Peter Robinson - Not Dark Yet

‘So you slept with him?’ Gerry repeated.

‘Yes. Probably.’

‘Could he have been Marnie’s father?’

‘Leka?’ Charlotte looked away. ‘You must be joking.’

‘Why not?’

‘We took precautions.’

‘Doesn’t always work. Surely you must know that.’

Charlotte pouted.

‘There’s no need to sulk,’ said Annie. ‘Come on, get it off your chest. Tell us what you know.’

Charlotte glanced at Jessica Bowen, who gave her a brief nod. Charlotte seemed to pull herself together, this time taking several deep breaths and relaxing as best she could in her hard chair. To Annie, she seemed like someone who was finally relieved to be unburdening herself. It happened often in interviews, just before the confession.

‘It’s true I knew them both back then,’ Charlotte said. ‘Connor and Leka. The summer of 1999. I’d just turned twenty-one and the world was my oyster. Or so I thought. I had friends, money saved — not a fortune, but enough — and there were good times to be had. We spent most of May and the first part of June sailing the Greek islands — Samos, Santorini, Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, Kos — all this before the migrants, before they were the way they are now. And yes, there were lots of parties, sex parties, if you like. And drugs. Mostly cocaine. That’s why I was coming to hate working for Connor so much lately. I could see it starting all over again. It was all starting to remind me too much of my misspent youth, the bowls of white powder, the casual sex. I thought I’d put all that behind me.’

‘Yes, but you weren’t participating this time, were you?’

Charlotte managed a brief smile. ‘No. But I was exposed to it. Somehow that seemed enough. And then Marnie came along.’

‘Another reminder?’

‘If you like. But a breath of fresh air, too. There was such an innocence about Marnie that’s hard to describe. She was no ingénue. I don’t mean that. She wasn’t naive. In many ways she seemed old beyond her years, but she had a special sort of aura. Connor picked up on it immediately.’

‘The first time she worked at one of his parties?’

‘Yes. Back in March. Nothing happened then, or I would have known, but I could see him when I dropped by, the way he looked at her. And he mentioned her later. I should have known what it meant, done something about it right away, but I didn’t. I don’t know why. Maybe because I was selfish. Maybe because I didn’t read the signs properly. It’s easier in hindsight. But I did warn her about Leka and Tadić. To stay away from them. Even before she started working for me. She said she wanted money, and the parties paid good money, but I warned her to just do her job and keep her distance and she’d be fine. The idea of rape never entered my mind. As far as I was concerned, they might be criminals, but none of them was a rapist. And when Connor sent me to Costa Rica, I was just so thrilled to be going somewhere I’d never been before that I never gave a moment’s thought as to what might happen while I was away. Or why I was being sent so far away. How could I know? But I didn’t kill anyone, honest I didn’t. You have to believe me.’

‘Go on. What happened next?’

‘I’d only been back a couple of days and Marnie came to my house. She was in a terrible state. Like I said, not so much physically — she’d cleaned herself up — but that innocence, that special aura was gone. She was empty, dead inside. She told me what had happened. That Connor had come to see her in the kitchen when most people had left or gone off to their rooms and it was quiet. He persuaded her to have a drink. She soon started to feel dizzy and sleepy and he helped her to a room where he said she could lie down and have a rest. But then he raped her. It was all a blur to her at the time, but she said she remembered the shock afterwards, the inability to move, just lying there as he did it to her. And when he’d finished, he drove her home, dropped her off outside her house.’

‘What about her own car?’

‘One of his minions must have picked it up the following day and dropped it off. She said Blaydon phoned and told her she got drunk, or she’d taken something, and he was worried, so that was why he drove her home.’

‘So what did you do?’

‘I tried to bring her out of it, but you were right earlier, she needed the kind of help that only an expert could give her. And I failed. I failed her.’ Charlotte started crying silently and Jessica Bowen passed her a tissue. ‘Sorry,’ Charlotte went on. ‘This is all very upsetting. I still can’t quite take in the news of Marnie’s death.’

‘Then what happened?’

‘She stayed with me in Adel. We spent some days together, talking, walking in the woods. She seemed to improve a bit. Then she went back to work, back in York, and after that I didn’t hear from her again. I’d suggested she go home to her parents and tell them what happened, and she said she would think about it. I suppose I was trying to pass the problem on.’

‘Did you know where her parents lived?’

‘No. Why would I?’

‘She didn’t tell you?’

‘I think she was protective of them. All I knew is it was somewhere down south. I kept thinking she might phone, but she didn’t.’

‘And you didn’t phone her?’

‘No. I had her mobile number, but no, I didn’t.’

‘Did she ever mention suicide?’

‘Good Lord, no.’

‘Or pregnancy?’

‘No. But how could she, really, if it had only just happened?’

Annie paused. Charlotte had taken a hell of a bruising, from hearing about the suicide of her daughter to the dredging up of her own painful memories, but it wasn’t over yet. Never again would she have Charlotte in such a raw, vulnerable state, readier than ever, perhaps, to tell the whole truth, if only just to get out of there. ‘Charlotte,’ she said. ‘Tell me the truth now. Did you kill Connor Clive Blaydon?’

Charlotte looked her straight in the eye and said, ‘No. I didn’t.’ Then she paused. ‘I wanted to, but I didn’t have the guts. Maybe I...’

‘So who did?’ Annie asked. ‘Can you help us? Will you tell us?’

Charlotte nodded. ‘Maybe I am responsible for what happened. I don’t know. But I invited Leka over to the house one evening after Marnie had left. I told him I wanted to talk to him about something important.’ She paused, as if for some brief internal dialogue, shaking her head from side to side as if in judgement on herself, then hurried on. ‘I told him that Marnie was his daughter, from all those years ago, that time on Blaydon’s yacht. That I’d put her up for adoption but she had tracked me down and come to work for me. Now she wanted to know who her father was, maybe even meet him. I said I wanted to get his permission first, before I arranged anything. I thought he’d be angry and just say no, but he wasn’t. He didn’t. He knew who I meant. He’d seen her at Connor’s. Leka and I had had a bit of a fling back then, more than just a one-off, unlike Connor, at any rate. Never since. And he has become a bit of a pig. I meant what I said. But back then he was handsome, gallant, vicious. But never violent towards me. There’s not much point even saying this, but he could be gentle. He could be kind.’

‘Did he believe you?’

‘I think so. He knew I had no reason to lie to him. I made it clear that neither I nor Marnie wanted anything from him, not money, not commitment or anything, and he could just walk away if he wanted. He didn’t even need to acknowledge her as his daughter.’

‘Didn’t he ask for proof or anything?’

‘No. As I said, I wasn’t asking him for anything. I made it clear she’d had a good family. I told him I just wanted him to know, that’s all. He said he did want to see her. He quite surprised me. He said I should have told him a long time ago, but it wasn’t too late. That he had a wonderful large mansion in the countryside outside of Tirana and all his daughters and granddaughters lived there. Marnie could come with him and join them, be part of his family. She would never want for anything again.’