The Red Dahlia

by Lynda La Plante

  “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 toward 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 under-nourished 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 around.

  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?”

  Her hands shook and she couldn’t insert the second key. At last, it slotted in the lock and she turned it fast.

  “I hope you are fucking satisfied, you cunt!”

  Anna pushed open the door ready to get inside before Justine could reach her, but she was too late. Justine gripped Anna’s right arm so hard it hurt.

  “They’ll take her away this time, and that’s your fault!”

  “Just let go of my arm, Justine.”

  “I’d only just got her straightened out and now you’ve fucking destroyed all that, but you wouldn’t listen to me!”

  “Let go of me!”

  “I’d like to smash your face against the wall!”

  Anna jerked her arm up with all her strength, hitting Justine in the face; Justine lost her balance and stepped back, but it still didn’t give Anna time to make it inside and to safety.

  “Didn’t you hear what I just said?” Justine’s face was twisted in anger.

  “I heard you, Justine. You had better just step back and away from me. Get away from the door!”

  Justine slammed her fists against the door and it opened wide. “How’s that? Go on, get in. Get in!”

  Anna was desperate to avoid being trapped inside the flat with Justine. “What do you want?”

  Justine pushed her face close, flushed with anger. “I’d like you to know what you’ve fucking done to my sister.”

  Anna was fast: she gripped hold of Justine’s left arm and twisted it up behind her back, then, with her other hand, yanked her thumb almost out of its socket. Justine screamed in pain; she crumpled and howled.

  “Why did you do that? What did you do that for?”

  Anna pushed Justine clear of her, but it wasn’t necessary: she leaned against the wall and started to cry.

  “That hurt! You hurt me.”

  “You had better leave, Justine. I mean it, get out. Go on, go away.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  Anna knew she had the upper hand, and her fear subsided. “What do you want?”

  Justine covered her face with her hands and started to sob. “You don’t know what you’ve done, you don�
�t know!”

  Anna watched as she slid down the wall and sat hunched up on the floor, crying.

  “Why don’t you tell me what I’m supposed to have done?”

  Langton was having a heavy session with the commander. As it was now twenty-eight days without an arrest, she had been considering bringing in the murder review team; Langton argued that since he now had a prime suspect, that was unnecessary. The commander said it was impossible to arrange everything he requested for the following morning. She felt he should wait out the twenty-four hours to gain the results from the blood tests.

  Langton did, however, get the backup he wanted and it was agreed the extra teams would all gather at the Richmond Hotel. They would all be briefed in the incident room, and then move in convoy. When he passed on the details to Lewis, he was taken aback.

  “Jesus Christ, they’ve agreed to all this? That’s one hell of a maneuver!”

  “Lot of arm twisting but yes, like I said, we are going to have this one big hit, so let’s hope to God we come away with something that will prove it was worth it.” He sighed. “Truth is, we need the time, so let’s get cracking and use every minute. We have to get this so well organized they’ll not scream at the cost. Has Travis called in yet?”

  Lewis was heading out of his office. “Nope, lemme call the hospital and check; she might have gone back there.”

  “Okay, let me know what she’s up to.”

  This time, Langton did unscrew the bottle cap. This was indeed one hell of a maneuver and he just hoped to God he wasn’t going to come up empty-handed.

  Justine sat on Anna’s bed; she took the glass of water gratefully.

  “Thank you.”

  Anna checked her watch. She opened her wardrobe and took out a fresh shirt and jacket. There was no way she would take a shower: she was loath to leave Justine by herself for a second. Instead, she left the bathroom door ajar as she washed her face and hands: she could see Justine in her washbasin mirror, sitting with the glass of water cupped in her hands.

  Anna began to button up her shirt. Justine drained the glass of water and looked around the bedroom.

  “You’re as untidy as I am.”

  The clothes Anna had taken off the previous evening were still on the floor.

  “Well, they run me ragged at work.” She unzipped her skirt and tossed it onto the bed, picking up another.

  Justine stood up. Anna watched her warily, but she just placed the empty glass onto the dressing table.

  “Can I have a coffee?”

  “Sure, I’ll make us both one.”

  Anna was unsure what was going on; she was no longer scared of Justine but, at the same time, she didn’t trust her.

  Justine followed her into the kitchen; the sink was full of dirty crockery. “Don’t like washing up either? Nor do I.”

  Anna put the kettle on and fetched two mugs and some instant coffee, which she spooned out, then opened a tin of biscuits. Justine seemed to have calmed down, but when she sat on one of the kitchen stools, her foot twitched.

  “You want sugar?”

  “Yes, please, three; thank you.”

  Anna placed the coffee down and sat on the stool next to Justine.

  “I got Emily out of this place my father had put her in; it took a lot of persuasion, he didn’t think she should be released. I was the only one that visited her. She was desperate: it was hideous, with all these crazies.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Oh, eight months, maybe more; I can’t remember. You may not think it, but Em’s really bright. She’d got a place at college so I fixed up that flat for her to stay in. He was furious, but then he sort of relented because Em was really okay; it wasn’t as if we were asking him for any money, God forbid!” She sipped her coffee and then delved into the biscuits. “He never went to see her; he hardly ever sees me now, but you still always feel he knows whatever move we make. He’s promised to get me my own stables, you know, set up a riding school of my own. He says he will, but not until I’ve had more experience. I do some shows, dressage, stuff like that; I’m pretty good.”

  Anna listened as Justine went on about the competitions and how much work they made her do at the stables.

  “Did your father come to your flat there?”

