Silent Scream (29 page)

‘Yes, of course, as I was Miss Delany’s accountant.’

Both Anna and Mike remained silent as they read through the files, and although neither expressed their astonishment at how much money their victim had earned, they could see heavy payments going out to the various companies working on the mews. Miss Hodgson passed over single pages of various mortgage contracts, savings accounts, dollar accounts, pensions, life insurance and policy insurance coverage; it all seemed very well-organised.

‘The investments via Mr Smith-Barker?’ Anna queried.

‘I am not privy to his details. Obviously with the appalling situation in the City, I believe Miss Delany lost a considerable amount.’

‘But surely you had to have handled the payments to him?’

‘No, they were made directly by Amanda, and I am sure Mr Smith-Barker will give you the details of the most recent investments.’

Anna closed her file, resting her hands on top of it.

‘Could you just explain the transaction for me, so that I clearly understand? If your client was contracted to do a film and the fees were arranged by Miss Lesser, wouldn’t the cheques or manner of payment come to you first and then be passed to the investment company?’

Miss Hodgson nodded.

‘That would be the usual method, but as Andrea Lesser had Power of Attorney, I believe certain investments were made directly via her agency to the investment bankers.’

‘Surely you would have to keep a record of these transactions?’

‘Yes, that’s right, for tax and VAT payments.’

‘So can you give us some indication of just how many investments were being made on Miss Delany’s behalf?’

Miss Hodgson hesitated.

‘This is rather difficult,’ she said, looking down. ‘As I explained, I don’t have this year’s accounts so I am not exactly aware of the details you want.’

Anna took a deep breath and leaned forwards.

‘How much did she lose?’

Her composure coming apart and her hands nervously fingering her neat files, Miss Hodgson said she was not prepared to discuss that aspect of her late client’s business.

‘That is why you are here,’ Mike said firmly.

She took out a white handkerchief from her handbag and dabbed at her upper lip. Anna could see they might not get any more from her if they continued to put the pressure on, so she glanced at Mike to slow down. She changed tack.

‘We are very interested in whether or not Miss Delany owned a BlackBerry.’

‘Yes, that was how I kept in touch with her. We had a lot of delay in getting her landline connected at the new house, so it was always the best way to contact her. Copies of the bills for the BlackBerry are in the file.’

‘When was the last time you saw Miss Delany?’

‘It would have been about a month before she died.’

‘How did she appear to you?’

Ms Hodgson shrugged. It had been a very brief meeting, no more than fifteen minutes. Amanda had needed a few signatures on her tax forms and she had brought in her receipts for the VAT assessment.

‘Explain to us how money paid to Miss Delany reaches you,’ Anna asked.

‘Amanda would have banked it and I’d work from her bank statements. I then did her accounts and she paid me for the work done.’

‘Who paid her?’

‘The film company would send their payments to her agent; she would take her percentage and then forward a cheque to Amanda.’

‘So Miss Lesser would first put the cheque through the agency’s account?’

‘Yes.’

When Anna asked how much Amanda was being paid by the film company making
Gaslight,
Ronnie Hodgson said she wasn’t sure. It would seem that she had not been paid, Anna pointed out, as according to the files they were looking at, there was no recent large deposit.

‘That’s correct. More than likely, Miss Lesser will be dealing with any payments due.’

Anna glanced at Mike as he read one page after another.

‘We require this year’s accounts up until her death,’ he reiterated as he closed the file.

Anna noticed that Miss Hodgson was nervously pulling at the sleeves of her blouse.

‘I haven’t yet started my assessments for this year.’

‘How long will it take?’

‘I have to have a meeting with Miss Lesser as I am unsure what payments are due. Then there will be death duties and . . .’ She was twisting her handkerchief round her fingers and sighed deeply. ‘I feel terrible about discussing this, as she’s a personal friend, and I was certain she would have an explanation.’

‘Who are we talking about?’ Anna asked.

‘Andrea Lesser. I haven’t been entirely truthful because I really don’t want to cause any trouble until I know more details, and I trust her completely. We’ve worked together for many years, since Amanda became famous, and she was very good to bring Amanda to me as a client. I hate to cast aspersions because I don’t have all the facts.’

She closed her eyes.

‘When Amanda came to see me that last time, it was quite late and she hadn’t got an appointment. I wasn’t expecting her – in fact, I was just about to leave my office.’

‘When was this?’ Mike asked. Anna wanted to dig him in the ribs. She knew Miss Hodgson was about to deliver the goods and he was wrong to interrupt her.

‘I already told you, it would have been about four weeks ago.’

Amanda, she went on, had turned up and appeared to have been drinking. She was very agitated and full of anger which at first she directed towards Ronnie Hodgson. There was a lot of money missing, she said as she calmed down. Because she had been so busy filming, she had not been paying attention to personal business.

‘She claimed that there was a substantial amount of money owed her. I tried to follow what she was saying, but she was so angry it was hard to understand. She had found out from Scott Myers that he had been paid for the movie they had been in together and she had also asked another actor . . .’ Miss Hodgson then described how Amanda had insisted she call Andrea Lesser and ask her where her money was. She was becoming hysterical again.

‘Anyway, when I did call there was no reply, just an answerphone as it was after seven in the evening. Amanda wouldn’t leave my office and wanted me to go through all her accounts, which I refused to do. I said I would speak to her agent the following morning as I was sure there must be a logical explanation.’

Although Amanda was a valued client, they occasionally had words as she was often late sending in her receipts and statements, and they would sometimes arrive in a plastic grocery bag. Amanda was by no means incapable of sorting her own finances out – on the contrary, but she was also erratic and on a number of occasions had insisted she had sent things when she hadn’t.

