'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.'
'I didn't tell them anything!' Emily was crying.
'Then from now on, refuse to speak to them unless I am with you. Just do what you are told to do, otherwise terrible things will happen!'
Emily was sobbing, her voice hardly audible. 'They already have happened. There's nothing anyone could do to me that would be worse.'
And then she hung up. The team sat in silence.
'Bit like father like daughter,' said Langton. 'She's a piece of work, Justine Wickenham; from what we were able to discover in Milan, she is not an innocent: far from it.' He showed the team the photographs.
Although it was Anna who had talked to Danielle, Langton talked them through the details of their conversation. 'We are certain that Danielle has no idea about the murder enquiry. She thought we were there regarding Wickenham's sexual antics with Emily. Though we've got photographs of him and Justine rather than Emily, the maid was very concerned about her and with good bloody reason. She wants him punished! I think that goes for all of us; the question is how we go about drawing the net over his sickening head. We have it raised, but we still need more concrete evidence: a lot of what we have is hearsay and won't hold up in court. We need confirmation that Louise Pennel was at that house and that he has lied about not knowing her; someone there must have seen her and I think that someone could be the son's girlfriend. We now need to question Edward Wickenham and Gail Harrington, but we have to be very careful as the son could also be implicated; he may be a partner in his father's perversions.'
Lewis tapped the photograph of Edward and Dominique Wickenham. 'I'd say he's very much a part of it: he's screwing his stepmother!'
Langton nodded and tapped the other photographs. 'Let's see if we can identify these other guys.'
They went on to discuss getting a search warrant for the Hall; Langton said they could get one any time, but he wanted to hold off until he had some firm evidence. The meeting broke up and the team regrouped in the Incident Room. Langton asked Anna to join him in his office; she asked if she could first finish typing up her report. He shrugged and walked off with Lewis. When she headed over a short while later, the door was ajar: she could hear their conversation clearly.
'She was at the airport! Ruddy woman gets everywhere; anyway, it proved to be worthwhile, as she filled in some details about Mrs Wickenham the exotic dancer. I have to hand it to her, she's a really devious woman. She could get blood out of a stone; well, I know she can — she got me to take her to dinner. She wanted to go to this place called Bebel's on the Via San Marco. It cost a fortune. Good job it was worthwhile: my expenses went through the roof
So Anna had been wrong about Langton and Professor Marshe after all: it had been a coincidence. She tapped on the open door and Lewis turned.
'See you later then.' He passed Anna.
'Shut the door, Travis,' Langton said, loosening his tie.
