late.’

‘That’s all right.’ They touched their glasses and he then tucked in with relish.

‘This is delicious,’ he said, with his mouth full.

She responded by serving him some salad on a side plate.

‘Do I detect a slight frost in the air?’

‘You do, but let’s finish eating.’

‘I think I know what it’s about,’ he said, winding the spaghetti round his fork.

‘I should think you do. It’s made things very difficult for me.’

‘How come?’

She put down her fork and sat back. ‘You were asked not to go to press on the Red Dahlia note or the package. I was told tonight that, despite being warned that it would be detrimental to our enquiry, you are going to press regardless: so how do you think I feel? Especially as DCI Langton is more than aware that we are friends, from seeing us together in that restaurant. He actually thinks we have some kind of relationship; he had a right go at me.’

‘Did he?’ Reynolds wiped his plate with a piece of garlic bread.

‘Do you have any idea what repercussions this could have? We have maintained a low profile for a bloody good reason.’

‘Tell me about it.’ He wasn’t smiling any more.

‘We have a suspect, one we believe is a very dangerous man—’

‘Or not,’ he interrupted arrogantly.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Well you may have a suspect, but from what I gather, you are nowhere near identifying him.’

‘You gather incorrectly!’ she snapped.

‘Then I apologise. Who is he?’

She pushed her plate aside and wiped her mouth with her napkin. ‘You really imagine I’d disclose that kind of information? Our investigation has nothing whatsoever to do with you!’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, really!’ She was beginning to lose her cool.

‘So the conversation I had with your possible suspect was no help? And the package that was sent to me, that I could have chosen not to contact you about? I was, if you recall, witness to the contents.’

‘Yes you were and, as I recall, you were also requested not to go to press on either. I have told you: this killer is very dangerous.’

‘I am aware of that; I have read up on the Black Dahlia.’

She whipped his plate away, picked up her own and stalked into the kitchen. ‘DCI Langton warned you. He’ll be coming down on you tomorrow like a ton of—’ She dropped the top plate and swore.

Reynolds came into the kitchen as she was picking up the pieces of plate. ‘So you think this is all down to me, do you?’

She threw the broken china into the bin. ‘Of course I do!’

She opened the fridge and took out some pieces of cheese, then dumped them, still in the wrappers, onto a cheeseboard. ‘Can you take this through for me?’

He snatched the board and walked out. She turned the coffee percolator on and carried a biscuit tin after him into the lounge. She banged it down on the table. ‘Help yourself.’

‘Thank you. Entertain often, do you?’

‘This is not funny.’ Anna drained her glass of wine and poured another.

‘Do you want cheese?’ he asked, delving around to find a cracker he liked.

‘No.’

Anna watched as he munched his cheese. He was a very good-looking man; right now, however, the expression in his intensely blue eyes was icy.

‘You calmed down?’

‘Yes,’ she said, grudgingly.

‘Right.’ He refilled his glass and took a sip before carefully placing it down. ‘I had nothing to do with the article that will be coming out at the weekend. Just as you have a boss, a.k.a. DCI Langton, I also have a boss: the editor of the paper. She’s a very strong-willed woman. She was at some big function for all the bigwigs the day we were at the forensic lab: politicians and crimebusters. Their guest speaker was a Professor Marshe.’

Anna stopped sulking and started listening.

‘It appears that your esteemed United States profiler had a lengthy conversation with my editor. Apparently, she even mentioned the fact that we had met at the forensic lab; seemed quite taken with me!’ He smiled but Anna was not amused. His tone became more serious. ‘I never let any cat out of the bag, Anna. I had a furious editor giving me a lengthy ticking off for sitting on what would be a centre-page spread, if not a headliner. I got another tirade for not telling her what was going on.’