  “Nope, well, maybe I’ve had the odd visit, but not recently.”

  There was a long pause and then Justine whispered, “I hate him.”

  Anna watched as she ate another biscuit. Her foot was tapping so hard, her stool shook.

  “How do you get along with your brother?” Anna said tentatively.

  “Edward really is a wet prick.”

  Anna laughed softly and Justine gave her a smile.

  “He’s scared of him, scared of doing anything that’ll lose the inheritance, for one, but he knows that Daddy would kick him out just like that if he didn’t do whatever he wants.” She clicked her fingers.

  “Do you do what he wants?”

  “No; well, not now.”

  “You used to?”

  “Yes.”

  Anna picked up her mug and took it to the sink. “I don’t know if I should tell you this, Justine, but I’ve seen some very explicit photographs.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yes, of a very sexual nature.”

  “You should see the videos!” She gave a harsh, brittle laugh.

  “Are you serious?”

  “About what?”

  “That your father videoed these…”

  “Orgies?”

  Anna rinsed her mug, trying to act casual.

  “They went on most weekends.”

  “And you took part in them?”

  “Yes.”

  “And your brother?”

  “Yes, yes, and his girlfriends and the tarts, and when Mother was at home, she would like swinging from the chandeliers as well. They’d watch porno films, eat and drink themselves into a stupor, and then take anything they could get hold of to get them sexed up. I tell you, whoever invented Viagra should be put in the stocks.”

  Anna returned to sit next to Justine, whose leg was now twitching as if she couldn’t control it. Her anger was palpable.

  “I couldn’t wait to go away to school: anything to get out, anything to stop him, but it was hopeless. I couldn’t do anything. I knew it was happening but I had no one to turn to, no one to help me, so I just went to school and refused to think about it.”

  “Didn’t your mother ever stop him molesting you?”

  “Me? Oh, he went off me very fast. I was too big. It wasn’t me he was after.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut tight.

  “Emily?” Anna said softly, and Justine nodded.

  “I thought he would leave her alone if I did whatever he wanted, but he used to take her out of her bedroom.”

  “How old was she?”

  “Seven or eight.”

  “Your mother knew?”

  Justine shrugged. “She was as bad as Edward; if she knew, she did nothing. She was only interested in how much she could get out of him, and she got a fortune.”

  Anna’s phone rang.

  “Shouldn’t you get that?” Justine said.

  “No, it’ll only be my boss asking me where I am. Let’s have another coffee.”

  Justine drained her mug and held it out.

  “Yes, please.”

  Having got no answer from Anna’s mobile, Langton called her flat. The answering machine clicked on. He called the hospital and they said that Anna had left some time earlier. He was told that Emily Wickenham had been taken from the hospital by her brother.

  Langton was worried; why wasn’t Travis answering? He went into the incident room and asked if anyone had heard from her. No one had.

  Lewis was eager to get the overall plan of action from Langton, as the pressure was on for everything to be coordinated for the raid at Wickenham’s estate. It had been easy to get copies of the plans of the Hall, the barn and outhouses, plus the thatched cottage, as th
e conversion of the barn had had to be surveyed and planning permission granted. Looking over the plans, Langton knew he really had one big job on his hands. He and Lewis set to work on the organization of who would do what, where, and when.

  “We get any joy on the tape match to Wickenham?”

  “Not as yet,” Lewis said. There was also still no contact from forensics regarding the blood splattering at Justine Wickenham’s.

  “You get someone to take my bloodstained shirt over to the lab? It’ll have Emily’s DNA for elimination.”

  A frazzled Lewis said Bridget had taken it personally as soon as he had brought it in, then he went back to concentrating on dividing the estate into sections for the search.

  Justine spooned in heaped teaspoons of sugar and stirred her coffee. “So I was always guilty, you know, about leaving Em, she was such a sweet little soul. I think our old housekeeper tried to protect her, but with Dad, no one was safe.”

  “When did she become pregnant by him?” Anna asked, and Justine didn’t appear to question how she knew; she just bowed her head.

  “Oh God, it was terrible. She was so young, she didn’t understand. Her belly was distended and she thought it was something she’d eaten, that’s how innocent she was.”

  “How old was she?”

  “Thirteen. When he found out he was hysterical, like it was her fault; it was terrible.”

  “Did he perform the abortion?”

  She nodded, tears trickling down her face. “And worse, as if by doing it, he would never have that problem again.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “He operated on her, he did a hysterectomy: she can’t ever have kids. He did that to her. That’s what started her being sick and crazy; then he sent her away for electric shock treatment.”

  Anna was sickened and reached out to take Justine’s hand, but she wouldn’t allow her to hold it.

  “I’d like to kill him. I used to plan how I’d do it, but he used to get round me, you know, saying that poor Emily was really mentally sick, like he had nothing to do with it when it was all his fault.”

  “When the child abuse investigation happened, who instigated it?”

  “Well, me, not that he knew it. I persuaded Em to go to the police station and tell them, but it was a farce. He was the local bigwig doctor, he could pay anyone off; in this case, I don’t think he needed to bribe anyone because he’d already had her institutionalized. He said it was all in her mind and that she had this sick, overactive imagination. He made her life hell after that. It was part of the reason Mum left him; she’d had enough, not that she did anything for us. She had a weapon now and could squeeze him for a lot of money; it’s all about money with her. It was awful her going away, because we lost Danielle, her maid. She was like the old housekeeper; at least they tried between them to help Em, but she just got sicker and…”