The Red Dahlia (39 page)

The nurse was packing away her equipment when Edward Wickenham walked in. He gave a cold glance to Anna and said, curtly, ‘You have no reason to be here with my sister. I would like you to leave, please.’

Anna wanted to say something to Emily, but she remained impassive, staring at the floor. Anna hesitated and then slowly left the room.

Outside in the corridor, Langton was ending his conversation with the doctor. Anna did not interrupt but leaned against the wall. It was almost midnight, and she was tired out. Langton gestured for her to join him, as the doctor went into Emily’s room.

‘I have said that we will need to question Miss Wickenham regarding a very serious incident, and quite possibly make an arrest. I do not want her removed from the hospital, blah blah!’

Anna looked to the closed door. ‘Thing is, with her father being a doctor, her brother’s no doubt given them a load of garbage about caring for her.’

‘Yeah I know, but the doc’s on our side; he thinks she should stay overnight and talk to their resident shrink.’

He shut up fast as the door to Emily’s room opened and Edward and the doctor came barrelling out.

‘My sister will have the best care possible. This is ridiculous; I can have her home in an hour. I can have her in bed with a private nurse in attendance. Her father is a qualified doctor!’

The young doctor closed the door. ‘I am sure you have every good intention, but my patient is not, in my opinion, fit to be released this evening. Added to this, Miss Wickenham does not want to be…’

Edward interrupted him, irate. ‘She’s seventeen years old, for God’s sake! She doesn’t know what is best for her!’

‘Then you must take my opinion very seriously. This is not the first suicide attempt. She has also had her stomach pumped, her blood pressure is frighteningly high and she is desperately underweight. I would say her family to date have not taken care of her health, and I am not prepared to release her into your custody this evening. Tomorrow may prove to be a different matter, subject to her recovery.’

They continued to argue for some time, moving into the small waiting room, leaving Anna and Langton standing in the corridor.

‘Well, he’s fighting in our corner,’ Langton said.

Fifteen minutes later, Langton watched Edward Wickenham walking away, very obviously angry. He didn’t even go back into Emily’s room. When Langton tried to thank the doctor, he got a cool response.

‘Your allegation that my patient is at risk from her family is not the reason I have insisted she remain here. Whatever questions you need answered must wait until tomorrow. Emily Wickenham is a very sick young lady, and, I would say, both mentally and physically she requires treatment.’

Langton put in a call to get a female officer stationed outside Emily Wickenham’s room at the hospital. By this time, it was fifteen minutes after one. Anna drove him home; both of them were tired out. As she drew up outside his flat, only ten minutes away from her own, he rested his left hand on the handle of the car door.

‘You did good work today, Travis.’

‘Thank you.’

He was silent for a moment. ‘How’s your head feel?’

‘Fine; bit of a bump, but nothing to worry about.’

Her heart flipped as with his right hand he gently rubbed the back of her head. ‘A right little trooper, aren’t you? Well if you want to make a late morning of it, come in at twelve, rest up.’

‘Thank you, but I think I should get over to talk to Emily first thing.’

‘Ah yes; tell me, why were you at her flat?’

She shrugged. ‘Well, I had arranged to interview her. It was on my schedule before we went off to the Hall so I had a word with Barolli — well, he had a word with me — and I said I’d talk to her on my way home.’

‘Well, cut the risk-taking from now on; you should have had someone with you. I thought you would have learned that from the last time we worked together.’

‘I didn’t know Justine would be there.’

‘That is no excuse! Emily could have had a fucking gun with her, never mind that mad cow with a riding crop: learn to get backup organised. You are not a one-man band; we work as a team, so start thinking about being a team player.’

‘Like you?’

‘Exactly.’

Anna raised her eyebrows at the irony but bit her tongue.

‘See you in the morning.’ He leaned across and kissed her cheek. The smell of him physically hurt. It only happened in movies: the moment the heroine clasps the leading man’s face in both hands and instigates a deep, lustful kiss. She hadn’t the bottle to do anything so crass, but after he’d slammed the car door, she wished she had.

