The Red Dahlia

Lewis stood up, but Anna was not ready to go. She asked Valerie if she could describe Mr Edwards's voice.

'Describe the way he spoke, you mean?'

'Yes.'

'Well, he sounded a bit like my father: quite pompous, upper-crust, but nice at the same time.'

'Could you repeat the conversation you had with him?'

'Well we didn't really have much of a conversation; he just asked me what previous work I had been doing, and if I had a CV he could check. He wanted to know if he could contact anyone to check me out, I suppose. He asked me about my shorthand speed and I said it was a bit rusty, but that I'd worked in a film production office as a runner.'

'Did you ask him what the job entailed?'

Valerie nodded. 'He said it would be transcribing his novel. He said that it would also involve a lot of travel, because it was a book set all over the world, and that it was really very much a personal assistant requirement rather than a straight secretary. He asked if I had a passport and if I was married, as he needed someone that could travel at a moment's notice.'

Anna smiled. 'It must have sounded like a really interesting job.'

Valerie nodded, and then swung her foot in the big furry boot. 'There was something odd though, which is I suppose why you are asking me about him.'

'What was odd?' Anna said quickly.

'Well he asked if I had a boyfriend and did I look like my photograph. When I told my Dad about it, he said it all sounded a bit iffy to him.'

'Did you try and make contact with Mr Edwards again?'

Valerie shook her head. 'I couldn't be bothered.'

On their way to Putney, Anna and Lewis stopped off at the Kensington Park Hotel. The vestibule was as Valerie had described it: very large, with many guests passing to and fro.

'He could have been watching from any of these sofas or at the coffee bar. You can see anyone coming in or out of the hotel.'

'She had too many people around her,' Lewis said, flatly.

'She also doesn't look like the Black Dahlia victim,' Anna said, as they headed out of the hotel.

Nicola Formby bore no physical resemblance to Elizabeth Short either, bar to her surname: she was not even as tall as Anna, who was only five feet two. Aside from the height issue, she also differed from Valerie in that she was quite highly qualified, having been a PA to a company director for three years; however, when they met Nicola at her flat, she described almost an identical scenario: she had been unable to meet the 'very pleasant, well-spoken man' straight away because of a migraine; she therefore asked if she could contact him when she was recovered. She had sent a photograph and CV care of the box number, and called a few days later to arrange to meet. She was to meet him in the lobby vestibule at two o'clock, this time at the Grosvenor Hotel in Park Lane.

Nicola Formby had been on time, unlike Valerie three days earlier. She had waited over three quarters of an hour sitting in the reception. She had also gone up to the desk to ask if a Mr Edwards had left a message for her, but he had not. Nicola called the number she had taken from the advert but it had been disconnected so, disappointed, she decided to leave. She then realised that there was another entrance at the other side of the hotel and waited there for another ten minutes, but no one approached her. Nicola had neither seen nor spoken to a tall dark-haired man, with or without a long dark draped coat. When shown the drawing of the possible suspect, she was unable to recognise him.

It was as disappointing as Valerie's interview and showed yet again how very carefully their suspect, if he was Mr Edwards, had targeted the hopeful applicants. He must have been able to see them clearly and discard them without ever having shown them his face.

'What has he done?' Nicola asked, looking at the card Anna had given her.

'We're not certain Mr Edwards has done anything,' Lewis said.

'Is he a rapist or something like that?'

Anna hesitated; she knew intuitively that Nicola could give them something more. Even though she and Lewis had agreed that they would not mention Louise's murder, she sat back down and opened her briefcase. 'We are actually investigating a murder. This is the victim; her name was Louise Pennel.'

Lewis shot Anna a look as she handed over a photograph of Louise.

'And you think this man I was supposed to see is connected to it?'

'Possibly.'

There was a sharp intake of breath as Nicola looked at the photograph.

'There was another girl there, at the hotel. I can't be certain, but I think she was waiting for him too.'

Anna could feel her blood rush. 'Do you recognise her?

'I'm not sure, but it could have been her. She arrived at the hotel about twenty minutes after me. She kept on looking around as if she was waiting for someone, and I saw her go up to the desk.'

Anna leaned forwards. 'The Grosvenor is a very big hotel, very exclusive and fashionable. Why do you think she might have been waiting for the same person as you?'

'Because I saw the clerk at the desk point to me, as if to say, she's also waiting. The girl looked over to me then turned away and went further into the lobby. That's when I wondered if I'd got the wrong entrance, because a few years ago I came to a big ball and we came in another way.'

Anna and Lewis almost held their breath. Nicola continued.

'When I got to the back entrance, I saw her heading up the escalator. She turned back and looked at me again and then carried on up to the next floor. That was when I thought maybe I was wrong, you know about her meeting the same person, this Mr Edwards.'

Anna selected two more photographs and passed them to Nicola. 'Have another look, take your time. Do you think this is the girl you saw?'

Nicola sighed apologetically. 'I'm sorry, I can't be certain. It looks like her, but I couldn't be one hundred per cent sure.'

'Do you recall anything else; maybe what she was wearing?'

'Oh yes I do, I remember that, because it was a very hot day and she was wearing a woollen coat. It was a deep maroon and it had a velvet collar. She also had high-heeled shoes on and she was carrying a small clutch bag under her arm.'

Anna was astonished. 'How come you can remember all that so clearly?'

'Part of my job when I worked for an advertising company was buying stuff for commercial shoots. I suppose it really was more like a glorified dresser, but it did teach me a lot about clothes. Maybe that's why I can't remember her face; I was looking at her coat.'

It was almost six-thirty by the time Anna and Lewis returned to the station and past seven when they finished briefing Langton as to how the interviews had gone.

'I'd say it was our victim and Anna agrees.' Lewis nodded towards her.

Langton was tapping a pencil on the side of his desk. 'Did you enquire if this Mr Edwards booked a room in either of the hotels?'

'Yep, and there was no one of that name.'

'So, what, after all that schlepping around, do we have?'

Anna flipped her notebook closed. 'That Louise Pennel met this Mr Edwards on 10th June and a couple of days later moved into Sharon's flat. Her wages from the dental clinic would not have covered the rent per week.'

Langton ruffled his hair. 'So you think she was being paid by this Mr Edwards?'

'Maybe; she got new clothes, some very expensive.'

'But if she got the job working for him, why did she stay at the clinic?'

Anna shrugged. 'Maybe this Mr Edwards was just schooling her for his perversions. She was often late, often hung over at work and didn't seem to care even when she was warned she'd be fired. Sharon said at one time she had bad bruises on her arms. And a black eye, which Louise put down to falling at work.'