Esme made it easy for her. ‘Is it connected to Camorra?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes. Did he, to your knowledge, ever use it?’

  ‘If he did, he would not have got it from here. We only have a very small sample of it, and that is always kept locked away. It is very rare for me ever to take it out.’

  ‘When did you last do this?’

  ‘When we were at the hospital. My husband felt it might be required, but as it turned out, I don’t think he ever showed it to anyone.’

  ‘Is it in a bottle?’

  ‘Yes: you can have it in liquid form or made into small white tablets.’

  ‘Do they have a taste?’

  ‘No, they don’t.’

  ‘So they could be slipped into someone’s food?’

  ‘Yes, of course. Wasn’t that the method they used to feed that poor boy in the prison, the coconut rock cakes?’

  Anna took a deep breath. ‘Yes, of course–I had forgotten. So Camorra would have had access to this poison?’

  ‘Obviously, but he was instigating the importation of illegal immigrants; one of those poor souls might have been a carrier of it. They were also bringing in heroin and cocaine and marijuana, weren’t they?’

  Anna nodded.

  Esme sipped her tea and placed her cup down carefully in the bone china saucer. ‘Why are you asking me all this now?’

  ‘Just tying up some loose ends,’ she said quietly.

  Esme nodded and proffered more tea, but Anna declined.

  ‘Could I see the container that you brought the poison in?’

  Esme hesitated. ‘This won’t have any repercussions for us, will it?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Anna said firmly.

  Esme unlocked a cabinet and took down a bottle with a red cross marked on the label.

  ‘Did anyone at the hospital have access to this?’

  Esme shook her head. ‘No, it was in my medical case all the time. I only took it out to show DCI Langton.’

  ‘Did you lock the bag?’

  ‘Yes, most certainly. I always take every precaution and the bag was never out of my sight.’

  Anna nodded; she then asked if Esme could check the contents for her, just to make sure that nothing was missing.

  Esme hesitated, then pressed the cap down and unscrewed it. ‘These are in tablet form: the seeds are crushed and then pressed into pills.’ She carefully tapped the bottle to hold in the palm of her hand one small white pill. She held it out to Anna. ‘So small and so deadly.’

  Then Esme returned the pill to the container and screwed the cap back on. She asked very gravely, ‘What loose ends are you so interested in?’

  Anna shrugged. ‘Oh, we were concerned that Camorra did show symptoms; we will need to verify that his death was by natural causes.’

  ‘I see. Well, to be frank with you, the relief both my husband and I felt when we knew he was dead was considerable. He was a very evil, twisted man; who knows how many lives he had destroyed for his own sexual gratifications, including poor young children? I hope he died in great pain. He deserves no sympathy; sadly, there will be little retribution on behalf of those he damaged.’

  At that moment, Dr Salaam came back in and apologized for not being available. He said he had two patients suffering from insomnia; he laughed and said that he himself very rarely ever had that problem as, by the time he was able to get to his bed, he was exhausted.

  Anna thanked them both for giving up their time. The doctor shook her hand and walked with her to the door to show her out.

  When she had gone, he closed the door behind her and bolted it both at top and bottom. ‘What did she really want, do you think?’ he asked his wife.

  ‘Eugene Camorra might have been given some Jimson weed. I didn’t press on it too much, but she said he had shown symptoms,’ Esme replied.

  ‘Well, I congratulate someone. If he died in agony and feeling the terror, then so be it.’

  ‘Whoever it was did not take them from us; I was so careful.’

  ‘Of course you were, my dear. Besides, the only people there were police officers, so I am sure she is not trying to implicate one of them.’

  Esme kissed him and went upstairs to their flat to start dinner. Dr Salaam said he would be only a few moments.

  After drawing the shutters, he turned to the cabinet. He stared at the bottle with the red cross over the label, then took it down. He shook it, then went over to the small reception desk and took out a miniature silver shovel. He emptied the contents and counted, sliding each pill across the silver shovel and back into the bottle. He then screwed the cap back on and replaced the bottle, locking the cabinet. Fifteen small white tablets were missing.

