Silent Scream (55 page)

Lester described how he had tried to persuade her to get help, but even at the worst time of her life, her parents had let her down again.

‘She was pregnant, and she’d spent all the money she’d earned on her film on that bunch of no-hopers she shared a flat with. She fed them, paid the rent, gave them money and drugs and they were always wanting more, especially that parasite Jeannie Bale. Amanda felt guilty about her losing the part to her, so she was constantly trying to make up for it by giving her clothes and stuff’

Anna asked if it was true that Amanda was pregnant by her grandfather and he shook his head.

‘No, it was one of them she was seeing, Scott Myers or Colin O’Dell, but she didn’t know which one, and they wouldn’t admit it. She was so desperate she went back to her parents wanting an abortion, but they wouldn’t give her the money. So she came back and by this time she was four months gone, and I said to her that it was dangerous to have it terminated. I told her that I’d marry her and look after her and the kid, that’s how much I loved her, but that piece of shit Jeannie Bale got the address of some abortionist over in Wandsworth, and Amanda made me drive her there and wait while she had it done.’

Langton gave a covert look at his watch, as Lester told them about how he had driven her for the next two years, as she became more famous and more dependent on drugs. By now she was fodder for the media and she loved it. Sometimes she would call the paparazzi herself to make sure they were outside a club or party to see her falling over and having one sexual affair after another.

‘But she always came back to me.’

He described how he’d picked up Amanda’s diary from the Maida Vale flat and had given it back to her straight away.

‘Did you read it?’ Anna asked.

‘No, it was private, and I knew Jeannie was lying about what was in it as she just wanted to get me all riled up.’

‘What did Amanda say when you returned it?’

‘She hugged me and then began to act all crazy, dancing around with it, saying she was gonna make a lot of people sorry for treating her like shit. I assumed she was talking about her parents.’

‘When did you know what it contained? That it had lots of references to you?’

Lester closed his eyes to think. They could almost see the wheels in his brain turning.

‘I wanted to find her BlackBerry – you know, get back in her good books because she believed that I’d taken it – and that was when I went back to that horrible flat.’

Jeannie Bale had been at home, and she had sneered at Lester, told him again that if he had any sense he would walk away from Amanda as she was using him and laughing about him behind his back. Jeannie repeated things that she’d read in the diary, and as she knew about the tattoo, he started believing her and became very upset. She said that Amanda was going to make a lot of money, millions, by selling her life story to a publisher.

‘Then I got a call from Amanda, in a right state as she’d heard someone screaming the night before and it had woken her up. She said she was scared to go home and wanted me to check the place out and act as a bodyguard for her.’

Lester said that he had gone to the film unit as Amanda was filming on nights. She said that she wouldn’t be released until around five in the morning and would be scared to be alone in her house. She gave him her own set of keys, and instructed him to wait in the house until she got home.

‘I didn’t like the way she ordered me around and kept on asking me if I was sure no one had seen me entering her trailer as she didn’t want any gossip about it. I honest to God intended doing just what she asked me to do, but then I thought I had enough time as it was only about twelve. I could pick up Jeannie and we’d both go over there. It was ’cos I was pissed off at the way I’d been spoken to, know what I mean?’

‘Why would you do that? Take Jeannie Bale to the mews?’

Lester paused, then looked at his solicitor, who said, ‘Just tell them the truth, Lester.’

‘In enough shit, am I?’ He gave a rueful smile.

Anna repeated the question.

‘All right, Jeannie kept on at me about the diary, and she said I should read it ’cos of all the stuff Amanda had written about me, and to be honest, I was starting to believe her, especially as she was going on and on about how much money it was worth. She kept on saying I had a right to a cut of the money.’

‘She wanted to get her hands on it, did she?’ Langton asked, and Lester nodded.

Langton directed Lester to give them the details of exactly what happened when he and Jeannie were at Amanda’s house, this time the truth.

‘The diary, that was all I was there for.’

