Lost Innocence (39 page)

Finding Croft alone at the custody desk while the sergeant escorted Nat to a cell, Bevan told him about Sabrina’s call, adding, ‘We’ve got a right bloody hornet’s nest where that family’s concerned, but you’d better get one of the local uniforms to go and have a chat with Mrs Carlyle. A gypsy’s warning will do, but make sure she knows she’s lucky not to be under arrest.’

‘On it, Sarge.’

‘Before you go, no sign of Jolyon Crane yet?’

‘Apparently he’s stuck in traffic, should be here in about half an hour.’

‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ Robert was saying to Alicia. ‘Can I get you anything?’

‘No, I’m fine,’ she said dully, keeping her head in her hands as she sat at the kitchen table.

Watching her anxiously, Robert reached out to smooth her hair.

She sat back. ‘Please don’t,’ she said shakily. ‘You should go home. Sabrina won’t like it if you stay too long.’

‘I can deal with Sabrina. It’s you I’m worried about. What are you going to do?’

‘You mean now? Or about Nat?’

‘Both.’

‘I don’t think there’s anything I can do except wait to hear from Jolyon. Apparently they’re holding Nat in Bath.’

‘Do you want me to drive you up there?’

Slowly, she shook her head. ‘Jolyon said I won’t be able
to see him, and they might keep him in over… night.’ As a sob mangled her last word, she pushed a fist to her mouth. ‘I don’t know what they’ve found,’ she said raggedly, ‘but whatever it is it won’t make a difference, he didn’t do it.’

Because neither Annabelle nor Sabrina was there to hear, he was able to say, ‘Of course not. There’s obviously some kind of misunderstanding…’

‘You have to talk to Annabelle,’ she implored, grabbing his hand. ‘Sabrina’s pushing her into this, but if you can get her alone…You have to make her understand how serious this is, what it could do to Nat’s future.’

‘I’ll try,’ he promised, feeling such a tearing of his loyalties that he hardly knew which way to turn. ‘I should probably get back,’ he said, after a while. ‘Shall I call Rachel and ask her to come over?’

‘It’s OK, I’ll do it. Thanks for bringing me home. I hope she doesn’t make it too difficult for you. I’m sure she feels your place was at her side, not mine.’

He smiled weakly. ‘Call me as soon as you have any news,’ he said, and kissing her briefly on the cheek, he left.

‘It never fails to amaze me,’ Bevan was saying to Jolyon as they walked towards the interview room, ‘how stupid supposedly bright kids can be.’

Since Jolyon had come across the anomaly often enough himself, he could only shake his head in shared dismay. That Nat was falling into the category wasn’t something he’d expected, and it wasn’t pleasing him at all.

As they reached the door, Bevan held Jolyon back. ‘I shouldn’t be telling you this,’ he said, keeping his voice down, ‘but my DI’s after a conviction, and right now I can’t see any way she’s going to be disappointed.’

Jolyon’s expression remained impassive as he said, ‘I take it we’re talking about Caroline Ash?’

Bevan nodded.

Jolyon made no further comment on that. ‘This could take a while,’ he warned, as he went to open the door.

‘I was figuring it would,’ Bevan replied.

Jolyon found Nat inside the interview room slumped in a chair with his arms clutched around his chest, and his
knees spread wide. His head was hanging forward, but he looked up when Jolyon came in.

‘Are you OK?’ Jolyon asked, lifting his briefcase on to the table.

Nat replied with a half-shrug.

Knowing it was shame and embarrassment, as much as fear, that was making him withdrawn, Jolyon took out his yellow pad and a pen, clipped shut his briefcase, and sat down. ‘I know Sergeant Bevan’s explained to you that your semen was found on a high vaginal swab,’ he said, coming straight to the point, ‘so maybe you can tell me why on earth you lied when you must have known what the DNA results would show.’

Nat’s head stayed down. His knees began swinging back and forth. ‘I thought …’ he said haltingly. ‘I didn’t come, so I thought …’ He jerked a shoulder.

Learning, yet again, never to assume a person knew something just because he did, Jolyon said, ‘You don’t have to orgasm to leave traces of semen behind.’

Nat continued to hang his head.

Jolyon sighed. ‘Well, I guess you’ve learned that the hard way,’ he said. ‘So now we move on to the good news, which is that yours wasn’t the only semen that turned up.’

Nat looked at him warily.

Feeling wretched that the good news ended there, Jolyon said, ‘The bad news, I’m afraid, is that you’re the only one she’s accusing. So, Nat, I have to ask you, did you
force
yourself on her?’

