The Red Dahlia

'We've been discussing the phone taps on the Wickenham family. Lewis thinks that Charles knows we're monitoring his calls: he's very cagey and abrupt, unless it's something innocuous.'

He turned to Lewis and gestured to the tape recorder.

Each call had been numbered. Langton asked him to play a specific one for Anna's benefit: it was a recording of Edward and Charles Wickenham talking. Wickenham senior's voice was harsh and angry.

'I fucking said there was something wrong with him when I last had him out. Why you can't do a simple thing like get the fucking vet to see to him? He's lame now, a lot worse than he was, and that's down to your stupidity; why can't you just do what I tell you, when I tell you to do it?'

'I'm sorry. I had to go and collect Gail.'

'Why couldn't she get a car and get herself home? She's a bloody liability. What she needs is therapy, not a few weeks in a health spa.'

'She's fine now.'

'I hope to Christ she is. You keep her in line: you give her too much rope — mind you, if you gave her more, she'd probably hang herself the stupid bitch.'

'It's her nerves.'

'Well, that doesn't interest me; what does is that the horse won't be able to hunt for at least a month, so get him sorted out, never mind your bloody girlfriend.'

'She wants to get married.'

'What?'

'I said, she wants me to marry her.'

'I would say after your last disastrous marriage, it's the last thing you want to do.'

'Maybe I should.'

'Maybe you should? Why, exactly? She lives with you; she gets whatever she wants'

'She's very nervous.'

'Well, for Chrissakes, shut the stupid bitch up.'

'That's why I should marry her.'

There was a long pause; then Wickenham sighed. 'You do whatever you need to do, Edward. She has to be controlled, and if the way to do it is by marrying her, then go ahead.'

'I don't know what to do, Pa.'

'Have you ever? Let me think about it.'

Charles slammed the phone down, leaving Edward still on the line; he sighed before hanging up too.

Langton twisted his pen round and round. 'We need to talk to Edward's proposed bride. Pop sounds like a real tetchy son of a bitch, doesn't he, Travis?'

Anna looked up from her note-taking. 'Yes; maybe the horse he was referring to was the one we saw him on the day we were at the Hall?'

Langton glared at her.

'If it is, we have a timeframe,' she continued.

Langton ignored her, resting his elbows on the table. 'Reading between the lines about the proposed daughter-in-law's problems, keeping her under control, etcetera, I wonder if she is the anonymous caller that tipped us off.' He nodded to Lewis, asking for call sixteen to be played.

This was the most recent call they had on tape: it was from Dominique. It was very brief and she sounded tense and angry, especially when Wickenham said he couldn't talk to her.

'Well, I need to talk to you, Charles, so don't ring off, because if you do I will simply keep calling you back until you do talk to me. The police were at my apartment today and they were asking me a lot of questions about…'

'Shut up!'

'What?'

'I said shut up! If you wait a few minutes, I'll be able to call you back, not on your land phone.'

'What does that mean?'

'I'll call you on your mobile, your cell phone, Dominique; I can't talk to you at the house.'

'They were asking me all these questions, first about Emily…'

'Not now: later.'

The phone went dead.

Langton spread out his fingers flat on the tabletop. 'It's obvious he knows we're taping him.' He looked at Anna. 'This was as far as we'd got before your late arrival, so now we can concentrate on the other calls: one in particular.'

He nodded to Lewis again. It was Edward Wickenham talking to his girlfriend Gail.

'I'll be there to collect you. You might have to wait, as father wants me to do some errands, but it shouldn't be too long.'

'Like how long? You knew I was leaving here today.'

Bridget put up her hand. Lewis stopped the tape.

'That's her: that's the woman that called the station. I'm sure of it.'

Langton looked at Anna who shook her head. 'Could I hear a bit more? It does sound like her.'

The tape continued.

'Can't you ask your father to do whatever needs doing later? He just makes you run around after him all the time.'

'He pays the bills, Gail.'

'I know; I know that.'

'So just wait: I'll be there!'

The call ended and Anna nodded. 'Yes, I'd say it's her. Have we done a voice match on the calls that came in to be one hundred per cent sure?'

Barolli looked at his watch. 'We only got this in last night, so they might not have got it together yet. Want me to check?'

Langton wafted his hand. 'Later. Let's hear the rest and then get up to speed all round on what we came up with in Milan.'

They all listened to calls between Emily and Justine Wickenham. There was nothing suspicious and nothing that linked to their enquiry; they just talked about a party for some friend and the dinner menu, with Justine giving Emily a cooking class over the telephone. The sisters were quite at ease with one another; Emily appeared to be very much calmer than when they had interviewed her.

The team listened to call after call for over fifty minutes, then Lewis stopped the tape. 'This one is interesting, though a bit indistinct, so we are having it cleaned up. It's a call from Emily's mobile to Justine's land line.'

'Do you know what time it is?' Justine was asking.

'Yes.' This was very blurred and slurred.

'Where are you?'

'I'm at a party.' Again, this was hardly audible.

'Are you drunk? Ems, are you drunk or something? Hello, are you there? Emily, where are you?'

'I want to kill him!' came the high-pitched scream.

'For Chrissakes, Emily, where are you? I can come and get you.'

'No! I don't want you to see me, I just need some …' It was then a totally incoherent ramble of slurred words with long pauses in between.

'Em, are you with someone?'

'Yes.'

'Are they a nice person? Are they looking after you?'

Emily laughed, a strange and hollow sound, devoid of any humour. 'Are they nice?'

'You know what I mean, Em. You're not being taken advantage of, are you?'

'Would it matter? I've been taken advantage of since I was fucking ten years old, so what the fuck does it matter where I am? I am going to pay him back, Justine: one day, I'll pay him back.'

'By getting drunk and acting dumb?'

'Shut up!'

'You bloody called me, Em, so don't tell me to shut up. I am trying to help you. If you tell me where you are, I'll come and get you.'

'You'll see. I'll get him. I'll make him pay. Danielle will help me.'

Anna looked across at Langton on hearing this.

Justine's voice became lower, almost threatening. 'You be very careful what you tell her. I mean it, Em: you have no idea what Daddy can do.'

'Yes I have. I bloody know!'

'Then listen to me: keep your mouth shut. I've already had Mother on the phone: the police were asking questions about you. That woman detective was in Milan. I warned you about saying anything to the police.'