‘Did you find out what was written about you?’

He nodded. Anna jotted a note and passed it to Langton, reminding him that Jeannie had stated that she had found the diary hidden in the toy rabbit and had taken it, leaving Lester alone. But if, as he said, he had read it, then Jeannie was lying.

‘I couldn’t find it, and we was careful we both put gloves on, and kept the lights off. We searched everywhere, in all the cupboards. It took ages and I had to keep my eye on Jeannie because I was worried she’d nick something. Anyways, I finally found it. It was on Amanda’s bed inside this fluffy rabbit she carried around with her. It had a zip up the back, and she always kept her stash of cocaine in it.’

‘So you then read it?’

‘Yeah, I started it. I couldn’t believe the stuff she’d written about me, it made me sick to my stomach. This was when Jeannie said we should just take it if it was worth money, and I told her to put it back where we found it, but she wouldn’t and we were pulling at it between us when we heard the car driving into the mews. I got panic-stricken and I knew if Amanda found Jeannie there she’d go crazy so I told Jeannie to get in the kitchen and let me do the talking.’

Lester had looked out of the window, seen his brother’s car and stayed in the bedroom, waiting for her to let herself in.

‘For a second, I thought Harry was coming in with her, but he just waited until she’d shut the front door and then he reversed and drove out of the mews. She called out my name, and I said to her I was in the bedroom. I was worried she was going to go into the kitchen and find Jeannie in there, so I opened the door and she was switching on the lights in the hall.’

Amanda had gone upstairs to the bedroom, and he had told her that he’d checked everything out and there was nothing to worry about. She said that she was tired and wanted to go straight to bed. She waved Lester away as if he was annoying her.

Lester reached for a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap. No one spoke, waiting for him to continue, while he gulped two mouthfuls down. Then he told them how he had confronted her with the diary.

‘I held it up. I’d got the fucking rabbit in one hand and the diary in the other, and she went for me, screaming at me to give it to her. She was like a crazy rat scratching at me, and I pushed her down on the bed, said to her that I’d read it, and I was disgusted with her, as all I had ever done was look out for her.’

He was close to tears as he described how Amanda had started to undress, teasing him, saying that she had only written the truth, that he was useless in bed and all he had ever really wanted was to fuck her. Now he could if he wanted to, she didn’t care – he could take his kit off, see if he could get it up, and she was laughing cruelly as he threw the diary at her.

‘She picked it up and flicked through the pages until she came to something about me, and she was doin’ a funny voice, and I went closer to the bed. She could see I was getting into a real rage with her and she kept on telling me to undress. I pulled at the belt and I had my Commando knife there. You know, I was there to see if there were any problems, so I’d come prepared, and I unsheathed it and ... I stabbed her. It was so fast, and she sort of flopped back with her mouth open, and she just looked at me, so I did it again. She didn’t move or cry out, she did nothing to try and stop me, so I did it again, and again, and again . . .’

He began to sob, and Anna passed him the water, as he tried to get his handkerchief out of his trouser pocket.

‘I think the second stab killed her because there was so little blood, nothing spurted out, and I just stood there, staring down at her, and then I heard screaming. It freaked me out. It was Jeannie standing in the doorway, screaming her head off, asking me over and over what had I done . . .’

‘So Jeannie Bale was still in the house?’ Anna asked.

Lester nodded. They had cleaned up the bedroom, and Jeannie had shouted at him when she saw him combing Amanda’s hair. They had to get out, she said. He noticed that the rabbit and the diary were gone. Jeannie had said that she would keep silent if he let her take them; she said she would destroy them, but only if he never told anyone about her being there that night. She left the back way, as he stayed on, clearing up anything that might show he had been there.