Nat was shaking his head. ‘No,’ he answered earnestly. ‘It happened exactly the way I told you.’

‘Except you
did
have intercourse with her.’ It was no longer a question.

‘Yes, but… She was asking for it. She was there with her legs open telling me to do it, so I…I was doing it before I realised…I mean, it’s like I was out of my mind, but as soon as I came to my senses I got up. I hated myself for even …’ He stopped as Jolyon put up a hand.

‘I have one very important question to ask you now,’ Jolyon said. ‘Did you know, at the time you were doing this, how old she was?’

Nat swallowed dryly, and put a hand to his face. ‘I think, I’m… She’s about sixteen, isn’t she? Or…’

‘That’s far enough,’ Jolyon cut in sharply. ‘Proving a vagueness about her age is probably the only thing that’ll save you now, and God knows that’s going to be hard when you’re practically cousins. You see, Nat, whether or not she was willing, it’s illegal to have sex with a girl of fifteen, and I’m afraid that’s how old she is.’

Nat looked as though he’d been struck.

‘I’ll have to give this to you straight now,’ Jolyon continued, ‘then we’ll start trying to sort it. First, anyone who has committed this crime is automatically put on the Sex Offenders Register.’

Nat’s face drained. ‘But…’

‘No, hear me out. Consent is no longer an issue, because even if she admitted it wasn’t rape, and there’s no saying she will, there’s still the problem of her age. There’s also the bruising to her face and genitals to consider, which could jeopardise a lesser charge of unlawful sex. Basically, Nat, they can throw the book at you now, and I’m afraid you haven’t helped yourself at all by lying.’

Nat was looking so stunned that Jolyon eased the severity from his tone as he went on. ‘We’re going to do everything we can to get you out of this mess, but you haven’t made it easy.’

Nat’s eyes seemed hollow, his mind was dulled by shock. ‘How – what if she keeps claiming I raped her?’ he said. ‘How long would I have to go to prison for?’

Seeing no point in scaring him half to death with the maximum possible sentence, Jolyon said, ‘Let’s not dwell on that now. We’ll be working towards getting everything thrown out if we can, because the last thing you need, son, is to go into the future with your name on that register.’

Nat’s hands suddenly pressed in each side of his head. ‘I can’t stand this,’ he choked, his voice cracking with terror. ‘If she’d left me alone, but she wouldn’t. She kept on and on and then she said Dad and her…Oh God,’ he gulped, burying his face in his hands. ‘I shouldn’t have listened. I should have just kept walking…’

Very gently Jolyon said, ‘She told you about the affair her mother had with your father.’

Nat kept his face down.

‘You had no idea until then?’

He shook his head.

Though provocation was no defence in the circumstances, right now Jolyon was more concerned about the personal trauma the boy was suffering.

‘He said…He used to bang on about respect and loyalty,’ Nat croaked. ‘How could he …’ His voice fractured and he clutched his head still tighter.

‘He was a good man, Nat, in spite of what he did.’

‘Does Mum know? She does, doesn’t she?’

‘Yes, she does.’

Nat growled in fury and despair.

After a while Jolyon said, ‘I’m going to get you some water now, then we’ll make a start on a new statement for Sergeant Bevan. Is there anything else you need?’

Nat finally looked up at him. ‘Is Mum outside?’ he asked.

‘No. I’m not sure how long you’re going to be here, so I told her to wait at home.’

‘Good,’ he said distractedly. ‘That’s good.’

‘No, no news yet,’ Alicia was saying to Rachel down the phone, ‘but Jolyon said there probably wouldn’t be any until much later tonight.’

‘OK. I’m going to be with you just as soon as I can, but someone’s bringing a dog in who’s been hit by a car, and I won’t know till it gets here whether I’ll have to operate or euthanise – hopefully neither, but the latter will be quicker. What are you doing now?’

‘Nothing. Just waiting. Darcie rang a few minutes ago, she knew something was wrong, but how could I tell her what’s happening?’ Tears were stinging her eyes. ‘She’s due back on Saturday and I thought…I really believed all this would have blown over before she got here.’

‘Anything could happen between now and then,’ Rachel said reassuringly, ‘so don’t start stressing yourself over her too. You’ve got enough to be going on with … Is that someone ringing your bell?’

Alicia was staring down the hall. ‘I’d better go and find out who it is,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you when you get here,’ and putting the phone down, she dashed the tears from her cheeks and took several deep breaths as she went to the door.