Anna parked her car, and used the lift though her flat was only two floors up: her legs felt leaden. Letting herself in, she tossed the keys onto the side table in the hall, eased out of her coat, and then toe-heeled each shoe off, leaving a trail of discarded clothes from the hall into the bedroom.

She flopped down on the bed, arms spread wide. She was so tired she didn’t even have the energy to get up and clean her teeth.

She took a deep breath and moaned. ‘Oh shit.’

James Langton was back, occupying so much of her mind and heart that denying it was pointless.

Chapter Seventeen

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT

Sleeping, Emily looked so young and fragile. The glucose drip was still in place; both her long thin arms were above the tightly drawn sheet and her bony hands rested one on top of the other. Someone had drawn her hair back from her face with an elastic band, accentuating her high, chiselled cheekbones. Her big, wide eyes seemed sunken beneath the closed lids.

A nurse brought Anna into the room. She had been very concerned when she was told that Justine Wickenham had spent a considerable time sitting beside her sister.

‘During the night?’

‘Yes, apparently; in fact, you only just missed her.’

‘Is the doctor going to release Emily?’

‘I don’t know; I’m just taking her blood pressure.’

‘Will you wake her?’

The nurse checked the time and gave a rueful smile. “Fraid so. It was very high again last night, but it had dropped a wee bit earlier this morning.’

Anna stepped back as the nurse gently lifted Emily’s arm and wrapped it in the black pad. The pumping action seemed loud in the silent room. Anna moved round to see Emily more clearly as she had her pulse taken. She was awake, staring ahead with dull expressionless eyes, ignoring the nurse. Anna waited until she had left the room before she went close to the bed.

‘Emily, it’s Anna Travis.’

‘I’m not blind,’ she said, in a low, bored voice.

‘I don’t want to disturb you more than is necessary.’

‘Terrific.’ She pressed the bed lift to sit up higher.

Anna drew up a chair. ‘I need to ask you some questions.’

She didn’t respond.

‘Have you had breakfast?’

‘I’m not hungry.’

At least it was a start. Anna debated how she should continue; Emily was behaving in a totally different manner to the previous night.

‘I kept my part of the bargain: you remained here last night.’

No reaction.

‘Emily, will you look at me, please?’

She turned her head very slowly towards Anna; her eyes were like saucers, and so full of pain. She reminded Anna of a sick bird; it seemed as if her head was too heavy for such a slender neck to hold up.

‘You said you would talk to me and answer my questions. It’s very important, Emily.’

‘No. Go away.’ She didn’t say it in anger; her voice was tired and wavery.

Anna hesitated and then reached out to hold her hand. ‘You know, if I can, I will help you again. Maybe I can arrange for you to be looked after.’

‘Maybe I’ll just die and then it will be over.’

‘Tell me what happened to you, Emily.’

The thin hand twisted and then clung to Anna’s.

‘I know about your abortion.’

Her eyes filled with tears, and her hand grasped Anna’s even more tightly. ‘He used to say how much he loved me; whatever he did to me was because he loved me, and I believed him. But then I began to get sick.’

‘Was it your father’s child?’

‘I’ve never been with anyone else. I didn’t know I was pregnant until Daddy examined me. He said he would make it all better, make it all go away, so no one would know.’

‘How many months pregnant were you?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘So when he made it all better for you, where were you?’

‘At home.’

‘Did your father operate on you?’

Emily released her hand and curled up on her side away from Anna. She picked at the plaster holding the needle to the drip in her right arm.

‘Was there a room in the house he used?’

‘Yes.’

‘Tell me about the room.’

Emily didn’t answer.

‘Is there medical equipment in this room?’

Anna leaned closer and the girl half-turned towards her. It happened so quickly Anna wasn’t fast enough to get clear. Emily vomited and then clung onto Anna as she retched and spewed up again.

Langton let the receiver drop back onto its cradle. Lewis was sitting opposite him.

‘Travis is at the hospital with Emily Wickenham. Emily just chucked up all over her so she doubts she’ll be able to question her for a while, but she admitted her father did the abortion, and inside the house. Travis was trying to ascertain where it took place, if there’s medical equipment that could have been used in the Louise Pennel murder. I mean, there’s got to be someplace he cut her body in two, for Chrissakes!’