Lester went on to describe how he had been the one to pass heroin to Dan Hutchins, and the part Jeannie had played when she called Lester to say he should buy the computer from Dan, as Dan needed the money, in case there was anything about the diary on it. Lester had taken the computer home and smashed it up, then left for Amsterdam. He had no idea that Jeannie had attempted to sell the diary to Amanda’s father or had approached the publishers. He too suspected Jeannie of pushing Felicity Turner overboard; she was a real piece of work, and if she had stuck to their deal, he would have never implicated her in covering up the murder.

‘Jeannie Bale only ever wanted to be Amanda. She was obsessed by her and felt that everything she had should have been hers.’

Chillingly, Lester described how Jeannie had helped him stretch out Amanda’s body to lie as if sleeping on the bed, the way she had cut up a black plastic binliner to cover her clothes so as not to get any bloodstains on them. Only when he had combed Amanda’s hair had she become hysterical.

Lester’s last words to Langton and Anna before he was taken down to the cells were wretchedly sad.

‘First time I had ever seen her naked was that night, first time I had ever held her body. It was like holding a fragile doll, so thin, her ribs stuck out, her hipbones, her legs were like a skinny child’s. The stab wounds must have cut right through her, she was so tiny, and all that was perfect was her face, and now I have her with me for ever. If she’d seen my tattoo completed she wouldn’t have laughed, she’d have been proud.’

Anna and Langton sat side by side after Lester and his solicitor had been led out, the thick stack of files in front of them.

‘Tell me,’ he said quietly. ‘When did you know about the tattoo?’

‘Reading the diary. I contacted a number in Amsterdam that was a tattoo parlour. Some man called “Skull” told me that Lester had been in recently, to have it “filled in”. He made no mention of what the tattoo was and I didn’t ask. I didn’t actually piece it together until I read that Amanda had seen it on his back and laughed, said it was ridiculous. To be honest, I doubt she would have been proud of it even when it was finished.’

‘Maybe not, but it cracked him open to talk.’

‘Yes.’

Langton waved his hand over the files. ‘I didn’t read it in the reports.’

‘Er, I hadn’t got around to it.’

Langton stood up and stretched his arms.

‘Really? Well, we got the result we wanted and now we’ll also be able to charge Jeannie Bale with accessory to murder.’

Anna stood up and stacked her files.

‘She’s certainly a better actress than I gave her credit for. She’s consistently lied from the very start. This case would have been over weeks ago if she’d told the truth.’

Langton walked to the door and swung it open. He stopped and gave her a long, unfathomable stare.

‘Maybe if we’d all been privy to what you knew, it would also have cut a lot of wasted time. You haven’t learned yet, have you? If you don’t share information and don’t stop acting like a one-man show, you’ll never get ahead. I won’t put you on report this time, but as from now, Anna, I am warning you. Work with the team, be a team member, and get respect more than congratulations.’

Anna didn’t say anything. She was stunned. Langton constantly pulled the carpet from beneath her, but she hadn’t expected it this time. If it hadn’t been for her persistence in finding the diary, they would never have placed Lester as their prime suspect.

Anna did feel some sense of achievement from the team in the incident room as they gave her a round of applause when she walked in; even Barolli was smiling at her. It was over. Another case closed. They would still have a lengthy pre-trial wind-up, but with Lester admitting to the murder, it would move quickly. Mike Lewis would take him before the magistrates along with Jeannie Bale the following morning. Neither on their recommendation would be granted bail, as the charges against them both were so strong.

Lester James would be charged with murder, Jeannie Bale for perverting the course of justice and accessory to murder. Both would receive lengthy sentences, but no one felt compassion for either. They had cut short a life, albeit one with a diverse and dysfunctional history, of a movie star who had had a great future ahead of her.

Anna was glad to get home; she could still smell the awful shampoo that Barbara had given her to wash out her blood from her hair. All she felt like doing was having a long hot shower, and then an even longer sleep. The only thing that marred Anna’s feeling of satisfaction after her eventful day was Langton’s dressing down. It was as if he had really wanted to belittle her. Yet she was confident that she had almost singlehandedly secured the conviction, and she was certain the team felt the same way.