'Mrs. Brandon, we need to ask you some questions and then, if you are willing, perhaps later today we will have you taken to identify your husband.'Anna again wondered if this was necessary. They had verification that it was Brandon from his fingerprints; to subject the poor woman to seeing the terrible damage to her husband's face would be a hideous experience.'Yesterday you said you were unsure exactly what work your husband was doing, but we really need to know anything you can tell us. Have you had any further thoughts?'Julia Brandon looked stunned at Cunningham's question.'We need to know what vehicle he was driving.''It was a Volkswagen, but he also drove my car.' Julia rose shakily to her feet and crossed to a large glass-topped cabinet. Opening a drawer, she took out a folder and flicked through it. 'These are his car insurance details.' She passed the folder to Cunningham.'Did your husband have a life insurance policy?''I think so, but I don't know the details. My accountant arranged it—he does everything.''Your accountant?''Yes, he looks after me, us—things like the house insurance. He's also my business adviser.''Business adviser?' Cunningham echoed again. She kept her eyes down as she looked through the file.'Yes.''But you don't work?''No. I have money from my ex-partner for the children.'Anna remained silent. She didn't like the harsh way Cunningham was questioning Julia.'Can you give me his name and address?' Cunningham persisted.'Isn't it on the file you have?' Julia replied. Anna detected a little bit of anger rising.'Ah, yes, good. I'll just copy this down.'At that moment, a tray of coffee was brought in by Mai Ling and placed on the table. She passed the coffee around, then left the room. Cunningham opened a notebook and made some notes.'Were you able to get any sleep last night?' Anna asked Julia, gently.'No.''This must be very distressing for you. I'm sorry we have to be here under these circumstances, but we are trying to ascertain exactly what happened to your husband. Any help you can give us will be really appreciated, and obviously the sooner we have more details, the better.'Julia gave Anna a wan smile, as if thanking her for her quiet comforting voice. 'How did it happen?' she asked nervously.Anna glanced toward Cunningham, who didn't look up from the file, so she continued. 'He was found dead.''I know he's dead, but how did it happen? I don't know what is going on! If you told me last night, I was too shocked to remember anything that you said!' Julia's voice rose; she was losing control.Anna was unsure whether or not Cunningham wanted to take over, but she was paying no attention, still busy reading letters in the folder. 'Your husband died in a flat in Chalk Farm.''A flat? Whose flat?'Cunningham looked up. 'It was a drug dealers' squat, Mrs. Brandon. There is no easy way to give you details without it being very distressing.''Tell me what happened to my husband!''He died from gunshot wounds to his head, face, and heart.''Oh my God.' Julia leaned forward, almost resting her head on her knees.'So you see why we need to know who he was working for. Your husband was not using drugs?'Julia looked up, her eyes like saucers. 'I've no idea.''Didn't he ever mention what work he was doing, or for whom?''No! All I know is, about two or three months ago, he got a job that he was very pleased about, as the pay was so good. He said it was driving and security, and that his past career had made a good impression at the interviews.''Do you have any idea where he went?''No, it was all happening with the house and moving in. I didn'teven ask him. All he said was that it might involve long hours and late nights.'Cunningham sighed. 'Thank you, Mrs. Brandon. Now, I really would appreciate it if you got dressed and accompanied us.''No. I am not leaving the house.''Mrs. Brandon, we do need you to make a formal identification, unless there is someone else that you could ask to do this?'Julia bent her head low again.'What about his parents? Other relatives?''There's no one.' She suddenly tossed her head back and took a deep breath.' I'll do it.'Cunningham finished her coffee while they waited for Julia to dress. She picked up the file and, when she went to the drawer to replace it, Anna saw her checking through the drawer's contents.'She's worth a lot of money,' the woman commented. 'Frank landed on his feet with her.'Anna tensed. Considering what had happened to him, this remark sounded crass in the extreme.'I'm surprised you are getting so uptight, Travis. 1 would have thought after working with Jimmy Langton, you'd be used—'Anna interrupted her. 'I'm sorry. It's just, considering she has only just been told her husband is dead, it feels as if we are being very unsympathetic.''Really .. .Well, how about Mrs. Brandon coming into a half-million-pound life insurance policy?'Anna was taken aback.'You think that she wouldn't know what he was doing? Come on, what do you think? She's a poor little rich girl about to be quite a bit richer. She knows a lot more than she's admitting.'Anna shrugged. 'Well, maybe you'll get more out of her when she sees his body.''Maybe we will, Travis, maybe we will, because right now all we have is a list of vehicles from a kid with autism that might or might not give us a lead. We need one, because we have fuck all, in case you're not aware of it!'
