anyway.'
Langton chuckled and wiped his shirt front. 'No flies on me!'
Lewis and Langton were closeted in his office, working on 'the hit', when they would search Wickenham's estate. It had to be carefully orchestrated, and they needed a lot of extra hands to ensure nothing was overlooked.
Anna spent the rest of the afternoon writing up her official report and when it came to just after six, she decided to call it quits for the day. She had just packed up when Barolli called over to ask if she was going to interview Emily Wickenham as per the duty list for that day. Anna sighed.
'I can do it on my way home, I suppose.'
Anna called Emily Wickenham twice and hung up when her answerphone clicked on. She decided to do some grocery shopping and try again afterwards, so she packed up her briefcase and left.
She was driving out of the station car park when the call came in to the Incident Room from the forensic team. They had discovered blood spatterings in the bathroom of Justine Wickenham's flat. They were taking the samples to the lab, but wanted one of the team over at the flat. As soon as Langton was told the update, he was eager to get over there himself; this was possibly the big break they had been waiting for.
Langton and Barolli arrived at Justine Wickenham's flat which was owned by the woman who ran the riding school. Justine paid her a monthly rent for the small, rather scruffy flat on the middle floor of a house that backed onto the stable yard. By the time Langton and Barolli walked in, the forensic team had packed up, apart from Ken Gardner who was sitting on the stairs having a quick cigarette.
'What you got for me?' Langton said.
'Not a lot, but it took a long time to find; the place may look like a tip, but somebody did a big cleaning job. We went through every room with a fine-tooth comb, as they say, and didn't think we'd get a result.'
He stubbed out his cigarette under his shoe and pocketed the stub. They followed him up the creaking narrow staircase, which was carpeted in hemp. Ken nodded to it. 'This is a bugger: it's rough and we had to go inch by inch; leaves a lot of fibres, but all we got was a face full of dust.'
He led them into a small, untidy sitting room and pointed. 'Lot of stale food left around which is unpleasant; the young lady is not very hygienic. The bedroom sheets look as if they've not been changed for months; we've taken them in.'
Langton said nothing as they looked into a dirty kitchen with a stack of pans piled in the sink.
'We had a real stinky time in here; something's wrong with the plumbing so, just in case, we took out the U- pipe — it was clogged with tea leaves and crap, but no body parts.'
Langton checked his watch irritably. Ken liked the sound of his own voice. Langton asked him to get a move on.
'Yeah, yeah; but I wanted you to know how many hours we've been holed up here; after the Dennis Neilson epic — you know they found a thumb in his drainpipe? — so we have to be diligent.'
'How did Justine Wickenham react to you being here?'
'Well, Miss Hoity-Toity made an appearance, said a few foul words, and then left. She kept on saying that it was all a
Langton sighed; this was all to cover themselves for the damage claim that would no doubt be coming in.
Ken stood in the doorway. The bathroom was actually larger than Langton had expected. The toilet was on one side, the washbasin beside it. The cracked white tiles were dirty and the room had a mouldy smell. 'Water has leaked at some time beneath the bathtub and from the toilet, so it's pretty dank in here.'
Langton looked to the small red arrow stickers on the far side of the bath.
'Between six tiles, we found very, and I mean very, tiny droplets of blood, no seeping; it's like a fine spray hit the back rest. It had, as you can see, been washed down; these tiles were a lot cleaner than any of the others. Tiny spots were on each tile and some of the cement in between also had a faint smear. We have them being tested.'
Langton frowned. Louise Pennel's body had been drained of blood; it seemed to him very unlikely that this was where it could have happened.
'You know the victim's blood had been drained,' he said to Ken.
'Yes, I know; to be honest, I doubt if she could have been cut up here: I mean, that's pints of blood. We'd have found traces in the drains. This was more like a spray, the tiny drops were only the size of a pinhead, and they were at an upward slant.'
Langton was disappointed, but thanked Ken for his diligence, and he and Barolli decided to go over to the nearest pub for a pint and a sandwich.
Anna was parked on Portobello Road opposite Emily Wickenham's flat, trying to call her. The answerphone came on again. Anna looked up at the window. The curtains were drawn and the lights were on.
Anna locked her car and crossed the road. She was about to ring Emily's doorbell when the front door opened and a young girl with her hair in dreadlocks came out.
'Hi, is Emily in?' Anna asked, smiling.
'Dunno; she's the flat above mine, straight up the stairs.'
'Thank you.' Anna smiled again as the girl walked off down the road in thick heavy boots, her red skirt swirling.
Anna headed up the stairs to Emily's flat. She was about to knock when she noticed the door was off the latch; she heard raised voices.
'I am telling you what is happening; they are at my flat, Em, the police. Now, you have said something? Because why else would they be there?'
'I didn't! I swear, I didn't tell them anything!'
'Yeah, well, you can't remember one thing from the next! You must have said something. I can't go to my own flat, for Chrissakes!'
'I didn't say anything!'
'I hope to Christ you didn't, because you know what he'll do: he'll stop my fucking allowance. He won't listen to me. He won't believe that I never said a fucking word and he'll take it out on me! So tell me the truth, what did you tell them?'
Emily's voice screeched. 'I keep on telling you, I didn't say anything; they kept asking me but I never told them! I didn't, I swear I didn't!'
'Well, why are they at my flat then? I mean, why are they searching my flat? They all had white paper suits on: they were forensic cops, they were taking up my fucking carpet, Em!'
'But they won't find anything; you cleaned it all up!'
'I know, but the fact they are there freaks me out. If he cuts off my allowance, he'll do worse to you: he'll make you go back home.'
'I won't go, I won't go!'
Anna was literally the other side of the door; she could hear every word clearly. She was now in a quandary as to how to approach the girls. Should she walk straight in? She decided to go back down the stairs and call up: that way, they could never accuse her of breaking in.
As Anna got to the bottom of the stairs, she heard Justine becoming even more angry, then a door slam. Anna took this as her cue to call out.
'Hello! Hello!'
Justine stood at the top of the stairs with a furious look on her face.
'Hi, I am DI Travis; I was about to ring the bell when your friend from the flat below let me in. Your front door was open.'
Justine moved slowly down the stairs. 'Then you can just turn around and get the hell out of here. This is