‘So knowing this, and seeing her behaving in a very strange way, too much to drink or maybe it was drugs, and knowing Andrea Lesser as I do, I was certain that what Amanda was insinuating was wrong.’

‘Which was what exactly?’ Anna asked.

‘Theft, fraud. She kept on telling me it was millions, but when I called Andrea the next morning, she was shocked. She said there had been some monies invested for Amanda by a very reputable investment banking firm and that more than likely she had forgotten their agreement.’

Mike sighed. ‘So what happened next?’

‘Well, nothing. She didn’t call me again, so I was certain that all her accusations were unfounded.’

‘Were they?’ asked Anna. ‘If you didn’t see any contracts regarding payments to your client, you wouldn’t really know if any monies were embezzled, would you?’

There was a pause and then Miss Hodgson shook her head, but she wouldn’t look at Anna.

‘You have to understand that there are always delays in payments and collecting clients’ residuals, often from repeat adverts or television work. It can take months to track them down. I want to make it very clear that I do not believe Miss Lesser would have ever contemplated doing anything illegal.’

‘But Miss Delany implied to you that was the case?’ Mike was becoming bored by Miss Hodgson’s evasive manner.

‘She did make accusations but, as I said, she was drunk or drugged and quite abusive. And Andrea Lesser assured me that Amanda knew about the investments Andrew Smith-Barker had made on her behalf

‘Ah, and this was when Miss Lesser denied any such—’ Mike was interrupted.

‘Of course she did.’

Anna closed the files in front of her. ‘Can I see the copy of Miss Delany’s will?’

Miss Hodgson passed it over and began putting the files back into her briefcase.

‘And who is handling her estate?’

‘Andrea Lesser.’

‘We will require this year’s accounts to be brought in, whether or not they have been completed,’ Mike added.

Miss Hodgson said she would have them sent to the station the following morning.

It was another half-hour before the interview was terminated. Left alone in the interview room, Anna checked over all the documents as Mike saw Miss Hodgson out.

‘What do you make of her?’ he asked Anna when he returned.

‘I think she’s lying through her teeth.’

The will, dated over a year ago, made interesting reading. Andrea Lesser featured, as did Amanda’s parents, her former flatmates and numerous charities, the latter taking the bulk of her fortune. The amounts to each named party were in the region of ten and twenty thousand pounds and the biggest slice went to Battersea Dogs’ Home. Amanda appeared to have no cousins or distant relatives and no changes to her will had been listed.

The possibility of fraud and the fact that Amanda had accused Andrea Lesser of underhand dealings with her money, but not confronted her as far as Ronnie Hodgson knew, had to be a strong motive for murder. Under suspicion were obviously Miss Lesser and Andrew Smith-Barker. Mike Lewis decided to save time by obtaining a magistrate’s search warrant for both Miss Lesser’s agency and Andrew Smith-Barker’s company. Officers experienced in fraud would need to go through the mountain of documents that would no doubt be seized. Anna asked if Mike would also get a search warrant for Amanda’s old flat. He was in his office with Barolli, co-ordinating the searches, and seemed frazzled.

‘You won’t believe this, but Mr Delany is refusing to allow us to use any personal photographs and is getting a lawyer to try and stop the television interview going ahead.’

‘He can’t do that, can he?’ Anna asked.

‘He can. We can override his request, but he’s refusing to give any assistance and insists that if we go ahead without his consent, he’ll call a press conference saying that we’ve been less than professional and accusing us of invading his privacy.’

‘But his daughter was murdered, for God’s sake!’ Anna said angrily.

‘Right. You’d think he’d want everything done to nail her killer, but he’s just kicking up about incompetent policework and poor investigation techniques. This is all we need, with the Deputy Assistant Commissioner putting pressure on us through Langton.’

‘So are you going ahead with the crime special?’

‘I need permission from Langton.’

Anna asked whether, in the meantime, she could re-question both Felicity Turner and Jeannie Bale.

‘Let’s push this fraud thing forward first,’ was Mike’s response, ‘and hold back on them because the last thing we need is for those two press-crazy girls to start acting up.’

‘But Mike, I think they know a lot more. If you won’t allow me a search warrant, at least let me talk to them. You’re going to have your hands full with the other searches going ahead this morning.’

Before Mike could answer, Joan appeared. Mr Delany, she announced, was in reception with a lawyer.

‘Shit! Thanks, Joan, put them into an interview room. I’ll talk to him.’

‘I’ll do it if you like,’ Anna offered.

Mike rubbed his head, making his hair stand up on end. Then Barbara put her head round the door. The producer of their TV slot was on the phone and Langton on hold waiting.

‘Christ! OK, OK, Anna. You and Barolli take Mr Delany, and as soon as I’ve sorted these calls I’ll join you.’

Anna and Barolli headed down the corridor towards the interview rooms.

‘I thought you were going to do the TV interview,’ Barolli said.

‘I was, then Langton put Mike onto it.’

They paused outside the interview room and looked through the glass window to see a stony-faced Mr Delany sitting alongside a small dapper man.

‘Let’s do it,’ Barolli said as they entered.

Mr Delany’s manner was even more aloof than when Anna had first met with him.

‘I do not want any further publicity surrounding the death of my daughter,’ he insisted. ‘I am fully aware that the television company wants to interview some of her . . . for want of a better word
boyfriends . . .
and I refuse to have her private life broadcast yet again. It was bad enough for my wife and me when she was alive. If you are dependent on trash media television shows to assist in your enquiries, that is tantamount to admitting your total failure in this case.’