Wrongful Death (63 page)

Gloria, crawling on all fours like the still-frenzied dog, was screaming, ‘How dare you leave me! YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME!’

Anna didn’t even make it back to her car as the Mini drove past her, very fast, heading down the lane. Whether they saw Anna or not, they made no attempt to stop as she stared at the disappearing rear lights. She could not resist returning to look through the railings, to where the front door remained open wide, but there was no sign of Gloria. The security lights went out, leaving only the lamps from inside to give the house a yellowish glow, foreboding and medieval. The dog had finally fallen silent.

Anna drove back to London still very shaken by the whole encounter. Although she had the satisfaction of knowing she was right, and had managed to warn Aisa and Donna to get away, she was still left frustrated that Lady Lynne was free from any punishment. For now, though, she just had to be content with the fact she had confronted Gloria and that her instincts were correct.

The following day, Anna was back at her desk, eager to get on and put the Reynolds case behind her, despite the fact that a few of the team had severe hangovers. Late in the afternoon, she got a call from Langton asking if she’d seen the
Evening Standard
front page about Lady Lynne being found dead at her mansion house.

‘What? You are joking?’

‘I’m not, darlin’. I phoned the local DCI in Surrey and he gave me the details.’

With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Anna asked herself: did anyone know she had been to Lynne House? Was he calling to warn her?

Langton continued: ‘She was found in her greenhouse by the housekeeper. Apparently, went in there drunk, fell and knocked over a large canister of pesticide. The contents spilled out and gassed her, she didn’t even have a face mask on and her dog was found dead beside her.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Anna said.

‘Well, she paid the ultimate price in the end, and her daughters were not even at home. I guess it’ll be accidental death.’

Anna agreed and vividly recalled her first ever meeting with Lady Lynne where she explained how dangerous the pesticides were and that she always had to wear protective clothing and a face mask.

‘They think she tried to reach for a mask, but the dog was in there with her, so who knows.’

‘Yes, who knows? Pity about the dog!’ Anna said as she replaced the receiver and sat back in her chair.

The papers were full of the tragic death of Lady Lynne. Donna and Aisa spoke movingly at the funeral and promised the Lynne Foundation would continue the charitable work of Lord Henry and their mother. They never contacted Anna. The toxicology report had stated that Gloria had a very high level of alcohol in her blood, which would have accelerated the effect of the pesticide, and so her death was reported by the Coroner as non-suspicious and accidental.

The files and reports were completed as the team led by Anna prepared for the next case. It had been a huge learning curve and one Anna hoped she would never have to be subjected to again. In her drawer, placed in a small box, as she would never wear it, was the one reminder of Gloria Lynne. It was the gold-and-enamel brooch in the shape of the deadly nightshade flower, so pretty, yet so dangerous, and as toxic as the woman who had given it.

A note to the readers

I am very appreciative to my loyal fans, both for buying my novels and watching the television series derived from the books. Due to necessity, I have sometimes had to alter sections of the plot, to enable the series to translate to television. I have done my upmost to keep them both exciting and not lose the characters’ backgrounds.

In the new novel
Wrongful Death
, I refer back to a previous Anna Travis novel that brought in the character of a notorious and dangerous drug dealer, Anthony Fitzpatrick. He became the nemesis for Detective Chief Superintendent James Langton as he was the ‘one that got away’. At his first appearance, he is described as fathering two very young daughters. For the
Above Suspicion
series it was decided that to use very young children and to have them escape in a boat was possibly too much of a risk. I therefore changed the daughters to Fitzpatrick escaping with a teenage son. As this was a very big on-screen stunt, I also made the decision that Anna Travis would show her inexperience by not reporting the moment she saw a photograph of the plane used by Fitzpatrick to escape arrest.

I sincerely hope that my readers will appreciate how very difficult it is sometimes to incorporate every detail from the novels. There are very few crime writers who also adapt their own crime novels into television series; it is quite an arduous task to decide what is imperative to be kept in focus for the plot to run smoothly. I hope that
Wrongful Death
will prove to be as successful using the television adaptation references from
Deadly Intent
, and bring to a conclusion the capture of the dangerous drug dealer Anthony Fitzpatrick, who had become one of the FBI’s most-wanted criminals.