For a moment, as she looked at the man standing there, she couldn’t think who he was.

‘Alicia? Are you all right?’ he asked.

As recognition dawned, a jolt of despair hit her heart. ‘Cameron,’ she said, trying to assemble her thoughts. ‘I’m sorry…I…I lost track of the days.’

‘Has something happened?’ he asked. ‘You look upset.’

She almost laughed, but sobbed. ‘It’s… I’m afraid I can’t come with you this evening. I should have called…’

‘It doesn’t matter. Is there anything I can do?’

Her eyes closed. Should she invite him in? Try to excuse herself? She didn’t know what to do. Then to her horror a police car turned into the street.

‘What is it?’ Cameron asked, following the direction of her eyes.

She didn’t answer, only went on staring at the car, her hands bunched at her throat. They were bringing Nat home. They’d realised a terrible mistake had been made and now they were letting him go. But when the car drew up, only a uniformed officer got out.

‘Alicia, let me help,’ Cameron said, as she started to shake. ‘Tell me what’s going on.’

‘I can’t,’ she said, her eyes fixed on the policeman. Why was he here? They already had Nat, surely they didn’t want to search the place again.

‘Mrs Carlyle?’ the officer asked.

‘Yes,’ she almost whispered.

‘I’m PC Darren Whitby. Could I come in for a moment please?’

‘Oh my God, there’s been an accident,’ she cried, pressing a hand to her mouth.

‘No, no,’ he assured her. ‘It’s nothing like that.’

Seeming unsure what to do, but reluctant to abandon her, Cameron said, ‘I’ll wait in the pub in case…’

‘No, come in,’ she said suddenly. What did it matter that
she barely knew him, or that he would probably drop her like a hot brick once he found out what was going on? Right now she couldn’t face dealing with the police alone.

After showing them through to the sitting room, she perched on the edge of the sofa, while the young officer took an armchair, and Cameron stood slightly apart close to the window.

‘I’m afraid,’ PC Whitby began, ‘that we’ve received a complaint about you from Mrs Paige.’

Alicia’s head started to spin.

‘She says you went round there and threatened her…’

‘She’s making her daughter accuse my son of rape,’ Alicia cut in furiously. ‘I needed to speak to Annabelle…’

‘We all understand how difficult this is for you,’ Whitby sympathised, ‘but I have to caution you to stay away from your sister-in-law and her daughter during this time. If you don’t, I’m afraid we’ll have to arrest you and I’m sure that’s the last thing you want.’

‘What about her daughter staying away from my son?’ Alicia cried desperately.

The officer rose to his feet. ‘Your brother has persuaded his wife not to press charges,’ he said, ‘so please, do as I say, and don’t go round there again.’

As he let himself out Alicia stared at the fireplace, unable to look at Cameron, or to think of what to say next.

‘If you can tell me where to find it, I’ll go and fix us both a drink,’ he suggested calmly.

Glancing at him quickly, she forced herself up. ‘I only have wine,’ she said. ‘Is that OK?’

‘Perfect. Red or white? And please stay there, I’m quite capable of opening a bottle, just as long as I know where it is.’

Managing a weak smile at his irony, she gave him instructions and sank back against the cushions as he went to do the honours. This was all a nightmare, she was telling herself, it had to be, or she was losing her mind.

DS Bevan didn’t like being lied to, and though he’d been prepared to hear the boy out, perhaps even give him the benefit of the doubt, the way the kid was prevaricating and
mumbling like a moron, with Jolyon Crane constantly reminding him he didn’t have to answer, was getting right under his skin.

‘Are you really asking me to believe that you didn’t know Annabelle Preston’s age until today?’ he said scathingly. ‘You’re practically related to her. You’ve known her for most of her life, and yet…’

‘Sergeant, he’s already answered the question,’ Jolyon interrupted.

‘With another lie,’ Bevan retorted, his eyes boring into the top of Nat’s head. ‘How many more have you told, son?’ he demanded. ‘You said you didn’t have sex with her, but we know now that you did. Now you’re trying to tell me you thought she was sixteen. Do I look stupid? Do I have gullible stamped across my forehead? You knew damned well how old she was…’

‘What’s your question, Sergeant?’ Jolyon asked.

Bevan shot him a look. ‘My question is,’ he said to Nat, ‘did you rape Annabelle Preston? We know you had unlawful sex with her, but she says you raped her. Is that true?’

‘No,’ Nat said vehemently, before Jolyon could remind Bevan again that the question had already been answered.