  Anna returned home, dissatisfied; she had somehow thought that she would gain some answers. Her suspicions still lingered. Did Langton know that it was Camorra who had attacked him? She tried to recall his reaction at Orso’s house when they had arrested Camorra; neither man had shown any sign that they remembered the other. Langton had never mentioned it during their questioning of Camorra.

  Unable to sleep, Anna could not stop her mind churning over. She smacked her pillow to try and get more comfortable. So what if Langton did have something to do with the death of Camorra? He was a despicable human being; no prison sentence could be harsh enough for the crimes he had committed. Still, she could not rest easy, because Langton was a police officer; if he had taken the law into his own hands then it contravened all that they aspired to as upholders of the law. Break the rules once, and the next time was easier. Langton was known to be a risk taker: had he taken the ultimate one?

  After a restless night, Anna sat drinking a strong black coffee. She was determined to get some answers. She made a shortlist of people she wanted to talk to. If they did not confirm her suspicions, then she would make herself bury them.

  Mike Lewis was getting his young son into a pushchair when she turned up at his house. Like Anna, he was having a break before his next case; unlike her, he was enjoying his time off. Anna said she just needed to ask him a couple of questions. He shrugged and said he was on his way to the playground.

  ‘Did you recognize Camorra as the man who had attacked Langton?’

  He stopped pushing the pushchair. ‘What?’

  ‘Did you?’

  Mike walked on. ‘Look, it was a long time ago. To be honest, it was such a nightmare that it’s kind of blank–but in answer to your question, no.’ He stopped again. ‘Maybe if Jimmy had said something I’d have thought about it, but if anyone was to recognize him, it would be him, right?’

  ‘You know Camorra got meals sent into the station.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Well, I think someone got to him.’

  Mike pushed his son harder in the pushchair. ‘I dunno where this is going, Anna, but if someone did that, then it had to be Orso. What’s your problem?’

  ‘Nothing; just tying up loose ends.’

  ‘There always are some on any case. I just don’t quite understand where this is leading.’

  ‘Never mind. You enjoy your time off.’ She walked away.

  Mike stood there, then turned and looked after her, before he continued on to the park to play with his son. Suddenly he felt uneasy, wondering what Anna was up to.

  Barolli was also at home; although working on a case, it was his weekend off. Anna sat with him in a rather untidy lounge, as he chatted on about still being miffed he’d not been brought onto the investigation.

  Anna took out the mug shots of Eugene Camorra. ‘Is this the man who attacked Langton?’

  ‘Could be,’ Barolli said.

  ‘But you were there–you saw him.’

  ‘Yeah, but you gotta remember there was this big bloke in front to start with, then the bastard came out of nowhere. I dunno…yeah, it looks like him, but I couldn’t be certain.’

  Anna put the photograph away.

  ‘Why do you want to know?’ Barolli asked. ‘I know who that is, by the way–that’s Eugene Camorra, right?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘So what’s with you asking me about him?’

  Anna said it was just tying up loose ends. She was surprised when Barolli tapped her knee and said, ‘Your loose ends–or Jimmy’s?’

  ‘Mine.’

  Barolli leaned back in his chair and shook his head. ‘Drop it. Whatever you think you can gain by this, it is not gonna do any good, you hear me? Drop it.’

  Anna felt the tears stinging her eyes. ‘I can’t.’

  ‘Then let me give you some advice: whatever you are trying to uncover will destroy you. If you keep going, it’ll be down to the woman spurned.’

  ‘That is not true,’ she said angrily.

  ‘Isn’t it? Just drop this crap, Anna.’

  ‘He’s a bloody police officer.’

  ‘So am I!’ snapped Barolli.

  ‘And so am I!’ she retorted.

  ‘Then drop whatever you are doing and get on with your life,’ he said more quietly.

  ‘So Mike Lewis called you, did he?’

  ‘Mind your own fucking business. I mean it, Anna; now go on home. This is my weekend off.’