Anna reckoned it was best to keep her mouth shut. Cunningham was not someone she wanted to tangle with at this stage of the investigation.
It was half an hour before Julia Brandon rejoined them. She was dressed in a Chanel suit and high heels, her hair swept back into a pleat with a comb. Anna noticed she also wore a very large square-cut diamond on her ring finger and diamond-stud earrings. She had a pink-and-gold designer handbag that must have cost around four or five hundred pounds. Her makeup was immaculate and she seemed very much in control of her emotions. She insisted on calling her financial adviser, which took another ten minutes as she quietly gave him the details of why she needed him to meet her at the mortuary. She also spoke to Mai Ling about the children.
It was almost an hour before they departed. Anna helped Julia into the back of the patrol car. Cunningham sat in the front seat with their driver. Throughout the wait, she had been on her BlackBerry. Anna could barely get a handle on her. She seemed to behave as if there was no one else around and paid little attention to the well- dressed widow.
When they reached the mortuary, a smartly attired, rather polished man was waiting. He had a deeply tanned face and his balding head was almost as shiny as his flamboyant tie. As soon as Julia saw him, she gave a light cry and ran toward him. He held her in his arms, comforting her. Then Julia broke away from him, but still held tightly to his arm. She introduced him.
'This is David Rushton.'
Rushton held out his hand to shake Cunningham's. She then wafted her hand to Anna, and he looked at her with a woeful expression.
'This is a terrible thing. I'm hardly able to believe it,' he said. He asked if he could accompany Julia to see her husband's body. Cunningham agreed and, taking Anna to one side, told her to deal with the viewing as she had calls to make.
Anna hoped that the terrible injuries to Frank's face had somehow been fixed. The three of them entered the cold, bare room where a mortuary assistant was waiting. Rushton guided Julia toward the body. Anna stood to one side and quietly asked Julia to look at the body, and say if it was Frank Brandon.Julia clung onto Rushton as the cloth was eased away from her husband's face. She stared down; her face was drained of color, her breath coming in short sharp hisses.'It is Frank, isn't it?' she whispered.Rushton held her gently and nodded.Anna guided them out of the room, still feeling that it was unnecessary to have put the widow through the process. Rushton drove Julia away in his new Mercedes, having agreed that he would return to the station later that afternoon to talk with Cunningham.Cunningham was standing, arms folded, in front of the incident board as everyone gathered. By now Anna had met three of the team: DS Phil Markham, who was a big, square-chested man with iron-gray hair, an old pro; DC Pamela Meadows, who was pleasant enough, with bad acne; and DC Mario Paluzzo, a part-Italian, swarthy-faced officer who had hardly given Anna the time of day.'Right, everyone, listen up. We're doing quite well tracking down the owners of these vehicles. So far we don't have any with a police record, but we'll be running them by the Drug Squad in case they have any information that's not on the database. As you can see, we still have around twenty more to track down, so maybe one of those will give us a lead that'll tell us what he was driving—or who.'We don't know what work our victim was doing, or who for. We think it was some kind of security chauffeur- type job, but we're hoping to get more on this when the family accountant comes in later. We are waiting, as usual, on the forensic department to bring in their results, though I know they took a lot of prints. As yet, we haven't got the full ballistic report, but we do know he wasn't using drugs, so he wasn't at the squat to score for himself.'Cunningham went on to detail the fact that Frank's widow was wealthy and would gain a half million on life insurance payouts. She described the Wimbledon home, mentioned the two little girls and the ex-partner.Anna listened intently, surprised that Cunningham seemed to have some suspicion regarding Julia Brandon. Before the DCI wound down, they were interrupted by a visitor from the forensic lab.Cunningham smiled broadly as he approached. 'Well, we
