‘As if he was drugged?’
‘I dunno, ma’am; just he was crawling up the wall with terror.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘He went all quiet — stiff like — staring up at the wall. Oh yeah, when I looked in on him, you know, to check him out, he did this.’ Harris lifted his hand and pointed with his finger, then made a circular motion. ‘As if he was pointing at a clock.’
‘So what happened then?’
‘DCI Langton came down and said he wanted a doctor for him asap.’
‘So, during the wait before the doctor arrived, what did Camorra do?’
‘Nothing. He just lay there on his bunk staring up at the ceiling.’
‘Like a zombie?’ Anna asked innocently.
‘Yeah, that’s how I’d describe him.’
‘Thank you very much.’
Anna drove away from the station. At least she had one visit she was looking forward to.
She had asked, as it was a weekend, if she could see Gail’s children. Dora let her in, and said she was just about to make some tea. The children were in her jumbled lounge. Anna walked in to see the little girl in a rah-rah skirt, wearing Carly Ann’s gold chain round her neck and playing with a massive dolls’ house. Keith beamed at Anna; he was wearing a police helmet and uniform.
‘My, you look terrific,’ she said, as he pranced in front of her.
‘I got the bad man,’ he said.
‘Yes, you did,’ Anna said, sitting on a cushion. She turned as Dora brought in a tray of Coca-Cola and tea, with a plate of chocolate biscuits. ‘I was just congratulating Keith on how he helped capture the bad man.’
‘Yes. He’s been given that uniform and all sorts of things, from handcuffs to charge sheets; he’s a proper detective now. And he’s going to be nominated for a bravery award. We also got lots of Barbie dolls and a Barbie house.’
Anna knew, without being told, who had bought the children their new acquisitions.
‘James Langton — he’s a special guy, isn’t he?’ Dora said happily.
Anna nodded. Dora asked what should be done with the jewellery left by Carly Ann. Anna said that, to her knowledge, no one was claiming it; as the children would need so many things, perhaps it could be sold to help finances.
Driving away, Anna knew she’d just bent the rules but she felt that, in these circumstances, it was acceptable. Yet again, her mind returned to Langton; although she had just done something unethical, she could hardly put it in the same league. She sighed. Do it once and it would be easier the next time!
As she let herself into her flat the phone rang. She dumped her coat and picked it up.
‘Hi.’ It was Langton.
She had to sit down. ‘Hi, how’s things?’ she asked.
‘Good, how about you?’
‘Fine, just getting ready for the next case, whatever that may be.’
‘Yeah. I’m off to France for a couple of weeks with the kids. I need a breather — well, not that I’ll get that with Kitty and Tommy, but there’s a health spa, so I can get some feelgood time.’
‘That’s great.’
‘So, I was wondering if we could have that dinner? Maybe make a reservation now?’
‘Yes, why not.’
Langton arranged to see her the day after he returned. He would collect her at eight.
‘I won’t be late,’ he said, laughing.
Anna felt as if she could do with two weeks in a spa herself. Over the course of the fortnight, her suspicions became less of an immediate worry; in fact, she began to think that she should, as Barolli had suggested, put them to rest.
There was some good news: Ella Sickert’s other child had been traced to a couple living in Birmingham. They ran a sandwich bar; the child was working for them and having very little schooling. The couple insisted that they had taken him in as a favour to his aunt, who had been unable to control him. The so-called aunt was tracked down: she was a known prostitute, living with a smalltime drug dealer in a rundown high-rise block of flats. If the child had been used for sexual favours, he showed no signs of physical abuse; however, he was aggressive and abusive and, when the police arrived, he went into a frenzy. They finally discovered that, along with his brother, he had been taken to the house in Peckham. He stayed there only a matter of weeks before he was sent to his aunt in Birmingham. He had never seen his father as he was promised, and had not seen his brother after he left Peckham. It took a considerable amount of counselling and therapy before he admitted to being drugged and used by men who came to the brothel. There was a pile of fake immigration documents which, yet again, led back to Camorra and Orso. All others involved were arrested and charged.
After weeks of waiting, Ella was reunited with her son. It was never going to be easy. He rejected her totally and blamed her for all the abuse he had suffered. There would be a further lengthy period of legal paperwork before the deportation order came through for Ella and her son to return home.
The autumn weather was very warm, and Anna was still waiting to be assigned a new case. The two weeks flew past and she suddenly realized that she had agreed to have dinner with Langton. She was not looking forward to it.
Langton called to ask whether, as it was such a beautiful day, they could switch dinner to lunch. She agreed.
She dressed in a simple white suit and high heels; she’d had her hair cut very short and the sun had brought out her hated freckles over her nose. She put a bottle of Chablis in the fridge. At promptly one o’clock, the doorbell rang.
Anna was taken aback. Langton looked fantastic; he was deeply tanned and was wearing a pale blue suit with a white T-shirt beneath it. He also carried a bunch of white roses.
‘For you,’ he said, with a mock bow.
He followed her into the kitchen as she took a vase and filled it with water. She arranged the flowers and took them into the lounge.
‘I see you’ve caught the sun, or your nose has,’ he joked.
‘This is just from the sunroof in the car. I can’t really sunbathe, I just go bright red.’
‘Kitty is brown as a berry, even little Tommy. We had glorious weather, swam every day — sauna, massage. Did the trick — I feel terrific.’
‘You look it,’ she said.
‘Right — you hungry?’
‘Yeah. Where are we going?’
‘As it’s such a nice day, I thought we’d drive to Sunbury — you know, just before Shepperton? There’s a lovely pub; they serve good food and we can sit outside and eat.’
‘Sounds good.’
It was quite a long drive. Anna took the Mini. Langton sat beside her, complaining about the legroom, as always. They drove through Richmond, over the bridge, and headed towards Sunbury. He kept up a light conversation about the holiday and the food, saying he’d put on weight with the breakfast croissants, three-course lunches and then late dinners — the best food he’d ever eaten.
They went down the winding lane to the large pub, which faced the water. He chose a table outside and then picked up the menu.
‘You want a salad? And they have good steak and chips.’
‘Yes, fine.’
He ordered at the bar inside and came out with two glasses of red wine and a large spoon with a number on it, which he stuck into the pot provided. ‘They’ll call our number when it’s ready.’
‘You obviously know this place well,’ she said, making conversation.
‘Yes, it used to be a regular haunt when I was married.’ He picked up his wine glass and tapped hers. ‘Cheers.’
‘Cheers,’ she said quietly.
‘So, Anna, what have you been up to?’
‘Waiting to hear what my next case is; cleaning up the flat. I like everything all—’