  Anna drove out to the police station in the New Forest. They were surprised to see her. She asked to speak to the officers who were working the cells when Camorra was held.

  She waited in an interview room for ten minutes before Officer Harris joined her. Anna was very pleasant, putting him at his ease, as she asked seemingly innocuous questions regarding Camorra and his arrangement to get food sent in. He said that DCI Langton had been privy to Camorra’s requests, but was always warning them to check every meal tray.

  ‘What about the time he ordered steak tartare?’

  Harris shrugged. He had given Camorra a menu from the local Italian restaurant. He would choose what he wanted to eat and they would call the restaurant; it was delivered, inspected and taken to his cell. Camorra said they should take the money out of the wallet that they held when he was taken into custody.

  ‘And DCI Langton approved this?’

  ‘Yes, he often checked the trays personally.’

  ‘Did Mr Orso ever have access to these trays?’

  ‘No, he was locked up.’

  ‘So only DCI Langton and yourself were overseeing these food trays?’

  ‘No: whoever was on duty, ma’am.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She got up and, almost as an afterthought, asked if he had been around when Camorra was taken ill. He said that he was: in fact, he had been the officer who called a doctor.

  ‘He’d gone apeshit, like he was seeing monsters or something coming through the walls. He was screaming and shouting that they’d come for him and he was trying to remove his clothes; said they were eating him. He was really crazed and his eyes were rolling back in his head, mouth frothing, really crazy.’

  ‘As if he was drugged?’

  ‘I dunno, ma’am; just he was crawling up the wall with terror.’

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘He went all quiet–stiff like–staring up at the wall. Oh yeah, when I looked in on him, you know, to check him out, he did this.’ Harris lifted his hand and pointed with his finger, then made a circular motion. ‘As if he was pointing at a clock.’

  ‘So what happened then?’

  ‘DCI Langton came down and said he wanted a doctor for him asap.’

  ‘So, during the wait before the doctor arrived, what did Camorra do?’

  ‘Nothing. He just lay there on his bunk staring up at the ceiling.’

  ‘Like a zombie?’ Anna asked innocently.

  ‘Yeah, that’s how I’d describe him.’

  ‘Thank you very much.’

  Anna drove away from the station. At least she had one visit she was looking forward to.

  She had asked, as it was a weekend, if she could see Gail’s children. Dora let her in, and said she was just about to make some tea. The children were in her jumbled lounge. Anna walked in to see the little girl in a rah-rah skirt, wearing Carly Ann’s gold chain round her neck and playing with a massive dolls’ house. Keith beamed at Anna; he was wearing a police helmet and uniform.

  ‘My, you look terrific,’ she said, as he pranced in front of her.

  ‘I got the bad man,’ he said.

  ‘Yes, you did,’ Anna said, sitting on a cushion. She turned as Dora brought in a tray of Coca-Cola and tea, with a plate of chocolate biscuits. ‘I was just congratulating Keith on how he helped capture the bad man.’

  ‘Yes. He’s been given that uniform and all sorts of things, from handcuffs to charge sheets; he’s a proper detective now. And he’s going to be nominated for a bravery award. We also got lots of Barbie dolls and a Barbie house.’

  Anna knew, without being told, who had bought the children their new acquisitions.

  ‘James Langton–he’s a special guy, isn’t he?’ Dora said happily.

  Anna nodded. Dora asked what should be done with the jewellery left by Carly Ann. Anna said that, to her knowledge, no one was claiming it; as the children would need so many things, perhaps it could be sold to help finances.

  Driving away, Anna knew she’d just bent the rules but she felt that, in these circumstances, it was acceptable. Yet again, her mind returned to Langton; although she had just done something unethical, she could hardly put it in the same league. She sighed. Do it once and it would be easier the next time!

  As she let herself into her flat the phone rang. She dumped her coat and picked it up.

  ‘Hi.’ It was Langton.

  She had to sit down. ‘Hi, how’s things?’ she asked.

  ‘Good, how about you?’

  ‘Fine, just getting ready for the next case, whatever that may be.’