‘Well, when we go in, we’ll find it,’ Lewis said.

Langton pursed his lips. ‘Yeah, but he could have got rid of the gear, and it might not necessarily be at Mayerling Hall.’

‘So when do we go in?’

Langton stood up and pulled at his tie. ‘We should wait until we get a result from the blood spotting at the other daughter’s flat; has it come in yet?’

‘No, they need twenty-four hours at least. Why the hesitancy?’

‘We get one big hit. To get the amount of SOCOs I want there is gonna cost and I don’t want to blow it.’

‘Your shout,’ Lewis said, standing and placing the chair back against the wall.

‘Yes, yes it is; let me think about when we make the move.’

Lewis gave a small shrug, and walked out. Langton opened his top drawer and took out a half bottle of brandy, then thought better of it and dropped the bottle back into the drawer. He picked up the phone. If it was possible to arrange for the troops and warrants to be ready in time, they would hit Mayerling Hall at dawn the following morning.

Anna had washed her shirt front, and her face and hands, but the smell persisted. The doctor had examined Emily and sedated her, as she had become hysterical. Anna had a few words with the doctor who was, if anything, even younger than the one who had attended to Emily the previous night; he too, however, was very concerned about her. Emily was very dehydrated and undernourished and her blood pressure was fluctuating. It was a comfort to Anna that they were not about to release the girl.

It was less reassuring that Justine Wickenham had been allowed in with her sister. The officer they had asked to guard Emily was very much on the defensive.

‘I couldn’t do anything: she’s family; she’s got a big mouth on her and she was very aggressive. I was outside the door and I didn’t hear much dialogue; the patient looked pretty sick and I monitored them every ten minutes or so. Which was all I was told to do.’

‘Right yeah, sorry if I sounded off.’ Anna was just glad she hadn’t had to confront Justine; the previous evening had been enough to last her for a long time. She thanked the officer and released her.

The doctor had Emily’s medical records; he glanced down and then looked back to Anna. ‘How well do you know Miss Wickenham?’

‘I am with a murder team. Miss Wickenham is just someone we need to talk to. I happened to be there when she attempted to kill herself

‘Well, she has tried a few times.’

He stared at the document, and then back to Anna. ‘She should be transferred to a different unit, whether or not we can arrange it… She’s only seventeen years old, so we would need parental permission. We tried to get some previous medical history but nothing has come in yet.’

Anna asked if it was all right for her to see Emily and he said it was fine, but if she was sleeping, not to waken her. He passed the clipboard with Emily’s notes to the same nurse who had taken her blood pressure earlier.

Anna followed the nurse into Emily’s room, and waited as she placed the clipboard on the end of the bed.

The nurse bent over Emily, who was lying curled up like a small child. ‘Hi, Emily, would you like a cup of tea?’

There was no answer, and after checking the drip and straightening the bedclothes she turned to Anna.

‘I think she should be left to rest. She was sedated, and she needs to get some strength back.’

Anna decided she’d go home to shower and change before going into the station. She bleeped the car open and drove away, unaware she had been watched and was now being followed.

In the small car park of her block of flats, Anna grabbed her handbag from the car in a hurry; she didn’t bother to close the garage doors, as she would be leaving shortly. As she walked up the first flight of stairs, she heard the door from the garage bang open and shut. She paused for a moment, then continued, turning into the corridor on the first floor and up the stairs to her second-floor landing. She paused as she heard footsteps, but when she stopped, so did the footsteps. She listened. Silence.

‘Hello? Is someone there? Hello?’

Silence.

Uneasy, Anna took out her flat keys in readiness. As she stopped at her front door, she sensed that someone was behind her and she whipped round.

Justine Wickenham was just walking out from the stairwell.

‘What are you doing here?’ Anna asked, keeping her voice steady as she turned the first lock. She wished she didn’t have the additional security lock, because she had to use another key. Justine was coming closer and closer. She turned, keeping her voice calm and steady. ‘I said, what are you doing here?’