sliced in two, and decapitated. Langton then looked from the open back door into the interior. He turned to Anna and said he was sorry to put her through it, but they needed to know for certain.Anna stepped inside and placed a mask over her face and put on rubber gloves. It was hideous; the body was so severely mangled. She gave a nod that she was ready for the attendant to pull back the cloth from Julia's decapitated head. The blond hair was matted with blood, but Anna recognized the diamond earrings. She couldn't really look into the face at first, but she had to; she bent down, moving some hair away from the cheeks. It was definitely the once-beautiful Julia Brandon.Langton was standing with the police around Julia's wrecked Mercedes as they prized open the boot. He removed the overnight bag, and was handed a handbag in a plastic container. The contents were crushed almost flat: a pair of sunglasses shattered, likewise a perfume bottle. To avoid getting shards of glass on his hand, he wrapped a handkerchief around it, then brought out a smashed mobile phone. He closed the bag and said they would examine it later. There was no passport.By the time Anna returned with Langton to the station, it was late. She felt drained, but he was still energized and eager to discuss what the car crash meant to the investigation. Julia's belongings had been sent to the lab, but nothing would be done until the morning. Anna was told by Cunningham to take off and return early. She looked toward Langton for his confirmation that she could go home. He wafted his hand and turned back to talk to Phil.'Get the wrecked car checked over and put the pressure on,' Langton told him. 'The surveillance guys said that she was driving that fast down the slip road, and onto the motorway, like someone hell-bent on suicide' Phil, who also was tired out, having worked from eight that morning, nevertheless went off to arrange it.
Cunningham looked at her watch, then at Langton. 'Maybe you should take a break.'
'Was she going to her sister's?' he muttered, ignoring her suggestion.
'That's what we all thought.'
'Not Gatwick, not Heathrow, and not Southampton, so that excludes boats and planes. Do we have anything from her landline?'
'No calls,' Cunningham said, trying to hide a yawn.
Langton removed from his pocket the crushed mobile, still wrapped in his handkerchief. 'Get this checked over; see if we can find out who called. She had to have made contact with someone to do a runner, right?' He frowned. 'Unless it was already planned.'
Cunningham said nothing, but looked at her watch again, eager to get home. 'When are you going to pick up the sister and her husband?'
'When I'm ready. As long as we know they are holed up at that farm, they can stay there. One move out of it that looks suspicious, we pick them both up and bring them in, but I'm not quite ready for them.'
Again, Cunningham said nothing; nor did she remark that it now appeared, to all intents and purposes, that James Langton had taken over the case.
Anna hadn't realized how tired she was until she got home. It had been strange to work alongside Langton. He never showed her the slightest familiarity—in fact, quite the reverse—but it was not as difficult to work beside him as she had thought.
Like Cunningham, she knew that he had taken over the case. She had to admit that, with him at the helm, they were regrouping, as if he had picked them all up and shaken them. She also wondered, just like Cunningham, why he had not yet brought in Honour and Damien; she was as certain as everyone else of their involvement. Her eyes started to droop as she lay back on her pillow; the last image before she fell asleep was the dead Julia's face, and the glinting diamond earrings.
CHAPTER 20
Laid out on a trestle table covered in white paper were the items removed from Julia Brandon's handbag. The shards of glass had been swept to one side in a small heap. The wallet contained three hundred pounds in crisp new notes. There were sunglasses, now with a twisted frame, and two photographs of the children in a small leather case. There were some dry-cleaning receipts and old car parking tickets, paid for at a machine. A silver powder compact was open, with the lid caved in as if someone had stamped on it. Everything had a strong smell of Julia's perfume, from the broken bottle of Chanel No. 5. The diamond earrings were in a small plastic bag, with a Rolex watch, a gold chain with a large dewdrop diamond, and a small daisy-chain diamond bracelet.
Anna stood, staring down at the items—then jumped with fright as someone came up behind her.
'Long time no see.'
'Pete!' She turned. She couldn't resist telling him that she had dropped by his house after her drinks with Langton. 'But just as I was drawing up,' she concluded, 'I saw your friend Daniella paying a taxi, so I headed home.'
'Oh, right—yeah, she did come by. You should have joined us.'
Anna laughed. 'I'm sure.'
You two seemed very familiar.'
ttTT
I’ m sorry?
'You and Langton.'
'Well, we've worked together a few times,' Anna said defensively.Pete said casually, 'I suppose you must have gotashock,seeingmethere.''No—it is your local, isn't it?' Anna was surprised at how readily the
lie came. 'I was concerned you might feel I'd said one thing to you and then done another.' She apologized for not calling him and explained that they had been run ragged with the case. 'So I hear. In fact, I was beginning to wonder when you lot would bring in another body!''Well, you've got one—or her possessions, at least.''Yeah, I hear she was pretty mashed.' Pete looked over the table. 'Okay .. · most interesting—and please do not ask me how I can be so certain—is the powder compact.''Yes?''Pure, very high-quality cocaine.'They walked farther along the table to the overnight bag and its contents, which were laid out, item by item: a satin nightdress with matching dressing gown; a small pair of silk slippers; a lace brassiere and matching panties; two new packs of seven-denier stockings and a suspender belt; some makeup in a velvet bag. There were also two cashmere sweaters, a pair of Yves Saint-Laurent black trousers, and a pair of soft leather, high-heeled boots.Anna could smell Julia's perfume; to touch the luxurious and very expensive clothes made her skin crawl.'She must have been a very sexy woman,' Pete said, folding his arms; then he said there was one other item that had been locked up— the dead woman's jewelry case. 'We didn't put the other jewelry in, as it has traces of blood on, so will need to be tested.' He unlocked a small safe, signed a book by the side of it, and took out a square black leather jewel bag. It unfolded like a large envelope; if Anna had been impressed by the size of Julia's diamond earrings, she now looked on in amazement.'Don't quote me, because I don't really know, but the emeralds look magnificent. Each item is, in my estimation, exceptional quality. What do you think?'Anna agreed. As she had never owned an emerald, she wouldn't know, but the color of the stones in the large necklace was beautiful. Among the items were rings and spectacular drop earrings of ruby and pearl; the pearls were large, and glowed on the black velvet lining.'Nice booty; maybe why she couldn't stand to be broke,' Langton said, making both Anna and Pete turn.'Not broke if you sell this lot,' Pete replied.'Ah, but she reckoned she'd earned these. You know what they say about a woman scorned? She wasn't going to sell this lot; she wanted it all. Like she said,' What have I done?'Well, what she did was get very greedy, and underestimate what Lover Boy would do.''Have you seen the items taken from her handbag?' Pete asked.Langton walked back along the trestle table as Pete returned the jewels to the safe. He paused for a moment by the silk nightdress, and then gently lifted a part of the hem to smell it. 'Nice. Some women know what's a turn-on in the bedroom, and I'd say this lady was hot to trot. No wonder he kept her for all those years.''You can tell all that from her nightdress, can you?' Anna wished she'd kept her mouth shut. 'Pete said there's cocaine in the powder compact,' she added quickly.'And old Pete would know!' Langton said softly. His mobile rang, and he moved off slightly to take the call.Pete returned. 'Shall we meet up tonight?''Why not? It'll be down to what time we're through. I didn't get back until after eleven last night.''Well, call me. I can come to you, or you can come to me, or we can go Italian or Indian.''Travis!' Langton was already banging through the door into