  ‘Yeah. I’m off to France for a couple of weeks with the kids. I need a breather–well, not that I’ll get that with Kitty and Tommy, but there’s a health spa, so I can get some feelgood time.’

  ‘That’s great.’

  ‘So, I was wondering if we could have that dinner? Maybe make a reservation now?’

  ‘Yes, why not.’

  Langton arranged to see her the day after he returned. He would collect her at eight.

  ‘I won’t be late,’ he said, laughing.

  Anna felt as if she could do with two weeks in a spa herself. Over the course of the fortnight, her suspicions became less of an immediate worry; in fact, she began to think that she should, as Barolli had suggested, put them to rest.

  There was some good news: Ella Sickert’s other child had been traced to a couple living in Birmingham. They ran a sandwich bar; the child was working for them and having very little schooling. The couple insisted that they had taken him in as a favour to his aunt, who had been unable to control him. The so-called aunt was tracked down: she was a known prostitute, living with a smalltime drug dealer in a rundown high-rise block of flats. If the child had been used for sexual favours, he showed no signs of physical abuse; however, he was aggressive and abusive and, when the police arrived, he went into a frenzy. They finally discovered that, along with his brother, he had been taken to the house in Peckham. He stayed there only a matter of weeks before he was sent to his aunt in Birmingham. He had never seen his father as he was promised, and had not seen his brother after he left Peckham. It took a considerable amount of counselling and therapy before he admitted to being drugged and used by men who came to the brothel. There was a pile of fake immigration documents which, yet again, led back to Camorra and Orso. All others involved were arrested and charged.

  After weeks of waiting, Ella was reunited with her son. It was never going to be easy. He rejected her totally and blamed her for all the abuse he had suffered. There would be a further lengthy period of legal paperwork before the deportation order came through for Ella and her son to return home.

  The autumn weather was very warm, and Anna was still waiting to be assigned a new case. The two weeks flew past and she suddenly realized that she had agreed to have dinner with Langton. She was not looking forward to it.

  Langton called to ask whether, as it was such a beautiful day, they could switch dinner to lunch. She agreed.

  She dressed in a simple white suit and high heels; she’d had her hair cut very short and the sun had brought out her hated freckles over her nose. She put a bottle of Chablis in the fridge. At promptly one o’clock, the doorbell rang.

  Anna was taken aback. Langton looked fantastic; he was deeply tanned and was wearing a pale blue suit with a white T-shirt beneath it. He also carried a bunch of white roses.

  ‘For you,’ he said, with a mock bow.

  He followed her into the kitchen as she took a vase and filled it with water. She arranged the flowers and took them into the lounge.

  ‘I see you’ve caught the sun, or your nose has,’ he joked.

  ‘This is just from the sunroof in the car. I can’t really sunbathe, I just go bright red.’

  ‘Kitty is brown as a berry, even little Tommy. We had glorious weather, swam every day–sauna, massage. Did the trick–I feel terrific.’

  ‘You look it,’ she said.

  ‘Right–you hungry?’

  ‘Yeah. Where are we going?’

  ‘As it’s such a nice day, I thought we’d drive to Sunbury–you know, just before Shepperton? There’s a lovely pub; they serve good food and we can sit outside and eat.’

  ‘Sounds good.’

  It was quite a long drive. Anna took the Mini. Langton sat beside her, complaining about the legroom, as always. They drove through Richmond, over the bridge, and headed towards Sunbury. He kept up a light conversation about the holiday and the food, saying he’d put on weight with the breakfast croissants, three-course lunches and then late dinners–the best food he’d ever eaten.

  They went down the winding lane to the large pub, which faced the water. He chose a table outside and then picked up the menu.

  ‘You want a salad? And they have good steak and chips.’

  ‘Yes, fine.’

  He ordered at the bar inside and came out with two glasses of red wine and a large spoon with a number on it, which he stuck into the pot provided. ‘They’ll call our number when it’s ready.’

  ‘You obviously know this place well,’ she said, making conversation.